Residents' Attitude toward Tourism-Do the Benefits Outweigh the Downsides? The Case of Constanta, Romania

While the positive economic impact of tourism cannot be denied, it has also a number of negative side effects. The article focuses on the residents' perception regarding the tourist activity and on identifying the factors influencing their acceptance for the tourist activity, in Constanta (Romania). A questionnaire based quantitative research was employed, creating several indexes, subsequently included in econometric models in order to reveal the factors which determine residents' acceptance and support for tourism. The results reveal that residents are highly in favour of tourism activity and support tourism expansion and further development. Most respondents considered that tourism contributed to the improvement of the city image and identified a fairly positive economic impact, while tourism was accountable for the increase in several negative phenomena. The impact of tourist activity on the sustainable development of the city was perceived as medium positive, while most respondents considered that the number of tourists should increase. The residents' acceptability toward tourism was revealed to depend on several variables and computed indexes: city development index, impact on residents' quality of life index, sustainable development index, and perceived intensity of contact with tourists.

Automated summary

The study found that residents in Constanta have a high level of support for tourism activity, believing it improves the city image and has a fairly positive economic impact, despite also bringing about some negative phenomena. Most respondents considered the impact on sustainable development of the city to be medium positive, and believed that the number of tourists should increase.