Local residents remain peripheral players in tourism development planning, and exhibit little appreciation of potential impacts. Yet the long-term viability of sustainable initiatives depends on community members’ initial understanding, support and engagement in the planning process. Trust is a key construct that most scholars believe to be critical in gauging and understanding resident support for tourism development. However, limited tourism research has been conducted exploring the dimension of trust. The purpose of this study was to explore the construct of trust, and its antecedents, ability, benevolence, and integrity, in the context of a tourism development project.