Residents' Attitude to Tourism and Seasonality

In this study several extrinsic and intrinsic variables, from different theoretical approaches, have been integrated with the object of building an explanatory model for residents' attitude toward tourism development. This model is applied to a destination not yet overcrowded but with a high, and increasing, seasonality. Its most notable contribution is in its findings regarding the influence of seasonality on the residents' attitudes and in the factors impacting on it. These findings show that, in the low season, the effects of tourism, and tourists themselves, are perceived more favorably, leading to a more positive attitude toward further tourism development. Two hypotheses in the proposed model reveal a disparate seasonal behavior: only in the high season does the perception of the level of tourism development determine the net perception of the effects of tourism, and residents' community attachment exerts a direct and negative influence on their attitude toward tourism.