A systematic review of residents' perceptions towards tourism development in ethnic tourism contexts

Ethnic tourism, an indispensable component of global tourism, has gained increasing scholarly attention recently. Despite the well-studied nature of residents' perceptions, scant literature has scrutinized ethnic residents' perceptions systematically. Therefore, this review aims to examine the current body of knowledge concerning residents' perceptions in ethnic tourism contexts and contribute to a generalized conceptual model of residents' perceptions. Following the PRISMA protocol, a literature search on the Scopus database yielded 1803 records, among which 64 journal articles were proven eligible. The review demonstrated that most residents' perception studies in ethnic tourism contexts are qualitative, and predominantly conducted in developing countries. Given the distinct ethnic attributes and place-specific circumstances, the sociopolitical dimension has been introduced as the fourth dimension evaluating residents' positive and negative perceptions jointly with economic, sociocultural, and environmental dimensions in ethnic tourism contexts. Additionally, ethnic values are recognized as a common thread in interpreting non-economic factors influencing residents' perceptions, like place attachment, emotional solidarity, and perceived conflicts. Apart from the commonly examined support for tourism development and quality of life, citizen behaviours, as a significant consequence, have gained growing academic interest as of late. Correspondingly, some implications and recommendations for future studies are discussed in this review.