Segmenting local residents by perceptions of tourism impacts in an urban World Heritage Site: the case of Dubrovnik

Abstract

ABSTRACT The analysis of residents’ attitudes is an important concept in tourism development, especially in destinations that are highly dependent on tourism and where the negative socio-cultural impacts are usually ignored and neglected. The main purpose of this paper is to determine different segments of local residents permanently living inside an urban World Heritage Site (WHS), according to their attitudes towards the socio-cultural impacts of tourism. Cluster analysis and ANOVA were used for data analysis. The findings of the cluster analysis indicate the existence of three segments of local residents based on their attitudes towards tourism's positive and negative socio-cultural impacts. The ANOVA results show significant differences between segments according to their age, monthly income, the length of residence, support for current tourism development and support for cultural tourism development. The findings of this paper may contribute to the harmonization of local tourism development and local residents’ quality of life in urban WHSs, as well as to local authorities in the process of future tourism planning in urban UNESCO protected sites.