Abstract
In recent years, cities such as Venice, Dubrovnik, Paris and Barcelona have experienced an exponential increase in visitor numbers leading to episodes of tourismphobia by anti-tourism movements, or even the decline of the destination. Among other solutions, some destinations see film-induced tourism as a possible way of diversifying tourism supply and demand. Through the analysis of the locations of six thematic film routes in Barcelona compared to the same locations on the largest online travel review platform, TripAdvisor, it is concluded that, far from spreading out tourist flows, fiction-induced tourism in Barcelona has concentrated tourism at the main attractions of the city. Only a few exceptions of films with minor audiences lead tourists off the beaten track. Overall, this paper provides a set of recommendations, strategies and challenges for destination managers to help alleviate overtourism and to offer more sustainable tourism away from spots that attract mass tourism.
Highlights
Since the 1960s, several authors have talked about overtourism; in summary, this refers to a larger number of arrivals than a destination can accommodate, resulting in overcrowded destinations and in a negative perception of tourism by the tourists themselves and by the local population [1,2]
The aim of this study is to analyse the contribution of audio-visual fiction to tourism sustainability in Barcelona from the point of view of the offer—whether the movie routes promoted by the Destination Management Organization (DMO) Turisme de Barcelona has allowed the diversification of the places of interest for tourists in a city characterized by visitor saturation, by comparing the number of Online Travel Reviews (OTRs) of the same city attractions on the world’s largest online travel community platform, TripAdvisor
Bearing in mind the significance of the number of reviews on a popular platform, this research aims to determine whether the most visited places in Barcelona according to the number of reviews on TripAdvisor are the places that appear on the cinematographic tourist routes created in the city, to find out on the one hand whether film fiction contributes to enhancing and increasing visits to tourist attractions and, on the other, whether the appearance of tourist attractions in films contributes to overtourism
Summary
Since the 1960s, several authors have talked about overtourism; in summary, this refers to a larger number of arrivals than a destination can accommodate, resulting in overcrowded destinations and in a negative perception of tourism by the tourists themselves and by the local population [1,2]. Some studies [6,7,8] emphasize the positive role that film-induced tourism can have in diversifying tourist products and flows, as well as in representing and revitalizing unknown parts of a destination With these and other positive impacts in mind, many cities have started to invest in attracting film shoots, which could later generate film-induced tourism. In [9], the author questions the real viability of film tourism for sustainable tourist destination planning and development and its real contribution to alleviating overtourism, because sustainable tourism development should involve all stakeholders including the film industry, which is usually not overly concerned with the consequences the film may have on the destination
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