, 199
; Perdue, Long and Allen, 1990). This paper reports on a preliminary investigation into social
values and perceptions of tourism and economic development in the case study of Toowoomba, Australia. One occurs when tourists are
attracted to the unspoiled nature of a destination, but their increasing visitation transforms the destination
and traditional lifestyle into a more urban or globalised one (Bruner, 1991; Dahms and McComb, 1999; Agarwal,
2002; Zhong, et al. This paper primarily focuses on measuring social norms and cultural beliefs
relating to economic and tourism development and discusses findings in the context of Toowoomba. Transformation theory is about structural
change that results from modifications of human institutions (Seliger, 2002). This implies that destinations further progressed in tourism
development would be considered less ‘unique’ than a region in which tourism has just commenced.
Institutions and perceptions are an important element of transformation (Mwangi, 2006), so it is appropriate
that the dynamics of tourism transformation have been frequently investigated using resident perceptions of
the industry (Allen, Long, Perdue and Kieselback, 1988; Andereck, Valentine, Knopf and Vogt, 2005; Andriotis,
2005; Ap, 1992; Belisle and Hoy, 1980; Besculides, Lee and McCormick, 2002; Harrill, 200
; Horn and Simmons, 2002;
Johnson, et al.
Some common paradoxes of transformation are cited within the literature. Institutions are collective human-
designed action, such as government strategies, plans, policies or laws, business or industry norms, social
norms, cultural beliefs or the general patterns of consumer behaviour (Mantzavinos, North and Shariq, 200
). Delamere 1997 Reid 2006 Petrosillo Zurlini
Grato and Zaccarelli 2006).