Overtourism

This chapter aims to provide a brief evolution of the overtourism concept, highlights its enables and its impacts, and then discusses the resulting managerial challenges. The chapter provides a perspective on overtourism based on a review of selected literature on the topic and its related areas. The findings discuss the diverse approaches so far proposed to define overtourism, while outlining the managerial challenges of overtourism. This chapter provides a sound background for researchers and practitioners involved in studying and managing tourism, it discusses the implications of overtourism and provides guidance for future theoretical and empirical research. This contribution offers an overview of research on overtourism and a theoretical framework for those interested in investigating this phenomenon.

This chapter is to review the issue of overtourism in rural areas and to identify key characteristics and impacts of the phenomenon in non-urban settings. The discussion is based on a review of key relevant literature and in particular local and social media reports of the effects of overtourism on local residents and environments, because the recent nature of the occurrence of overtourism in many rural areas has meant that little academic research has been published on this topic. The chapter highlights the importance of evaluating the capacity of local facilities and services to handle increased tourist numbers before promotion and development of tourism take place, and to put into place measures to mitigate potential negative effects of sudden exposure to locations on social media.

Overtourism and under-tourism are inevitable in an era characterized by globalisation, sophistication and emancipation. Overtourism and under-tourism are the outcome of mismanaged destinations, poor planning and lack of coordination. Both are causes to the destruction of a destination and they have to share the responsibilities; after all, different stakeholders nurture contrasting and conflicting interests. Destination management organizations have a key role to play in the game of overtourism and under-tourism. The chapter argues that one of the critical success factors for managing undertourism and overtourism relates to the coordination role played by Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) and international tourism organisations. Moreover, the need for innovation and new approaches in order to be able to compete with established destinations show creative tourism as an option.

The findings suggest that overtourism issues should be analysed at local scale as it is not a problem of the whole destination but a problem that only affects certain locations. The literature review carried out points to previous studies detecting overtourism through the analysis of perceptions or carrying capacities, despite these methodologies present several lacks when identifying the reasons why certain locations are congested. However, recent studies have been able to analyse tourist flows and their characteristics using tracking techniques, and this could help policy makers to understand overtourism. This chapter has implications for destination managers pretending to gather data regarding tourists’ behaviour. It can also help future research aimed to solving overtourism and congestion issues.

In the past two decades, significant public investments in cultural infrastructure and events encouraged the private sector to consider new investment opportunities in Valletta, particularly in short-term rental accommodation, catering establishments and boutique hotels. In recent years, there was a sharp increase in boutique hotels, tourism rentals and catering establishments. Increased tourism activity reduced liveability for Valletta residents. The research finds that there are the initial signs of overtourism and that this is a source of concern, mainly to Valletta residents and to persons with an interest in urban heritage. If no action is taken to mitigate, it is likely that some of the negative impacts will become severe and unacceptable.

The aim of this chapter is to illustrate the use of a Destination Management Organisation (DMO) Website as a tool of social tension mediator. From a methodological point of view, this chapter has adopted an exploratory qualitative approach in order to gain in-depth information regarding the phenomenon. As a tool of social innovation, a DMO Website has a strong potential in terms of helping destination to overcome social tensions. Findings show how a DMO Website could ensure the e-governance of the destination and experience co-creation by the stakeholders’ active participation. This chapter presents directives for DMO managers with precise examples in order to overcome social tensions and tackle overtourism.

In their communications, international organisations (UNWTO, UNESCO, OECD and WTTC) put emphasis on the economic growth of tourism. Sustainable development and inclusion of local population are debated, but the concept of gentrification of city centers is forgotten. However, step by step, since the beginning of 2019, these organisations are becoming aware of the dangers and challenges of overtourism, not only in cities, also in natural and rural destinations. This chapter reveals that, through their communication, international organisations are under the pressure of Destination Marketing Organisations (DMO) and the lobbying of the tourism private sector. Nevertheless, they try to push, through examples of best practices, the concept of governance. This also means the updating of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.

Negative impacts associated with allowing mass numbers of people into one area occur in a variety of ways. Overcrowding at an attraction creates issues with vandalism, litter, theft and degradation of the site, which in turn impedes tourists from experiencing full satisfaction with the destination due to these problems. In addition, destinations may become more commercialized in order to provide goods and services to tourists to generate more profits, causing a loss of the traditional culture and values of the destination. As a result, some of the more popular tourist destinations have increase fees, imposed fines, staggered hours of entrance and exit times, have hired educated staff members and have partnered with organisations to alleviate the negative impacts associated with overtourism at their heritage and cultural sites.

Overtourism is currently a topic of high interest to tourism researchers and stakeholders as tourism growth in city centres is causing social effects perceived as negative by some residents as it impacts their quality of life. Tourism scholars and stakeholders are challenged to develop policy to address this perceived excessive number of visitors. Some options previously discussed are to divert tourist flows to less frequently visited areas and to prevent tourist actions perceived as misbehaviour. In this chapter, an alternative approach is adopted based on development of creative tourism, a type of community-led tourism driven by endogenous creative assets and people. Creative tourism utilises living intangible culture in a new way to provide the basis for product innovation and a more sustainable tourism in cities.

This chapter conceptualises the idea of “tourismphobia” by exploring the interactions between visitors and locals in the context of overtourism in order to understand the growth of anti-tourism movements. The study develops our understanding of tourismphobia from a psycho—social angle and provides recommendations to destinations to overcome the tourismphobia issue and advance sustainable development of tourism by facilitating convergence between locals and tourists through organising events which facilitate the creation of intangible shared values. The findings of this chapter could be useful to practitioners, as the study proposes an analysis of tourismphobia, which is useful, as it can inform decision making.

This chapter explores the phenomenon of “overtourism” in relation to the North Coast 500 (NC500) – a popular “road trip” route around Scotland’s Northern Highlands. The chapter’s findings can be summarised as follows. Firstly, there is clear anecdotal evidence of negative impacts along the NC500 route, principally relating to increased traffic on unsuitable roads. Secondly, three available solutions have the potential to at least partly offset these impacts: (limited) government funding, car parking charges, and a Transient Visitor Levy (TVL), Thirdly, however, the terrain through which the NC500 passes places limitations on the potential effectiveness of car parking charges and a TVL as solutions, such that promoting alternative destinations or types of tourism may act as alternatives.

The objective of this chapter is to highlight the paradox of labeling in the tourism field, and this, in the perspective of sustainable tourism. Indeed, if the label helps to save tourist sites by a lack of notoriety and therefore attendance, it causes inconvenience related to overtourism. This is particularly the case of the “World Heritage of UNESCO” label. In fact, by definition the tourist sites benefiting from this label are fragile or even threatened, but the labeling can generate an over-satisfaction damaging to the sustainability of the site in question. Obtaining the label for this tourist destination has allowed to revive an ancestral heritage born in tenth century, but at the same time engendered nuisances related to over-frequentation by tourists and pilgrims to the point of running the risk of a denaturation of the spirit of this pilgrimage.

This chapter aims to address a gap in literature on utilising tourist education to address overtourism. It introduces the concept of overtourism education (OE): the process of increasing awareness among tourists about how their behaviours and choices could alter the sociocultural and environmental aspects of the destinations that they visit. From a destination management perspective, a proposed model of OE could serve as a comprehensive template to prevent the occurrence of common issues related to overtourism in a wide range of destinations. OE contributes a novel concept in tourism literature by combining strategies derived from educational psychology and marketing to solve overtourism.

With initiatives such as Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME), educational institutions have assumed the role in contributing towards a sustainable world. With effective implementation of the six principles in tourism education, it is expected that graduates would develop responsible attitude and take decisions in consideration with socio-economic and environmental sustainability. Education of not only the tourists but also of the tourism stakeholders is vital and plays an important role in sustainable development of a tourist destination. With frequent instance of overtourism been reported, it becomes necessary that business schools take initiative to come up with programmes under the PRME platform, hold discussions with stakeholders, introduce courses on community involvement and sustainable tourism to better deal with the phenomenon.

Overtourism is a systemic indicator of failure in the process of planning and destination management and temporary patchworks will not solve it. Inclusive Sustainable Tourism is proposed as a lasting intervention to address the evil of Overtourism. Cultural analysts call the attention on over-tourism as a post-modern social malady which exhibits the decline of the social bondage. This vantage point needs to meet with the more pragmatic ones advanced by tourism management practitioners and find an agreeable middle ground. It is believed that both sides find agreement in the need for providing appropriate educational interventions to overcome the problem of Overtourism.

The aim of this chapter is to discuss whether the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) can potentially be an integral part of strategies addressing the issue of overtourism. The chapter demonstrates that the PRME can be used as a supporting tool as its principles potentially constitute and underscore the significance of a responsible and sustainable world. As such, they can play a crucial role in drawing the attention of higher education institutions and industry practitioners towards achieving the SDGs, while dealing with the issue of overtourism through education. The chapter also shows that as the measures and targets of the PRME are also in alignment with the SDGs, they can be considered as a highly effective tool in helping overcome the problem of overtourism.

This chapter examines Kenya’s tourism management education pedagogies and sustainable tourism curricula design for sustained behavioral change in Kenya’s tourism sector. It also explores how can we mainstream overtourism education and innovative design thinking in the current tourism education pedagogy in Kenya. The tourism sector in Kenya is strategically aligned to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, tourism management education curricula are not adapted towards addressing the dynamic development needs of the sector. This chapter proposes a standardized national tourism management curriculum and adoption of Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) that focusses to integrate ethics, innovation and design skills to address the problem of overtourism. Solutions to Overtourism paradox can only be sustained when managers address the problem using a differentiated design thinking strategy.

Existing research on overtourism has so far studied the phenomenon mainly from a tourism industry point of view. This chapter adopts a new stand by investigating overtourism from an educational angle. This chapter offers an inductive investigation of sustainability education on tourism courses in Higher Education (HE). As a tool PRME has a strong potential in terms of helping to achieve sustainability, not only in tourism but also in other industries. As far as tourism is concerned, and more specially, tourism education, PRME is not yet a norm or a panacea. It is suggested that for sustainability education to be more strongly embedded in HE provision, PRME needs to develop as a ‘must have’ accreditation.

Overtourism and under-tourism are inevitable in an era characterized by globalisation, sophistication and emancipation. Overtourism and under-tourism are the outcome of poor planning, mismanaged destinations and lack of coordination. Both have shared responsibilities in destroying a destination, as different stakeholders nurture contrasting and conflicting interests. Destination Marketing Organizations have a key role to play in the game of overtourism and under-tourism. Negative impacts associated with allowing mass numbers of people into one area occur in a variety of ways. Overcrowding at an attraction creates issues with vandalism, litter, theft and degradation of the site, which in turn impedes tourists from experiencing full satisfaction with the destination. In addition, destinations may become more commercialized in order to provide goods and services to tourists to generate more profits causing a loss of the traditional culture and values of the destination. As a result, some of the more popular tourist destinations have increased fees, imposed fines, staggered hours of entrance and exit times, have hired educated staff members and have partnered with organisations to alleviate the negative impacts associated with overtourism at their heritage and cultural sites.