Residents perceptions of the impact of ship tourism and their preferences for different types of tourism

This study aims to investigate how residents in Cagliari (a port of call in the island of Sardinia, Italy) perceive the economic, environmental and socio-cultural impacts (both positive and negative) of cruise tourism and to what extent they would like to support the idea of further cruise tour- ism development within the destination, also making a comparison with other types of tourism. Findings show that residents have overall a posi- tive attitude towards cruise tourism development, and also very little con- cern when negative impacts are considered. However, cruise tourism is not the most preferred when compared with other types of tourism. Further, they highlight that significant differences based on socio- economic and demographic characteristics exist in residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards cruise tourism development and in their preferences for different types of tourism development. Implications for policymakers are discussed and suggestions for further research are given.