Overtourism: Causes, Consequences and Implications for the Future of the Tourism Industry

Since its inception, the tourism industry has been involved in a complex paradox. The need to expand the tourism market to new niches, while amassing profits, and the indissoluble question of sustainability are considered by specialists as antithetical. In a world mainly marked by global crises, wars, conflicts, and ecological tragedy, tourism plays a leading role in more sustainable practices and consumption. The industry is facing serious problems because of over-tourism and overcrowding. Over-tourism should be seen as congestion in the site from an excess of tourists or visitors, generating serious disputes with locals. Local communities, which often go through the multiplication of visitors, experience effects associated with the erosion of cultural and urban heritage, the uncontrolled proliferation of accommodations as well as the increase in living costs. Many classic destinations are being degraded by the negative effects of mass tourism. Recently, some reports alerted the emergence of an anti-tourist discourse derived from locals´ discontent. This sentiment of hostility has been aggravated just after the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, experts have called attention to the urgency to implement appropriate (efficient) measures to deal with tourism. The present book contains chapters written by well-known specialists in over-tourism while offering an all-encompassing model to understand this complex urban phenomenon. The future of the tourism industry depends on how the question of over-tourism is resolved in the next decades.