Tourism and the City: Some Strategy Guidelines for a Sustainable Tourism Development

Abstract

When analysing the impact of tourism on the environment, reference is usually made to the devastating effects mass tourism has on the natural environment. Only recently, the question whether or not cities, originally designed to host people, might have similar problems with tourism has arisen. A confirmative answer to this question implies that a city’s policy for tourism development has to account for that city’s limits to absorb visitor flows. In other words, urban tourism development strategy has to be compatible with the urban environment. The aim of this contribution is to discuss the principal characteristics of such a strategy, not only as far as environmental issues are concerned. It intends to give a comprehensive answer to the question whether, and under what circumstances, urban tourism may be worth developing, a crucial question for many cities that are at the moment considering to promote tourism development.