Third International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

Over the past four decades, a number of tourism studies, theories, and models have emerged concerning host and guest antagonism (Doxey, 1975), tourism area life cycle (Butler, 1980), and carrying capacity (O’Reilly, 1986). Over the last decade, while many scholars have maintained their interest in the classical debate concerning the impacts of tourism, some have converged with the increased number of social movements and the subsequent protest against overtourism. Prominent cases demonstrating overtourism include Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, Malta, Barcelona, Dubrovnik, and Venice (Boissevain, 1996; Colomb and Novy, 2016). While the overtourism debate dates back over four decades with the study of the “pleasure periphery” and the so-called “golden hordes” (Turner and Ash, 1975), tourism “monoculture” and the impact of mass tourism has been the key point in Spanish tourism destinations including Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. Based on the qualitative field research in Barcelona from 2016, this paper contributes to the comprehension of this discussion and to the effects that this phenomenon may have on the tourism field of one of the most visited European tourist destination.