Is Overtourism Overused? Understanding the Impact of Tourism in a City Context

Abstract

In less than two years, the concept of overtourism has come to prominence as one of the most discussed issues with regards to tourism in popular media and, increasingly, academia. In spite of its popularity, the term is still not clearly delineated and remains open to multiple interpretations. The current paper aims to provide more clarity with regard to what overtourism entails by placing the concept in a historical context and presenting results from a qualitative investigation among 80 stakeholders in 13 European cities. Results highlight that overtourism describes an issue that is multidimensional and complex. Not only are the issues caused by tourism and nontourism stakeholders, but they should also be viewed in the context of wider societal and city developments. The article concludes by arguing that while the debate on overtourism has drawn attention again to the old problem of managing negative tourism impacts, it is not well conceptualized. Seven overtourism myths are identified that may inhibit a well-rounded understanding of the concept. To further a contextualized understanding of overtourism, the paper calls for researchers from other disciplines to engage with the topic to come to new insights.

Could Smart Tourists Be Sustainable and Responsible as Well? The Contribution of Social Networking Sites to Improving Their Sustainable and Responsible Behavior

“…All networks, infrastructures and other services that were primarily created for use by local populations/residents suffer under increasing influx of tourists looking for tourism activities that are intertwined with local life [3]. Such developments have led to increasing pressures on local stakeholders to deal with tourism growth in multiple high profile destinations (e.g., Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice) and congested attractions (e.g., Mont Saint Michel, France; the Forbidden City, Beijing).…”

“…The phenomenon of overtourism attracted the interest of the tourism industry, stakeholders and academia [5]. In spite of its popularity, the term "overtourism" is overused/abused and not clearly and fully conceptualized [3,4]. A study by Koens et al [3] highlights that the concept of overtourism describes a multidimensional, highly complex and opaque phenomenon, which can be oversimplified by local stakeholders.…”

“…In spite of its popularity, the term "overtourism" is overused/abused and not clearly and fully conceptualized [3,4]. A study by Koens et al [3] highlights that the concept of overtourism describes a multidimensional, highly complex and opaque phenomenon, which can be oversimplified by local stakeholders. The debate on overtourism is essentially about managing negative tourism impacts of tourism overgrowth.…”

“…Academic research indicates that overtourism is a multidimensional issue and should be tackled accordingly [1][2][3]. Studies have been performed to explore the related issues and suggest suitable approaches and strategies to curbing or preventing problems of overtourism.…”

The Discourse on Sustainable Urban Tourism: The Need for Discussing More Than Overtourism

“…Earlier work already highlighted the negative impacts tourism can have on the quality of life in often visited cities like Venice, or in areas, where tourism is developing rapidly and rather uncontrolled [32]. This seems set to be exacerbated further by the debate on overtourism and tourism-phobia [33]. Many papers concerning urban tourism focus on perceptions, either tourist perception or resident perception of the current or wanted state of tourism [34].…”