Overtourism and the Local Community Well-Being

Abstract

This chapter aims to provide a general overview of overtourism relatedimpacts on local communities' well-being in nature-based tourism destinations. It emphasises the interdependencies of multiple stakeholder groups and the need for their collaboration to address the contemporary challenges. To deliver our conclusions, we analyse the Mediterranean area and survey relevant literature addressing overtourism with particular attention paid to the nature-based tourism destinations and local communities' well-being. The recent literature relates the concept of overtourism with detrimental effects on the destination level. While the tourism-induced environmental and economic impacts have been extensively addressed in the relevant literature, the sociocultural impact, especially in the context of European protected areas, remained unattended. Thus, this chapter focuses on the impacts of overtourism on local communities and their quality of life and well-being. Protected areas in vibrant tourism regions, especially those near the coast, need management approaches that will enable usage-protection equilibrium and local communities' well-being. They often represent a setting for communities' rites, rituals, customs, and traditions associated with their spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental health. The overuse by the tourism industry can disrupt the essence of the locale. In these fragile but complex ecosystems, local communities often take on the indispensable responsibility of nature protection stewardship. Therefore, nature-based tourism development should be based on its capacity to annul and prevent the negative impacts of overtourism, especially in the context of local communities. This chapter builds upon scholarly and managerial perspectives to foster the understanding of overtourism-related challenges and discuss potential responses in the Mediterranean protected areas.