Overtourism: Between the Right to Travel and Residents’ Rights

Abstract

Debates on overtourism, as a challenging phenomenon, are becoming more and more active. The purpose of this integrative review paper is to discuss the right to travel and residents’ rights in the context of overtourism and sustainable tourism, analyzing different scientific and legal sources. The integrative review analysis shows that overtourism and sustainable tourism are important contexts influencing the changing meaning of the right to travel and the right to live. On the one hand, the overtourism context makes the voices of residents more important to be heard, while on the other hand the sustainable tourism context influences the discussion of the right to travel, asking tourist voices to be considered more important. The results of this integrative review also shows the importance of rethinking the concept of sustainability in tourism as a holistic principle of democracy and as a degrowth movement, and opens the broader discussion for future tourism research development. The problem of overtourism could be solved by striving to develop sustainable tourism goals, thus balancing equality between the right to travel and residents’ rights. The presented integrative review paper is a preliminary work; further research is needed in order to find possible concrete solutions for overtourism.

“The Overwhelmed City”: Physical and Social Over-Capacities of Global Tourism in Venice

“…These are superficially associated with tourismphobia, especially by the media and some politicians. Recently, new contributions regarding the different aspects of overtourism have emerged [63][64][65][66][67][68], underlining the impacts on residents' communities and the aggravation of the consequences of uncontrolled tourism growth in urban and cultural destinations.…”

The Perception of Overtourism from the Perspective of Different Generations

“…It should be emphasized that stakeholders have different levels of awareness about the economic benefits of sustainability. This is confirmed by the results of research that showed that the perceptions of the sustainability of the stakeholders involved in rural tourism development were very different [20]. Moreover, tourism enterprises often lack awareness of how efforts and investment in sustainable business operations can also significantly boost competitiveness and profitability, while increasing customer and host community satisfaction [3].…”

“…It becomes necessary to conduct research in the field of sustainability in tourism, which is emphasized in the literature [20]. In particular, research on tourists' awareness of their impact on sustainable development appears to be important.…”

“…Tourists visit areas of natural and cultural interest, as well as for entertainment. More and more tourists visit residential areas [18], while entertainment attractions are located in many places to encourage tourists to travel and provide them with joy [20]. The increase in the number of visiting tourists, as well as the development of spending time, will have an effect on other sectors of the economy and enterprises.…”

(Ne)održivi (ruralni) turizam: studija slučaja Ličko-senjske županije

“…Briefl y, the issue that overtourism as a concept describes is the excessive negative impact of tourism on host communities and / or the natural environment (Koens et al, 2018). In their theoretical work, authors Perkumiene and Pranskuniene (2019) polemically examine the concepts of overtourism and sustainable tourism. Th ey conclude that the overtourism context places greater emphasis on hearing the voices of residents, while on the other hand the sustainable tourism context entails discussions of the right to travel, according greater importance to tourist voices.…”