Tourism destinations, especially those subject to climate and weather conditions, are experiencing serious seasonality issues, and the best way to address these issues is through counter-seasonal strategies (Andriotis, 2005; Butler, 2001; Šegota & Mihalič, 2018). Many authors argue that tourism development and planning should be more inclusive for local residents (Murphy, 1985; Tosun, 2006). However, these decisions are still up to the tourism managers and governments concerned, whereas, as destination hosts, local residents have scarce say in the processes of identifying counter-seasonal strategies due to still feeling uninformed or uninvolved in decision-making activities (Šegota, Mihalič, & Kuščer, 2017). Hence, the main purpose of this study is to provide the perspective of local residents on mechanisms that are needed for transforming a mass tourism destination into the upscale, all-year-round holiday community. This study is framed as a qualitative exploratory research style with local residents’ interviews as the main data source. Data were collected in two mainland coastal destinations – Rovinj in Croatia and Piran in Slovenia. From the findings, it is suggested that local residents might be a valuable resource of opinions and ideas when community's tourism development in relation to seasonality is being questioned. Increasing the quality of private accommodation, and diversification of cultural and outdoor activities are important factors in mitigating seasonality
