Search Results (4)

Urban competitiveness and vulnerability have traditionally been studied as analytically distinct dimensions, grounded in the assumption that competitive performance necessarily strengthens urban structures. However, empirical evidence from tourist cities reveals a paradox, as high levels of tourism competitiveness may coexist with cumulative processes of structural fragilisation. This article introduces urban competitive vulnerability—an urban system’s propensity to competitive erosion driven by internal fragility accumulation, even during high performance. Using panel data from six major Spanish tourist cities (Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Palma, Seville, and Málaga) over 2014–2024, we develop an integrated framework with four dimensions: tourism competitiveness, sectoral specialisation, territorial pressure, and governance capacity. We construct the Urban Competitive Vulnerability Index (CVI) and test four hypotheses using panel-data models with fixed effects and interaction terms. Results confirm significant positive relationships between tourism competitiveness and structural vulnerability (β = 0.540, p < 0.001). Sectoral specialisation increases vulnerability both directly (β = 0.504, p < 0.001) and indirectly through competitiveness (65.8% mediated effect). Tourist housing intensity significantly increases housing prices (β = 0.288, p < 0.001) and evictions (β = 0.125, p < 0.05). Cities with high prior vulnerability experienced more severe COVID-19 impacts (β = −3.688, p < 0.05) and slower recovery. While limited to Spanish cities, this study provides the first urban-specific framework for competitive vulnerability with direct implications for urban tourism planning and governance. Full article

Despite the significant potential of diverse natural, agricultural, cultural, and historical resources, Northern Kazakhstan, as well as the whole country, demonstrates the underdevelopment and unpopularity of agritourism and rural tourism. By Kazakh standards, it is characterized by relatively well-developed agriculture. At the same time, it is characterized by a monopolized rural labor market, lack of a service sector, low incomes, and progressive depopulation of the population. During the implementation of the research project, secondary data analysis (content, historical, statistical) were used. According to the study, the key factors determining the paradoxical underdevelopment of rural tourism and agritourism in a key agricultural region include the state policy of supporting agriculture, the conservatism of farmers, and passive rural stakeholder attitudes, which are influenced by the Soviet past. In addition, the lack of attractiveness of rural tourist and recreational resources in the eyes of travelers plays a significant role. To activate the tangible and intangible assets of rural areas in order to develop the tourism and hospitality industry, both administrative and utilitarian measures are proposed that can diversify the rural economy. This paper is not only a case study of tourism barriers in Kazakhstan, but a theory-informed diagnosis of rural modernization failure. Full article

The growth of the tourism sector has led to overtourism in many destinations, which can negatively affect sections of the local population. This often results in a phenomenon known as tourismphobia, which describes the fact that residents develop reservations about tourists and take -not always legal- countermeasures; these measures are not sustainable in the long term, leading to the tourism paradox (with less economic activity). The origins of this phenomenon have so far been insufficiently analyzed. This article aims to present an explanatory approach for the emergence of this phenomenon based on the structural-cognitive model and to illustrate it using the example of the Canary Islands. For the Canary Islands, it can be shown that both the political opportunity structures allow for significant scope, and resource mobilization is comparatively easy to achieve. On the micro level, the high costs of overtourism for many residents, combined with relatively low returns from tourism and the non-prohibitive costs of countermeasures, lead to collective action against overtourism –manifesting as tourismphobia. In this way, this article provides a viable explanation for the emergence of tourismphobia and thus makes a significant contribution to knowledge in this field of research. Complementary analytical resources are also outlined, combining Austrian economics and new-institutional economics. Full article

The promotion of rural tourism is one of the measures that has aroused most expectations in the application of the endogenous rural development programmes promoted by the European Commission at the beginning of the 1990s. Using the case study methodology, this research aims to compare the implementation of the aforementioned measure in two regions which, according to their characteristics, could be considered as antagonistic examples: one, La Vera, has all the conditions to successfully develop its tourism sector; the other, Tajo-Salor, with an adverse climate, lacking in outstanding tourism resources and far from the main centres of demand, could be considered the opposite. The results of the research show the risks inherent in an excessive specialisation in tourism within development strategies. Paradoxically, in La Vera, the concentration of investment in the tourism sector has resulted in a higher number of failed and transferred projects, as well as the dissatisfaction of most of its tourism promoters with the viability of their businesses. In contrast, in Tajo-Salor, the results are more positive, despite the fact that this region has given less relative importance to the tourism sector. Full article