ABSTRACT
According to a 2017 survey, approximately two in five European residents believe that the number of tourists poses a threat to the continent’s cultural heritage. In order to investigate the determinants of this perception, the data from this survey of 26,000 residents was used to estimate ordered probit models. The results from these reveal that the probability of overtourism being viewed as a threat to cultural heritage is significantly lower for residents living near historical monuments, sites or festivals. The perception of overtourism as a threat is generally higher in cities in comparison with rural areas.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in GESIS Data Catalogue at https://doi.org/10.4232/1.12959. Reference number: Eurobarometer 88.1 (ZA6925, September-October 2017) Cultural Heritage, Future of Europe, Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment.
Notes
1 The tourist attractions include London Eye, Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum, Colosseum, Catacombs Paris, Eiffel Tour, St Peter's, Tower of London, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, Notre Dame Cathedral. ‘TripAdvisor reveals world’s 10 worst tourist attractions for queues’ https://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/europe/tripadvisor-reveals-worlds-10-worst-tourist-attractions-for-queues/news-story/8c08159e8366cb2fcfa83aeaedbafce3 (accessed 4 January 2019).
2 https://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer-data-service/survey-series/standard-special-eb/study-overview/ (accessed 2 February 2019).
3 A text analysis of the twitter #overtourism from 2014 to 2018 shows that most of the cities mentioned in connection with overtourism are Barcelona, Venice, Rome, London and Amsterdam (own analysis based on 2000 entries on twitter using the hashtag #overtourism).