PERCEPTIONS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS ON THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF TOURISM

The increase in socio-economic effects resulting from the development of tourism has an impact on the local population. They adopt certain attitudes according to directly or indirectly perceived influences. This impact can be considered positive or negative, according to different perspectives. The resident-tourist relationship is an important and much discussed factor recently. The purpose of this study is to analyze the attitudes of local residents towards the development of tourism in the monumental urban area of Gjirokaster. Primary data was collected in a questionnaire survey for residents who have a permanent residence in Gjirokaster in 2024. For data collection, 200 questionnaires were distributed and only 160 questionnaires were collected in total. The data were collected in the period January April 2024. Through the descriptive analysis we obtained a panorama of the characteristics of the sample in the study to analyze the demographics of the respondents according to the data of the structured questionnaire. The respondents also had to answer questions about the positive and negative effects of tourism with a Likert scale from 1-5 (not at all agree, ..., completely agree). In our study, significant positive impacts from the development of tourism have been identified and we see the impact of these positive effects on the quality of their lives as a result of the development of tourism. The research reveals that the local respondents have also perceived some negative impacts from the increase in tourist flows, such as the greater traffic load, the increase in noise, the increase in product prices, etc. We suggest that importance should be given to maintaining good relations between locals and tourists, as this is the cornerstone of sustainable tourism. The attitudes of the local population should be one of the tools to guarantee sustainability against the impacts of tourism development.