Residents' Perceptions of Economic Impacts of Tourism Development in Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia

Abstract

Research background: Tourism has become a favorable industry for many countries, considering the benefits it generates. The important part in reaching sustainability in tourism is to know how the local population perceives the effects of tourism. Tourism brings economic benefits, and on the other side it involves some economic costs, including government costs for infrastructure to better serve tourists, costs for local residents such as increased prices of goods and services, real estate, it generates seasonal unemployment, etc. Purpose of the article: The aim of this study is to investigate how residents perceive the economic impacts of tourism development in Vrnjačka Banja. Methods: The survey method was used to collect primary data. Data were processed by SPSS Statistics 23. The 14 defined statements of the economic impacts of tourism were subjected to Factor analysis. The internal consistency of the sample was carried out the Cronbach alpha coefficient. Findings & Value added: Results indicate that respondents perceive those impacts as more positive. Giving the fact that no research can be found in the scientific literature about how residents perceive the economic benefits and cost of tourism development in spa destinations, this study contributes to this field of study.