133 Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies (ISSN: 2220-6140) Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 133-145, October 2016 The Factors of Residents’ Support for Sustainable Tourism Development Musallam Abedtalas *1 , Lokman Tobrak 1 , Sadık Sercek 2 1 Mardin Artuklu University, High School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Turkey 2 Dicle University, Faculty of Economics and Administration Sciences, Diyarbakir, Turkey * abedtalasmus@gmail.com Abstract: )n this paper we examined the factors of residentsǯ support for sustainable tourism development in Mardin city-Turkey, in the context of gender as social structure. We found that people are sensitive about positive and negative effects of tourism, in association with society attachment and involvement, with bigger role for the later. And the perceptions of positive effects reduce their evaluation of the negative effects. Also we found that women are less active in transforming their attitude toward the effects of tourism to behavior toward sustainable tourism. But they are ready, more than men, to support sustainable tourism and ignore its negative effects, in spite of their higher sensitivity for the negative effects. So we recommend raising the role of local community and giving women more chances in the different levels of tourism activities. Keywords: Sustainable tourism development, residents’ attitude, community attachment, community involvement, gender 1. Introduction Economic activities use the natural and human resources to make profit, or satisfy human needs. But the human needs are infinite and resources are limited, this raises the issue of sustainable use of resources or sustainable development. Tourism also is an economic activity and raises the same problem (Amir et al., 2015). In addition, tourism is resource-intensive, so it needs a special attention as it may cause social and environmental problems (Lu and Nepal, 2009). At the same time, compared to other sectors, tourism has a high potentiality in providing (and distributing) income and creating job opportunities for women and marginalized groups, so it may be a positive factor in sustainable development (Liu et al., 2012; Zolfani et al., 2015). The concept of sustainable tourism appeared partially as a reaction to the negative effects of tourism activity and as a way to reduce those effects; it later became an appropriate approach for tourism development (Bramwell and Lane, 1993; Bramwell and Lane, 2012; Zolfani et al., 2015). In its broader term, sustainable tourism is a directive philosophy or a set of principles transferred from sustainable development into tourism (Hardy et al., 2002; Mihalic, 2014; Ruhanen, 2008). The transferring followed the publication of the Brundtland Commissionǯs report ȋOur Common FutureȌ in ͳͻͺ͹ ȋSaarinen, ʹͲͲ͸Ȍ. According to this report the sustainable development is: Dza development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needsdz ȋWCED, 1987, P. 43). So the World Tourism Organization defined sustainable tourism as: DzSustainable tourism development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systemsdz. ȋWTO, ʹͲͲͳ, cited in Liu, ʹͲͲ͵, P.460) There are many different understanding of sustainability, the most important three among them are: resource based, activity based and community based. While the limits of activity are not reached yet, there is a problem in the limits of resources, to overcome this, different types of negotiation and participation of stakeholders and interested groups were used. This approach is called community approach. )t Dzstresses the wider involvement and empowerment of various actors, especially host communities, in development by emphasizing the elements of social capital in a local contextdz ȋSaarinen, ʹͲͲ͸, p.ͳͳ͵ͲȌ. So the stakeholders, especially host community, determine the limits of sustainable development of tourism through the negotiations and participation (Liu, 2003; Saarinen, 2006). In the community based approach the sustainable tourism is not an objective concept, but it is defined in the context of social structures where we have conflict