Residents' attitudes and behavioural support for tourism in host communities

ABSTRACT: In our study of the "perceptions-attitudes-behaviours" sequence, we explain how resident perceptions of tourism's impacts on host communities influence not only their attitudes towards tourism, but also their attitudes towards tourists - i.e. a new variable that has recently been introduced in literature. Moreover, we introduce the behavioural support, a concept that denotes a higher level of involvement and engagement of residents with their communities in comparison with the traditional attitudinal support. Our results indicate: (1) the residents' perception of the positive economic and cultural impacts of tourism are the main variables influencing their attitudes towards tourism and tourists; and (2) both types of attitudes influence on behavioural support for tourism in host communities