*4.2. The Conflict Situation in Poznan*

Poznan represents the fifth major urban area in Poland, inhabited by approximately 0.54 million citizens [30]. The tourism function in the city has principally developed on the basis of the business and event tourism product [128,129] thanks to the Poznan International Fair infrastructure, one of the most spacious exhibition and conference venues in Central and Eastern Europe [130]. Poznan has hosted to international trade fairs since 1925 [131], while large-scale events such as UN Convention on Climate Change COP 2008 [132] or the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship have played a role in creating the city's international, business-friendly, and visitor-open image [133]. The incorporation of the tourism sector in the local economy, which paved the way to its contemporary growth, dates back to 1995 when the strategy of Poznan growth was developed with the aim to build a balanced economy, open to investors, economic partners, and tourists [130]. In addition, Poznan aimed to boost the leisure and cultural tourism segments, bundling and promoting offerings related to local historic attractions, for example, the Royal-Imperial Track [134] or the fortifications [135]. According to the latest data available, in 2018, total number of overnights in Poznan amounted to 1.4 million, out of which 27% was realized by foreign tourists, who were mainly from Europe [30]. The five most frequently visited tourist attractions are located in the city center or its neighboring areas [136].

During the research, twelve representatives of the following seven key stakeholders were examined: city tourism organization, the city council, tourism entrepreneurs representing the local chamber of tourism or the independent ones, the residents' social movement, the public city administration, a key cultural institution, and the old town district council.

According to the vast majority of the informants, tourism had positively impacted the development of the city. Moreover, they claimed that there was still an untapped tourist potential hidden in the city. Thus, in their general opinion, the intensity or even threat of overtourism was scarce and fractional.

Nevertheless, the stakeholders listed many challenges identified as significant in terms of the overall development of the city. The informants identified problems grouped in such categories as night-time entertainment (eight indications), uncontrolled growth of the short-time rental accommodation sector (five indications), pollution of the public space (four indications), transport infrastructure issues (four indications), and loss of local authenticity of urban leisure offerings (two indications) as the most significant. Consequently, the majority of the crucial tourism stakeholders claimed that the disputes triggered by these issues were in the latent stage of evolution and were not identifiable by public opinion. Therefore, they could not yet be precisely addressed. According to the informants, there were no conflicts directly caused by an excessive growth of tourism. Only three out of twelve informants claimed that the conflicts had entered the manifested stage. However, similar to the Krakow interviews, the informants stressed that their assessments were based on subjective opinions, and not the facts and figures.

It should be noted that the informants claimed that the identified nuisances were not strictly associated with the growth of tourism. They perceived tourists just as one of the actors involved in these issues. The city authorities, the residents' community, and the local entrepreneurs were most often identified as the main parties of the disputes. Additionally, the city and district councilors, and the local tourism organization pointed to the real-estate developers, the party-goers, and the managers and owners of night-time premises. Nevertheless, the informants perceived the challenges interdependently as associated with an uncontrolled consumption of the city's offerings in general, and not with the overtourism syndrome, as it was demonstrated collaboratively by city dwellers, visitors from metro area, and tourists. Thus, the following results refer to the conflicts related to this complex issue: The informants pointed out the length of the conflict (average assessment 4.1), the complexity of the conflict core (3.66), and the number of parties involved as the most powerful features of the

conflict (see Figure 2). They also assessed that the negotiations procedures used in the dispute were not advanced (2.03), and the inequality of the parties was not perceived as significant.

None of the functional causes were assessed as significantly impacted by the nature and dynamics of the conflict (see Figure 2). The relationship and value dimensions were assigned with the highest (and almost equally) impacts (3.75 and 3.73, respectively). However, the differences between the other conflict source constructs, i.e., the interest (3.68) and structural (3.52) were slight. In addition, the informants did not seem to stress the issues of information referring to the conflict core. The intensity of the data sources was assessed as the least important conflict source (3.39); however, still very close to the previously mentioned constructs.

The differences in the informants' assessments were identified (see Table 5). In general, both the representatives of the formal governmental bodies (i.e., the city council, the city administration) and the representatives of the collective tourism bodies (i.e., the local tourism organization and the chamber of tourism) recognized the lower intensity of conflict source dimensions than the representatives of local community (i.e., the district council and the residents' association). The average assessments of the former ones ranged between 3.00 and 3.47 as compared with the latter ones, whose evaluations ranged between 3.87 and 4.40. Going into a more in-depth analysis, the significant differences in the opinions grouped as the data dimension were noticed. In detail, they ranged from 2.5 with reference to the city tourism administration and the residents' social movement, to 4.67 with reference to the old town district council. However, such a discrepancy in the assessment of information is in line with the complex nature of the urban tourism issues. Moreover, the representatives of the city authorities (i.e., the city council and the city tourist administration) and also the tourism entrepreneurs assessed the intensity of the relationship and the interest dimensions lower than the informants representing the residents' social group, the district city councilor, and the culture institution, who perceived them as the sources which impact the conflict dynamics to the largest extent. Nevertheless, two dimensions of the conflict construct, i.e., the structural sources and the value sources, were assigned with similar rates.

Summing up, even though the informants claimed a lack of the overtourism-related issues in the city's everyday life, the conflicts related to an uncontrolled consumption of the city offerings were raised. However, the general level of intensity of the conflict sources' hidden behind it, referenced by the summary of average values in Table 5, is not much lower than in the Kraków conflicts related to overtourism, i.e., 3.61 in Poznan as compared with 3.88 in Kraków. Consequently, no leading commonly recognized source of the conflict was identified.

### **5. Discussion and Conclusions**

As many researchers have highlighted, [1,2,78,137] overtourism is a very complex and multilayer issue. Thus, it also appears to be a hard, measurable, and examinable phenomenon. Moreover, the way it evolves reminds us of the paradoxical position of a boiled frog, which is not aware of being boiled until it is too late. That is why the cases of the destinations affected by the overtourism syndrome [18,70,79,138] tell stories of violent reactions and disruptive changes, although the experts are convinced that its enablers and symptoms could be visible much earlier. However, the dynamics of a conflict situation is determined by the content of the conflict [139]. Thus, the explanatory power of this approach allows for a better understanding of the complicated nature of overtourism through the lens of the social conflict sources incrusted in the disturbances triggered by this syndrome. In this paper, we tried to "map" them using Moore's CC model. As many conflict theory researchers have indicated, understanding the causes is understanding the social potential to resolve the conflict [37,38,45].

The case studies conducted in two Polish cities which were similar in population and economic potential but different in terms of the tourism development and a recent overtourism experience, let us reveal the social layer of the conflict process and shed more light on the universal (or primary generating) causes of the social disputes accompanying it. In Krakow, the destructive nature of the powers represented by overtourism were revealed. The value dimension had the biggest and the most intense impact on the nature and dynamics of the conflicts related to overtourism. According to Moore [25], the value-related conflicts are difficult to resolve as their nature limits the space for negotiation and compromise. This could explain the rapid course of anti-tourists protests and the conflicts accompanying overtourism. However, the nature of other types of the conflicts referring to interest, data, or relationship dimensions whose intensity was assessed to be also high, are much easier to resolve as there is more space for negotiation, collaboration, and compromise. Therefore, while bearing with the complexity of the whole overtourism process, the key stakeholders should focus primarily on mitigating emerging interest, data, and relationship conflicts induced by the tourism development.

According to the second case study results, although overtourism has not appeared in Poznan as a public issue and the informants manifested the overtourism-free spirit, the city is exposed to this syndrome. First, overtourism is a place-specific phenomenon [1,2], i.e., it does not transmit itself in the same form to other cities. However, it could mean that it is deeply rooted and fares well in the specific local conditions. As overtourism is a negative manifestation of the tourism development, the already existing conflicts and deficiencies could be the cause of this unsustainability. According to the informants' opinions, the value and structure dimension of the conflicts in Poznan had the most acute and similarly intense impact. As Moore [25] noted, the former is more difficult to resolve than the latter. Since the stakeholders perceived the most subjective dimension as one of the least interacting, it means that they could underestimate the objective, i.e., the rational nature of conflicts related to the development of tourism in the city. Instead, they considered the nature of these problems as subjective. It could be a warning signal of not perceiving the essence of the threat. Second, the identified discrepancies in the informants' assessment of the functional conflict sources' intensity indicated that the representatives of the public bodies responsible for tourism governance (the city council, the city tourism administration) and tourism entrepreneurs underestimated the problems. In comparison, the informants representing the "local side" of the conflicts, i.e., the district councilor, the residents' social movement, and the culture institution, were more aware of the intensity of the conflict in each dimension, which could be a warning signal. Third, the core of the disputes indicated by the informants, i.e., the night-time entertainment, the uncontrolled growth of the short-time rental accommodation sector, and the pollution of public spaces, could also apply to the tourism realm in the city. On the basis of the literature on overtourism [1–3], one can argue that almost all the mentioned issues could be the drivers or constituents of the phenomenon.

This article contributes to the knowledge of tourism development within urban destinations by adopting the method adapted from the conflict theory to study the intensity and structure of social conflicts induced by overtourism. In particular, this article verifies the utility of Moore's [25] Circle of Conflict model in the overtourism context to elaborate on the examination of the structure of conflicts imposed by overtourism. Recent studies dealing with potential social conflicts in the context of overtourism [9,20,21,107] have focused on finding a substantial core of conflicts. Adopting the CC model to two cities let the researcher not only study the substantial causes of the conflicts, but also understand their functional structure, rooted in the relationship, data, interest, structural, and value causes. Thus, the article complements the method of studying overtourism in urban destinations with the method of deconstructing the conflicts which are the part of the phenomenon. Moreover, the observed symptoms allow to assume that the overtourism and the challenges posed by it will evolve and will impact a growing number of destinations. In this vein, it appears sound to further continue developing and validating the tools to diagnose and manage the conflicts. Future research could benefit by incorporating the view Horowitz [46] applied and reflected on the ethnic conflict. This approach focuses on recognizing the lack of understanding between two or more parties with regard to symbols and values. As Burton [45] noted, the desirable solution to the conflict consists of taking into account the broad context of the given situation and building an environment which creates valuable relations between the parties to the conflict. This perspective should be an inspiration for seeking solutions in theoretical and practical discussion on (over) tourism conflict. Furthermore, the article contributes to the conflict studies by applying Moore's [25] Circle of Conflict model to identify and understand the social conflicts caused or related to such a very complex, multilayered, and dynamic phenomenon as overtourism.

In our opinion, some of the previous studies on conflicts are in line with the current debate on handling overtourism. Among others, a key approach is the tourism sustainable development, notably the inclusion of a broad range of stakeholders (residents' empowerment, governance). As Morton Deutsch explains, the father figure in the field of the conflicts research, the relations between the parties involved influence both the antagonism creation and the dispute course. Yet, as the author adds, the dynamics of the conflict situation is determined by the content of the conflict [139]. Therefore, the study presented in this article contributes to the body of literature on overtourism, indicating a potential level of the phenomenon by deconstructing the functional structure of the conflicts related to it. As both study cases showed, the value dimension had the biggest and the most intense impact on the nature and dynamics of conflicts. It is usually associated with the social valuation of space (local and national identity space) in which the competition between residents and guests takes place.

As Burton [45] notes, in each conflict, human traits play a significant role (constituting the ontological basis and universal essence of the conflict); generalizing, it points to three basic sources of the conflict situations, i.e., needs, values, and interests. The results of our research correspond with this statement. The deprivation of residents' needs of (often gradually increasing over time) is widely commented on in the overtourism literature (see, among others, issues of gentrification intensified by the tourism development [16,115]). The problem is also related to the problem of social control, whose lack (or its unreliability) is perceived in the overtourism destinations as a threat or a way to social anomy. They are the genesis of variously expressed anti-tourist protests [7–9,16]. Some of the protests, as some of the authors in the overtourism field, allude in the narration to the dichotomous division introduced by Marx and continued by Dahrendorf. The social world splits between the dominant and subordinate groups, where each of them presents counter interests. Yet, as Adamus-Matuszy ´nska [38] observed, the contemporary interests of groups stemmed from complex economic, social, and politic phenomena. These factors hinder the conflicts interpretation in terms of the social class dichotomous division. Following Axel Honneth [47], the core of the present social conflict (including overtourism) is rather the recognition of the realm and not of the social equality. The conflicts caused by overtourism (as long as they are not in the conflict with fundamental values and interests) also stimulate the emergence of new rules and institutions (e.g., the Night Mayor) as well as the norms ordering social relations in the group, which is in line with Coser's assumption [44].

The escalating conflicts of overtourism are emanation of an unsustainable situation that signals the disfunctions and stimulates the key institutions to search for and undertake necessary actions [15]. Moreover, the emerging protests, which are an integral constituent of the overtourism social phenomenon [7–9] could have a diagnostic role in overtourism and overtourism management, because they expose some weaknesses and problems of the local tourism system and urban policy, as well as reveal the differences and the existence of interest groups. As Kreiner et al. [24] note, "(i)n many tourism-focused communities, tourism development significantly influences social conflict. By bringing in more groups and subgroups, tourism development alters and complicates the scope and nature of conflicts, thereby influencing the social structure and bringing about cultural change within local communities. The disputes that emerge typically revolve around the conflicting interests, values, and goals espoused by different stakeholders". Moreover, following Burton [45], it is worth noting that the current deeper social problems are also reflected in the conflicts. In this sense, the overtourism conflict (usually associated with urban transformation) is their signal. As an attribute of social change [39], (over)tourism conflict can simultaneously be the cause of other social processes [38]. Despite the assumption adopted in the literature about the normality of conflicts in the social system, their ubiquity and, to some extent, utility ( ... ), there is an agreement on the need to overcome them.

Finally, the limitations of the study should be identified. First, the literature almost entirely exclusively focused on international (i.e., English language) journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, with the exclusion of the tourism-related work published elsewhere (books, book chapters, and conference papers). In addition, due to delineation of the scope of the core analysis, only those papers in which the term "overtourism" was used were included. Secondly, the limitations related to the case study method as having limited potential for generalization and limited readability [35] should be mentioned. The contextual character of the research, possible response bias, and the limited number of informants limits the conclusions.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.K.-A. and P.Z.; methodology, P.Z. and J.K.-A.; validation, P.Z. and J.K.-A.; Sections 3.1 and 3.2, J.K.-A.; Section 3.3, M.D.; Section 3.4, P.Z.; destination context J.K.-A., P.Z., and M.D.; results, P.Z. and J.K.-A.; discussion and conclusions, P.Z. and J.K.-A.; writing—original draft preparation, P.Z., J.K.-A., and M.D.; writing, P.Z.; supervision, P.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research has been supported by both universities' funding schemes: PUEB's internal grant program called "PUEB for Science—Novel directions in the field of economics" (project title: "Evolution of inter-organizational relationships as the result of sharing economy's development: micro, meso and macroeconomic implications"); the PUEB's statutory research project "Conditions for competitiveness of tourism businesses and destinations"; and the UL's statutory research project "Urban tourism hypertrophy".

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
