City of Rhodes: residents’ attitudes toward tourism impacts and development

One of the most important issues of research in tourism is the exploration of residents’ attitudes in local communities, since viable and sustainable tourism development can only be successful when it serves the actual needs and demands of the destination’s population, and any tourism evolution is directly dependant on locals’ acceptance and support. The purpose of this paper is to examine the host population perceptions in the city of Rhodes toward economic, social, and environmental tourism impacts, and it discusses resident attitudes to tourism development. It also determines the level of tourism development in the examined region, using some of the most important life cycle models. There was evidence of gender, age, level of education and annual income differences. In addition it examines tourist interaction in the island’s urban population, and provides suggestions for further tourism development