Validation of a scale on the perceptions of the socioeconomic impact of nature sports tourism

The impact that tourists have on the destination community modifies their behavior and can be a key factor guiding both their perceptions and their intention to revisit the destination. However, the perceptions of tourists have been little analyzed in the scientific literature. The objective of this study is to explore the psychometric properties and validity of a questionnaire aimed at assessing tourists' perceptions of the socioeconomic impact of sports activities in the natural environment. The sample consisted of 1184 sports tourists who traveled to the Valle del Jerte (Extremadura, Spain). Both an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis were carried out, as well as an analysis of the reliability of the instrument. The results showed a final structure of 8 items divided into two factors with satisfactory reliability values and indicators of the goodness of fit. Therefore, this research provides a quick, free and easy-to-use tool to assess the perceptions of sports tourists about the socio-economic impact generated by the activities they practice.