*3.4. Conclusions*

Although the researchers analyzing the nature of the conflicts within the tourism context refer mainly to the fruitful achievements of the social studies in this area, relatively few studies apply the specific conceptual frameworks for deconstructing the conflict structure and dynamics. The majority of studies focus on identifying the causes and substantial subjects of conflicts due to the proposed solutions related to the specific conditions of tourism development in the destinations. Otherwise, two studies refer to more universal concepts. Kreiner at al. [24] identified interests, procedure and process, and values as "super-frames" of the conflicts between stakeholders due to the measuring of their intensity extent. Tsaur et al. [60] recognized the cultural, social, and resource/transactional dimensions of the conflict between residents and visitors.

As far as the studies on overtourism relating to conflicts are concerned, the contemporary discussion seems to offer a somewhat limited understanding of methods and tools referring directly to the deconstruction of the conflicts related to the excessive growth of tourism or their mitigating (see Table 3). Nevertheless, the studies which address the conflict issue can be grouped into those which refer to the substantial subject of disputes and those which refer to the nature of conflicts itself. In the former group, there is no shortage of studies which analyze the causes of the conflicts and suggest adequate solutions in the form of imposing new policies towards tourism development, public interventions, adjustments in measuring tourism impact and visitor management, changing the governance structure, or verifying the marketing strategies [12,21,99,105–107]. In all these studies, the researchers stress the scarcity of the data characterizing the core of the conflicts as the significant challenge in mitigating them.

The researchers representing the latter group of studies [7,16] tried to abstract from the specific context of tourism development in studied destinations and identify the universal factors and mechanism behind the overtourism-related conflicts. Regardless of the core of the conflicts, their structure and dynamics are driven by interrelated powers whose nature is universal for every dispute. Postma and Schmucker [7] identifed cultural distance and spatial and temporal distribution as the elements of the mechanism of formation of the concrete conflicts. Zmy´slony and Kowalczyk-Anioł [16] recognized conflicting values, interests, relationships, data, and structural matters as the causes of the conflicts. This model is also in line with Kreiner et al.'s [24] approach. What is essential, both studies propose the empirical frameworks that could be applied to other destinations affected by the overtourism syndrome. However, considering difficulties in obtaining reliable information measuring both the scale of overtourism and the extent of the related conflicts, only the Circle of Conflict model used in the last-mentioned study could be verified as the method of diagnosing the intensity and nature of the disputes associated with overtourism.

### **4. Results of the Empirical Verification**

#### *4.1. The Conflict Situation in Krakow*

Krakow, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1978, belongs to the most prominent tourist destinations in Central and Eastern Europe. The city has also grown into a flagship travel destination in Poland, and the second-most populous urban area, inhabited by 0.76 mn residents. In 2019, Krakow received 14 million visitors, out of whom 10.15 million were tourists (among them 30% foreigners, mainly the Europeans) [113]. The role of tourism in the local economy has been increasing, and the sector contributed 8% to local GDP, generating 10% of the available workplaces in 2018 [114].

Over the last decade, the steadily booming inbound of visitor flows have concentrated in the historic city center, The Old Town Quarter. Consequently, the area has started undergoing the tourismification, gentrification [115], and commodification processes. These have incited a discussion on the ongoing center's depopulation, disturbances caused by the constant city users' and tourists' circulation, and the night-time economy, both in the local media [116–118] and among academics [16,114,115,119]. Although the issues have been addressed in the city's latest strategic documents [113,120], the operationalization of the general action frameworks remains the burning question. In 2011, Mika [121] identified the tourism-related conflict factors by stressing the Old Town's multifunctional character and the ensuing differences in the ways it is used, especially the conflict between the tourist and residential functions, overcrowding during the peak season, and contradictions among various forms of tourist traffic. Moreover, the short-term rentals' expansion [122] and popularization of the amenities for low-budget entertainment tourism [123] have exacerbated the situation. As a result, the touristic pressure on housing resources [124], in particular those due to the tourist rentals proliferation via the Internet platforms (such as Airbnb), impacts the entire Old Town Quarter and the adjacent areas, such as Podgórze [120]. All these changes have led to the conclusion that the city has evolved from a mature to an overtourism destination. This opinion is supported both by the academic voices [16,114,115,125] and the ongoing public debate, with the local authorities' active participation [122,126,127].

For the purpose of the research, the following ten informants representing six key stakeholders were interviewed: the local chamber of tourism, the residents' social movement, the public city tourism administration, the city council as a policy-maker body, a regional tourism organization, and the destination service providers.

Almost all the informants perceived overtourism as a significant problem of the urban development. In detail, the most significant issues listed were the following: spatial concentration of tourist activities

and a progressive change in the structure of services and retail in the city center; noise and other arduousness associated with the night-time entertainment; the depopulated but crowded city center; growth of the grey tourist market; problems on the housing market (boosting short-term rental accommodation, growth of buy-to-rent offers, increase in rental rents, and real estate prices, residential gentrification); and progressive loss of the city atmosphere. However, the informants stressed that such a significant linkage between these issues and the uncontrolled tourism growth, especially in the city center and other tourist spots, was perceived in terms of the overtourism problem. The majority of them assessed its intensity as high, and two assessed it as moderate. Only the representative of the local tourist chamber stressed that the problem was not as acute as the local media reported. However, none of the informants could provide the detailed data confirming the extent of the phenomenon, they claimed they relied on the knowledge of experts and the media reports (at the time of the interviews the study conducted by Szromek and others [114]).

Following the interview logic, four informants claimed that overtourism manifestations induced the conflict within the city, which had already turned into the manifested stage. Although the problem areas and conflict parties (stakeholders) have been outlined, it is difficult to determine the scale and the future course of the dispute. In the opinion of the representatives of the city tourism administration and the regional tourism organization, the conflicts were not visible and identifiable. However, their symptoms and the growing interest inconsistencies were already noticed by the professionals and decision makers, and it is them who should be addressed.

In the opinion of up to five informants, the city authorities, the residents' community and local tourism entrepreneurs were the main parties of the dispute on overtourism. One of them added the international capital representatives (i.e., the real-estate companies, multinational corporations, and property owners from outside Krakow) to this group. The city hall representative claimed that the disputes were local and involved local communities and neighborhoods and local tourist entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, the lack of long-term vision of the tourism development and inactive city authorities were pointed out as the main antecedents of the conflict.

On the one hand, when asked to assess the conflict using the specific criteria (see Table 4), the stakeholders rated the complex core of the dispute (mean assessment 4.17 on a 5-point scale, where 1 represented the lowest and 5 represented the highest level). In addition, the inequality between the parties and the emotional level of the dispute were considered relatively high (respectively, 3.33 and 3.17). On the other hand, the length and the number of parties were considered as the least intense characteristics of the conflict (respectively, 2.50 and 2.00). Moreover, the differentiation in the stakeholders' ratings was noted only in terms of the emotional level and of the length of the conflict. In detail, the representatives of the city council, the city tourism administration, and the regional tourism organization perceived them as less intensive than other participants.

**Table 4.** The intensity of the conflicts in Krakow and Poznan.


There were no significant differences in how the informants identified the functional causes of the conflict-related issues to overtourism (see Figure 2 and Table 5). The informants mainly stressed the differences in values (mean value 4.44 on a 5-point scale, where 1 represented the lowest and 5 represented the most significant impact). In particular, almost all the informants attached the greatest significance to different aims and expectations of the stakeholders. The interest conflicts, notably inconsistent and competing interests of the parties to the conflict and their material causes, turned out to be another category of the conflict source for most of the informants (4.06). The data conflict was assessed as the third influential category of the causes of the conflict (3.72). Most informants paid attention to a high number of different interpretations of information by the parties to the conflict and incorrect information on its subject. Less intensity was assigned to the relationship and structural aspects of conflicts. The discrepancy between the stakeholders' opinions was observed in terms of the perceived intensity of the universal conflict constructs. Except for value dimension, all the constructs were valued lower by the public stakeholders, i.e., the city tourism administration and the city council. Significantly, these institutions were considered by other stakeholders as the main parties to the conflict. At the same time, the community and tourist business representatives and also the regional DMO perceived the higher intensity of almost each conflict constructs.

**Figure 2.** The circles of conflicts in Krakow and Poznan.

**Table 5.** The informants' assessment of functional causes (universal constructs) of the conflicts in Krakow and Poznan.


Acronyms: RTO/LTO—regional and local tourism organization; CTA—city tourism administration; CC—city council; DC—district council; CTB—local tourist chamber/tourism entrepreneurs; RSM—residents' social movement; TB—tourism business; CI—cultural institutions.

Summing up, the overtourism in Krakow was perceived as the significant issue which triggered the conflict that was fueled primarily by different values and concepts of the tourism's role in urban policy and planning tourism, as well as competing interests of the engaged parties.
