Sustainability and Visitor Management in Tourist Historic Cities

Dear Colleagues,

Historic cities are twofold: from the cultural point of view, they have a secular legacy that expresses the basis of the community’s identity; from the economic perspective, they are linked to the consideration of heritage and culture as drivers of development (Castro Fernández, Lois González, Lopez, 2015). In this sense, historic cities are major tourist attractions that lead to an influx of visitors that threatens their sustainability (Barrera et al., 2014; Massiani & Santoro, 2012; Thimothy, 2011). Ashworth and Tunbridge (1990) developed the concept of Tourist-Historic Cities (THCs) as areas in which urban structure, architecture, and artefacts are used to create a heritage asset that is based on place. In fact, historic cities are also “convergent spaces”: they lead to coinciding social behaviors, as various activities take place within their “borders”.

Tourist activity is continually increasing in tourist-historic cities. It contributes to local and regional economic development but also creates significant social and environmental problems that are heightened by the increase in the population living in these spaces. Sustainable practices are key factors in reaching balanced economic, social and environmental development. The concept of sustainable tourism management means regulating and controlling the rate of growth within a destination (Canovan, 2013; Goodwin, 2017; Gössling & Hall, 2005; Saarinen, 2014). However, putting sustainability into practice is a complex process, due to the lack of practical tools for measuring the impacts of tourism in all their dimensions. In fact, UNWTO has been working on creating a draft framework for measuring tourism’s impact on sustainability through the initiative “Measuring Sustainable Tourism” (MST). As new sources of data for the analysis of tourism have emerged, this initiative calls for a framework that is based not on the use of traditional data sources but one capable of using and integrating all possible sources to provide the richest picture possible (UNWTO, 2017). In this context, Tourist Information Systems or Tourist Observatories must be encouraged as tools for unifying all data sources and establishing a systematic way to monitor tourism indicators that can guide decision-making processes and promote smart cities (Agyeiwaah et al., 2017; Fernández-Tabales, 2017).

Challenging and innovative management measures leading to favourable dynamics are required to pave the way for a discourse of socially-sustainable tourism practices (Joppe, 2018; Saarinen, 2006). Therefore, all public and private territorial actors involved in tourism must work together to integrate cultural, tourism and urban policies (Landorf, 2009; Lussetyowati, 2015; Pérez Guilarte and Lois González, 2018). In addition, the participation of local residents in decision-making processes is one of the most widely discussed parameters in debates on the preservation and sustainability of tourism management (Jones and Evans, 2012; Lussetyowati, 2015; Nyseth and Sognnaes, 2013). Nevertheless, because the public has not been involved in developing tourism strategies, public administrations are dealing with social conflicts and movements that protest the ‘touristification’ of public spaces, the increased cost of rented housing, the loss of traditional commerce, and other problems. It urges a collective, consensual choice based on the principles of commons creation and governance, care and conviviality (Saarinen, 2014). Taking into account the above-mentioned scenario, the purpose of this special issue is to provide a forum in which to discuss and identify new trends and developments in planning and managing sustainability and visitor flows in historic cities. We welcome the submission of original papers that include conceptual, empirical, analytical or design-oriented approaches to the following topics:

1. Monitoring carrying capacity and mechanisms for managing tourist flows to tourist attractions and historic cities as a whole.
2. New sources of information (Big Data or others) for producing statistics on visitor profiles, demands and behaviour as tools for managing visitor flows.
3. Systems and tools for measuring the social, economic and environmental sustainability of tourism.
4. Models of collaboration between public and private institutions to plan and manage sustainable tourism.
5. The integration of tourism, urban development and cultural heritage policies.
6. Initiatives from the business sector to promote competitiveness through the implementation of sustainable practices.
7. Policies for promoting public participation in the planning and development of tourism.
8. The impacts of tourism on the residential use of historic cities and public actions to mitigate them.
9. Social conflicts and movements against tourism activity: causes and management.

The proposals should address these topics from a variety of perspectives, including basic research, integrated assessment approaches and policy evaluations. They may draw from specialized fields within geography, economics, history and the social and political sciences.

This special issue therefore welcomes proposals that advance integrated and multidisciplinary approaches as a strategy for improving the results of research, as well as innovative spatial and temporal connections that challenge future perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Rubén Camilo Lois González
Dr. Yamilé Pérez Guilarte
Dr. Lucrezia Lopez
Guest Editors

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• Carrying capacity
• Management of visitor flows
• Sustainability measurement
• Tourist Intelligence Systems
• Tourism planning and management
• Cultural heritage management
• Public-private synergies
• Governance models
• Social conflicts