Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TOURSUS-EU (Assessing Tourism Sustainability in the EU Region: A Quantitative Approach)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-07-03 al 2025-07-02
TOURSUS-EU is designed to contribute to the definition and transition toward a more sustainable tourism model, one of the most pressing challenges for the European Union. Recognizing the critical effects of mass tourism, the project proposes a framework for measuring and understanding its effects on local economies, societies, and environments. The project centres on three major UNESCO World Heritage cities: Venice (Italy), Lisbon (Portugal), and Split (Croatia), all of which are emblematic cases of overtourism. Specifically, the project aims to deliver a framework for identifying key risk indicators in tourism destinations, serving as early warning signals for necessary policy interventions; predictive models for sustainable tourism growth, designed to evaluate influencing factors and project future scenarios; and a strategic guide for sustainable tourism management, outlining actionable recommendations for local authorities, planners, and stakeholders to mitigate overtourism and promote long-term resilience. Potential Impacts can be envisioned at different scales. These include, on a local level, an improved capacity of municipal authorities to monitor and manage tourism-related pressures and the empowerment of local communities through informed planning and stakeholder engagement. On national level, the project contributions can enhance the preservation of cultural and natural heritage sites and contribute to the formulation of evidence-based tourism policies, while also strengthening the collaboration and sharing of best practices between cities. At the level of the EU, TOURSUS-EU generates impact by contributing to a replicable model for sustainable tourism assessment across member states and delivering data-driven insights to inform European tourism strategies and funding priorities. Finally, on a global level, the project demonstrates scalable tools and approaches for UNESCO sites and global tourist destinations with the potential to influence international standards and frameworks on sustainable tourism. It strengthens the role of European research and policy leadership in global sustainability debates by aligning academic outcomes with practical policy needs, contributing to more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable tourism futures.
TOURSUS-EU lies on a data-driven approach that combines state-of-the-art scientific knowledge with advanced analytical tools. This methodology enables both quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the complex dynamics of tourism, assessing not only the negative consequences but also identifying pathways toward more sustainable growth. The project emphasizes a dual-level analysis: at the macro-level is focusses on the broader economic, social, and environmental impacts of tourism at regional and EU scales; at the micro-level it focuses on conducting detailed, place-based analyses of specific urban contexts to capture local dynamics and vulnerabilities. While the techniques and models applied are well-established in various scientific fields, they have not previously been systematically deployed for assessing sustainable tourism. By integrating these approaches, TOURSUS-EU pioneers a structured method for evaluating tourism sustainability and offers practical tools for decision-makers.
During the secondment at Università Ca' Foscari (University of Venice, Italy), it was possible to gather theoretical and practical knowledge on the sustainability of tourism in UNESCO cities, and while in Venice, it was possible to collect data (conduct in-depth interviews) in the old part of the city. A period of data collection in the historic part of the city of Split (Croatia) used in-depth interviews focusing on local population satisfaction regarding issues faced around the phenomenon of overtourism. The project has been developed having Lisbon as a homebase, and it included data collection in older parts of the city.
During the secondment at Università Ca' Foscari (University of Venice, Italy), it was possible to gather theoretical and practical knowledge on the sustainability of tourism in UNESCO cities, and while in Venice, it was possible to collect data (conduct in-depth interviews) in the old part of the city. A period of data collection in the historic part of the city of Split (Croatia) used in-depth interviews focusing on local population satisfaction regarding issues faced around the phenomenon of overtourism. The project has been developed having Lisbon as a homebase, and it included data collection in older parts of the city.
The project is focused on producing a framework for identifying key risk indicators in the tourism sector, serving as an early warning system to enable timely and effective public policy interventions or this below; predictive models for sustainable tourism growth, designed for application in tourism research and destination management; and a functional strategy for sustainable tourism management, offering actionable guidelines for local governments to mitigate the negative effects of mass tourism. These outputs are expected to be delivered as open-access publications, integrated into strategic and policy reports, eventually to be piloted in real-world settings with continuous monitoring, stakeholder engagement, and validation processes to ensure their relevance and effectiveness. While the project is ongoing and specific results are still in development, its overarching goal is to ensure that its outputs are reused, transferred, and leveraged by regional and national authorities, tourism development agencies, and academic institutions. The intended impact spans from improving sustainable tourism policy to enhancing public knowledge and contributing to academic debates on overtourism.