Structural Equation Model of Residents’ Support of Geological Heritage Protection Area for Geological Tourism in Kanas National Geopark, China

The protection of geological heritages and the sustainable development of geological tourism cannot be realised without the support of local residents. Studies that have comprehensively explored the relationship between support for geological tourism and its influencing factors amongst local residents in developing regions are of great significance. The Kanas National Geopark of China was taken as the research area for this paper, and research methods such as random sampling, questionnaire survey and AMOS 17.0 software were used to examine the support of tourism by local residents living in the geological heritage protection area, including community ownership, community participation and perceived costs and benefits. Finally, a structural equation model (SEM) was used to study a series of factors surrounding attitudes towards geological tourism support. The findings show that community involvement and attachment have a significant, direct and positive effect on perceived benefits (β = 0.18, t = 2.20, p < 0.05), and thus are critical factors that affect tourism support. Furthermore, community involvement has the biggest influence on tourism support, whilst both perceived benefits (β =  − 0.08, t =  − 0.53, p > 0.05) and perceived costs (β =  − 0.07, t =  − 0.91, p > 0.05) have an insignificant, direct, and negative effect on tourism support. This study also confirms the fact that supportive attitudes to geological tourism, even in remote pastoral areas, are socially differentiated amongst local community residents.