Indicators for measuring tourism intensification in urban areas through their associative network: Case studies from the Spanish Mediterranean coast

Abstract

Clustering of tourism-related activities leads to tourism gentrification because of urban tourism. This study proposes a methodology for identifying pattern of tourism intensification in cities. The main objectives were to conduct an in-depth measurement of tourism intensification and to consider the conflict of interest between stakeholders involved. The proposed indicator system is based on several variables measured by neighbourhoods as territorial units: citizen initiatives, population and tourist accommodations and facilities. All indicators were tested in two Spanish port cities: Malaga and Valencia. Geographic Information System mapping showed common patterns in both cities, such as tertiary use concentrated in the old town, new tourist offers around it, and emerging clusters far away. Statistical analysis showed a high spatial correlation between neighbourhoods with several citizen initiatives and a wide range of Airbnb listings or cultural facilities. The spatial analysis and correlations between tourism intensification indicators may serve as a basis for local administrations to propose an urban policy that deals with overtourism in the short and medium terms. This work serves as a basis for new research on urban tourism: redefinition and addition of variables, as well as further development of comparative case studies or field studies that check the datasets.

A bibliometric analysis of tourism gentrification

“…These include an analysis of its connection with social issues, the polarization occurring within gentrified areas, the involvement of governmental entities, and the phenomenon of displacement. The most recent publication in journal "Sustainability", focused on the interrelationships of Touristification (tantamount with tourist gentrification) and conflicts of interest in tourist areas [21]. A new publication by Cities attempts to provide a scholarly analysis of the political and economic factors influencing the state's involvement in touristification in Lisbon [22].…”

Hacia el edificio de camas: análisis de la evolución de los hostels urbanos de Barcelona

“…En relación con Barcelona, algunas investigaciones evidencian la importancia del turismo en esta ciudad (Álvarez-Sousa, 2021;Chamizo-Nieto et al, 2023;Liberato et al, 2022;López-Gay et al, 2022;Sánchez-Aguilera & González-Pérez, 2021), en particular, en el centro de esta (Crespi-Vallbona & Domínguez-Pérez, 2021), lo que ha ocasionado el desplazamiento de los sectores más vulnerables en beneficio de los más acomodados. En las últimas décadas la industria turística mundial se ha visto transformada por un rápido crecimiento que ha llevado a muchos destinos -como Barcelona-a cuantificar y caracterizar el estado de Fuente: Generalitat de Catalunya (2019a).…”

Touristification and Conflicts of Interest in Cruise Destinations: The Case of Main Cultural Tourism Cities on the Spanish Mediterranean Coast

“…The proposed indicator system (see Table 2) is based on two sets of variables: sociodemographics (I1-3) and tourism intensification (I4-9). Despite the fact that the first three indicators defined do not in themselves measure the degree of tourism intensification, the last two have been considered in recent studies and show the following common urban pattern: the Airbnb offer spreads over those mainly residential areas where (1) protest and resistance movements have emerged against tourism gentrification [83], (2) there was a higher resident population before the eruption of P2P accommodation phenomenon [47], and (3) traditional accommodation such as hotels are in direct competition with shortterm rentals [30]. Thus, data have been aggregated by census tracts as territorial unit of analysis and standardised mainly taking into account the number of residents per 100,000 inhabitants, and just the surface area in hectares in the case of the population (I2) index.…”