Overtourism Effects: Positive and Negative Impacts for Sustainable Development
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Overtourism Effects: Positive and Negative Impacts for Sustainable Development Ivana Damnjanović Faculty of Health and Business Studies, Singidunum University, Valjevo, Serbia
Synonyms Responsible tourism; Tourism overcrowding; Tourism-phobia; Tourist-phobia
Definitions Tourism today is paradoxically dominated by two opposite aspects: its sustainable character and overtourism. Since its creation by Skift in 2016 (Ali 2016), the term “overtourism” has been a buzzword in media and academic circles, although it may only be a new word for a problem discussed over the past three decades. Overtourism is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon destructive to tourism resources and harmful to destination communities’ wellbeing through overcrowding and overuse (Center for Responsible Travel 2018; International Ecotourism Society 2019) as certain locations at times cannot withstand physical, ecological, social, economic, psychological, and/or political pressures
of tourism (Peeters et al. 2018). Overtourism is predominantly a problem producing deteriorated quality of life of local communities (Responsible Tourism n.d.; The International Ecotourism Society 2019; UNWTO 2018), but also diminishes the quality of tourist experience (Responsible Tourism n.d.; UNWTO 2018). On the other hand, sustainable tourism takes into consideration both the current state of affairs and their future scenarios. It focuses on addressing the needs of the entire array of tourism-related stakeholders, tourists included, in terms of its economic, social, and environmental impacts (Global Sustainable Tourism Council 2017; UNEP and UNWTO 2005, pp. 11–12). Also referred to as responsible tourism, it emphasizes its positive influence on local communities’ lives and efforts to minimize negative impacts on the environment (Center for Responsible Travel 2018; The Travel Foundation 2016). Their definitions lead to the conclusion that sustainable tourism and overtourism are two sides of the same coin and that the former has the capacity to annul the negative effects arising from the latter.
Introduction Since the beginning of its recorded history, tourism development has been keeping its momentum with only a few incidents of slowdown. It is
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71059-4_112-1
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Overtourism Effects: Positive and Negative Impacts for Sustainable Development
forecasted that it will keep up the upward trend in the decades to come. In the 1950s there were only 25 million international tourist arrivals, compared to 1.4 billion in 2018 (World Tourism Organization 2019). By generating 1.3 trillion US$ revenue with additional 240 billion US$ from international tourist transport (World Tourism Organization 2018c), tourism has become one of the key global economy drivers. Tourism growth has outpaced the average global economy growth rate for the eighth consecutive year accounting for 10.4% of glo
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