Evaluating resident attitudes on German industrial heritage and tourism using the sustainable tourism attitude scale in Vojvodina, Serbia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The main aim of this study was to research the way in which the local community members' socio-demographic characteristics, on the one hand, and presentation of the industrial heritage, on the other, shape their perception of sustainable tourism development, based on German industrial heritage. More precisely, the focus was on industrial heritage of a minority population in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia, formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The study assessed knowledge of the industrial heritage of the region, the German contributions, and whether these former sites of production should be developed as tourism offerings. The survey research was conducted in the period between October 2021 and March 2022 using the 44-items Sustainable Tourism Attitude Scale (SUS-TAS) scale, on a sample of 300 members of the local community. Several SUS-TAS factors were identified, and the results may help different stakeholders in tourism and culture. The research results might help to various stakeholders, from local residents to DMOs or institutes for cultural protection, to find the way how to deal with the hidden gems. Also, this paper fills the literature gap, due to the fact that the research was based on SUS-TAS scale, mostly used in nature-based tourism issues.