How do Residents perceive the Social Impacts of Tourism on Rural Areas?: Empirical findings from Serbia

Abstract

Tourism has numerous impacts on the domestic population. The domestic population can have positive but also negative perceptions depending on the type and extent of the impact, which is why it is important to examine how the domestic population perceives the tourism impacts. Accordingly, this chapter examines the perceptions of the domestic population about the social impacts of tourism on rural areas of the Republic of Serbia. It also examines whether the attitudes of the domestic population differ in relation to their personal characteristics. The authors surveyed 320 Serbian rural residents. The primary conclusion is that domestic population has positive perceptions of the social impacts of tourism in rural areas of Serbia. Research results showed that education has significant influence on the perceptions of domestic population towards the social impacts of tourism in rural areas of Serbia. Based on theoretical and empirical findings, potential directions for further research on this topic have been defined.