PERCEPTION OF OVERTOURISM IN SELECTED EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS IN TERMS OF VISITOR AGE AND IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Abstract

Overtourism is a modern challenge in many popular tourist destinations. Social networks are also largely helping to spread this phenomenon, where destinations are presented to a large, dispersed, and younger audience of tourists. The aim of this paper is therefore to assess the age perception of overtourism in selected European destinations in the context of sustainable tourism. For the collection of primary data, we used an author's questionnaire, by which we surveyed from selected groups of Slovak respondents the perception of overtourism in our selected ten European destinations of overtourism. The analysis includes the most important findings from the questionnaire survey and the evaluation of research hypotheses. Selected mathematical-statistical methods were used, namely correlation analysis through the Spearman correlation coefficient and regression analysis through a simple linear regression model in the Gretl statistical program. The main findings include that there is a statistically significant association between the number of destinations visited and the age of the respondents, as well as that the number of overtourism destinations visited depends on the age of the respondents. This finding should be considered by destination management organizations when creating products aimed at younger visitors. Through various marketing activities, they could mainly focus on their travel behavior with an emphasis on the development of sustainable tourism.