From Overtourism to Re-Starting Tourism

The notion of overtourism captures the situation when tourism has grown out of proportion, either in terms of societal implications or natural impacts. It is the situation when tourism is not improving the quality of life for inhabitants but rather decreasing it and also when tourist are experiencing deteriorating service and a widening gap between what they pay for and what they get. As such, while useful for underscoring the risks of uncontrolled growth, the concept of overtourism needs further scrutiny in order to play a significant role in discussion on responsible tourism development. 

The third project year led by University of Iceland addressed issues related to overtourism and emphasized especially the subjects of employment and workforce, natural impact and management and innovation. As such the theme of overtourism and responses to crises tied the work and findings from the previous two project years and workshops together.

With the current global halt of tourism due to COVID-19 the attention of researchers, policymakers and tourism entrepreneurs has swiftly moved away from overtourism towards a state of no-tourism and further how to re-start tourism in post-covid times.

Therefore, the focus of the third workshop was broadened from overtourism to re-starting tourism. It included not only the problematics of overtourism as a phenomenon and analytical concept but also the challenges involved in re-starting tourism and potential opportunities for enhancing responsible tourism development. It was organised similarly to the previous workshops on seasonality and urban tourism as a collaborative event of knowledge production and exchange between industry, researchers and students. As a result, the international research team procuded a TemaNord series' report Arctic Tourism in Times of Change: Uncertain Futures - From Overtourism to Restarting Tourism.