The study aims to examine the role of socio-demographic characteristics on the host community's perception of tourism impacts in heritage tourism destinations of a developing country. The variables discussed are age, gender, religion, level of education, length of stay in the community, and involvement in the tourism sector. A questionnaire survey method was adopted, and 450 samples were collected from three host communities of Puri, a heritage destination in eastern India. The analysis was carried out using descriptive methods like distribution of the mean, frequency, etc., and statistical techniques like t-test, one-way ANOVA, post-hoc test, etc. were used. The findings revealed religiosity as the most significant variable influencing the host community’s perception. The study also found level of education, and length of stay in the community as significantly influential variables. The study's findings will contribute to the literature on tourism impact assessment for heritage destinations in developing countries. It also offers practical implications for policymakers and destination managers in planning tourism development strategies.

The study aims to develop a host community’s support model for tourism development based on the principles of Social Exchange Theory for heritage tourism destinations in a developing country. For the case study, three communities from the Puri region, a popular heritage tourism destination of eastern India, are selected. The survey instrument was a questionnaire survey, and 450 samples were collected. A scale was developed to measure the host community’s attitudes and perceptions. The measurement scale comprises seven factors: six exogenous factors: Economic Impact; Positive Socio-Cultural Impact; Development and Maintenance of Heritage and Infrastructure; Image of the Region; Negative Socio-Cultural Impact; Environmental Issues, and one endogenous factor: Support for Tourism Development. The structural relationship between exogenous factors and endogenous factors was examined through Structural Equation Modelling. The result confirmed that the perceived tourism impacts significantly influence the host community’s attitude. The findings suggest that when the host community perceives the positive tourism impacts, their support for tourism development gets influenced positively and vice versa. This confirms the explanatory power of the perceived tourism impacts to explain the host communities’ attitude toward tourism development and the applicability of Social Exchange Theory. However, the findings contradict Butler’s Tourism Area Life Cycle model in describing the host community’s attitude toward the destination in the development stage.