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Measuring residents’ attitude toward sustainable tourism development: a case study of the Gradac River gorge, Valjevo (Serbia)

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to explore the attitudes of the local community towards sustainable tourism development in the protected area River Gradac and examine the effectiveness of the sustainable tourism attitude scale. Sustainable tourism attitude scale (SUS-TAS) is used for analyzing local residents’ attitudes towards sustainable tourism development. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was implemented to determine the dimensions of the sustainable tourism attitude scale. The findings of this study support a seven-dimension SUS-TAS model using 28 items that maintained construct validity and internal consistency. The survey’s results indicate that Gradac River gorge has a really good community to support sustainable tourism activities in each area considered. Research on residents’ attitudes toward tourism development suggests that the support of local residents to be highly important if a community’s tourism industry is to be successful and sustainable in the long-term. The results of this overall research study provided essential management implications for tourism planning of the Gradac River gorge in Serbia including the need to incorporate residents’ attitudes into tourism planning efforts and decision-making. Through understanding residents’ attitudes toward sustainable tourism, it is possible to prioritize management strategies while respecting the needs and rights of the local community.