Tourism In European Cities Research Articles

Tourism in European Cities: The Visitor Experience of Architecture, Urban Spaces and City Attractions

Tourism in European Cities: The Visitor Experience of Architecture, Urban Spaces and City Attractions

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE IMPACT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ON TOURISM PHENOMENON

ince 2010, the European Commission, through the Communication “Europe, No1 World Tourism Destination – A New Political Framework for Tourism in Europe”, has drawn the attention to the fact that local / urban tourism strategies should be essential to the way in which cities promote or limit the extension of tourism services; thus, the increase in the number of tourists in cities and the lack of local tourism policies can lead to negative pressures on the local (environmental, cultural and social) environment. In the research, we will analyze how the explosive economic growth trend of the analyzed region (in our case due to the massive absorption of European funds for urban infrastructure and for industrial development) has positively or negatively affected the tourism sector of the area. The objective of the research will be: identification of local officials with the elaboration and implementation of sustainable tourism policies related to sustainability and identification of specific factors of influence – local vision on sustainability, local action instruments and, implicitly, the tourist flow generated compared to the economic growth level of the region. From a methodological point of view, the research combines two levels of analysis: the comparative analysis of local economic development plans and strategies with local tourism policies as well as the comparative analysis of economic growth indicators of the region with the tourism indicators for the chosen period. A comparison between local development strategies and local tourism policies allows us to identify whether the growth of the tourist phenomenon in the region is a mere consequence of the development of the region or it is based on a strategic thinking of tourism development. The idea behind this research is based on the fact that other studies have demonstrated that the notion of sustainable tourism in major European cities remains out of the local political agenda, without discussing possible conflicts between urban tourism and negative externalities.

Estimating transportation-related CO2 emissions of European city tourism

The present study develops a methodology to assess transportation-related CO2 emissions of European city tourism. In doing so, not only is travel distance considered, but also the chosen transportation modes and the particularities of the different cities’ source markets. The major contribution of this study is the implementation of this learning methodology into a decision support system for destination management organizations of cities. Based on a sample from 2018 of 48 European cities with at least 40 source markets, the range of aggregate transportation-related CO2 emissions of European city tourism is estimated. Moreover, a longitudinal analysis of the exemplary city of Vienna covering the period of 1990 to 2018 is carried out. Finally, some policy recommendations of how destination management organizations can contribute to make the estimated transportation-related CO2 emissions even more precise and on how to make European city tourism more environmentally sustainable are drawn.

Gentrification, transnational gentrification and touristification in Seville, Spain

Increased international tourism in large European cities has been a growing social and political issue over the last few years. As the number of urban tourists has rapidly grown, studies have often focused on its socio-spatial consequences, commonly referred to as touristification, and have linked this to gentrification. This connection makes sense within the framework of planetary gentrification theories because the social injustices it generates in cities have a global pattern. However, gentrification is a complex process that must be analytically differentiated from tourism strategies and their effects. Whereas gentrification means a lower income population replaced by one of a higher status, touristification consists of an increase in tourist activity that generally implies the loss of residents. Strategies to appropriate and marketise culture to sustain tourism-led economies can also shape more attractive places for foreign wealthy newcomers, whose arrival has been theorised as transnational gentrification. Discussions on the relationship between gentrification, transnational gentrification and touristification are essential, especially regarding how they work in transforming an urban area’s social fabric, for which Seville, Spain’s fourth largest city with an economy specialised in cultural tourism, provides a starting point. The focus is set on the processes’ timelines and similar patterns, which are tested on three consecutive scales of analysis: the city, the historic district and the Alameda neighbourhood. Through the examination of these transformations, the article concludes that transnational gentrification and touristification are new urban strategies and practices to revalorise real estate and appropriate urban surplus in unique urban areas.

Urban planning and tourism in European cities

ABSTRACTThis special issue bridges the existing gap in the tourism and urban literature regarding planning and tourism in European cities and investigates the interrelationship between urban planning and tourism and its evolvement and transition over time. It includes nine articles that focus on different cases of urban planning and tourism in European cities. All the cities presented in this special issue function as capital cities, therefore they were designed and planned to represent the nation to itself and to the world for incoming tourists. As a result, all those cities are endowed with monumental city planning and architecture, they have abundance of cultural institutions and monuments thus raising questions about the choice and type of the representation of heritage arise. In addition of being capitals, those cities are also places where ordinary people live and with the growing intensity and volume of tourism, questions of social and economic carrying capacity arises; some of the articles reflect on those growing concerns. The cities chosen to this special issue are: Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, Lisbon, Prague, Budapest, Skopje (and several additional cities in Macedonia). Those cities represent a balanced geographic distribution of cities in the European continent from East to West and North to South.

Bottom-up touristification and urban transformations in Paris

ABSTRACTThis paper seeks to explore and reflect on the interrelatedness of tourism growth and urban transformations in Paris. Being a top destination in European city tourism, the French capital provides an excellent opportunity to study the particular role of tourism in urban transformations. Based on substantial exploratory fieldwork that was carried out between 2013 and 2016, we argue that Paris is subject to on-going dynamics of touristification that are particularly intense at the margins of the existing tourist hot spots. First, we identify relevant tourist areas using GPS tracking technology and field observation techniques. Second, we discuss the role of Airbnb in the emerging touristification of widely gentrified residential neighborhoods. Third, we reflect on the urban mobility practices of cyclists and pedestrians which have the potential to foster touristification by interconnecting various tourist hotspots and accommodation locations. We suggest that the current urban transformations should primarily be seen as a bottom-up initiative that involves both tourists and residents in the city. Considering tourism growth and urban transformations as mutually constitutive processes, we conclude with a consideration of potential future developments in Paris.

Security and Tourism in European Cities - The Multiple Case Study

The purpose is to present current security and tourism issues in selected cities in Europe. The aim of the research is to present several approaches that cities have adopted in order to secure tourists. Research is designed as multiple case studies research design. Seven cities (Alba, Barcelona, Brasov, München, Rome, Saint-Denis and Brussel) are described regarding their security policies and safety, and findings of cross-case analysis are presented. . Four themes emerged from cross-case analysis: Security, tourism policy and citizens; Image, communication and public spaces; Managing the security of large events and Managing nightlife in the city. The findings show that cities use different policies, management, methods and practices to challenge security issues in tourism.

Tourism in European cities

The article provides new information on hotel prices and services in 26 European cities and investigates hotel price determinants. In a two-step estimation procedure, the authors first quantify the price effect of single room and hotel services and then examine the relationship between accommodation prices and city characteristics. They find that hotel services differ significantly from city to city and that room characteristics such as size, breakfast, air conditioning, and free-cancellation options are services for which customers are willing to pay a significant markup. Moreover, the service content of accommodation is negatively correlated with the value of the city center where the hotel is located: increasing competition on the European market seems to be producing partial price convergence via adjustment of service and quality content, so that cities with higher factor costs tend to cut service quality while “cheaper” towns improve it.

Off-the-beaten-track tourism: a new trend in the tourism development in historical European cities. A case study of the city of Krakow, Poland

In the recent years, substantial changes in the manner of sightseeing in cities have been becoming visible. Tourists are leaving the old city centres and are deciding to visit places that are not typical tourist attractions. In such places, alternative forms of city tourism described as off-the-beaten-track tourism are developing. In Europe, this pertains especially to historical cities, specifically capital cities and large agglomerations, such as Krakow, one of the biggest cities in Poland, commonly described as the cultural capital. The aim of this article is to analyse the management of tourism in European historical cities in the context of off-the-beaten-track tourism’s development using the case study of Krakow. To illustrate the issue, two districts, Nowa Huta and Podgórze, were chosen as the examples. In both districts one can observe changes affecting the model of city tourism that stems from the shift in motivations of visitors and from alternative ways of spending free time in the city they are visiting. This process necessitates appropriate management of tourism in the city in accordance with the rules of sustainable development and protection of cultural and historical authenticity of places and buildings.

Flows of tourist mobility in Berlin

Berlin follows Paris and London as the major destinations in European city tourism. In 2010 more than 20 million bednights were registered in the city’s hotels and accommodation facilities. Consequently, the German capital can serve as a laboratory to study configuration and change in urban tourism. The map shows the mobility of 300 visitors in Berlin. The changing colors represent the proportion of individuals who were tracked within the squares of a 25-meter grid during the field study. Th...

Déjà-vu: tourist practices of repeat visitors in the city of Paris

In the context of sustained growth in European city tourism, competing travel destinations develop marketing strategies that include measures to attract an increasing number of repeat visitors. This paper ex- plores the case of Paris in order to provide a better understanding of the specific motivations, interests and activities of leisure tourists who had previously stayed in the capital of France. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's concept of distinction it is argued that repeat visitors tend to di erentiate themselves from other tourists. On the basis of substantive field work in Paris, a set of repeat visitor practices is presented that include strategies to avoid spatial concentrations of major tourist spots in order to participate in Parisian everyday life. Moreover, it is suggested to conceptualize the encounters between repeat visitors and tourism destinations as a lifelong relationship, which can be renewed and reproduced through further visits and virtual encounters. The distinct characteristics of repeat visitor practices have substantial implications for the organization of tourism in the city and the relationships between first-time tourists, repeat visitors and the local population.

Tourism in European Cities: Insights into the Dynamics of Weekend Hotel Accommodation

The rationalization of the cost of accommodation for the most representative night of the weekend (from Saturday to Sunday) was examined using hotel price information from the Internet. The overall data are related to 20 benchmark European cities, but also include brief comparisons with other cities around the world. The tool used to obtain the information was a web searcher with similar characteristics to a travel agency, which allows booking via the Internet. The amount of data thus collected was much greater than could have been produced from any other available information source, enabling a more robust and detailed analysis. ‘Yield management’, as used by airlines, especially as it relates to price discrimination and ‘peak load pricing’, drives hotel prices. An overview of differences among the main types of customer is provided, distinguishing mainly between those travelling for financial reasons and those travelling for pleasure. The results reveal that ‘sun-and-beach’ destinations, especially abundant in southern European countries, and in particular in Spain, usually offer cheap prices. However, the best-known southern cities present prices in accordance with the price lists of the rest of Europe and, in some cases, their prices are even higher than those in some Nordic cities. Apart from price analysis, the quality of the hotels is also taken into account using the ‘coefficient by star’ parameter.

Development of European urban tourist systems

Relationship between urban development and tourism is a significant process in Europe today. Development of tourism has caused many organizational changes in urban environment. In the middle of the 20th century cultural and historical heritage in the cities was impetus of development of tourism in European cities. Nowadays, in many European cities tourism is recognized as a mean of further economic development. Strategy of polycentricity, outlined in European spatial development perspective is supporting that process, too. Many tourist centres and metropolitan tourist areas have been developed. In the period from 1996. to 2007. number of visitors in European cultural capitals was growing continuously by rate of 25,6%. In the same period, the number of international tourist arrivals increased by rate of only 7%.

Städtetourismus in europäischen Grossstädten

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Abstract European city tourism has increased considerably over the past decade as cities market themselves competitively as attractive tourist destinations. This paper presents, for the first time, a detailed picture of the uneven geographies of European city tourism, covering a total of 473 cities within the borders of 27 EU states, and the EFTA states of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. The first part of the paper develops a ranking of European tourist cities, based on documented overnight stays of visitors and on tourist accommodation capacities. The second part analyzes the changing dynamics of tourism growth in different regional and national contexts between 1995 and 2005. The paper concludes with a critical discussion of the major driving forces of European city tourism and an evaluation of the potential for future growth.

Standardizing city tourism statistics

The major problems that city tourism managers face are the availability and comparability of market research information for their own city and their strongest competitors. To overcome this problem in market volume and share studies on European city tourism, an intelligent database system was developed. A comprehensive knowledge acquisition process on the quality and comparability of the statistics led to a prototype version of an expert system approved by leading European city tourism office managers. Additional tests of the system's accuracy showed reasonable results and helped reveal further possibilities for improving its performance. The final outcome of this model represents the largest, standardized longitudinal data set on European city tourism.

Cultural Tourism in Rural Communities: The Residents’ Perspective

Cultural tourism develops at a considerable speed and diversifies continuously in a multifaceted way. It constitutes not only the base for the booming European city tourism but acts more and more as an instrument for fostering tourism in rural areas. The main objective of this kind of policy is to maintain or improve the quality of life of the local people. The theoretical background for this development is outlined briefly in the introductory section of this article. The empirical part analyzes the impacts of a particular kind of cultural tourism (exhibition tourism) as perceived by local residents in several small rural communities of Styria, Austria. This study examines the psychometric characteristics of the tourism impact and attitude scale (TIAS) developed by Lankford and Howard. The added domain of psychosocial impacts is shown to adhere to a distinct dimension of environmental influences. This extended TIAS model was tested for structural stability over two consecutive measurement moments and shifts in the mean scores of the latent constructs by means of structural equation modeling. In addition, background variables were regressed—first separately then aggregated to community attachment scores—against the two latent dimensions of tourism impacts to find explanations for variations in attitudes. The four-quadrant model of Bjorklund and Philbrick of social impacts was applied for elucidating the perceptual shifts from the initial to the follow-up study period.

Tourism in European heritage cities

Heritage cities attract many visitors, generating benefits and costs. When the costs exceed the benefits, tourism development is no longer sustainable, and interventions become necessary. In order to develop guidelines to help heritage cities manage their tourism more adequately, the tourism market and policy of seven art cities were analyzed: Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Bruges, Florence, Oxford, Salzburg and Venice. It was shown that tourism is menacing not only the vitality of their local economies, but also the integrity of their heritage and the quality of life of their residents. Measures to control and guide visitor flows are urgently needed. In reality, tourism management in the heritage cities does not go much further than promotion.