Tourism Gentrification Research Articles

Shaken, not stirred: New debates on touristification and the limits of gentrification

The recent touristification of the historic downtown quarters of many European cities is not without its social, spatial and economic impacts. In turn, many global cities show a lack of efficient tools in tackling and addressing the negative impacts derived from touristification. Facing this, some scholars have importantly examined the interplay between tourism, gentrification and urban change. However, we urban studies scholars have not yet admitted the existence of serious limitations regarding our current theoretical, conceptual and methodological approach in exploring the Tourist City. In this paper we argue that the rapid and intense touristification of central areas of post-industrial cities across the world requires a new breakthrough approach in order to understand the process of urban touristication in all its complexity. That is why we argue that what many scholars sometimes erroneously call ‘tourism gentrification’ need to go beyond the ‘classical’ approach used to explore how urban touristification affects the social, cultural and urban fabric of our cities.

관광 젠트리피케이션에 대한 지각된 가치, 만족, 책임 여행의도 간 관계 연구 : 만족의 매개효과

관광 젠트리피케이션에 대한 지각된 가치, 만족, 책임 여행의도 간 관계 연구 : 만족의 매개효과

Assessing and Advancing Research on Tourism Gentrification

This article provides an overview and assessment of my concept of tourism gentrification. I describe my motivation for developing the concept and elaborate on the sources of inspiration for my theorizing of tourism as a major driver and outcome of gentrification trends. I next discuss the various scholarly reactions to my concept and delineate the ways in which researchers around the world have engaged my research to fashion new theories and understandings of the interconnection of tourism and gentrification. As a heuristic device, tourism gentrification focuses theoretical and analytical attention on how the interlocking nature of consumption-led economic growth, cultural identities linked to gentrifier status, and global circulations of real estate financing can produce unique local configurations of tourism and gentrification. As I point out, my concept of tourism gentrification is flexible and nimble enough to reveal the diverse ways in which tourism can be a driver of urbanization and neighborhood change, an effect of group conflict, and a site for localizing global flows of finance and culture.

Tourism Gentrification as a Symptom of an Unsustainable Tourism Development

Tourism Gentrification as a Symptom of an Unsustainable Tourism Development

관광 젠트리피케이션 현상에 대한 인과순환 구조와 정책지렛대 탐색

This study began after sensing a problem being caused by tourism gentrification in the Bukchon area. The purpose of this study was therefore to understand the causal loop structure of gentrification taking place in Bukchon tourist attraction. The Structure and cause of this tourism gentrification phenomenon indicates that this could draw causal feedback structures which: 1) Limit the tourism carrying capacity, 2) Polarize wealth caused by commercialization and spatial change, and 3) Manage resources and the tragedy of the commons. Policy leverages developed from the structural causes of tourism gentrification were as follows: First, the limits of tourism carrying capacity can be improved by enhancing the physical capacity and social capacity in order that a more fundamental alternative might fully calculate the volume of visitors that tour courses could accommodate. Secondly, the polarization of wealth caused by commercialization and spatial change is a viciously structured cycle in which two positive feedback loops are skewed between two extremes. Therefore, it is recommended that the Seoul Metropolitan Government should expand its current policies restricting new large franchises in Bukchon and reorganize the Bukchon tourist district reviewing the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act as soon as possible. In addition, a city-wide awareness of the gentrification issue must be undertaken. Third, in terms of resource management and the tragedy of the commons, this study invoked a study by Ostrom to suggest that communities need to voluntarily and autonomously manage their own resources. The study argues that sustainability in tourist attractions must take place gradually with voluntary participation from local residents and collaboration between many different fields.

Exploring the Living Heritage of Galle Fort: Residents’ Views on Heritage Values and Cultural Significance

The Galle Fort of Sri Lanka was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1988 by UNESCO on the basis of criterion (iv) of the outstanding universal value (OUV), which places clear emphasis on the physical exceptionality of the site. Its living, intangible heritage is only given partial recognition in the definition of cultural and universal significance of the place. At present, the living heritage of Galle Fort is a forgotten and neglected entity. Emerging theories on heritage discourse recognize that the OUV of living heritage sites are in a state of evolution and transformation and is not a, fixed notion that remains unchanged in time and place. This aspect requires frequent exploration in order to determine necessary improvements to be made to conservation and management strategies. The article focuses on heritage values attached to Galle Fort by its living community. In-depth interviews with a cross section of the community disclosed that the residents of Galle Fort lay greater emphasis on the social value of the place. They have pronounced concerns on the risks posed to the social value by commercial and tourism gentrification taking place. The study raises awareness of the importance of the residents’ values in informing, guiding, managing and conserving the cultural significance and OUV of Galle Fort for posterity.

“The Blood Never Stops Flowing and the Party Never Ends”: The Originals and the Afterlife of New Orleans as a Vampire City

“The Blood Never Stops Flowing and the Party Never Ends”: The Originals and the Afterlife of New Orleans as a Vampire City

Gentrificação turística em Lisboa: neoliberalismo, financeirização e urbanismo austeritário em tempos de pós-crise capitalista 2008-2009

Resumo Neste artigo pretendo identificar forças motrizes importantes da financeirização do ambiente construído e do setor imobiliário que estão na raiz da onda de gentrificação turística que está ocorrendo em Lisboa na última década. Será analisada a viragem neoliberal recente na política urbana em Portugal, responsável por ter criado as condições para um urbanismo austeritário, legitimando a ideologia da necessidade "natural" e "inevitável" da turistificação nos bairros históricos de Lisboa, no período do pós-crise capitalista de 2008-2009. Nas narrativas de marketing urbano e racionalidade neoliberal, a viragem neoconservadora no governo da cidade tem como objetivo tornar Lisboa uma cidade mais competitiva, atraindo investimentos estrangeiros, visitantes e turistas, amarrando os fluxos de capital imobiliário ao seu ambiente construído, em um quadro da globalização da concorrência entre cidades e lugares.

The role of self-gentrification in sustainable tourism: Indigenous entrepreneurship at Honghe Hani Rice Terraces World Heritage Site, China

ABSTRACTThis article examines three forms of tourism gentrification within the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces UNESCO World Heritage Site in Yunnan, China. The Indigenous Hani and Yi communities who populate this remote mountainous area possess distinct cultural practices that have supported the rice terrace ecosystem for centuries. This article uses interviews and non-participant observation conducted with inhabitants and newcomers to analyse the gentrification within the site. We argue that Indigenous cultural practices, and consequently rice cultivation in the area, are threatened by gentrifier-led and state-led gentrification, combined with high levels of outward migration of Indigenous persons. This poses a significant threat to the sustainability of tourism there, to the survival of the traditions and culture of the Indigenous inhabitants and could compromise the site's World Heritage Status. Some Indigenous people are, however, improving their socio-economic standing – and becoming “middle-class” or “gentry” – particularly through adopting entrepreneurial strategies gleaned from their encounters with outside-gentrifiers and tourists. This article proposes the concept of “self-gentrification” as a way to describe individuals who seek to improve themselves and their own communities, while threatened by gentrification, and offers ways to promote that concept to help conserve both heritage landscapes and Indigenous ways of life.

Tourism gentrification in Shenzhen, China: causes and socio-spatial consequences

Tourism gentrification is a consequence of both ‘gentrification generalized’ and the rapid development of the global tourism industry. The geographical spread of tourism gentrification from Western countries to emerging countries like China inevitably challenges existing explanations. Using the case of the Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town (OCT) community in China, this study examines the causes and socio-spatial consequences of tourism gentrification with the aim of widening the discussion on tourism gentrification. Historically, the Shenzhen OCT community was a traditional farm with single group of peasants. Over the past two decades, it has become a mixed gentrified community with upper-class and low-income residents. Theme parks and other tourist facilities now dominate much of the community. This empirical analysis of this community highlights some of the features of tourism gentrification in China. It can be a type of new-build gentrification evolving from a brownfield area. The emergence of a rent gap is the result of rapid urbanization in China but not of suburbanization. The government gives the primary land developers some community administration rights to promote tourism and community development. Tourism gentrification leads to a mixed community with a certain proportion of low-income residents, which generates a diversity of cultural preferences and consumption patterns in the OCT community. In the changing context of China and other emerging countries, tourism gentrification is one part of a broader transformation of social space from lower-class to upper-class spaces. In this case, tourism becomes the main driving force in economic, social, cultural, and lifestyle transformations.

Tourism Gentrification: The Case of New Orleans' Vieux Carre (French Quarter)

This paper examines the process of 'tourism gentrification' using a case study of the socio-spatial transformation of New Orleans' Vieux Carre (French Quarter) over the past half-century. Tourism gentrification refers to the transformation of a middle-class neighbourhood into a relatively affluent and exclusive enclave marked by a proliferation of corporate entertainment and tourism venues. Historically, the Vieux Carre has been the home of diverse groups of people. Over the past two decades, however, median incomes and property values have increased, escalating rents have pushed out lower-income people and African Americans, and tourist attractions and large entertainment clubs now dominate much of the neighbourhood. It is argued that the changing flows of capital into the real estate market combined with the growth of tourism enhance the significance of consumption-oriented activities in residential space and encourage gentrification. The paper contests explanations that view gentrification as an expression of consumer demands, individual preferences or market laws of supply and demand. It examines how the growth of securitisation, changes in consumption and increasing dominance of large entertainment firms manifest through the development of a tourism industry in New Orleans, giving gentrification its own distinct dynamic and local quality.