ABSTRACT
What individuals do in the present is to a certain degree influenced by their vision of the future, which comprises a dimension of risk perception. This study compares the risk perception of stealth risks and catastrophic risks to the development of a tourism destination. The main distinction between the two types of risk relies on the distribution of the consequences over a longer or shorter timeline. In the case of stealth risks the consequences are diffused whilst in the case of catastrophic risks the consequences are concentrated in time, suggesting the hypothesis that catastrophic risks would be perceived as higher risks to tourism development than stealth risks, given the higher visibility of the consequences. A second hypothesis compares the risk perceptions of the tourists and residents to the tourism development of the destination. The data shows that stealth risks are considered higher risks than catastrophic risks and reveal a wide consistency in the risk perceptions of tourists and residents. These results and other aspects of risk perception as the sense of personal invulnerability and the effect of gender are explored and confronted with the literature and implications to destination management and travel and tourism research are discussed.
