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Provision of public participation in the process of tourism planning and implementation has been imperatively suggested. To date, however, facilitators and inhibitors of public participation have not been adequately addressed in tourism planning literature. This article proposes that in addition to varied structural and cultural factors, residents' perceptions of the intensity of clientelist relations engaged in by the local authority (e.g., municipality) may alienate active public participation in developmental issues. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypothesized links between perceived intensity of clientelism, residents' assessment of public services, and their participation intentions toward municipality-run projects. Statistically significant inverse relationships between perceived intensity of clientelism and residents' assessment of public services are identified. The results show that an increase in perceived …