Understanding Residents' Attitudes toward the Development of Industrial Tourism in a Former Mining Community

The topic of residents' attitudes toward tourism development has been analyzed by many authors, but there have been few studies that have included: (1) the impacts resulting from tourism perceived by residents of a particular region in a very early stage of tourism development, where, consequently, this industry is not yet economically important; (2) the relationship between the impacts of tourism perceived by residents and their degree of satisfaction with their community; and (3) a specific tourism segment, such as industrial tourism. The article presented here addresses these gaps in the literature, and focuses attention on the attitudes of the residents of Minas de Riotinto-a locality of the Spanish province of Huelva, traditionally involved in mining activity, which is now in decline and in the very initial phase of tourism development-toward greater development of tourism in their municipality, and on the factors that may determine and explain those attitudes.