A closer cooperation between citizens, social partners and public authorities to address the challenge of overtourism
Overtourism is going to be a growing concern for European cities, even if the topic it is not entirely new. For instance, Doxey (1975) proposed an ‘irritation index’, an ideal type model mapping the changing perception of residents towards visitors in an area’s touristic life cycle. In the tourism development of a destination Doxey identified four stages of local responses: after initial enthusiasm about the economic benefits of tourism (euphoria), attitudes tend to change with the growth of visitors. After a while, locals get used to tourists and may become indifferent (apathy). But when the number of holidaymakers exceeds a threshold annoyance comes in (irritation) that may even end in hostile feelings vis-à-vis tourists (antagonism). Obviously, the last two phases are relevant for overtourism. Why are some cities more susceptible to be overrun by tourists than other ones?
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