Attitudes of residents towards Russian tourism: The case of Rimini

We present the results of a survey concerning the level of appreciation and consideration enjoyed by Russian tourists among Rimini residents. During 2013, a survey was implemented in the municipality of Rimini on the sustainability of tourism. The survey contained a specific set of items on Russian tourism. The results show a remarkable, virtually unconditional degree of approval of this new component of tourism, with a number of non-negligible differences linked more to demographic than to other factors, such as economic and occupational characteristics or area of residence and therefore proximity to the tourist coastline. The underlying impression is that the boom in Russian tourism is perceived as one of the few circumstances that can get the local economy back on track.