It is a system that was developed by George Doxey in the year 1975.

It is based on having an

awareness of how local residents feel about – for example, their shifting attitude toward tourists

and the growth of tourism over the many stages of a destination's life cycle. The Irridex model

indicates that residents’ attitudes toward tourism would change over time within a predictable

one-way sequence. It starts off positive and ends up negative, with attitudes sliding from one end

to the other as time passes.

It was a four-step timeline as follows:

1. Euphoria

In the beginning of the process, the locals of the destination may experience euphoria (a

positive feeling) when they think about the potential for tourism in their area. There is a

sense of excitement and anticipation, particularly if there are plans to fund new

developments in the area.

2. Apathy

Apathy is the second stage of irritation on Doxey's Irritation Index. This is a somewhat

neutral emotion, but one that leans still toward the positive side, and at this point, more

official contact with tourists begins to occur. The locals will start to view these tourists as

a potential source of both revenue and investment in their community.

3. Annoyance

As is well known, annoyance is a relatively unfavourable feeling, which brings us to the

third section of the Irridex. At first, irritation will most likely be very low, but as time

goes on, people will most likely start to experience much more unpleasant feelings of it.

Residents will start to notice the negative effects that the tourism sector has on their

community, such as overcrowding, an increase in the amount of traffic, littering, and

 investments that are made in visitor activities and amenities rather than things that the

residents require.

4. Antagonistic

Antagonism is the third and final stage of Doxey's Irritation Index. When things are at

their worst, which is when people are genuinely expressing their dissatisfaction in a

variety of different ways. It is commonly believed that visitors are to blame for any issues

that arise in a certain location.