RESIDENTS' SUPPORT FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN A PORTUGUESE HISTORIC TOWN

This study depicts some antecedents of residents' support for tourism development (STD) underlying the importance of residents' trust in government actors involved in tourism planning and development in the context of historic towns. The study proposes a conceptual framework that explores the relationships between community attachment, local government management of tourism, perceived tourism impacts, trust in government actors, and STD. Data collection was carried out by personal survey applied to 150 residents of the small historic town of Lamego, located within the Portuguese Douro Valley World Heritage Site. Structural equation modeling method was employed to analyze the proposed model. Results suggest that residents' trust in government actors had a significant effect on STD. Residents' perceptions of the tourism benefits positively influenced their STD, and residents' perceptions of the tourism costs negatively affected their STD. The results support the relationship between community attachment and trust in government actors. Also, community attachment significantly and positively influenced tourism benefits. Perceived effective local government management of tourism had a strong significant effect on the residents' trust in government actors. Moreover, residents' perceived effective local government management of tourism was a significant determinant of perceived tourism benefits, but did not significantly predict perceived tourism costs.