Overtourism: evaluation and impact on public policies management

Overtourism is a new vision to understand what is happening in big cities and in traditional touristic destinations because of increasing of tourism and its impact on infrastructures and facilities. It reflects challenges of managing growing tourism flows into urban destinations and the impact of tourism on cities and its residents. UNWTO (United Nation World Tourism Organization) defined overtourism as “the maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic and sociocultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors’ satisfaction”. The growing number of urban tourists rises the use of natural resources, origins socio-cultural impact, and exerts stress on infrastructure, mobility and other facilities. Tourism will be sustainable if “urbanized” and managed considering both tourists and resident communities. This process can be reached through community commitment, overcrowding management, decreasing seasonality, scheduling that respects the limits of capacity and the specificities of each destination, and services diversification. Managing tourism to the advantage of visitors and residents needs could be a fundamental topic for the sector. It is important to understand residents’ approach towards tourism to guarantee the development of successful sustainable tourism strategies.