Protecting your city from overtourism European city tourism study 2018Management summaryThe growth in city visits in the past decade is one of the great success stories of European tourism. From Amsterdam to Zaragoza, tourists are increasingly flocking to the continent's architectural, cultural and historic hubs. nulldeed, since nullnull, city tourism outpaced national tourism in terms of the growth in overnight stays nullsee Figure Anull, providing an important source of income for cities and their tourist industries.nullt such success does not come without challenges. nullnchecked and unsustainable tourism can lead to significant problems for cities, increasing congestion and upsetting local inhabitants. nullne doesn't have to venture further than nullrcelona to witness the problems mass tourism can cause. null to help city tourism players better manage tourist numbers, we carried out a study. nulle analyzed the performance of null top European city break destinations by comparing their tourism density against value creation. For enullmple, are some cities better off limiting tourist numbers but charging them more, or opening the floodgates to the masses to manullmize incomenull nulle then clustered the cities into categories ranging from nulleak performersnullto nullass trapsnulland those with nullnused potentialnull The results highlighted a manullr problemnullsonullcalled overtourism, and a lack of planning for it. To address this, we make recommendations for reactive and proactive interventions.nulleactive measures include regulating hotel capacities and the shared economy accommodation market, as well as controlling access to key sights. The more farnullighted proactive measures, meanwhile, encourage city authorities to develop infrastructure such as public transport in line with the needs of both residents and visitors, as well as to consider upgrading target guest segments.Finally, we outline a four-step strategy to deal with overtourism and develop sustainable tourist growth. This in- volves cities assessing what they want to achieve through tourism, as well as underlining the importance of them working with all tourism players, from hoteliers to attraction managers and residents, in order to meet their goals.We find that without such a plan, a city may well become the next victim of mass tourism.2 Protecting your city from overtourism European city tourism study 2018Contents1. The curse of mass tourism .4Why cities need to act to avoid being overwhelmed2. Quality versus quantity .6Comparing cities tourism density against value3. Dealing with overtourism . 10Measures and strategies for sustainable growthCoverphoto: Classen Rafael/EyeEm/GettyImagesEuropean city tourism study 2018 Protecting your city from overtourism 3Chapter 1:The curse of mass tourism Why cities need to act to avoid being overwhelmed4 Protecting your city from overtourism European city tourism study 2018The number of overnight stays achieved per year is a key performance indicator used by managers working in city tourism. nullowth in this figure therefore provides a solid measure of the relative success of managers and their teams, as well as of a city's tourism development in general. nullalue creation from tourism is another comnullmonly used indicator, even though there is no standardnullized measure.The problem is that both indicators offer only a snapshot of performance, rather than being proven innulldicators of success that can be internationally benchnullmarked and tracked over time. This didn't matter too much as long as city tourism did not reach substantial scale, as is still the case in around half of the cities we analyzed. nullt in many others, the tide has now turned. nullflow of tourists has hit a significant level in relation to population, with visitors often concentrated around the city's top attractions. nullch unrestrained growth can lead to congestion, friction with local inhabitants, with many abandoning their homes, and eventually the drowning of cities in a sea of tourists. AThe blight of mass tourism has a manullr negative im nullpact on the guest enullerience, the city's reputation and value creation growth, forcing prices down. nullch effects have been felt in nullrcelona in recent years, where inhab nullitants now openly renullct tourists, be it through antinullour nullist banners or open confrontation. And in nullague, the population in heavily visited areas is decreasing as locals vote with their feet, while positive guest enulleriences are seriously threatened by prevailing crowds.A: Urban trendCity tourism vs. national tourism, measured in overnight stays over the past ten years133 cities with corresponding 15 countries taken into accountSource: Eurostat, TourMis, Roland BergerOVERNIGHT STAYS IN FOCUS CITIES OVERNIGHT STAYS IN CORRESPONDING COUNTRIESTimeGrowth in overnight stays12008-2017 index 2008 = 100100991081181241281371441491572008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 20179710410810911111311712112610080120140160European city tourism study 2018 Protecting your city from overtourism 5Chapter 2:Quality versus quantity Comparing cities' tourism density against value creation6 Protecting your city from overtourism European city tourism study 2018To better define and measure the factors behind successful and unsuccessful tourism development, we have previously worked with tourism managers in cities to develop seven new performance indicators. These arenullgrowth in overnight staysnullnumber of overnight stays in relation to number of inhabitantsnull growth in bed capacitynull value creationnull internationality nulla measure of where tourists come fromnull accessibilitynulland number of conferences. nulle published these criteria and their weighting factors in our previous European city tourism studies.nuller the past few years, as the issue of city tourism growth intensified, one criterion in particular became increasingly importantnullthe number of overnight stays nuller yearnullin relation to number of inhabitants, or simply tourism density. nullile it could be further refined, it serves as a good allnullound measure of nullvertourismnull especially when comparing cities. null is used as one of the key measures in our latest study.The second criterion used as a key measure in this study is an improved definition of value creation. As there is no international standard for this, we used nullevenue per available roomnullnullevnullAnull data for hotels in null European cities from the hotel market information firm nullnullnullobal. null reflects the price level for a manullr area of tourism, namely the organized accommodation sector, and is comparable among cities as well as being internationally accepted.To give a comparative overview of overtourism levels among the null cities in nullnull, we derived a matrinullplotting tourism density against our measure of value creation. BThe matrinullreveals how cities compare in relation to tourism development and overtourism. For enullmple, nullris has a high tourism density while generating high income at the same time. null has therefore succeeded in developing and upgrading its tourism in line with growth. null the other hand, Amsterdam and nullsbon show a similarly high tourism density, but with significantly lower income, putting them at risk of mass tourism. The nulluestion arising for cities, therefore, is how they can develop their tourism strategy to stimulate overnight stay growth while increasing the value inflow at the same time, and thus avoid mass tourism. nullveral European cities are displaying healthy tourism right now, such as nullenna, nullrlin, nullondon, nullnich and nullome.European city tourism study 2018 Protecting your city from overtourism 7B: A tale of 52 citiesOur focus cities mapped and clusteredSource: STR Global, TourMis, Roland Berger0 50501001502002501 2 3 4 6 7 128 9 10 11 13 14 2016 17 18 19 27 28 29BerneBilbaoHeidelbergLausanneLucerneMalagaSan SebastianToulouseVeronaAntwerpGhentLuxembourgMünsterPoznanAmsterdamBarcelonaHamburgLisbonLondonParisMadridPragueUtrechtZaragozaVeniceBordeauxBrusselsCopenhagenDresdenDublinFrankfurtIstanbulTallinnReykjavikStockholmSalzburgZurichBudapestMunichRomeViennaCologneDüsseldorfHelsinkiLeipzigTurinValenciaBrugesGdanskSevilleBerlinLyonRevenue peravailable room EUROvernight stays per inhabitant #>10 m overnights <3 m overnightFrom 3 to 10 m overnightsPEAK PERFORMANCE8% SUSTAINABLE QUALITY8% UNUSED POTENTIAL44% MASS TRAP8% Ø 9.9Ø 88.8SHINING STARS17%UNDER PRESSURE15%8 Protecting your city from overtourism European city tourism study 2018PEAK PERFORMER OR TOURIST TRAP?nulle used the matrinull to categorize the cities into sinullclusters. C The nulleak performancenullcluster includes cities with high value creation as well as high tourism density, while those listed as nullnullnder pressurenull have high and growing tourism density but sluggish value creation. At the other end of the scale, the nullustainable nullualitynull cluster features cities with comparatively low tourism density but high value creation. nulllf of the cities, how nullever, fall into the category of nullnused potentialnull where both parameters are below average European levels.nullrhaps the most notable category is that of nullhining starsnull null features cities with healthy and sustainable levels of tourism, right in the middle of our matrinull. These are well positioned to actively drive tourism development in line with city development. nullondon, nullenna, nullrlin, nullnich and nullome fall into this cluster.nullst notable on the city front is nullenice, whose cate nullgorization as nullnder pressurenullis perhaps unenullected bearing in mind it shows the highest value creation and a very high tourism density. nullt while it has lunullry offerings, the city is beset every year by mass tourism, mostly from the uncontrolled inflow of cruisenullhip passengers and busloads of daytrippers. null addition, its buildings are subsiding while its population is diminishing. Against this background, it is rightly assigned to the cluster nullnder pressurenull C: City limitsThe six city clustersSource: Roland BergerLucerne Paris Stockholm ZurichPEAK PERFORMANCE UNDER PRESSUREAmsterdam Barcelona Copenhagen Dublin Frankfurt Lisbon Reykjavik VeniceMASS TRAPBordeaux Bruges Prague SalzburgSUSTAINABLE QUALITYBerne Hamburg Madrid San SebastianUNUSED POTENTIALAntwerp Bilbao Brussels Budapest Cologne Dresden Gdansk Ghent Helsinki Istanbul Leipzig Münster Lyon Malaga Poznan Seville Tallinn Toulouse Turin Utrecht Valencia Verona ZaragozaSHINING STARSBerlin Düsseldorf Heidelberg Lausanne London Luxembourg Munich Rome ViennaEuropean city tourism study 2018 Protecting your city from overtourism 9Chapter 3:Dealing with overtourism Measures and strategies for sustainable growth 10 Protecting your city from overtourism European city tourism study 2018