Tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world is often chosen as a development strategy, especially in countries in development. Countries in development are countries that despite all their potential have a low level of economic, political and sociological development in comparison to the overall development level in the world. By implementing tourism, significant progress regarding employment, equality, foreign income, general life quality and positive influence on other sectors is being noted. When speaking about negative influences, they are mostly manifested in ecological and sociological spheres of life through environmental issues, growth of crime and prostitution statistics, and commercializing original domestic culture. Through sustainable development planning on a long term basis, good results can be accomplished without endangering locals or their habitat. For research purposes, a comparative analysis of four island states that differ in tourism characteristics and tourism share in countriy´s GDP has been conducted. Through the conducted research in this paper, it is clear that having resources is not enough for tourism development. Activities should be planned in order to protect the resources while building the infrastructure necessary for tourism to develop and consequently make positive economic results that will influence the entire country’s economy.