Urban tourism towards sustainable development

Tourism is a modern global phenomenon and reflects the general development of society. The impact of tourism development implies not only the economic but also environmental, social and cultural aspects of life. Due to the numerous economic benefits arising from its development, tourism has gained a very important status and in many countries has received a significant role and priority in economic development. Tourism, from the area uses certain economic benefits that would otherwise remain unused. However uncontrolled development often destroyed the area where it’s realized, and in this way operates contrary to the tourism development primary aims. Uncontrolled development in which tourism is an essential part, bring into the question its further development. Therefore, the object of the paper is to determine the negative effects of uncontrolled and intensive tourism development in urban areas that are not based on the principles of sustainable development. The aim and purpose is to present the importance of applying the principles of sustainable tourism development in urban areas and define the key subjects that will have the impact for the application of the concept of sustainable development in such areas. In order to collect the basic data about the importance of applying the sustainable development conception in urban areas survey method was applied. Kruskal-Wallis test is used for the realization research aims. The research results will serve as the operational guidelines for the destination tourism managers in applying the concept of sustainable development in urban areas