**Giovanna Acampa \*, Mariolina Grasso, Giorgia Marino and Claudia Mariaserena Parisi**

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, University "Kore" of Enna, 94100 Enna, Italy; mariolina.grasso@unikore.it (M.G.); giorgia.marino@unikorestudent.it (G.M.); claudia.parisi@unikore.it (C.M.P.)

**\*** Correspondence: giovanna.acampa@unikore.it; Tel.: +39-335-749-5736

Received: 20 December 2019; Accepted: 9 January 2020; Published: 19 January 2020

**Abstract:** The present paper was prompted by the activity carried out within the scope of an EU-funded project (WARMEST). It calls to analyse the reasons for the degradation of the Patio de Los Leones, which attracts over 2 million tourists per year to Granada in Spain. We review here the most advanced studies and regulations on the assessment of the social impact of mass tourism and present a novel methodology to analyse its effects. We dug into the material available on social networks—especially feedback to posts published on major relevant sites—and got a comprehensive picture of the thoughts that were expressed there and a comprehensive assessment of the citizens' opinion on the social impact of tourism in Granada. Thus, we obtained a new indicator called "C.1.2 index modified", which measures the level of dissatisfaction of citizens with the tourists' pressure; we propose to replace the existing ETIS index with C.1.2, which is mainly based on direct surveys that are often carried out with very limited resources. At the end of the research, we could point out topics that are especially important to the citizens, thus allowing us to define a strategic action plan with a bottom-up approach.

**Keywords:** tourist flow management; ETIS; carrying capacity; social impact; social network analysis

### **1. Introduction**

The paper aims to define a new methodology to measure the attitude of the population living in major destinations of cultural tourism vis-à-vis the increasing number of visitors. This growing flow is strongly affecting residents' everyday lives as well as their attitude towards their cities, especially their city centres. While is it easier to establish the cities' capacity to properly host visitors by means of quantitative data that are often available, it is far more complex to follow the residents' attitude. To date, the main tools required, also at a European level, were direct interviews and questionnaires, which entail considerable time and effort to convey significant information. Our approach is to use social networks instead, which can be analysed—as we did—through proper tools. Such tools, more specifically the one that we selected, can deliver a larger and more representative set of data according to a well-specified procedure that can be repeated, thus enabling us to compare results over time and define a trend. The paper was prompted by the activity carried out within the scope of an EU-funded project (WARMEST) [1]. Its goal is to analyse monuments' degradation due to factors such as climate change and the growing number of tourists, create a model to describe and anticipate the phenomenon, and put in place a user-friendly decision support system that will help in setting up preventive maintenance plans. As part of the project, we had the chance to study in depth the degradation at the Patio de Los Leones, the core of the world-famous site of the Alhambra and Generalife, which attracts over 2 million tourists per year to Granada (whose population is around 232.000 individuals) in Spain, where they are located.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO) defined sustainable tourism as "*tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities*" [2].

The definition of sustainability can be applied to tourism by referring to the following three aspects: environmental, economic, and socio-cultural. The aim is to find a balance between the requirements thus defined, i.e., to make responsible use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural traditions of the hosting communities, and ensure long-term economic activities for all stakeholders, including employment opportunities and social services [3].

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in its 2018 annual report, showed that tourists worldwide increased from 25 million in 1950 to 1.3 billion in 2017. This growth trend has advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, the larger number of tourists contributes significantly to the socio-economic well-being and cultural development of cities. On the other hand, the negative attitude of the local population towards visitors increases due to perceived overcrowding, noise, and other resulting nuisances [4].

In Spain, this issue affects several cities. The citizens there tend to mobilise and publicly express their dissatisfaction; movements based on anti-tourism and tourist-phobia are growing [5,6]. Spanish mass media has been putting the topic at the forefront of public debate.

In this context, the present paper reviews the state of the art on the assessment of the social impact of mass tourism and analyses its effects through a novel methodology based on digging into the material published on social networks. The methodology is then applied to a case study, the city of Granada, where, in recent years, the threat posed by mass tourism to the preservation of its values is increasingly perceived.
