Managing a tourism destination is a very complex and difficult task, because, in order to achieve a sustainable model of tourism development, needs of multiple tourism elements must be satisfied. The most important of these elements are the natural and built environment, the local community, tourists and the entire tourism industry. Hence, it is crucial to manage a tourism destination system according to holistic management approach, if sustainability is a goal. In this paper, the emphasis is placed on active involvement of the local population in the strategic management of tourism development, particularly to reduce the negative impacts of tourism and increase positive ones. Objectives of this research are as follows: to examine the attitudes of the local community of Podstrana towards the impacts of tourism development in their destination; then, to examine the statistical relation between observed socio – demographic characteristics of respondents and their attitudes about the impacts of tourism; and at last, contribute to the expansion of awareness about the importance of the local population's role in tourism development on the destination level. The current research of the local population's attitudes towards the impacts of tourism in the Podstrana municipality has proved the following: respondents think that tourism development in their community generates positive economic, socio – cultural and ecological impacts; second, there is a statistically significant difference in the attitudes of the local population about the presence of positive impacts of tourism considering gender and inclusion in tourism activity, but also there is no statistically significant difference considering age, level of education and the exact way of inclusion in tourism.