The contribution of sharing economy to the development of peripheral areas. The Airbnb case in the territory of the Dolomites

This paper focuses on the impacts that the phenomenon of home-sharing tourism could give to the most peripheral destinations which are disconnected from the most advanced urban systems and, for this reason, very often tourist-sized. For this purpose, the case of the territorial tourist system of the Veneto Dolomites area is considered, which will allow highlighting the spatial spread of the phenomenon in a sparse and mixed area characterized by urban aggregations, such as tourist destinations and peripheral territories (both natural and not highly urbanized ones). The analyses are conducted by applying a simple and two-variable spatial autocorrelation analysis applied to the data taken from the Airbnb site. The results obtained allow us to highlight the impact cost of this phenomenon and the potential of all the destinations amplified by the dynamics of sharing economy

Public Discourse and Category Formation: A Topic Modelling Exploration of ‘Historical Shops’ on Italian Media

This paper addresses the role of public discourse in processes of category formation. Tracing the emergence and diffusion of a category on the media, and exploring the discourses generated on the media within and around the emerging category, the paper reflects on how these discourses concur in performing the very category they portray. The focus is set on the Historical Shops category, as part of broader processes of urban categorisations for local development and regeneration. By means of a Topic Modelling of a corpus of 3262 press articles collected from Italian news sources between 2009 and 2019, the paper finds that public discourse plays three main roles: echoing category creation processes by policymakers, grounding the rising category in wider discourses of retail crisis, urban degradation, regeneration and overtourism, and narrating it by explaining what Historical Shops are, where they are located, which issues they face and which responses they receive at different institutional levels. Overall, in this paper, the semi-automated techniques afforded by Topic Modelling offer a way to enter the meaning construction processes and elicit the agential role of public discourse in the formation of a category

Tourism Observatories for monitoring MED destinations performance. The case of ShapeTourism project

Following the precedent set by the Tourism Observatory (TO) run by the European Commission-DG GROW a few years ago, several initiatives have taken place to design and manage tourism observatories at both the transnational and local level. However, these initiatives do not yet seem able to provide adequate operational responses to the challenges that the Commission launched with the original TO. While the opportunities offered by the Web 2.0 still do not seem to have been sufficiently taken advantage of, such initiatives also have not yet developed suitable methodologies to operationally include the tourism industry in the studies and monitoring performed by the TOs. This work presents the lesion learnt from the ShapeTourism prototype including two different tools: an observatory with official and unofficial indicators, and a simulation tool to predict different scenarios and different sustainability levels, designed specifically to overcome the aforementioned limits. The prototype was tested in 2017 on the entire eligible area of the 2014-2020 MED Programme covering 52 regions. The potentialities of this tool are shown through the creation on indicators, benchmarking and applications

The Relevance of the Territorial Dimension in EU Policies and the Role of Tourism

The disparities, inequalities as well as the different trajectories of social and economic development that still characterize the regions of the EU today demonstrate the importance of a debate on the spatial dimension of European policies. This paper analyses the implications of strengthening the spatial dimension in the different EU programs, highlighting the importance of the concept of territorial cohesion and the role that a strategic sector such as tourism can play in implementing this concept. Therefore, the added value of tourism and the potential of territorial cohesion should play an important role in future European policies and funding

Tourism Peaks on the Three Peaks. Using big data to monitor where, when and how many visitors impact the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage Site

Overtourism studies are increasingly focused on the relationship between tourists and residents. This includes the livability of the destination and the well-being of its residents; the growth of the tourism sector (particularly unchecked or unlimited growth), as well as the threat to natural heritage, such as beaches and mountains. A number of researchers have also highlighted the popularity of the term, as well as the lack of a theoretical understanding of the implications of it, and practical solutions to the problems posed by overtourism. This research aims to monitor the impact of, and understand the problems posed by, overtourism through approaching the phenomenon through the lens of big data analytics. The location of this research is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Italy, namely the Dolomites. By using telco data, we were able to apply a big data analysis of a destination in order to monitor the movement of tourists and day visitors. By analyzing their behaviour at the destination, it has been possible to quantify daily visitors and analyse how they impact this natural site. In addition, it has been possible to compare statistical data with big data, which offers new insights into tourism at the destination. This research, by exploiting the value of big data in tourism, creates a heritage usage rate as well as new indicators for the measurement of overtourism. Ultimately, this can help to control tourism flows and mitigate negative externalities.Overtourism studies are increasingly focused on the relationship between tourists and residents. This includes the livability of the destination and the well-being of its residents; the growth of the tourism sector (particularly unchecked or unlimited growth), as well as the threat to natural heritage, such as beaches and mountains. A number of researchers have also highlighted the popularity of the term, as well as the lack of a theoretical understanding of the implications of it, and practical solutions to the problems posed by overtourism. This research aims to monitor the impact of, and understand the problems posed by, overtourism through approaching the phenomenon through the lens of big data analytics. The location of this research is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Italy, namely the Dolomites. By using telco data, we were able to apply a big data analysis of a destination in order to monitor the movement of tourists and day visitors. By analyzing their behaviour at the destination, it has been possible to quantify daily visitors and analyse how they impact this natural site. In addition, it has been possible to compare statistical data with big data, which offers new insights into tourism at the destination. This research, by exploiting the value of big data in tourism, creates a heritage usage rate as well as new indicators for the measurement of overtourism. Ultimately, this can help to control tourism flows and mitigate negative externalitie

Distribution of tourists within urban heritage destinations: a hot spot/cold spot analysis of TripAdvisor data as support for destination management

ABSTRACTThe emergence of social media and Web 2.0 has a notable impact upon the tasks of destination managers as these platforms have developed into influential mechanisms affecting tourist behavio..

A digital response system to mitigate overtourism. The case of Dubrovnik.

In order to design effective responses to the complex phenomenon of overtourism, the tourism carrying capacity (TCC) of a destination is an essential reference point. This paper provides in-depth analysis of this correlation through the case study of Dubrovnik. The study applies a TCC calculation model that is able to quantitatively include the main effects of overtourism. The paper illustrates how these results can be used to automate specific decongestion policies by conceptualising a digital response system for real-time intervention to mitigate the undesirable effects of over-tourism

Venice and overtourism. Simulating sustainable development scenarios through Tourism Carrying Capacity model

Overtourism problems, anti-tourist movements and negative externalities of tourism are popular research approaches and are key concepts to better understand the sustainable development of tourism destinations. In many of the overtourism narratives, Venice is considered to be one of the most relevant cases of overtourism and therefore has become a laboratory for studying the different conflicts that emerge when tourism numbers continue to grow and the quality of the tourism flow continues to decline. This article is therefore focusing on Venice and on one of the possible solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism represented by the concept of a tourist carrying capacity (TCC) in an urban destination. The aim of this paper is to discuss alternative methodologies regarding the calculation of the TCC, and to apply a fuzzy instead of a 'crisp' linear programming model to determine the scenarios of a sustainable number of tourists in the cultural destination of Venice, looking for the optimal compromise between, on the one hand, the wish of maximizing the monetary gain by the local tourism sectors and, on the other, the desire to control the undesirable effects that tourism exerts on a destination by the local population. To solve the problems related to tourism statistics and data availability, some uncertainty in the parameters has been included using fuzzy numbers. The fuzziness in the model was introduced on the basis of questionnaires distributed among both tourists and residents. By applying the fuzzy linear programming model to the emblematic case of Venice, it was shown that this approach can indeed help destinations to understand the challenges of sustainable tourism development better, to evaluate the impact of alternative policies of overtourism on the sustainability of tourism, and hence, to help design a strategy to manage tourist flows more adequatel