Tourism scholars believe that local perception has been an important subject of research involving tourism industry, despite the fact that there is a great deal of articles and studies on local perception of tourism development. The question is how we can balance preserving the tradition and making the necessary adjustment to provide the needs of the place as a tourist destination without exploiting (use unfairly) the local community and distracting their life. This paper aims to review existing literature on local perception of tourism development and its process. It also discusses influential theories and explains the social exchange theory as an effective framework for the sustainable cultural tourism.
