An Empirical Analysis of Edu-Tourism as a Potential Sustainable Option- A View from Residents: The Case of North Cyprus

The review of the related studies in respect the tourism indicated that more attention has devoted to the perceptions and attitudes of people from different communities toward tourism. Many of these studies have concentrated generally on tourism and particularly alternative tourism. The current study aimed to investigate the perceptions of the resident in respect to socio-cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability of Edu-tourism. This study in somehow contribute the literature of Edu-tourism and it examines the perceptions of the residents in respect to the tourism in Northern of Cyprus. The participants of this study were 300 residents that were surveyed in the city of Famagusta in Northern Cyprus to find out their attitudes and perceptions in respect to the sustainability of Edu-tourism. For analyzing the perceptions of the residents of the social, economic and environmental effects of edu-tourism, ANOVA and Cramer’s V tests were employed. Moreover, the effect of the socio-demographic characteristics of the residents on their perceptions and attitudes was also investigated. The results of this study showed that the residents have different attitudes in respect to the sustainability of edu-tourism and they mostly have a positive view about edu-tourisms. Keywords: residents’ perception, edu-tourism, community impacts, sustainability, edu-tourism destination.