Why urban setting matters in shaping tourist attitudes towards interaction with residents: Causation or selection in three urban settings

This paper addresses the question why tourist attitude towards the interactions with residents are more positive in some urban settings than others, by comparing three different urban settings within Hong Kong: the city centre (Central), a suburban shopping/entertainment centre (Sha Tin) and a new urban tourism area (Mong Kok). Two competing hypotheses can explain the variation in tourist attitudes. The first is causation; some settings provide more intensive and better interactions which lead to more positive attitudes. The second is selection; some settings attract different types of tourists with different attitudes. Mediation analysis provides weak support for causation and strong support for selection. Sha Tin attracts more repeat tourists, holidaymakers and shopping tourists, which have more positive attitudes. Managing growth of tourism is more effective if sub-centres are developed as product-market combinations that distract these tourists from the overcrowded city-centre.