ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding the singularity of the so-called micronations as tourism destinations, identifying some factors that act as inputs (external and internal) of their policies on tourism development, and influencing their outputs (such as number and type of visitors). It finds its justification in the fact that the intersection between micronations and tourism is a field in the academic literature almost fully unexplored. As an inductive research designed based on a multi-case study (the responses of six micronations were obtained), an explanatory model was proposed in line with the aim described above, with the potential to be tested in a future hypothetical-deductive investigation. The main findings were four research propositions connecting the type of population or citizenship in a micronation with its approach to tourism and, subsequently, with its tourism development. In this line, the role of the micronation attributes perceived as attractors by potential visitors and those that play the role of constraints or limitations were also considered in the model as moderator variables. Despite its inductive character, an obvious limitation of this study is its exploratory nature supported by a few cases, which cannot represent the whole universe of micronations.