LOCAL RESIDENTS' ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM

The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes and perceptions of key stakeholders in tourism destination development regarding the impacts of tourism, with the objective of determining whether local residents perceive the impacts of tourism differently if they live in different parts of the unequally developed tourism region. Based on the attitudes of 500 residents of the targeted region collected using the CAWI method, the findings suggest that there are differences in the perception of tourism impacts in relation to the sub-regional affiliation of the respondents. The residents of the underdeveloped mountainous sub-region are not aware of some of the impacts of tourism, but the same impacts are perceived as negative in the coastal part or on the islands. Despite the fact that the region is generally considered a successful and developed tourist destination (as measured by the number of overnight stays, arrivals and tourism revenues), the findings of this research are relevant in terms of planning and management of regional tourism development. Residents' perceptions indicate which tourism impacts should be managed better (negative impacts), which are well managed (positive impacts) and which areas should be prioritized (perceived as neither positive nor negative impacts). The recorded attitudes of residents could therefore indirectly help reduce disproportions in tourism development between subregions, if taken into account by decision-makers.