Determinants of residents’ preferences in local elections in a tourism destination

Abstract

ABSTRACT Residents represent one of the main stakeholders in a tourism destination. They have the power to influence the planning and development of tourism destinations in many ways. They can contribute to destination development directly, via local initiatives and communities, or indirectly in local government elections. This paper focuses on the indirect method of influencing tourism development. It deals with the relationship among residents’ perception of tourism impact, economic, and socio-demographic profile, and their political preferences in local elections. This paper proposes an integrative model and uses the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) for testing this relationship in Český Krumlov, Czechia. The results confirm the relationships between the perception of tourism benefits and costs and residents’ political preferences in local elections. The main factors affecting residents’ voting decisions were identified as increasing quality of life, additional tax revenue, rising value of residents’ real estate, and overcrowding and disruption of everyday life.