STUDY Requested by the TRAN committee Research for TRAN Committee - Overtourism: impact and possible policy responses Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies Directorate-General for Internal Policies EN PE 629.184 - October 2018 Research for TRAN Committee - Overtourism: impact and possible policy responses Abstract This study addresses the complex phenomenon of overtourism in the EU. By focusing on a set of case studies, the study reports on overtourism indicators, discusses management approaches implemented within different destinations and assesses policy responses. It concludes that a common set of indicators cannot be defined because of the complex causes and effects of overtourism. Avoiding overtourism requires custom-made policies in cooperation between destinations' stakeholders and policymakers. This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN). AUTHORS Paul PEETERS, Stefan GÖSSLING, Jeroen KLIJS, Claudio MILANO, Marina NOVELLI, Corné DIJKMANS, Eke EIJGELAAR, Stefan HARTMAN, Jasper HESLINGA, Rami ISAAC, Ondrej MITAS, Simone MORETTI, Jeroen NAWIJN, Bernadett PAPP and Albert POSTMA. Research manager: Beata Tuszyńska Project and publication assistance: Adrienn Borka Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies, European Parliament LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN ABOUT THE PUBLISHER To contact the Policy Department or to subscribe to updates on our work for the TRAN Committee please write to: [email protected] Manuscript completed in October 2018 © European Union, 2018 This document is available on the internet in summary with option to download the full text at: http://bit.ly/2srgoyg This document is available on the internet at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=IPOL_STU(2018)629184 Further information on research for TRAN by the Policy Department is available at: https://research4committees.blog/tran/ Follow us on Twitter: @PolicyTRAN Please use the following reference to cite this study: Peeters, P., Gössling, S., Klijs, J., Milano, C., Novelli, M., Dijkmans, C., Eijgelaar, E., Hartman, S., Heslinga, J., Isaac, R., Mitas, O., Moretti, S., Nawijn, J., Papp, B. and Postma, A., 2018, Research for TRAN Committee - Overtourism: impact and possible policy responses, European Parliament, Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies, Brussels Please use the following reference for in-text citations: Peeters et al. (2018) DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorized, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. Overtourism: impact and possible policy responses CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 7 LIST OF FIGURES 11 LIST OF MAPS 12 LIST OF TABLES 14 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 15 1 INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITION 19 1.1 Introduction, aim and objectives 19 1.2 Report outline 21 1.3 Definition of overtourism 21 1.4 Conceptual model 22 2 OVERTOURISM: CURRENT KNOWLEDGE 24 2.1 The origin of the term ‘overtourism’ 24 2.2 Causes of overtourism 27 2.3 Overtourism and destinations 29 2.4 Overtourism concerns from ETC members 36 2.5 Overview of the impacts of overtourism 37 3 MEASURING OVERTOURISM AND ITS RISKS 41 3.1 Introduction 41 3.2 Methods and data sources 42 3.3 The extent of overtourism in the world 45 3.4 Indicators of overtourism 49 3.5 Early warning tool 74 4 OVERVIEW OF CASE STUDIES 80 4.1 Introduction 80 4.2 The ETC survey list 81 4.3 Statistical analysis of case studies 83 4.4 Impacts of overtourism based on the case studies 88 4.5 Measures taken by local authorities 93 4.6 Best practices 98 3 IPOL | Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies 5 POLICY RESPONSES TO OVERTOURISM 99 5.1 Introduction 99 5.2 Approach to the policy assessment 99 5.3 Policy inputs from the sector 100 5.4 EU policy response categories to overtourism 101 6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 107 6.1 Introduction 107 6.2 Overview of the overtourism situation in the EU 108 6.3 Overtourism indicators based on the data-study 108 6.4 Case study conclusions 109 6.5 Key issues likely to be of concern for EP TRAN Committee 110 REFERENCES 113 I OVERTOURISM MAPS 125 I.1 Test NUTS coding Airbnb and booking.com databases 125 I.2 Map overview global cases 126 I.3 Map tourism density 127 I.4 Maps tourism intensity 128 I.5 Map growth of number of bed-nights 129 I.6 Map combined bed-nights growth and intensity 130 I.7 Map share of Airbnb in total accommodation 131 I.8 Map distance to Airbnb accommodation 132 I.9 Map air transport intensity 133 I.10 Map tourism revenues share of GDP 134 I.11 Map growth of air transport 135 I.12 Map air transport seasonality 2016 136 I.13 Map air transport seasonality 2017 137 I.14 Map with airports, World Heritage Sites and OT destinations 138 I.15 Map of cases against global tourism density 139 I.16 Map of cases against global tourism intensity 140 II HEAT MAP NUTS 2 REGIONS 141 III CASE STUDY DETAILS 150 IV CASE STUDIES 153 IV.1 Ayia Napa, Cyprus 153 IV.2 Bagan, Myanmar 156 4 Overtourism: impact and possible policy responses IV.3 Bled, Slovenia 158 IV.4 Bruges Historic Centre, Belgium 160 IV.5 Bucharest, Romania 162 IV.6 Budapest, Hungary 164 IV.7 Byron Bay, Australia 166 IV.8 Cinque Terre, Italy 168 IV.9 Copenhagen, Denmark 170 IV.10 Dublin, Ireland 173 IV.11 Echternach, Luxembourg 176 IV.12 Geirangerfjord Area, Norway 178 IV.13 Giethoorn, the Netherlands 180 IV.14 Grand Canyon, the United States 182 IV.15 Isle Of Skye, United Kingdom 184 IV.16 Juist Island, Germany 186 IV.17 Plitvice Lakes, Croatia 188 IV.18 Lisbon, Portugal 190 IV.19 Lucerne, Switzerland 192 IV.20 Machu Picchu, Peru 194 IV.21 Mallorca, Spain 196 IV.22 Maya Bay - Phi Phi Leh, Thailand 199 IV.23 Parc Naturel Régional des Monts d'Ardèche, France 201 IV.24 Prague Old Town, the Czech Republic 203 IV.25 Reykjavik, Iceland 205 IV.26 Riga – Historic Centre, Latvia 207 IV.27 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 209 IV.28 Rovaniemi (Lapland), Finland 211 IV.29 Salzburg Historical Centre, Austria 213 IV.30 Santorini, Greece 215 IV.31 Stockholm, Sweden 218 IV.32 Sunny Beach, Bulgaria 220 IV.33 Tallinn Old Town, Estonia 223 IV.34 Tatranská Lomnica, Slovakia 225 IV.35 Turkish Riviera, Turkey 227 IV.36 Valletta, Malta 229 5 IPOL | Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies IV.37 Vatican City, Vatican 231 IV.38 Venice, Italy 233 IV.39 Vilnius Old Town, Lithuania 235 IV.40 Warsaw Historic Centre, Poland 237 IV.41 Yellowstone, United States 239 V POLICY MEASURES OVERVIEW 241 VI VIEWS FROM THE WORLD TRAVEL AND TOURISM COUNCIL 254 6 Overtourism: impact and possible policy responses LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ABTS Assembly of Neighbourhoods for Sustainable Tourism ADB Asian Development Bank ANOVA Analysis of variance, a statistical test to compare differences between groups AT Austria AU Australia B&B Bed and Breakfast (accommodation type) BE Belgium BG Bulgaria BNGP Bed Night Growth Percentile Rank BR Brazil CELTH Center of Expertise for tourism and Hospitality CH Switzerland CIGS Combined Intensity Growth Score CLIA Cruise Lines International Association CY Cyprus CYSTAT Statistical Service of Cyprus CZ Czechia DE Germany DK Denmark DMO Destination Marketing Organisation DV Day Visitors EC_XXX Economic impact of tourism (see Table 1) ECST European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas 7 IPOL | Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies EE Estonia EL Greece ENV_XXX Environmental impact of tourism (see Table 1) ES Spain ETC European Travel Commission FI Finland FIT Free Independent Traveler or Free Independent Tourist FR France GDP Gross Domestic Product HR Croatia HU Hungary HUT Habitatges ús turísticuse (housing for tourist use) ICT Information and Communication Technologies IE Ireland IREFREA Instituto Europeo de Estudios en Prevención IS Iceland IT Italy JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency LAC Limits of Acceptable Change LT Lithuania LU Luxembourg LV Latvia M_02_BND Tourism density M_03_BNP Tourism intensity 8 Overtourism: impact and possible policy responses M_04_GAT Growth air transport (2016) M_05_SDG Tourism share GDP M_06_SAB Airbnb share of the total of Booking and Airbnb M_08_DAB Airbnb average shortest distance to booking.com M_09_AND Air transport intensity M_10_NUW Number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites M_11_ALL Percentile Average significant indicators AV MICE Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions MSP Member of the Scottish Parliament MT Malta NL Netherlands NO Norway NSW Australian state of New South Wales NTO National Tourism Office NUTS Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics OD Overtourism Drivers OT Overtourism OUV Outstanding Universal Value PL Poland PT Portugal RO Romania ROS Recreation Opportunity Spectrum SE Sweden 9 IPOL | Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies SET Southern European Cities against Touristification SI Slovenia SK Slovakia SOC_XXX Social impact of tourism (see Table 1) STB Slovenia Tourism Board SURS Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia TALC Tourism Area Life Cycle TC Tourism Capacity TDR Tourism Density Rate TI Tourism Impacts TIntP Tourism Intensity Percentile Rank TN Tourist Nights TPR Tourism Penetration Rate TR Turkey TRAN European Parliament Committee on Transport and Tourism UK United Kingdom UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNWTO United Nations World Tourism