Religious Tourism in Jordan: A Study of Residents’ Perception Towards Its Impacts in Madaba

Abstract

Abstract. The topic of residents’ attitudes towards tourism development has been analyzed by many authors, but there have been few studies that have focuses on impacts of religious tourism. The Madaba residents look at tourism development with a promising future to bring more income and new jobs to the area. Investors search to find new attractive business and middle and low classes in the community look to find better investment. The main objectives of the study are to determine the residents’ attitudes to the positive and negative impacts of religious tourism activities on economic, social, and environment of Madaba local residents. After a comprehensive review of the literature on the role of tourism development. a total of 238 questionnaires were obtained from a random sampling of residents of Madaba. The study shows that most of the residents have moderate perceptions towards economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism. The paper uses the findings to suggest critical implications that local governments need to consider when planning tourism development.