Title: Consensus and diversity regarding overtourism: the Delphi-study and derived assumptions for the post-COVID-19 time

Authors: Martin Fontanari; Anastasia Traskevich

Addresses: Marketing, Sales, Tourism & Sports Department, International School of Management (ISM), Im Mediapark 5C, 50670, Cologne, Germany ' Department of Tourism Economics and Management, Belarusian State Economic University (BSEU), Partizanskiy Prospekt, 26, Minsk, Belarus

Abstract: This research focuses on the phenomenon of overtourism with the aim of demonstrating both the plurality of views on overtourism; and the fact that a consensus is identified using the Delphi method. The Delphi survey points out the focus areas within destination management, product development, economic mechanisms to balance tourism demand, as well as innovative approaches for destination management and governance. The scope of the present Delphi-study is to discover a sustainable strategy-approach to Destination Management Organisations to tackle overtourism: the authored strategic considerations are derived on the basis of the research with the empirical results analysed for the post-COVID-19 future. The research suggests destination resilience as an applied concept for preventing overtourism and/or managing its negative multi-facet effects for the purposes of advanced sustainable development in the post-COVID-19 perspective. Preventive, self-regulating and innovative approaches are required at the level of destination management.

Keywords: overtourism; Delphi-method; destination resilience; community resilience; socio-cultural resilience; destination management; sustainable tourism; post-COVID-19.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2021.117375

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2021 Vol.11 No.2, pp.161 - 187

Received: 13 Dec 2020
Accepted: 13 Apr 2021
Published online: 01 Sep 2021 *

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