Property Owners’ Attitudes Toward Sustainable Tourism: Comparing Coastal And Mountain Counties

This study explored factors influencing property owners’ attitudes toward tourism development in two very different counties in North Carolina: one coastal (n=854) and one in the mountains (n= 619). Attitudes toward the impact of tourism and sustainable tourism development were compared for permanent and second-home residents and between the two counties. Findings include the fact that 22% of property owners in the coast and 12.8% of property owners in the mountains thought that the impact of tourism in their community was such that they wished they lived or owned property elsewhere. Permanent homeowners were more likely than second homeowners to have this opinion. Second homeowners in both counties perceived that they had little or no influence over tourism-related issues, a perception stronger in the coastal county than mountain