Solutions for Managing Overtourism in Popular Destinations

Overtourism occurs when destinations face excessive visitor numbers, leading to environmental harm, cultural erosion, and strain on local resources. Natural sites like Maya Bay and the Great Barrier Reef have suffered damage, while cities like Venice and Barcelona face overcrowding, rising costs, and displacement of residents. The phenomenon is fueled by globalization, social media, and budget travel, leaving many destinations unprepared for surging tourist numbers. Addressing overtourism requires sustainable practices, such as visitor caps, education campaigns, and dispersing tourists to lesser-known areas, alongside government regulation and community involvement. By prioritizing collaboration and responsible tourism, destinations can balance economic benefits with preserving their cultural and environmental heritage. Solutions for Managing Overtourism in Popular Destinations examines the multifaceted dimensions of overtourism and proposes innovative strategies to mitigate its adverse impacts. Through a blend of theoretical insights and practical approaches, it sheds light on the root causes of overtourism while charting a path forward toward more responsible tourism practices. Covering topics such as brand development, environmental conservation, and virtual reality (VR), this book is an excellent resource for destination managers and planners, tour operators and travel agents, tourism and hospitality students and educators, environmental scientists and ecologists, policy makers, urban planners, and more.

Narendra Kumar earned his Ph. D. from JS University, Shikohabad, India and currently working as Assistant Professor at Amity Institute of Travel & Tourism, Amity University, Noida. With 23 years of experience in travel & tourism, he has made significant contributions to the area of tourism education. Dr. Kumar has a strong interest in Business travel, tourist behaviour and visitor experiences in the field of tourism and has published extensively on related topics. In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Kumar is actively involved in helping young graduates of tourism and hospitality domain to help them in establishing their start-ups. He has been invited to speak at numerous conferences and seminars on tourism and related fields and his current research focuses on student mentoring. Dr. Kumar’s previous works include one edited book on “Tourist Behaviour” published by Apple Academic Press, USA; one book on “Digital Marketing” and one on “Ethical Aspects of Business in Tourism”. The current book is his second project on Bleisure Tourism from IGI Global Publishers, USA and shows the significance of this new trend in the events industry.

Shiva Ilkhani Zadeh is an accomplished academic in the field of Tourism Management. Presently, she holds the role of PG MSI Dissertation Coordinator and is a member of the Academic Offence within the Department of People and Organization. She previously held the esteemed position of Associate Professor at Cyprus International University's School of Tourism and Hotel Management from 2015 to August 2022, and she served as a Lecturer at Akdeniz Karpasia University from October 2014 to September 2015. Dr. Shiva has extensively written about the various issues of the tourism industry. She is on the editorial board of many prestigious journals and holds a very significant role in the tourism academia. She has authored many research articles in International journals of repute. Her area of specialization includes business management, events, cultural heritage, and destination branding.

Nikola Naumov is a cross-disciplinary scholar with research interests in critical heritage studies, cultural and historical geography, intangible heritage, food tourism and urban geography. He is currently a Division Chair of Business at Higher Colleges of Technology (UAE) and adjunct professor at universities in UK, Germany, Spain and Japan. His consultancy work has involved various assignments and missions for European Institute of Cultural Routes, Council of Europe, Prime Minister’s Office (UAE) and The General Secretariat of the Executive Council of Dubai. Nick has a Master’ in International Tourism from University of Bedfordshire and PhD in Human Geography from King’s College London.

Swati Sharma , Ph.D. is currently working as an Associate Professor with Amity University, India. She holds 18 years of teaching and industry experience. She is Vice- President of Women's Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She is First Indian to receive the Certified Tourism Educator award from Asia Pacific Institute of Events Management. She is the reviewer of Consumer Behavior in Tourism & Hospitality & Inderscience Journals & IGI Global . She has authored & Edited 15 books & published research papers in National & International journals of repute. (IGI Global, Taylor & Francis, Springer, Apple Academy Press, CABI, Edward & Elgar).