Tourism development and residents’ well-being: Comparing two seaside destinations in Italy

There is now growing empirical evidence that tourism development affects residents’ attitudes to tourism and individuals’ perceived well-being. Building on previous studies, this article wishes to ascertain whether this phenomenon is common to different destinations or is site-specific. To this aim, a propensity score method is implemented. The empirical analysis is based on a two-step survey (pre-, and peak-tourism season) carried out in two seaside destinations in Italy where tourism is a major economic sector. While results demonstrate that residents’ happiness is endangered by tourism development, this article evidences that this stylized fact shows some peculiarities that are site-specific. It follows that socioeconomic and cultural characteristics, history and type of tourist development matter and have to be considered in developing any tourism policy.