Overcoming overtourism in Europe: Towards an institutional-behavioral research agenda

Abstract

A number of European tourist destinations have become the subject of a public debate on overtourism. The present article argues that problems discussed under the overtourism debate cannot be solved by limiting tourist numbers alone. Rather, the article calls for multidimensional strategies that build on a vision of qualitative tourism development shared by various coalitions of agents. Such a vision should consider which forms of tourism to encourage and which ones to discourage, and what incentives and disincentives to set. Designing and implementing these strategies raises a number of questions that can be grouped under the four dimensions of policies, organization, institutions, and behavior. Institutional approaches known from economic geography can serve to analyze the prospects of policies, and insights from behavioral economics such as the nudging approach can serve to inform policy implementation. These approaches are related to organizational and policy-related aspects of qualitative tourism development. By following the analytical framework provided by the four dimensions mentioned, the article proposes a research agenda for policy-relevant studies on curbing or preventing problems of overtourism.

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“…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].…”

“…The debate on overtourism is essentially about managing negative tourism impacts of tourism overgrowth. It is believed that the management of tourism flows in cities and other destinations to the benefit of visitors and residents alike is a fundamental issue for the tourism industry [5]. The imperative of tackling overtourism goes along with the strategic aim of sustainable development and management of tourism at the destination level.…”

“…Further, tourists themselves must be considered in the matrix of evolution and change in order to tackle or avoid overtourism [2]. It is critical to analyze and influence the tourists' behavior, as well as to understand the perception of residents' attitude towards tourism, in order to implement successful sustainable tourism strategies and to manage visitor's growth in destinations [1,5].…”

“…Studies have been performed to explore the related issues and suggest suitable approaches and strategies to curbing or preventing problems of overtourism. The main recommendations/suggestions are outlined hereafter and classified into two main fields [1, 2,5]. The first field is the hosting area/destination.…”

“…Other approaches focus on the need to diversify forms of tourism and the building of proper relations between the interested parties involved in tourism. Another suggestion by Benner [5] is to elaborate a strategic vision for sustainable tourism development, and then adopt multidimensional strategies that build on a vision of qualitative tourism development shared by various partnerships of stakeholders. All dimensions-policies, organization, institutions, and behavior of stakeholders and tourists-of planning, developing and managing tourism activity in a sustainable manner-should be considered and addressed properly [5].…”