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
).
The literature indicates that clusters require leadership to grow and that direction can originate from
government, as well as from the private sector (Pavlovich, 2003; McLennan, 2005). 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. This implies that destinations further progressed in tourism
development would be considered less ‘unique’ than a region in which tourism has just commenced. These studies have often been undertaken for two primary
reasons: to overcome barriers to successful and sustainable tourism development (commonly termed
paradoxes) and to provide insight into the level of impact tourism has on the community (Diedrich and Garcia-
Baudes, 2009). This paradox, however, does not occur consistently and often
development is deliberately cultivated by the community (Gonen, 1981). , 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. It is often postulated that
local or regional governments should self-direct and play a greater role in tourism development because
structural changes and impacts have the greatest effect and can be more readily observed at the local level
(Adams, Dixon and Rimmer, 2001; Milne and Ateljevic, 2001; Pavlovich, 2003; Haung, 200
) and, at this level,
institutional modifications and planned intervention are more likely to be effective (Roberts, 200
; McLennan,
2005; Sebastian and Rajagoplan, 2009).
Paradoxes often occur if tourism is adopted simply for the economic benefits it can provide, such as
employment opportunities, increased income and standards of living and improvements in infrastructure
(Archer and Cooper, 1998; Lindberg, 2001; Liu and Var, 1986; Allen, Hafer, Long and Perdue, 1993) as it can also have
negative impacts, such as inflation, leakage of tourism revenue, changes in value systems and behaviour,
crowding, littering and water shortages (Buckley, 2001; Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996; Mathieson and Wall, 1982).