Tourism is often prescribed as a powerful catholicon for socio-economic development of island states (Chen et al., 2011; Ribeiro et al., 2013). Although tourism provides some benefits for residents and destinations, its introduction creates adverse impacts as a by-product of its functioning that erodes sustainable development goals (Alipour et al., 2020); therefore, in order to minimize the unintended impacts, the involvement of all stakeholders in the planning process is recommended by many scholars (e.g. Chang & Mak, 2018; Cusick, 2009; Ribeiro et al., 2018). Amongst the many stakeholders einvolved in the sustainable tourism management of an island, residents have been considered as the most important and effective, without whom any plans towards sustainable development goals may be doomed to failure (Lalicic & Önder, 2018). Investigating the attitude of residents about the impacts of any development plan is gaining momentum in tourism, as an essential concern in managing and marketing sustainable tourism products and services (Chen & Chen, 2010; Choi & Murray, 2010; Kebete & Wondirad, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015). Accordingly, the literature has been enriched with a variety of different studies related to residents’ attitudes, interactions with tourists and different aspects of sustainable development, yet the ambiguity in the perception of these topics by locals is far from adequately explored (Eusebio et al., 2018). Therefore, it is imperative to delve into the host-tourist interactions to have a richer understanding of the residents’ role in sustainable tourism development. Notably, it is vital to consider tourism as one of the biggest industries considered beneficial in developing countries and small state islands due to political and development nature of these areas, yet, there is a lack of adequate studies specifically in the developing nations (Akhshik et al., 2020; Sirivongs & Tsuchiya, 2012).
Green Tourism in the Context of Sustainable Development and the Challenges Posed by the Global Economic Crisis
