Sustainable Art Cities and Tourist Attractions: Coping with Overtourism and Promoting Revitalisation

Dear Colleagues,

The sustainability of tourism, and its contribution to sustainable cities, poses challenges and opportunities.  The economics and management of tourism, cultural institutions and heritage sites, and efforts to revitalize cities can provide important insights into sustainability.  Although the term “overtourism” has gained popularity only in recent times, the potential negative externalities of over-dimensioned tourist and excursionist flows have long been investigated. The recent boom of academic contributions on the subject originates from overtourism becoming a real problem (in both urban and rural contexts), as the surge of tourismophobic movements in many European cities testify. The majority of studies focusing on overtourism have so far explored the causes of overtourism and its characterisation. The issue on how to cope with overtourism is less investigated, in spite of the fact that many destinations have by now started experimenting a number of measures and out of these experiences a recent document commissioned by the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) has extracted a first, tentative taxonomy. In particular, what has been overlooked so far is that the challenge to mitigate overtourism is not just confined to local governments, but must involve a large number of actors, in primis the institutions running the cultural and natural attractions causing the large flows of tourists and excursionists, and that coordination among all parties involved is essential.

This special issue opens the debate on new perspectives on the economics and management of tourism, especially cultural tourism, how sustainability challenges (e.g., overtourism, revitalization) have been addressed. We invite both case studies and theoretical and quantitative empirical papers covering emerging and underexplored aspects of policies by governments, cultural institutions, and other local actors aimed at coping with sustainability challenges.

Suggested topics include:

• assessing local policies (e.g., price increases, quantity restrictions, local users vs. others), their political viability
• timing of visitors (day-visitors, seasonality) and overtourism, including stakeholders’ well-being
• sustainable tourism and urban design, transport, and infrastructure: congestion, carrying capacity, funding, strategic planning
• superstar cultural institutions/natural parks: best practices
• contributions and management of tourism to promote sustainable urban development
• role of local authorities and institutions in improving tourism offerings to attract more desirable and sustainable tourism market segments

Scholars who consider submitting a paper to the specail issue are welcome to contact the issue editors with an abstract or a topic idea.

Prof. Dr. Doug Noonan
Prof. Dr. Chiara Dalle Nogare
Prof. Dr. Monika Murzyn-Kupisz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Economics of tourism
• Overtourism
• Cultural tourism
• Urban sustainability