Análisis de la irritabilidad (Irridex) de los residentes de la comuna Montañita frente a la actividad turística

Abstract

Montañita is a coastal commune of the Republic of Ecuador that has become a favorite destination for national and foreign tourists, which generates an accelerated growth of the tourism sector. In this way, like any other productive activity, it is granted a degree of acceptance or rejection seen from the impacts it generates and that are captured by its main actors the residents. The present research aimed to analyze the degree of irritability of the residents of Montañita caused by the tourist activity based on the Irridex of Doxey (1975), who postulates four stages of irritability, euphoria, apathy, irritability and antagonism. The focus of this research was mixed, descriptive in scope and cross-sectional. Three phases of research were determined, the first was based on the review of bibliographic sources and non-participatory observation. In the second phase, semi-structured interviews were applied to key actors of the commune and surveys to residents. In the last phase, an interpretative and descriptive analysis of the data obtained was carried out. The research managed to determine that 62.24% of the residents of the commune are in the stage of euphoria, that is, they show a favorable attitude towards tourism. Keywords: comuna Montañita, impacts of tourism, perception of residents, Irridex index