Social media, media and urban transformation in the context of overtourism

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to document how a traditional residential neighborhood, Ihwa village in Seoul, South Korea, is transformed into a tourist attraction and demonstrate the complexity of the overtourism phenomenon and the multifaceted conflicts among stakeholders that emerged in the course of urban transformation. Particularly, the study explores how tourism growth, urban transformation and overtourism are intertwined with each other and how the role of social media and media contributed to tourism growth and the transformation of an urban neighborhood. Design/methodology/approach The study conducted text analytics (a big data analysis) using personal blogs and news articles. Our data for text analytics was defined to retrieve all news articles and blogs existent in the NAVER portal, the largest Korean portal and search engine, for the period between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2018. The data was collected using a web crawling program, TEXTOM version 3.0. Findings Text analysis of blog entries and news articles suggests that each medium has its unique role and domain to play. While the news media contributed to the initial surge of interest in Ihwa village, genuine growth of tourism in Ihwa village seems to be attributed to social media. Texts that appeared in blogs strongly indicated that people used their blogs to share their trip experiences, which can be subsequently assumed that blogs had an influential role in promoting a small place like Ihwa mural village, while news articles tended to highlight negative or unusual events occurred in Ihwa village. The study also addressed the multifaceted nature of the conflicts that were inherent in the issue of urban regeneration and how those conflicts were developed and manifested in the process of touristification and overtourism in Ihwa village. As touristification can manifest in various forms in different places, the case of Ihwa village demonstrates a unique development of touristification; private tourism companies or tourism agencies did not initiate or intend to cause tourism gentrification. Rather, touristification is a byproduct of urban revitalization through public art and is a result of interplay between the local government’s interest, social media and new tourist demand. Originality/value Text analytics using big data have rarely been attempted to understand the role of social media in relation to tourism growth and touristification of an urban tourism place. This study advances the literature by applying big data analysis to user-generated content in blogs. The study also contributes to the deeper understanding of a different developmental pattern of touristification in an urban tourism place as well as the complexity of the overtourism phenomenon and the multifaceted conflicts among stakeholders.

Arts-led revitalization, overtourism and community responses: Ihwa Mural Village, Seoul

“…With regards to scholarly research, no less than five unpublished theses ( Jeong, 2014 ; Kim, 2016 ; Kim, 2017a ; Kim, 2017b ; Lee, 2015 ) and an equal number of published papers ( Jeong & Kim, 2016 ; Kim & Son, 2017 ; Kim, Son, Lee, & Lee, 2019 ; Oh & Hwang, 2018 ; Woo, Kim, & Nam, 2017 ) in Korean can be found on the area's revitalization, together with a handful of studies published in English ( Kim & Park, 2016 ; Mersmann, 2018 ; Oh, 2020 ). This large body of work has addressed, among other specialized topics ( Kim & Son, 2017 ; Mersmann, 2018 ), the development history of Ihwa ( Lee, 2015 ), resident perceptions towards the cultural regeneration project ( Kim, 2017a ; Kim, 2017b ; Kim & Park, 2016 ), satisfaction levels since the district's transformation ( Jeong, 2014 ; Kim, 2016 ), and the role of social media in making Ihwa Village into a tourist hotspot for photo taking ( Oh, 2020 ) and in contributing to the overtourism problem ( Jang & Park, 2020 ).…”

“…In addition, although focused more on the impact of the village's regeneration on residential satisfaction, Kim and Park's (2016) survey-based study offers an array of quotes from Ihwa's residents, many of which concern tourism and how it has impacted residents' quality of life. More recently, Jang and Park (2020) examine the role of social media in the touristification of Ihwa Village via big data analysis of news articles and personal blogs. Similarly, Oh (2020) analyzes the importance of Instagram and other forms of social media in transforming Ihwa Village into one of South Korea's “best photo spots” for tourists.…”

“…While much has been written on Ihwa Mural Village, few studies have addressed the issue of overtourism, with exceptions being focused on either resident perceptions towards the problem ( Kim & Park, 2016 ; Woo et al, 2017 ) or on the role social media has played in encouraging it ( Jang & Park, 2020 ; Oh, 2020 ). Moreover, few studies have attempted to explain the specific reasons for the dramatic event in 2016 when several individuals attempted to destroy the tourism resource base of their own residential area ( Jeong & Kim, 2016 ).…”

“…Although a recent edited book on the topic ( Milano, Cheer, & Novelli, 2019 ) has contributed to rectifying the scarcity of research outside of Europe, as have a few recently published academic papers ( Cheung & Li, 2019 ; Jang & Park, 2020 ; Kim & Kang, 2020 ; Koh & Fakfare, 2019 ), there is a need for the topic to be further addressed elsewhere, particularly in countries with growing international tourist flows. Despite a steady growth in both international and domestic tourists, to the best of our knowledge published academic research in the English language on this issue in South Korea is limited to two papers on the role of social media in encouraging it ( Jang & Park, 2020 ; Oh, 2020 ) and a paper on anti-tourist attitudes in one such affected destination ( Kim & Kang, 2020 ). The lack of academic research, apart from these very recent exceptions, has been surprising given the frequent Korean-language news media reports that have emerged over the years concerning growing public frustration towards the tourist saturation of popular visitor sites and destinations.…”

“… 2 Much of the literature on murals tourism and mural-based regeneration is focused on the issues of heritage, identity and politics (see Skinner & Jolliffe, 2017 ), authenticity ( Osborne, 2002 ; Park, Hwang, Lee, & Heo, 2018 ; Widdis, 2000 ), economic development ( Koster, 2008 ; Koster & Randall, 2005 ), and place image and place identity ( McCarthy, 2006 ). To date, little has been said about the connections between mural art and overtourism with very recent South Korean exceptions being associated with Ihwa Mural Village ( Jang & Park, 2020 ; Oh, 2020 ) and Gamcheon Culture Village ( Kim & Kang, 2020 ). For a recent overview on the specialized literature on murals, as well as specific insights into common mural policies, practices and regulations, see Mendelson-Shwartz and Mualam (2020) .…”