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Better understanding on tourism sustainability is needed

Urban Tourism Policies and Sustainability

Tourism is a major economic sector with negative externalitiesTourism in European cities represents an average of more than 10% of the GDP. It contributes to the economic growth, it creates jobs and employment, it promotes local development and it finances new infrastructures. However, tourism also consumes urban and natural limited resources, it generates costly waste, it requires expensive facilities, it produces air and water pollution and it alters the life of the resi-dents. Moreover, hospitality sector is currently being contested because of housekeeping conditions and general low salaries comparing to other urban economies. In a scenario of globalization, digitalization and chronic instability, cities and local authorities have a major role to play in order to mitigate current tourism negative externalities and implement sustainability strategies and policies towards shared pro-gress among all stakeholders and citizens.

• Identify main actors related to sustainable tourism policies

• Review innovative strategies and policy instruments promoting sustainable tourism

• Analyse tourism stakeholders perceptions in major European urban destinations

• Propose a set of recommendations for poli-cy makers to improve urban tourism

Tourism, cities and mobilities

MAY 2018

The study aims to:

• Strategic vision• Planning period• Strategic objectives• Prioritization • Coordination with other policy areas• Sustainability keywords• Measures/Actions • Plans diagnosis

Target Content Analysis Criteria:

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City Benchmark Selection

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Tourism density, or the density of tourists per square kilome-tre, is also a good indicator of over-tourism. Cities like Dublin, Vienna and Amsterdam are suffering from the highest density of tourists together with all major European cities.

Growing number of tourists can lead to over-tourism effects

The state of urban tourism varies greatly between major Euro-pean cities. Some are consolidated and well-recognized destina-tions with a low growth rate or none (Brussels and Paris), while others are relatively “newer” destinations with high increase rate (Copenhagen, Lisbon, Reykjavik, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Ber-lin, and Vienna).

The increasing number of tourists and its seasonality leads to a growing number of social and environmental pressures in cities. It can reach the state of over-tourism when the fragile balance between residents and visitors is altered. Looking at the ratio between tourists and residents, a high level of tourism intensi-ty is a clear sign of over-tourism. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Reyk-javik and Lisbon have between six and eight times more tourists than residents, greatly impacting lifestyle of local inhabitants.

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Most cities are only focusing on attracting more tourists

Management-oriented cities: Those cities have developed ra-ther transversal destination management plans covering urban, economic and supply-oriented policies. It includes, to some extent, formal coordination with other departments such as ur-ban planning, mobility and environment. Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam have this kind of policy instruments dealing with (some) negative impacts of tourism, such as the regulation of private rooms and illegal accommodation from online rental platforms. Barcelona is the only city introducing sustainability transversally and without specific tourist growth objectives.

Despite the growing awareness of local authorities and increa-sing mobilizations of citizens, very few cities have integrated sustainability issues within their tourism strategic plans. When analysing the quality of those tourism plans, cities can be distri-buted into two groups:Marketing-oriented cities: Those cities focused mainly on marketing and communication instruments to attract more and/or better tourism, in terms of expenses. They are also trying to improve tourism facilities in order to increase the attractiveness of the destinations. They do not have, however, effective coor-dination with other municipal departments, plans or policies to tackle social or environmental issues related to tourism. This first cluster includes Copenhagen, Brussels, Lisbon, London, Reykjavik, Vienna and Dublin.

City Sustainability issues identified

Barcelona Use of infrastructure, overcrowding, gentrifica-tion and rising prices

Paris Population density, alter-native tourist accommo-dation

London NoneLisbon NoneCopenhagen Increase in tourism may

be at the expense of localsDublin NoneBrussels NoneReykjavik Tourism creates pressure

on local infrastructureBerlin Overcrowdedness, gentri-

fication and rising issuesVienna NoneAmsterdam Need for balance between

residents and visitors, Increasing urbanization

Type of instrument Goal Example of cities

Regulatory : Land-use planning (Accommoda-tion spatial planning )

Reorganize the urban space by identifying areas with specific needs

Hotel Plan Amsterdam, PEUAT, Paris Hotel Plan

Regulatory: Tourism Accommodation Supply Laws

Laws and regulation that impose binding limits to tourism practices

Berlin, Barcelona (National Law of Urban Leases), Amsterdam (Short Stay Policy), Paris (ALUR Law)

Knowledge instruments Foster knowledge and increase the capacity of governments to design efficient policies

Barcelona (Reviewing deconcentration stra-tegy)

Incentives and subsidies Non-binding instruments to influence the beha-viour of different actors

Barcelona (Biosphere certification), Bruxelles (Eco-dynamique label)

Improving Relations with Stakeholders

Instruments that improve collaboration between city departments and external stakeholders

Barcelona (tourism city council)

Communications and awareness

Communicating sustai-nability issues for the industry or the visitors

Bruxelles (Greeners, Sustainable Meetings), Copenhagen (Sha-reability is King and People-Based Growth initiatives) Barcelona (Airbnb Illegal Acco-mo¡modation)

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and land use planning at metropolitan level. Relevant examples like the case of Amsterdam Hotel Policy to control accommo-dation supply and quality introducing sustainability criteria or the case of Barcelona to develop a Metropolitan Tourism Ob-servatory.

A weak governance does not integrate other municipal departments and civil society

Few evidences have been found regarding effective, transpa-rent and participative consultations processes where all relevant stakeholders, both from private and public sectors, are really identified, involved and engaged. Barcelona has recently created the City and tourism council, a multi stakeholder committee to debate and monitor the city’s tourism plan, where societal groups (environmental and social NGO’s, trade unions and residents) are predominant over the industry representatives.

Some leading cities have a cross-cutting management of tourism integrating different municipal areas to design more integrated policy instruments dealing with negative externalities, such as over-tourism, public services and space congestion, illegal ac-comodation, and gentrification. This is the case of Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris.

Larger cities have managed to extend the scope of their plans to reach neighbouring regions or the entirety of the metropolitan region. Cities like Paris, Lisbon, Barcelona and Amsterdam have integrated metropolitan measures or/and plans at some level, which allow them to tackle critical issues to encourage tourism

Over-tourism is characterised by high concentration of tourists in specific urban areas, like historical or commercial centres, iconic attractions, etc. This overconcentration of visitors saturates public urban spaces, creates mobility diffi-culties, transforms local shops and services towards tourism services and alters the quality of life of the inhabitants.

Gentrification occurs when local residents are expelled from their original neighbourhoods due to a rapid increase in the price of houses, services and shops. This is usually caused by new actors investing massively in attractive urban areas such as hotel chains, office promotors, “vulture funds”, private accommodation platforms, among others.

According to a survey in which some relevant tourism stakehol-ders from major European cities such as Barcelona, Lisbon and Paris have participated, tourism is stated to provide valuable economic benefits for destinations, but also highlight the negati-ve environmental and social impacts, in particular on the quality of life of local residents.

Focus on Barcelona, Lisbon and Paris

Sustainability is incorporated on different degrees to tourism policies, but not enough, according to participants. In Paris, most of participants think sustainability is well or very well considered; in Barcelona, most of them are more cautious; in Lisbon, the majority consider slightly or not at all.

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1)Manage over-tourism areas and tackle gentrification Reducing over-tourism and fighting gentrification require a di-verse and complementary set of regulations and policies that goes beyond tourism field, including other horizontal and ver-tical actions.

• Consider the whole metropolitan area to spread out tourists in wider geographical areas (through marketing or mobility policies) while reducing local saturations.

• Leverage land-use planning to define and implement territo-rial strategies related to accommodation supply and gentrifi-cation prevention in critical areas.

• Regulate short room letting to control and limit illegal or in-formal short-room rental, through licensing, inspection and enforcement actions.

• Promote social housing to protect low and middle wages residents in gentrified districts, with accessible rentals and protection from speculative real-estate and industry actors.

2)Increase data analyisis, research projects and capa-city buildingSustainability strategy requires to identify, assess and monitor current issues and tourism impacts constantly and structurally to develop comprehensive policies based on shared data and scien-tific evidence.

• Implement tourism observatories to identify, collect and share relevant data related to tourism impacts at municipal and metropolitan level, covering major economic, social and environmental issues.

• Conduct research about visitor behavior and negative ex-ternalities in collaboration with knowledge sector to inform policy makers and design policies based on scientific evi-dence.

3)Integrate sustainability in the whole value chain Tourism must contribute to the sustainable development of cities with a better social return in terms of fair working conditions, in-crease opportunities for people at risk of social exclusion, reduce energy and water use, promote green supplies, etc.

• Support Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) practices by introducing green and social criteria when accessing to public procurements or getting tourism-related licenses for industry actors.

Recommendations

• Implement and use tourist tax to improve the quality of life of residents, maintain public spaces, finance new infrastruc-tures, offer better services and support local socio-economic initiatives.

• Encourage responsible business practices by the whole industry through green or social certifications or labeling of tourism facilities, services or products, such as EMAS, Biosphere, Green keys, etc.

• Raise awareness of visitors and tourism industry on the need to implement better environmental and social behaviors to reduce over-consumption of natural resources (food, water, energy, etc.) and take into account marginalized populations in the value chain.

• Develop comprehensive policies and strategies that cover all issues related to the sustainability of tourism, including clean mobility, food waste, energy efficiency, water use, waste recycling, social inclusion, fair wages, civic beha-viors, etc.

4)Promote open, inclusive and participative governan-ce Tourism is affecting a large number of local stakeholders that should be consulted and informed regularly by local authorities. This should be done in an open, participative and transparent way, insuring that all points of views are taken into account be-fore approving new policies, strategies or regulations.

• Launch tourism council where relevant residents, environ-mental and social NGOs are well represented, beyond tou-rism stakeholders, to follow-up policy implementation and identify current issues.

• Engage with local residents through physical meetings and/or on-line platforms where the inhabitants can report direct-ly any tourism-related complains to local authorities that should be committed to give an individual answer.

• Create internal coordination committee within the city council where all relevant departments with an impact on tourism are involved, such as mobility, energy, water, urban planning, housing, health, business, economy, finance, etc.

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Dodds and Kelman (2008) “How climate change is considered in sustainable tourism policies: a case of the mediterranean is-lands of Malta and Mallorca”. Tourism Review International, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 57-70.

Fisher and Miller (2007) Handbook of public policy analysis: theory, politics, and methods. CRC Press.

Santos-Lacueva, Anton Clavé and Saladié (2017) “Discontinui-ties and limitations of the most recent spanish tourism plans rela-ted to the environmental sustainability of sun and sand tourism”. Cuadernos de Turismo, nº 40, pp. 599-626.

Velasco González, M. (2008) “Evolución de los problemas del turismo español. la administración general del estado como ana-lista y los planes públicos como indicadores”. Papers de Turis-me, nº 43, pp. 7-32.

World Tourism & Travel Council (2017) City travel & tourism impact 2017 Europe. London.

Tourism Strategic Plans

Direcció de Turisme/Gerència d’Empresa i Turisme (2017) Tou-rism Strategic Plan 2016- 2020. Barcelona.

Entidade Regional de Turismo da Região de Lisboa/Visitlisboa (2015) Strategic Tourism Plan for the Lisboa Region. Lisboa.

Grow Dublin Taskforce (2014) Grow Dublin Tourism Alliance Progress and Action Plan. Dublin.

London & Partners (2016) A Tourism Vision For London 2025. London.

Metropoolregio Amsterdam Bureau (2017) Strategische Agenda Toerisme in de MRA 2025. Amsterdam.

Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Technologie und Frauen (2011) Tourismuskonzept Berlin Handlungsrahmen 2011+. Berlin.

Visit.Brussels (2011) Plan Stratégique. Brussels.

Wonderful Copenhagen (2017) Strategy 2020. Copenhague.

Direction de l’attractivité et de l’emploi (2016) Tourism Strate-gy 2022. Paris.

References

eco-unionC/Palau No 4, 1r 1a

BarcelonaPhone number: +34 935535840www.ecounion.euinfo@ecounion.eu

@ecounion

@ecounionNGO

eco-union is an independent environmental Think and Do tank to reflect on the linkage between economy, society and ecology. The non-for-profit association aims to accelerate the transition towards sustainability of the Euro-Mediterranean region through research, advocacy and capacity-building ac-tivities. Recent works have been around green and blue eco-nomy, urban mobility, responsable tourism, clean energies and susstainable finance, among other issues

with the support of

Submitted by:ecounion (2018), Urban Tourism Policies & Sustainaiblity Report. Notes. 2018, ecounion Publishing, Barcelona

Authors: Alejandro González, Raquel Santos-Lacueva, Jérémie Fosse. With the contribution of Rayan Chebbi Giovanetti, Patricia Baena, Jacobo Coloma.

You can download the full report of Urban Tourism Policies and Sustainability at www.ecounion.eu

Tourism, cities and mobilities