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Tourism and Hospitality
Special Issues
"Feature Papers in Overtourism Revisited: Managing Tourism Pressure in Urban,...
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"Feature Papers in Overtourism Revisited: Managing Tourism Pressure in Urban, Natural, and Cultural Destinations"

A special issue of Tourism and Hospitality (ISSN 2673-5768).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 1535

Editor

Prof. Dr. Lewis Ting On Cheung

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
York Business School, York St. John University, York, UK
Interests: ecotourism; nature-based tourism; sustainable tourism; protected area management; environmental social sciences
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a new Special Issue titled “Feature Papers in ‘Overtourism Revisited: Managing Tourism Pressure in Urban, Natural, and Cultural Destinations’” in Tourism and Hospitality. This Special Issue aims to explore the increasing complexity of overtourism and tourism congestion across a diverse range of destination contexts, including iconic urban centres, ecotourism hotspots, cultural heritage sites, island communities, and national parks.

As international travel rebounds post-pandemic, many destinations once again face the challenges of overconcentration, environmental degradation, and community resistance associated with overtourism. This Special Issue aims to reframe overtourism not only as a phenomenon of excess numbers, but as a multidimensional sustainability challenge intersecting with urban planning, visitor experience, socio-political dynamics, and ecological resilience.

We welcome contributions that critically examine how destinations are defining, measuring, and responding to tourism pressure using innovative methods, technologies, and governance strategies. Submissions may be theoretical, empirical, policy-focused, or methodological, drawing on perspectives from tourism management, geography, environmental studies, economics, cultural studies, and planning.

This Special Issue will feature a curated collection of high-quality research articles authored by distinguished scholars and experts in the field. Scholars interested in contributing are encouraged to contact the Editorial Office for an invitation.

Prof. Dr. Lewis Ting On Cheung
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Tourism and Hospitality is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • overtourism
  • tourism congestion
  • urban tourism
  • protected areas
  • visitor management
  • tourism planning
  • community resilience
  • carry capacity
  • regenerative tourism
  • destination governance
  • post-COVID-19 tourism
  • social perceptions of tourism

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  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
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  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 286 KB  
Article
Tourist Attitudes to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Influence on Sustainable Tourism Behaviour: Evidence from Cáceres, a UNESCO World Heritage City
by Carlos Jurado-Rivas, Marcelino Sánchez-Rivero, Antonio Hidalgo-Mateos and Montaña Granados-Claver
Tour. Hosp. 2026, 7(6), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp7060173 - 15 Jun 2026
Viewed by 172
Abstract
Research on post-COVID tourism behaviour has expanded rapidly, yet inland UNESCO World Heritage cities remain underexamined, particularly in Mediterranean contexts. This study examines whether the pandemic produced durable changes in tourist behaviour and in willingness to pay for sustainable services in Cáceres, Spain. [...] Read more.
Research on post-COVID tourism behaviour has expanded rapidly, yet inland UNESCO World Heritage cities remain underexamined, particularly in Mediterranean contexts. This study examines whether the pandemic produced durable changes in tourist behaviour and in willingness to pay for sustainable services in Cáceres, Spain. A structured face-to-face survey was administered to 421 visitors in March 2023, after public-health restrictions had been lifted. The analysis covered self-reported behavioural change, perceived impacts on different destination types, perceived effects on local sustainability objectives and changes in willingness to pay (WTP) for sustainable services. Descriptive statistics were complemented by an exploratory binary logistic regression predicting increased WTP. Because the model includes only sociodemographic predictors and shows modest fit, it is used to describe associations rather than to predict. Reported behavioural change was limited: mean scores for crowd avoidance, health–safety preferences, shorter stays and substitution towards rural and nature tourism ranged from 1.73 to 1.91 on a five-point scale. Respondents nevertheless perceived substantial spatial effects of the pandemic, particularly on natural parks (92.6%) and rural destinations (84.1%). Most believed that the pandemic had accelerated sustainability efforts mainly through greater institutional and business awareness (54.9%). WTP proved relatively stable, with 62.7% reporting no change and 26.1% an increase. Women and respondents with university education showed higher odds of reporting increased WTP. Because constructs such as institutional trust and pro-environmental values were not measured directly, these attitudes are interpreted—rather than demonstrated—as reflecting governance-related confidence and value orientations more than lingering health concerns. This governance-and-values reading is the study’s main interpretive contribution and requires confirmation with direct measures of the underlying constructs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue "Feature Papers in Overtourism Revisited: Managing Tourism Pressure in Urban, Natural, and Cultural Destinations")
19 pages, 330 KB  
Article
Scaffolding the Tourist City. Informal Practices and the Making of Tourism in Porto
by Gabriel López-Martínez and Javier Ortega Fernández
Tour. Hosp. 2026, 7(2), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp7020038 - 5 Feb 2026
Viewed by 816
Abstract
This article examines the everyday dynamics of informal activities in touristified urban environments through a qualitative case study of Porto, Portugal. Drawing on an urban ethnography combining observation and semi-structured interviews, we analyse how individuals providing tourism-related services perceive their role within informality, [...] Read more.
This article examines the everyday dynamics of informal activities in touristified urban environments through a qualitative case study of Porto, Portugal. Drawing on an urban ethnography combining observation and semi-structured interviews, we analyse how individuals providing tourism-related services perceive their role within informality, how they articulate their agency, and how their practices contribute to the everyday production of the tourist experience. The study shows that engagement in informal tourism work is structured by intersecting legal, economic and institutional constraints that channel professional trajectories into unregulated or semi-recognised forms of labor. Individuals display significant agency through adaptive strategies, craft-based skills and relational networks that enable them to navigate surveillance, seasonality and spatial exclusion. We argue that these practices operate as a form of urban tourism scaffolding, to conceptualise informal tourism practices as a contingent support structure that sustains tourist experiences beyond formal planning and infrastructure. Although situated in precarity and vulnerability, these practices produce structural effects on the urban tourism offer by filling gaps, organizing encounters and animating public space. By conceptualising informal tourism work as a processual and relational support structure rather than as marginal spontaneity or residual activity, the article highlights the need to reconsider informal labour as a constitutive dimension of tourist cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue "Feature Papers in Overtourism Revisited: Managing Tourism Pressure in Urban, Natural, and Cultural Destinations")
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