THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHY IN TOURISM-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE RESEARCH
Authors:   Geographical Institute “Jovan Cvijić” SASA, Department of Social Geography, Belgrade, Serbia, Denda Stefan , Malinić Vladimir ,   University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography, Department of Regional Geography, Belgrade, Serbia
Published: October 2024

Quality of life is a multidimensional construct. This concept has great application and scientific importance. As a research topic, it came into focus in the 1960s in Western countries. At the beginning of the 1980s, the concept was also applied in Central-East European countries, including former Yugoslavia. Through the analysis of numerous indicators, it becomes part of numerous, primarily sociological, and then psychological, political, economic, and geographical research. The basic premise of geography is based on the view that most events during life are connected to a particular space. In the context above, this type of research includes protected natural and cultural entities, mining areas, zones of extensive infrastructure works, and increasingly also zones of intensive tourism development. Therefore, the impact of tourist activities on the quality of life in the local community is becoming increasingly important. Previous research indicates that the perception of the impact of tourism depends on a number of factors, such as residents profile (demographic, economic, socio-cultural), tourism seasonality, degree of destination development (including the type and number of tourists), level of contact and knowledge about the tourism industry, density of construction, years of residence, and others. The need to quantify the relationship between quality of life and tourism has led to the emergence of several standardized instruments that serve for subjective measurement. Among many, the tourism-related quality of life index (2006; TQOL) provides an answer to the nature of the impact of this activity on the lives of individuals. The mentioned instrument was used in several countries, namely the USA (Arizona and Indiana), Portugal (Azores), and Vietnam (City of Hue). In addition to the application at the national level, there is more and more research at the regional and local (municipal) levels. In Serbia, this research was conducted in the area of Western Serbia (Zlatibor tourist region) from December 2020 to September 2021. The survey included 423 respondents with permanent residence in the territory of the municipality of Čajetina. The results suggest that tourism development has a relatively positive effect on most variables of quality of life (4.08/5.00). In accordance with the above, the TQOL index indicates a moderately high average value (25.53/60.00). Therefore, the prevailing view is that tourism stands out as a significant generator of change. It has a predominantly positive connotation, while the obtained findings indicate that the index varies depending on the characteristics of social groups in the local community. The application of this model represents a good basis for further research, not only in this but also in other tourist areas. The results could serve as essential guidelines for formulating public policies and improving the residents’ quality of life.