Exploring place attachment: an underwater perspective

Abstract

Local residents and tourists alike are bound to landscapes through a sense of place. These place attachments are widely reported to generate responses to environmental practices and a sense of stewardship. Using an online questionnaire, this study surveyed 178 scuba divers in South Australia to consider the construct of place attachment from an underwater perspective. Results revealed local divers had higher place identity attachments than visitors, indicating stronger emotional and affective bonds to dive sites. However, it was the visiting divers who recorded higher place dependence attachments, indicating stronger connections to the instrumental qualities of the dive sites when compared to other places.