urban tourism essay

The Other Half of Urban Tourism: Research Directions in the Global South

• First Online: 14 July 2021

Cite this chapter

• Christian M. Rogerson 4 &
• Jayne M. Rogerson 4  

Part of the book series: GeoJournal Library ((URPGS))

614 Accesses

7 Citations

In mainstream urban tourism scholarship debates there is only limited attention given to the urban global South. The ‘other half’ of urban tourism is the axis in this review and analysis. Arguably, in light of the changing global patterns of urbanization and of the shifting geography of leading destinations for urban tourism greater attention is justified towards urban settlements in the global South. The analysis discloses the appearance of an increasingly vibrant scholarship about urban tourism in the setting of the global South. In respect of sizes of urban settlement it is unsurprising that the greatest amount of attention has been paid to mega-cities and large urban centres with far less attention so far given to tourism occurring either in intermediate centres or small towns. In a comparative assessment between scholarship on urban tourism in the global North versus South there are identifiable common themes and trends in writings about urban tourism, most especially in relation to the phenomenon of inter-urban competition, questions of sustainability and planning. Nevertheless, certain important differences can be isolated. In the urban global South the environment of low incomes and informality coalesce to provide for the greater significance of certain different forms of tourism to those which are high on the urban global North agenda. Three key issues are highlighted by this ‘state of the art’ overview, namely the significance of an informal sector of tourism, the distinctive characteristics of the discretionary mobilities of the poor, and the controversies surrounding slum tourism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info
• Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

In 2020 the World Bank introduced a new classification of countries: low-income, low-middle income, upper-middle income and high income. Macao SAR, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar are classed as high income. As the focus of this book is South Africa, which the World Bank classifies as falling in the category of upper-middle income bracket, the high income urban destinations are viewed as Norths within the South and thus not included in our research overview of the global South.

This section builds upon and extends certain of the discussion presented in Rogerson and Saarinen ( 2018 ).

Aall, C., & Koens, K. (2019). The discourse on sustainable urban tourism: The need for discussing more than overtourism. Sustainability, 11 (15), 4228.

Article   Google Scholar  

Adam, I. (2013). Urban hotel development patterns in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. Tourism Planning and Development, 10 , 85–98.

Adam, I., & Amuquandoh, F. E. (2013a). Hotel characteristics and location decisions in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. Tourism Geographies, 16 (4), 653–668.

Adam, I., & Amuquandoh, F. E. (2013b). Dimensions of hotel location decisions in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. Tourism Management Perspectives, 8 , 1–8.

Adie, B. A., & Cepeda, R. G. (2018). Film tourism and cultural performance: Mexico City’s day of the dead parade. In E. Kromidha & S. Deesilatham (Eds.), Inclusive innovation for enhanced local experience in tourism: Workshop proceedings, Phuket, Thailand , pp. 33–36.

Google Scholar  

Alliance, C. (2014). Africa regional strategy: Final document . Brussels: Cities Alliance.

Amanpour, M., & Nikfetrat, M. (2020). The effect of urban tourism on economic sustainable development of Sari City. Iranian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 8 (1), 87–97.

Amore, A., & Hall, C. M. (2017). National and urban public policy in tourism: Towards the emergence of a hyperneoliberal script? International Journal of Tourism Policy, 7 (1), 4–22.

Amore, A., & Roy, H. (2020). Blending foodscapes and urban touristscapes: International tourism and city marketing in Indian cities. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 6 (3), 639–655.

Angelini, A. (2020). A favela that yields fruit: Community-based tour guides as brokers in the political economy of cultural difference. Space and Culture, 23 (1), 15–33.

Ashworth, G. J. (1989). Urban tourism: An imbalance in attention. Progress in Tourism, Recreation and Hospitality Management, 1 , 33–54.

Ashworth, G. J. (2012). Do we understand urban tourism? Journal of Tourism & Hospitality, 1 (4), 1–2.

Ashworth, G. J., & Page, S. (2011). Urban tourism research: Recent progress and current paradoxes. Tourism Management, 32 (1), 1–15.

Aukland, K. (2018). At the confluence of leisure and devotion: Hindu pilgrimage and domestic tourism in India. Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 6 (1), 18–33.

Avieli, N. (2013). What is ‘local food’?: Dynamic culinary heritage in the world heritage site of Hoi An, Vietnam. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 8 (2–3), 120–132.

Bao, J., Li, M., & Liang, Z. (2020). Urban tourism in China. In S. Huang & G. Chen (Eds.), Handbook on tourism and China (pp. 116–130). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Baumgart, S., & Kreibich, V. (2011). Informal urbanization – Historical and geographical perspectives. disP – The Planning Review, 47 (187), 12–23.

Bellini, N., Go, F.M., & Pasquinelli, C. (2017). Urban tourism and city development: Notes for an integrated policy agenda. In N. Bellini & C. Pasquinelli (Eds.), Tourism In The City: Towards an Integrative Agenda on Urban Tourism (pp. 333–339). Cham: SpringerTourism

Bhati, A., & Pearce, P. (2017). Tourist attractions in Bangkok and Singapore; linking vandalism and setting characteristics. Tourism Management, 63 , 15–30.

Bhoola, S. (2020). Halal food tourism: Perceptions of relevance and viability for South African destinations. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 9 (3), 288–301.

Bogale, D., & Wondirad, A. (2019). Determinant factors of tourist satisfaction in Arbaminch City and its vicinity, southern Ethiopia. International Journal of Tourism Policy, 9 (4), 320–348.

Booyens, I. (2010). Rethinking township tourism: Towards responsible tourism development in South African townships. Development Southern Africa, 27 (2), 273–287.

Booyens, I. (2021). The evolution of township tourism in South Africa. In J. Saarinen & J. M. Rogerson (Eds.), Tourism, change and the global South . Abingdon: Routledge.

Booyens, I., & Rogerson, C. M. (2019a). Creative tourism: South African township explorations. Tourism Review, 74 (2), 256–267.

Booyens, I., & Rogerson, C. M. (2019b). Recreating slum tourism: Perspectives from South Africa. Urbani izziv, 30 (Supplement), 52–63.

Bowman, K. (2015). Policy choice, social structure, and international tourism in Buenos Aires, Havana and Rio de Janeiro. Latin American Research Review, 50 (3), 135–156.

Brouder, P. (2020). Reset redux: Possible evolutionary pathways towards the transformation of tourism in a COVID-19 world. Tourism Geographies, 22 (3), 484–490.

Brouder, P., & Ioannides, D. (2014). Urban tourism and evolutionary economic geography: Complexity and co-evolution in contested spaces. Urban Forum, 25 (4), 419–430.

Buning, M., & Grunau, T. (2014) Touring Katutura!: Developments, structures and representations in township tourism in Windhoek (Namibia) . Paper presented at the Destination Slum! 2 Conference, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany, 14–16 May.

Burgold, J., & Rolfes, M. (2013). Of voyeuristic safari tours and responsible tourism with educational value: Observing moral communication in slum and township tourism in Cape Town and Mumbai. Die Erde, 144 (2), 161–174.

Burrai, E., Mostafanezhad, M., & Hannam, K. (2017). Moral assemblages of volunteer tourism development in Cusco, Peru. Tourism Geographies, 19 (3), 362–377.

Burton, C., Rogerson, C. M., & Rogerson, J. M. (2020). The making of a ‘big 5’ game reserve as an urban tourism destination: Dinokeng, South Africa. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 9 (6), 892–911.

Cantu, L. (2002). De ambiente: Queer tourism and the shifting boundaries of Mexican male sexualities. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 8 (1–2), 139–166.

Carlisle, S., Johansen, A., & Kunc, M. (2016). Strategic foresight for (coastal) urban tourism market complexity: The case of Bournemouth. Tourism Management, 54 , 81–95.

Cejas, M. I. (2006). Tourism in shantytowns and slums: A new “contact zone” in the era of globalization. Intercultural Communication Studies, 15 (2), 224–230.

Chand, M., Dahiya, A., & Patil, L. S. (2007). Gastronomy tourism – A tool for promoting Jharkhand as a tourist destination. Atna Journal of Tourism Studies, 2 , 88–100.

Cheer, J. (2020). Human flourishing, tourism transformation and COVID-19: A conceptual touchstone. Tourism Geographies, 22 (3), 514–524.

Chege, P. W., & Mwisukha, A. (2013). Benefits of slum tourism in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. International Journal of Arts and Commerce, 2 (4), 94–102.

Chen, M., & Carré, F. (Eds.). (2020). The informal economy revisited: Examining the past, envisioning the future . London: Routledge.

Chen, M., Roever, S., & Skinner, C. (2016). Urban livelihoods: Reframing theory and policy. Environment and Urbanization, 28 (2), 331–342.

Chen, Q., & Huang, R. (2016). Understanding the importance of food tourism in Chongqing, China. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 22 (1), 42–54.

Chianeh, R. H., del Chiappa, G., & Ghasemi, V. (2018). Cultural and religious tourism development in Iran: Prospects and challenges. Anatolia, 29 (2), 204–214.

Christie, I., Fernandes, E., Messerli, H., & Twining-Ward, L. (2013). Tourism in Africa: Harnessing tourism for growth and improved livelihoods . Washington, DC: The World Bank.

Coca-Stefaniak, J. A., & Seisdedos, G. (2021). Smart urban tourism destinations at a crossroads – Being ‘smart’ and urban are no longer enough. In A. M. Morrison & J. A. Coca-Stefaniak (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of tourism cities . London: Routledge.

Coca-Stefaniak, J. A., Morrison, A. M., Edwards, D., Graburn, N., Liu, C., Ooi, C. S., Pearce, P., Stepchenkova, S., Richards, G. W., So, A., Spirou, C., Dinnie, K., Heeley, J., Puczkó, L., Shen, H., Selby, M., Kim, H.-B., & Du, G. (2016). Editorial: Views from the editorial board of the International Journal of Tourism Cities. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 2 (4), 273–280.

Cohen, E., & Cohen, S. A. (2015a). A mobilities approach to tourism from emerging world regions. Current Issues in Tourism, 18 (1), 11–43.

Cohen, E., & Cohen, S. A. (2015b). Beyond Eurocentrism in tourism: A paradigm shift in mobilities. Tourism Recreation Research, 40 (2), 157–168.

Colantonio, A. (2004). Tourism in Havana during the special period: Impacts, residents’ perceptions, and planning issues. Cuba in Transition, 14 (2), 20–42.

Colantonio, A., & Potter, R. B. (2006). Urban tourism and development in the socialist state: Havana during the special period . Aldershot: Ashgate.

Coles, C., & Mitchell, J. (2009). Pro poor analysis of the business and conference value chain in Accra: Final report . London: Overseas Development Institute.

Colomb, C., & Novy, J. (Eds.). (2016). Protest and resistance in the tourist city . Abingdon: Routledge.

Condevaux, A., Djament-Tran, G., & Gravari-Barbas, M. (2016). Before and after tourism(s) – The trajectories of tourist destinations and the role of actors involved in “off-the-beaten track” tourism: A literature review. Via@Tourism Review, 1 (9), 2–27.

Cong, L., Wu, B., Morrison, A. M., & Xi, K. (2014). The spatial distribution and clustering of convention facilities in Beijing, China. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 19 (9), 1070–1090.

Crush, J., & Chikanda, A. (2015). South-south medical tourism and the quest for health in southern Africa. Social Science and Medicine, 124 , 313–320.

Crush, J., Skinner, C., & Chikanda, A. (2015). Informal migrant entrepreneurship and inclusive growth in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique (Migration policy series no. 68). Cape Town: The Southern African Migration Programme.

Book   Google Scholar  

Cruz, F. G. S., Tito, J. C., Perez-Galvez, J. C., & Medina-Viruel, M. J. (2019). Gastronomic experiences of foreign tourists in developing countries: The case in the city of Oruro (Bolivia). Heliyon, 5 (7), e02011.

Cudny, W., Michalski, T., & Ruba, R. (Eds.). (2012). Tourism and the transformation of large cities in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe . Lódz: University of Lódz.

Da Cunha, N. V. (2019). Public policies and tourist saturation in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. In C. Milano, J. M. Cheer, & M. Novelli (Eds.), Overtourism; excesses, discontent and measures in travel and tourism (pp. 152–166). Wallingford: CABI.

Daskalopoulou, I., & Petrou, A. (2009). Urban tourism competitiveness: Networks and the regional asset base. Urban Studies, 46 (4), 779–801.

de Jesus, D. S. V. (2020). The boys of summer: Gay sex tourism in Rio de Janeiro. Advances in Anthropology, 10 , 125–146.

Del Lama, E. A., de la Corte Bacci, D., Martins, L., Gracia, M. D. G. M., & Dehira, L. K. (2015). Urban geotourism and the old centre of São Paulo City, Brazil. Geoheritage, 7 , 147–164.

Diaz-Parra, I., & Jover, J. (2021). Overtourism, place alienation and the right to the city: Insights from the historic centre of Seville, Spain. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 29 (2–3), 158–175.

Diekmann, A., & Hannam, K. (2012). Touristic mobilities in India’s slum spaces. Annals of Tourism Research, 39 (3), 1315–1336.

Dirksmeier, P., & Helbrecht, I. (2015). Resident perceptions of new urban tourism: A neglected geography of prejudice. Geography Compass, 9 (5), 276–285.

Dixit, S. K. (Ed.). (2021). Tourism in Asian cities . London: Routledge.

Dovey, K. (2015). Sustainable informal settlements. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 179 , 5–13.

Dovey, K., & King, R. (2012). Informal urbanism and the taste for slums. Tourism Geographies, 14 (2), 275–293.

Drummond, J., & Drummond, F. (2021). The historical evolution of the cultural and creative economy of Mahikeng, South Africa: Implications for contemporary policy. In R. Comunian, B. J. Hracs, & L. England (Eds.), Developing creative economies in Africa: Policies and practice (pp. 97–112). London: Routledge.

Duchesneau-Custeau, A. (2020). ‘Theirs seemed like a lot more fun’: Favela tourism, commoditization of poverty and stereotypes of the self and the other . Masters paper in Globalization and International Development, School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada.

Dumbrovská, V., & Fialová, D. (2014). Tourist intensity in capital cities in Central Europe: Comparative analysis of tourism in Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Czech Journal of Tourism, 1 , 5–26.

Dürr, E., & Jaffe, R. (2012). Theorising slum tourism: Performing, negotiating and transforming inequality. European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 93 , 113–123.

Dürr, E., Jaffe, R., & Jones, G. A. (2020). Brokers and tours: Selling urban poverty and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean. Space and Culture, 23 (1), 4–14.

Dyson, P. (2012). Slum tourism: Representing and interpreting ‘reality’ in Dharavi, Mumbai. Tourism Geographies, 14 (2), 254–274.

Ele, C. O. (2017). Religious tourism in Nigeria: The economic perspective. Online Journal of Arts, Management and Social Sciences, 2 (1), 220–232.

Faisal, A., Albrecht, J. N., & Coetzee, W. J. L. (2020). Renegotiating organisational crisis management in urban tourism: Strategic imperatives of niche construction. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 6 (4), 885–905.

Ferreira, S., & Visser, G. (2007). Creating an African Riviera: Revisiting the impact of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront development in Cape Town. Urban Forum, 18 (3), 227–246.

Fletcher, R., Mas, I. M., Blanco-Romero, A., & Blázquez-Salom, M. (2019). Tourism and degrowth: An emerging agenda for research and praxis. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27 (12), 1745–1763.

Florida, R., Rodriguez-Pose, A., & Storper, M. (2020). Cities in a post-COVID world (Utrecht University papers in evolutionary geography no 20.41). Utrecht: Utrecht University.

Freire-Medeiros, B. (2014). Tourism and poverty . London: Routledge.

Freire-Medeiros, B., Vilarouca, M. G., & Menezes, P. (2013). International tourists in a ‘pacified’ favela: The case of Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro. Die Erde, 144 (2), 147–159.

Frenzel, F. (2013). Slum tourism in the context of the tourism and poverty (relief) debate. Die Erde, 144 , 117–128.

Frenzel, F. (2016). Slumming it: The tourist valorization of urban poverty . London: Zed.

Frenzel, F. (2017). Tourist agency as valorisation: Making Dharavi into a tourist attraction. Annals of Tourism Research, 66 , 159–169.

Frenzel, F. (2019). Slum tourism. In The Wiley Blackwell encyclopaedia of urban and regional studies. Retrieved from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118568446.eurs0427

Frenzel, F. (2020). Touring poverty in townships, inner-city and rural South Africa. In J. M. Rogerson & G. Visser (Eds.), New directions in South African tourism geographies (pp. 167–181). Cham: Springer.

Frenzel, F., & Blakeman, S. (2015). Making slums into attractions: The role of tour guiding in the slum tourism development in Kibera and Dharavi. Tourism Review International, 19 (1–2), 87–100.

Frenzel, F., & Koens, K. (2012). Slum tourism: Developments in a young field interdisciplinary tourism research. Tourism Geographies, 14 (2), 195–212.

Frenzel, F., & Koens, K. (Eds.). (2016). Tourism and geographies of inequality: The new global slumming phenomenon . London: Routledge.

Frenzel, F., Koens, K., & Steinbrink, M. (Eds.). (2012). Slum tourism: Poverty, power and ethics . London: Routledge.

Frenzel, F., Koens, K., Steinbrink, M., & Rogerson, C. M. (2015). Slum tourism: State of the art. Tourism Review International, 18 , 237–252.

Frisch, T. (2012). Glimpses of another world: The favela as a tourist attraction. Tourism Geographies, 14 , 320–338.

Füller, H., & Boris, M. (2014). ‘Stop being a tourist!’ New dynamics of urban tourism in Berlin-Kreuzberg. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38 (4), 1304–1318.

Gálvez, J. C. P., López-Guzmán, T., Buiza, F. C., & Medina-Viruel, M. J. (2017). Gastronomy as an element of attraction in a tourist destination: The case of Lima, Peru. Journal of Ethnic Foods, 4 (4), 254–261.

Gálvez, J. C. P., Gallo, L. S. P., Medina-Viruel, M. J., & López-Guzman, T. (2020). Segmentation of tourists that visit the city of Popayán (Colombia) according to their interest in gastronomy. Journal of Culinary Science & Technology . https://doi.org/10.1080/15428052.2020.1738298 .

George, R., & Booyens, I. (2014). Township tourism demand: Tourists’ perceptions of safety and security. Urban Forum, 25 (4), 449–467.

Ghani, E., & Kanbur, R. (2013). Urbanization and (in) formalization . Washington, DC: The World Bank.

Gladstone, D. (2005). From pilgrimage to package tour: Travel and tourism in the Third World . Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.

Gonzalez, S. (2011). Bilbao and Barcelona ‘in motion’: How urban regeneration ‘models’ travel and mutate in the global flows of policy tourism. Urban Studies, 48 (7), 1397–1418.

González-Pérez, J. M. (2020). The dispute over tourist cities: Tourism gentrification in the historic centre of Palma (Majorca, Spain). Tourism Geographies, 22 (1), 171–191.

Gowreesunkar, V. G., Seraphin, H., & Nazimuddin, M. (2020). Beggarism and black market tourism – A case study of the city of Chaar Minaar in Hyderabad (India). International Journal of Tourism Cities . https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-12-2019-0210 .

Grant, R. (2015). Africa: Geographies of change . New York: Oxford University Press.

Gravari-Barbas, M., & Guinand, S. (2021). Tourism and gentrification. In A. M. Morrison & J. A. Coca-Stefaniak (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of tourism cities . London: Routledge.

Greenberg, D., & Rogerson, J. M. (2015). The serviced apartment industry of South Africa: A new phenomenon in urban tourism. Urban Forum, 26 , 467–482.

Greenberg, D., & Rogerson, J. M. (2018). Accommodating business travellers: The organisation and spaces of serviced apartments in Cape Town, South Africa. Bulletin of Geography, 42 , 83–97.

Greenberg, D., & Rogerson, J. M. (2019). The serviced apartment sector in the urban global South: Evidence from Johannesburg, South Africa. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 26 (3), 916–929.

Gregory, J. J. (2016). Creative industries and urban regeneration – The Maboneng Precinct, Johannesburg. Local Economy, 31 (1–2), 158–171.

Hall, C. M. (2002). Tourism in capital cities. Tourism – An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 50 (3), 235–248.

Hall, C. M., Scott, D., & Gössling, S. (2020). Pandemics, transformations and tourism: Be careful what you wish for. Tourism Geographies, 22 (3), 577–598.

Hannam, K., & Zuev, D. (2020). Revisiting the local in Macau under COVID-19. ATLAS Tourism and Leisure Review, 2020-2 , 19–21.

Hayllar, B., & Griffin, T. (2005). The precinct experience: A phenomenological approach. Tourism Management, 26 , 517–528.

Hayllar, B., Griffin, T., & Edwards, D. (Eds.). (2008). City spaces – Tourism spaces: Urban tourism precincts . Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Haywood, K. M. (1992). Identifying and responding to challenges posed by urban tourism. Tourism Recreation Research, 17 (2), 9–23.

Heeley, J. (2011). Inside city tourism: A European perspective . Bristol: Channel View.

Henderson, J. (2006). Tourism in Dubai: Overcoming barriers to destination development. International Journal of Tourism Research, 8 , 87–99.

Henderson, J. (2014). Global Gulf cities and tourism: A review of Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai. Tourism Recreation Research, 39 (1), 107–114.

Henderson, J. (2015a). The development of tourist destinations in the Gulf: Oman and Qatar compared. Tourism Planning and Development, 12 (3), 350–361.

Henderson, J. (2015b). Destination development and transformation – 50 years of tourism after independence in Singapore. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 1 (4), 269–281.

Hernandez-Garcia, J. (2013). Slum tourism, city branding and social urbanism: The case of Medellin, Colombia. Journal of Place Management and Development, 6 (1), 43–51.

Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2020a). COVID-19 and tourism: Reclaiming tourism as a social force. ATLAS Tourism and Leisure Review, 2020-2 , 65–73.

Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2020b). The “war over tourism”: Challenges to sustainable tourism in the tourism academy after COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism . https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1803334 .

Hoffman, L. M., Fainstein, S. S., & Judd, D. R. (Eds.). (2003). Cities and visitors: Regulating people, markets and city space . Oxford: Blackwell.

Holst, T. (2015). Touring the demolished slum?: Slum tourism in the face of Delhi’s gentrification. Tourism Review International, 18 , 283–294.

Holst, T. (2018). The affective negotiation of slum tourism: City walks in Delhi . London: Routledge.

Holst, T., Frisch, T., Frenzel, F., Steinbrink, M., & Koens, K. (2017). The complex geographies of inequality in contemporary slum tourism . In Call for papers for the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston.

Horner, R., & Carmody, P. (2020). Global North/South. In A. Kobayashi (Ed.), International encyclopedia of human geography (Vol. 6, 2nd ed., pp. 181–187). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

i Agusti, D. P. (2020). Mapping tourist hot spots in African cities based on Instagram images. International Journal of Tourism Research, 22 (5), 617–626.

Ihalanayake, R. (2009). Awaiting attention: Profiling the domestic tourism sector in Sri Lanka. In S. Singh (Ed.), Domestic tourism in Asia (pp. 253–266). London: Earthscan.

Ioannides, D., & Petridou, E. (2016). Contingent neoliberalism and urban tourism in the United States. In J. Mosedale (Ed.), Neoliberalism and the political economy of tourism (pp. 21–36). Avebury: Ashgate.

Iwanicki, G., & Dłużewska, A. (2015). Potential of city break clubbing tourism in Wroclaw. Bulletin of Geography: Socio-Economic Series, 28 , 77–89.

Iwanicki, G., Dłużewska, A., & Kay, M. S. (2016). Assessing the level of popularity of European stag tourism destinations. Quaestiones Geographicae, 35 (3), 15–29.

Jaguaribe, B., & Hetherington, K. (2004). Favela tours: Indistinct and maples representations of the real in Rio de Janeiro. In M. Sheller & J. Urry (Eds.), Tourism mobilities: Places to play (pp. 155–166). London: Routledge.

Jamieson, W., & Sunalai, P. (2002). The management of urban tourism destination: The cases of Klong Khwang and Phima, Thailand . Pathumthani, Thailand: Urban Management Programme – Asia Occasional Paper, 56.

Jeffrey, H. L., Vorobjovas-Pinta, O., & Sposato, M. (2017). It takes two to tango: Straight-friendly Buenos Aires. In Critical tourism studies VII conference: Book of abstracts, 25–29 June . Palma de Mallorca, Spain , p. 77.

Joksimović, M., Golic, R., Vujadinović, S., Sabić, D., Popović, D. J., & Barnfield, G. (2014). Restoring tourism flows and regenerating city’s image: The case of Belgrade. Current Issues in Tourism, 17 (3), 220–233.

Jones, G. A., & Sanyal, R. (2015). Spectacle and suffering: The Mumbai slum as a worlded space. Geoforum, 65 , 431–439.

Jurado, K. C., & Matovelle, P. T. (2019). Assessment of tourist security in Quito city through importance-performance analysis. Tourism – An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 67 (1), 73–86.

Kaczmarek, S. (2018). Ruinisation and regeneration in the tourism space of Havana. Turyzm, 28 (2), 7–14.

Kadar, B. (2013). Differences in the spatial patterns of urban tourism in Vienna and Prague. Urbani izziv, 24 (2), 96–111.

Kalandides, A. (2011). City marketing for Bogotá: A case study in integrated place branding. Journal of Place Management and Development, 4 (3), 282–291.

Kamete, A. Y. (2013). On handling urban informality in southern Africa. Geografiska Annaler Series B, 95 , 17–31.

Kanai, M. (2014). Buenos Aires, capital of tango: Tourism, redevelopment and the cultural politics of neoliberal urbanism. Urban Geography, 35 (8), 1111–1117.

Karski, A. (1990). Urban tourism – A key to urban regeneration. The Planner, 76 (13), 15–17.

Kaushal, V., & Yadav, R. (2020). Understanding customer experience of culinary tourism through food tours of Delhi. International Journal of Tourism Cities . https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-08-2019-0135 .

Ketter, E. (2020). Millennial travel: Tourism micro-trends of European Generation Y. Journal of Tourism Futures . https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-10-2019-0106 .

Khoo, S. L., & Badarulzaman, N. (2014). Factors determining George Town as a city of gastronomy. Tourism Planning & Development, 11 (4), 371–386.

Khusnutdinova, S. R., Sadretdinov, D. F., & Khusnutdinov, R. R. (2019). Tourism as a factor of city development in the post-industrial economy. Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, 131 , 886–890.

Kieti, D. M., & Magio, K. O. (2013). The ethical and local resident perspectives of slum tourism in Kenya. Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Research, 1 (1), 37–57.

Koens, K., & Thomas, R. (2015). Is small beautiful? Understanding the contribution of small businesses in township tourism to economic development. Development Southern Africa, 32 (3), 320–332.

Koens, K., Postma, A., & Papp, B. (2018). Is overtourism overused?: Understanding the impact of tourism in a city context. Sustainability, 10 (12), 4384.

Komaladewi, R., Mulyana, A., & Jatnika, D. (2017). The representation of culinary experience as the future of Indonesian tourism cases in Bandung city, West Java. International Journal of Business and Economic Affairs, 2 (5), 268–275.

Korstanje, M. E., & Baker, D. (2018). Politics of dark tourism: The case of Cromanon and ESMA, Buenos Aires, Argentina. In P. Stone, R. Hartmann, T. Seaton, R. Sharpley, & L. White (Eds.), Handbook of dark tourism (pp. 533–552). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kotus, J., Rzeszewski, M., & Ewertowski, W. (2015). Tourists in the spatial structures of a big Polish city: Development of an uncontrolled patchwork or concentric spheres? Tourism Management, 50 , 98–110.

Ladkin, A., & Bertramini, A. M. (2002). Collaborative tourism planning: A case study of Cusco, Peru. Current Issues in Tourism, 5 (2), 71–93.

Larsen, J. (2020). Ordinary tourism and extraordinary everyday life: Re-thinking tourism and cities. In T. Frisch, C. Sommer, L. Stoltenberg, & N. Stors (Eds.), Tourism and everyday life in the contemporary city . London: Routledge.

Law, C. M. (1992). Urban tourism and its contribution to economic regeneration. Urban Studies, 29 , 599–618.

Law, C. M. (1993). Urban tourism: Attracting visitors to large cities . London: Mansell.

Law, C. M. (1996). Introduction. In C. M. Law (Ed.), Tourism in major cities (pp. 1–22). London: International Thomson Business Press.

Lee, J. (2008). Riad fever: Heritage tourism, urban renewal and the medina property boom in old cities of Morocco. E Review of Tourism Research, 6 , 66–78.

Leonard, L., Musavengane, R., & Siakweh, P. (Eds.). (2021). Sustainable urban tourism in sub-Saharan Africa . London: Routledge.

Lertwannawit, A., & Gulid, N. (2011). International tourists service quality perception and behavioral loyalty toward medical tourism in Bangkok metropolitan area. Journal of Applied Business Research, 27 (6), 1–12.

Li, J., Pearce, P. L., Morrison, A. M., & Wu, B. (2016). Up in smoke?: The impact of smog on risk perception and satisfaction of international tourists in Beijing. International Journal of Tourism Research, 18 (4), 373–386.

Li, M., & Wu, B. (2013). Urban tourism in China . London: Routledge.

Liu, L., Wu, B., Morrison, A. M., & Ling, R. S. J. (2015). Why dwell in a hutongtel?: Tourist accommodation preferences and guest segmentation for Beijing hutongtels. International Journal of Tourism Research, 17 (2), 171–184.

Loazya, N. V. (2016). Informality in the process of development and growth. The World Economy, 39 (12), 1856–1916.

Lunchaprasith, T. (2017). Gastronomic experience as a community development driver: The study of Amphawa floating market as community-based culinary tourism destination. Asian Journal of Tourism Research, 2 (2), 84–116.

Ma, B. (2010). A trip into the controversy: A study of slum tourism travel motivations . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.

Mahler, A. G. (2018). From the tricontinental to the global South: Race, radicalism and transnational solidarity . Durham: Duke University Press.

Maitland, R. (2012a). Global change and tourism in national capitals. Current Issues in Tourism, 15 (1–2), 1–2.

Maitland, R. (2012b). Capitalness is contingent: Tourism and national capitals in a globalised world. Current Issues in Tourism, 15 (1–2), 3–17.

Maitland, R. (2016). Everyday tourism in a world tourism city: Getting backstage in London. Asian Journal of Behavioural Studies, 1 (1), 13–20.

Maitland, R., & Newman, P. (2009). Developing world tourism cities. In R. Maitland & P. Newman (Eds.), World tourism cities: Developing tourism off the beaten track (pp. 1–21). London: Routledge.

Maitland, R., & Ritchie, B. W. (Eds.). (2009). City tourism: National capital perspectives . Wallingford: CABI.

Mbaiwa, J. E., Toteng, E. N., & Moswete, N. (2007). Problems and prospects for the development of urban tourism in Gaborone and Maun. Development Southern Africa, 24 , 725–739.

Mbatia, T. W., & Owuor, S. (2014). Prospects for urban eco-tourism in Nairobi, Kenya: Experiences from the Karura forest reserve. African Journal of Sustainable Development, 4 (3), 184–198.

McGehee, N. G., & Andereck, K. (2009). Volunteer tourism and the “voluntoured”: The case of Tijuana, Mexico. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 17 (1), 39–51.

McKay, T. (2013). Leaping into urban adventure: Orlando bungee, Soweto, South Africa. African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 18 (Supplement), 55–71.

McKay, T. (2017). The South African adventure tourism economy: An urban phenomenon. Bulletin of Geography: Socio-Economic Series, 37 , 63–76.

McKay, T. (2020). Locating great white shark tourism in Gansbaai, South Africa within the global shark tourism economy. In J. M. Rogerson & G. Visser (Eds.), New directions in South African tourism geographies (pp. 283–297). Cham: Springer.

Mekawy, M. A. (2012). Responsible slum tourism: Egyptian experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 39 (4), 2092–2113.

Mendoza, C. (2013). Beyond sex tourism: Gay tourists and male sex workers in Puerto Vallarta (Western Mexico). International Journal of Tourism Research, 15 (2), 122–137.

Mikulić, D., & Petrić, L. (2014). Can culture and tourism be the foothold of urban regeneration?: A Croatian case study. Tourism – An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 62 (4), 377–395.

Milano, C., Novelli, M., & Cheer, J. M. (2019). Overtourism and degrowth: A social movements perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27 (12), 1857–1875.

Miller, D., Merrilees, B., & Coghlan, A. (2015). Sustainable urban tourism: Understanding and developing pro-environmental behaviours. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23 (1), 26–46.

Miraftab, F., & Kudva, N. (Eds.). (2015). Cities of the global South reader . London: Routledge.

Mitchell, J., & Ashley, C. (2010). Tourism and poverty reduction: Pathways to prosperity . London: Earthscan.

Mogaka, J. J. O., Mupara, L. M., Mashamba-Thompson, T. P., & Tsoka-Gwegweni, J. M. (2017). Geo-location and range of medical tourism services in Africa. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 6 (1), 1–18.

Montes, G. C., & de Pinho Bernabé, S. (2020). The impact of violence on tourism to Rio de Janeiro. International Journal of Social Economics, 47 (4), 425–443.

Moreno-Gil, S., & Coca-Stefaniak, J. A. (2020). Guest editorial. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 6 (1), 1–7.

Morrison, A. M., & Coca-Stefaniak, J. A. (Eds.). (2021). The Routledge handbook of tourism cities . London: Routledge.

Muldoon, M., & Mair, H. (2016). Blogging slum tourism: A critical discourse analysis of travel blogs. Tourism Analysis, 21 (5), 465–479.

Műller, M. (2020). In search of the global East: Thinking between North and South. Geopolitics, 25 (3), 734–755.

Murillo, J., Vaya, E., Romani, J., & Surinach, J. (2011). How important to a city are tourists and daytrippers?: The economic impact of tourism on the city of Barcelona . Barcelona: University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics.

Musavengane, R., Siakweh, P., & Leonard, L. (2020). The nexus between tourism and urban risk: Towards inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable outdoor tourism in African cities. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 29 , 100254.

Myers, G. (2020). Rethinking urbanism: Lessons from postcolonialism and the global South . Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Naicker, M. S., & Rogerson, J. M. (2017). Urban food markets: A new leisure phenomenon in South Africa. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 6 (3), 1–17.

Niewiadomski, P. (2020). COVID-19: From temporary de-globalisation to a rediscovery of tourism? Tourism Geographies, 22 (3), 651–656.

Nisbett, M. (2017). Empowering the empowered?: Slum tourism and the depoliticization of poverty. Geoforum, 85 , 37–45.

Nobre, E. A. C. (2002). Urban regeneration experiences in Brazil: Historical preservation, tourism development and gentrification in Salvador da Bahia. Urban Design International, 7 , 109–124.

Novy, J. (2011). Marketing marginalized neighbourhoods: Tourism and leisure in the 21 st century inner city . PhD dissertation, Columbia University, New York.

Novy, J., & Colomb, C. (2019). Urban tourism as a source of contention and social mobilisations: A critical review. Tourism Planning and Development, 16 (4), 358–375.

Nyerere, V. C. Y., Ngaruko, D., & Mlozi, S. (2020). The mediating role of strategic planning on the determinants of sustainable urban tourism: Empirical evidence from Tanzania. African Journal of Economic Review, 8 (1), 198–216.

OECD. (2020). Rebuilding tourism for the future: COVID-19 policy response and recovery . Paris: OECD.

Oldfield, S., & Parnell, S. (2014). From the South. In S. Parnell & S. Oldfield (Eds.), The Routledge handbook on cities of the global South (pp. 1–4). London: Routledge.

Opfermann, L. S. (2020). Walking in Jozi: Guided tours, insecurity and urban regeneration in inner city Johannesburg. Global Policy . https://doi.org/10.1011/1758-5899.12809 .

Oppermann, M., Din, K. H., & Amri, S. Z. (1996). Urban hotel location and evolution in a developing country: The case of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tourism Recreation Research, 2 , 55–63.

Page, S. J., & Connell, J. (2006). Tourism: A modern synthesis . London: Thomson Press.

Panasiuk, A. (2019). Crises in the functioning of urban tourism destinations. Studia Periegetica, 27 (3), 13–25.

Pandy, W. R., & Rogerson, C. M. (2019). Urban tourism and climate change: Risk perceptions of business tourism stakeholders in Johannesburg, South Africa. Urbani izziv, 30 (Supplement), 225–243.

Park, J., Wu, B., Shen, Y., Morrison, A. M., & Kong, Y. (2014). The great halls of China?: Meeting planners’ perceptions of Beijing as an international convention destination. Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 15 (4), 244–270.

Parnell, S., & Oldfield, S. (Eds.). (2014). The Routledge handbook on cities of the global South . London: Routledge.

Parnell, S., & Pieterse, E. (Eds.). (2014). Africa’s urban revolutions . London: Zed.

Parvin, M., Razavian, M. T., & Tavakolinia, J. (2020). Importance of urban tourism planning in Tehran with economic approach. Iranian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 8 (4), 95–110.

Pasquinelli, C. (2015). Urban tourism(s): Is there a case for a paradigm shift? (Cities research unit working papers no. 14). L’ Aquila: Gran Sasso Science Institute.

Pasquinelli, C., & Bellini, N. (2017). Global context, policies and practices in urban tourism: An introduction. In N. Bellini & C. Pasquinelli (Eds.), Tourism in the city: Towards an integrative agenda on urban tourism (pp. 1–25). Dordrecht: Springer.

Pasquinelli, C., & Trunfio, M. (2020a). Overtouristified cities: An online news media narrative analysis. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28 (11), 1805–1824.

Pasquinelli, C., & Trunfio, M. (2020b). Reframing overtourism through the smart city lens. Cities, 102 (July), 102729.

Pearce, D. (2015). Urban management, destination management and urban destination management: A comparative review with issues and examples from New Zealand. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 1 (1), 1–17.

Pechlaner, H., Innerhofer, E., & Erschbamer, G. (Eds.). (2020). Overtourism: Tourism management and solutions . London: Routledge.

Pike, A., Rodriguez-Pose, A., & Tomaney, J. (2014). Local and regional development in the global North and South. Progress in Development Studies, 14 (1), 21–30.

Pinke-Sziva, I., Smith, M., Olt, G., & Berezvai, Z. (2019). Overtourism and the night-time economy: A case study of Budapest. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 5 (1), 1–6.

Pophiwa, N. (2020). Shopping-oriented mobility across the Zimbabwe-South Africa border: Modalities and encounters. In C. Nshimbi & I. Moyo (Eds.), Borders, mobility, regional integration and development (pp. 65–83). Cham: Springer.

Postma, A., Buda, D.-M., & Gugerell, K. (2017). Editorial. Journal of Tourism Futures, 3 (2), 95–101.

Pu, B., Teah, M., & Phau, I. (2019). Hot chilli peppers, tears and sweat: How experiencing Sichuan cuisine will influence intention to visit city of origin. Sustainability, 11 (13), 3561.

Rabbiosi, C. (2016). Developing participatory tourism in Milan, Italy: A critical analysis of two case studies. Via@Tourism Review, 1 (9), 2–16.

Richards, G. (2014). Creativity and tourism in the city. Current Issues in Tourism, 17 (2), 119–144.

Richards, G. (2020). Designing creative places: The role of creative tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 85 , 102922.

Richards, G., & Roariu, I. (2015). Developing the eventful city in Sibiu, Romania. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 1 (2), 89–102.

Rink, B. (2013). Que(e)rying Cape Town: Touring Africa’s ‘gay capital’ with the Pink Map . In J. Sarmento & E. Brito-Henriques (Eds.), Tourism in the global South: Heritages, identities and development (pp. 65–90). Lisbon: Centre for Geographical Studies, University of Lisbon.

Rink, B. (2020). Cruising nowhere: A South African contribution to cruise tourism. In J. M. Rogerson & G. Visser (Eds.), New directions in South African tourism geographies (pp. 249–266). Cham: Springer.

Rockefeller Foundation. (2009). Century of the city . Washington, DC: The Rockefeller Foundation.

Rodríguez-Gutiérrez, P., Cruz, F. G. S., Gallo, S. M. P., & López-Guzmán, T. (2020). Gastronomic satisfaction of the tourist: Empirical study in the creative city of Popayán, Colombia. Journal of Ethnic Foods, 7 , 8.

Rogerson, C. M. (1997). Globalization or informalization?: African urban economies in the 1990s. In C. Rakodi (Ed.), Managing urban growth in Africa (pp. 337–370). Tokyo: The United Nations University Press.

Rogerson, C. M. (2002a). Tourism-led local economic development: The South African experience. Urban Forum, 13 , 95–119.

Rogerson, C. M. (2002b). Urban tourism in the developing world: The case of Johannesburg. Development Southern Africa, 19 , 169–190.

Rogerson, C. M. (2004). Urban tourism and small tourism enterprise development in Johannesburg: The case of township tourism. GeoJournal, 60 , 249–257.

Rogerson, C. M. (2006). Creative industries and urban tourism: South African perspectives. Urban Forum, 17 , 149–166.

Rogerson, C. M. (2013). Urban tourism, economic regeneration and inclusion: Evidence from South Africa. Local Economy, 28 (2), 186–200.

Rogerson, C. M. (2015a). Unpacking business tourism mobilities in sub-Saharan Africa. Current Issues in Tourism, 18 (1), 44–56.

Rogerson, C. M. (2015b). Revisiting VFR tourism in South Africa. South African Geographical Journal, 97 (2), 183–202.

Rogerson, C. M. (2016a). Outside the cities: Tourism pathways in South Africa’s small towns and rural areas. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 5 (3), 1–16.

Rogerson, C. M. (2016b). Secondary cities and tourism: The South African record. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 5 (2), 1–12.

Rogerson, C. M. (2017a). Visiting friends and relatives matters in sub-Saharan Africa. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 6 (3), 1–10.

Rogerson, C. M. (2017b). Unpacking directions and spatial patterns of VFR travel mobilities in the global South: Insights from South Africa. International Journal of Tourism Research, 19 , 466–475.

Rogerson, C. M. (2018a). Informality, migrant entrepreneurs and Cape Town’s inner-city economy. Bulletin of Geography: Socio-Economic Series, 40 , 157–171.

Rogerson, C. M. (2018b). Informal sector city tourism: Cross border shoppers in Johannesburg. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 22 (2), 372–387.

Rogerson, C. M. (2019). Globalisation, place-based development and tourism. In D. Timothy (Ed.), Handbook of globalisation and tourism (pp. 44–53). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Rogerson, C. M., & Baum, T. (2020). COVID-19 and African tourism research agendas. Development Southern Africa, 37 (5), 727–741.

Rogerson, C. M., & Letsie, T. (2013). Informal sector business tourism in the global South: Evidence from Maseru, Lesotho. Urban Forum, 24 , 485–502.

Rogerson, C. M., & Mthombeni, T. (2015). From slum tourism to slum tourists: Township resident mobilities in South Africa. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 24 (3–4), 319–338.

Rogerson, C. M., & Rogerson, J. M. (2014). Urban tourism destinations in South Africa: Divergent trajectories 2001–2012. Urbani izziv, 25 (Supplement), S189–S203.

Rogerson, C. M., & Rogerson, J. M. (2017). City tourism in South Africa: Diversity and change. Tourism Review International, 21 (2), 193–211.

Rogerson, C. M., & Rogerson, J. M. (2019a). Emergent planning for South Africa’s blue economy: Evidence from coastal and marine tourism. Urbani izziv, 30 (Supplement), 24–36.

Rogerson, C. M., & Rogerson, J. M. (2019b). Tourism in South Africa’s borderland regions: A spatial view. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 24 (1), 175–188.

Rogerson, C. M., & Rogerson, J. M. (2020). COVID-19 and tourism spaces of vulnerability in South Africa. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 9 (4), 382–401.

Rogerson, C. M., & Rogerson, J. M. (2021). City tourism in southern Africa: Progress and issues. In M. Novelli, E. A. Adu-Ampong, & M. A. Ribeiro (Eds.), Routledge handbook of tourism in Africa (pp. 447–458). London: Routledge.

Rogerson, C. M., & Saarinen, J. (2018). Tourism for poverty alleviation: Issues and debates in the global South. In C. Cooper, S. Volo, B. Gartner, & N. Scott (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of tourism management: Applications of theories and concepts to tourism (pp. 22–37). London: Sage.

Rogerson, C. M., & Visser, G. (Eds.). (2007). Urban tourism in the developing world: The South African experience . New Brunswick: Transaction Press.

Rogerson, C. M., & Visser, G. (2014). A decade of progress in African urban tourism scholarship. Urban Forum, 25 , 407–417.

Rogerson, J. M. (2012). The changing location of hotels in South Africa’s coastal cities, 1990–2010. Urban Forum, 23 (1), 73–91.

Rogerson, J. M. (2013a). Reconfiguring South Africa’s hotel industry 1990–2010: Structure, segmentation, and spatial transformation. Applied Geography, 36 , 59–68.

Rogerson, J. M. (2013b). The economic geography of South Africa’s hotel industry 1990 to 2010. Urban Forum, 24 (3), 425–446.

Rogerson, J. M. (2014a). Hotel location in Africa’s world class city: The case of Johannesburg, South Africa. Bulletin of Geography: Socio-Economic Series, 25 , 181–196.

Rogerson, J. M. (2014b). Changing hotel location patterns in Ekurhuleni, South Africa’s industrial workshop. Urbani izziv, 25 (Supplement), S82–S96.

Rogerson, J. M. (2016). Hotel chains of the global South: The internationalization of South African hotel brands. Tourism – An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 64 (4), 445–450.

Rogerson, J. M., & Slater, D. (2014). Urban volunteer tourism: Orphanages in Johannesburg. Urban Forum, 25 , 483–499.

Rogerson, J. M., & Visser, G. (2020). Recent trends in South African tourism geographies. In J. M. Rogerson & G. Visser (Eds.), New directions in South African tourism geographies (pp. 1–14). Cham: Springer.

Rogerson, J. M., & Wolfaardt, Z. (2015). Wedding tourism in South Africa: An exploratory analysis. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 4 (2), 1–13.

Rohr, E. (1997). Planning for sustainable tourism in old Havana, Cuba . MA dissertation, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

Rolfes, M. (2010). Poverty tourism: Theoretical reflections and empirical findings regarding an extraordinary form of tourism. GeoJournal, 75 (5), 421–442.

Rolfes, M., Steinbrink, M., & Uhl, C. (2009). Townships as attraction: An empirical study of township tourism in Cape Town . Potsdam: University of Potsdam.

Rowe, D., & Stevenson, D. (1994). ‘Provincial paradise’: Urban tourism and city imaging outside the metropolis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, 30 , 178–193.

Rudsari, S. M. M., & Gharibi, N. (2019). Host-guest attitudes toward socio-cultural carrying capacity of urban tourism in Chalus, Mazandaran. Iranian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 7 (4), 31–47.

Russo, A. P. (2020). After overtourism?: Discursive lock-ins and the future of (tourist) places. ATLAS Tourism and Leisure Review, 2020-2 , 74–79.

Saghir, J., & Santoro, J. (2018). Urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa: Meeting challenges by bridging stakeholders . Washington, DC: Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Sarmento, J. (2010). Fort Jesus: Guiding the past and contesting the present in Kenya. Tourism Geographies, 12 (2), 246–263.

Scarpaci, J. L., Jr. (2000). Winners and losers in restoring old Havana. Cuba in Transition, 10 , 289–299.

Schettini, M. G., & Troncoso, C. A. (2011). Tourism and cultural identity: Promoting Buenos Aires as the cultural capital of Latin America. Catalan Journal of Communication and Cultural Studies, 3 (2), 195–209.

Šegota, T., Sigala, M., Gretzel, U., Day, J., Kokkranikal, J., Smith, M., Seabra, C., Pearce, P., Davidson, R., van Zyl, C., Newsome, D., Hardcastle, J., & Rakić, T. (2019). Editorial. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 5 (2), 109–123.

Seok, H., Joo, Y., & Nam, Y. (2020). An analysis of sustainable tourism value of graffiti tours through social media: Focusing on TripAdvisor reviews of graffiti tours in Bogota, Colombia. Sustainability, 12 (11), 4426.

Seraphin, H., Sheeran, P., & Pilato, M. (2018). Overtourism and the fall of Venice as a destination. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 9 , 374–376.

Sharpley, R. (2020). Tourism, sustainable development and the theoretical divide: 20 years on. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28 (11), 1932–1946.

Shinde, K. (2020). The spatial practice of religious tourism in India: A destinations perspective. Tourism Geographies . https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1819400 .

Shoval, N., McKercher, B., Ng, E., & Birenboim, A. (2011). Hotel location and tourist activity in cities. Annals of Tourism Research, 38 (4), 1594–1612.

Sigala, M. (2020). Tourism and COVID-19: Impacts and implications for advancing and resetting industry and research. Journal of Business Research, 117 , 312–321.

Sima, C. (2013). Post-communist capital city tourism representation: A case-study on Bucharest . PhD Dissertation, London: University of Westminster.

Singh, S. (1992). Urban development and tourism: Case of Lucknow, India. Tourism Recreation Research, 17 (2), 71–78.

Singh, S. (2004). Religion, heritage and travel: Case references from the Hindu Himalayas. Current Issues in Tourism, 7 (1), 44–65.

Smith, A., & Graham, A. (Eds.). (2019). Destination London: The expansion of the visitor economy . London: University of Westminster Press.

Somnuxpong, S. (2020). Chiang Mai: A creative city using creative tourism management. Journal of Urban Culture Research, 20 , 112–132.

Speakman, M. (2019). Dark tourism consumption in Mexico City: A new perspective of the thanatological experience. Journal of Tourism Analysis, 26 (2), 152–168.

Spirou, C. (2021). Tourism cities in the United States. In A. M. Morrison & J. A. Coca-Stefaniak (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of tourism cities . London: Routledge.

Spirou, C., & Judd, D. R. (2014). The changing geography of urban tourism: Will the center hold? disP – The Planning Review, 50 (2), 38–47.

Spirou, C., & Judd, D. R. (2019). Tourist city. In A. M. Orum (Ed.), The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of urban and regional studies . Wiley, online library collection.

Steck, J.-F., Didier, S., Morange, M., & Rubin, M. (2013). Informality, public space and urban governance: An approach through street trading (Abidjan, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Lomé and Nairobi). In S. Bekker & L. Fourchard (Eds.), Politics and policies governing cities in Africa (pp. 145–167). Cape Town: HSRC Press.

Steel, G. (2013). Mining and tourism: Urban transformations in the intermediate cities of Cajamarca and Cusco, Peru. Latin American Perspectives, 40 (2), 237–249.

Steinbrink, M. (2012). ‘We did the slum!’ – Urban poverty tourism in historical perspective. Tourism Geographies, 14 (2), 213–234.

Steinbrink, M. (2013). Festifavelisation: Mega-events, slums and strategic city staging – The example of Rio de Janeiro. Die Erde, 144 (2), 129–145.

Stepchenkova, S., Rykhtik, M. I., Schichkova, E., Kim, H., & Petrova, O. (2015). Segmentation for urban destination: Gender, place of residence, and trip purpose: A case of Nizhni Novgorod, Russia. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 1 (1), 70–86.

Stephenson, M. L., & Dobson, G. J. (2020). Deciphering the development of smart and sustainable tourism cities in Southeast Asia: A call for research. Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 13 (1), 143–153.

Su, M. M., & Wall, G. (2015). Community involvement at Great Wall world heritage sites, Beijing, China. Current Issues in Tourism, 18 (2), 137–157.

Taherkhani, M., & Farahani, H. (2019). Evaluating and prioritizing urban tourism capabilities in Qazvin. Iranian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 8 (1), 71–85.

Tichaawa, T. (2017). Business tourism in Africa: The case of Cameroon. Tourism Review International, 21 (2), 181–192.

Trupp, A., & Sunanata, S. (2017). Gendered practices in urban ethnic tourism in Thailand. Annals of Tourism Research, 64 , 76–86.

Tzanelli, R. (2018). Slum tourism: A review of state-of-the-art scholarship. Tourism, Culture and Communication, 18 , 149–155.

Uansa-ard, S., & Binprathan, A. (2018). Creating an awareness of halal MICE tourism business in Chiang Mai, Thailand. International Journal of Tourism Policy, 8 (3), 203–213.

Ukah, A. (2016). Building God’s city: The political economy of prayer camps in Nigeria. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 40 , 524–540.

Ukah, A. (2018). Emplacing God: The social worlds of miracle cities – Perspectives from Nigeria and Uganda. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 36 (3), 351–368.

United Nations Human Settlements Programme, & Economic Commission for Africa. (2015). Towards an African urban agenda . Nairobi: UN-Habitat.

UNWTO. (2012). Global report on city tourism – Cities 2012 project . Madrid: UNWTO.

van der Merwe, C. D. (2013). The limits of urban heritage tourism in South Africa: The case of Constitution Hill, Johannesburg. Urban Forum, 24 , 573–588.

van der Merwe, C. D., & Rogerson, C. M. (2013). Industrial heritage tourism at ‘The big hole’, Kimberley, South Africa. African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 19 (Supplement 2), 155–171.

van der Merwe, C. D., & Rogerson, C. M. (2018). The local development challenges of industrial heritage tourism in the developing world: Evidence from Cullinan, South Africa. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 21 (1), 186–199.

Vandermey, A. (1984). Assessing the importance of urban tourism: Conceptual and measurement issues. Tourism Management, 5 (2), 123–155.

Visser, G. (2002). Gay tourism in South Africa: Issues from the Cape Town experience. Urban Forum, 13 (1), 85–94.

Visser, G. (2003). Gay men, tourism and urban space: Reflections on Africa’s ‘gay capital’. Tourism Geographies, 5 (2), 168–189.

Völkening, N., Benz, A., & Schmidt, M. (2019). International tourism and urban transformation in old Havana. Erdkunde, 73 (2), 83–96.

Wang, F., Lu, L., Xu, L., Wu, B., & Wu, Y. (2020). Alike but different: Four ancient capitals in China and their destination images. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 6 (2), 415–429.

Winter, T. (2009). Asian tourism and the retreat of Anglo-Western centrism in tourism theory. Current Issues in Tourism, 12 , 21–31.

Wonders, N. A., & Michalowski, R. (2001). Bodies, borders, and sex tourism in a globalized world: A tale of two cities – Amsterdam and Havana. Social Problems, 48 (4), 545–571.

Wu, B., Liu, L., Shao, J., & Morrison, A. M. (2015). The evolution and space patterns of hutongels in Beijing historic districts. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 10 (2), 129–150.

Wu, B., Li, Q., Ma, F., & Wang, T. (2021). Tourism cities in China. In A. M. Morrison & J. A. Coca-Stefaniak (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of tourism cities . London: Routledge.

Xiao, G., & Wall, G. (2009). Urban tourism in Dalian, China. Anatolia, 20 (1), 178–195.

Yang, Y., Wong, K. K. F., & Wang, T. (2012). How do hotels choose their location?: Evidence from hotels in Beijing. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31 , 675–685.

Yin, N. L. (2014). Decision factors in medical tourism: Evidence from Burmese visitors to a hospital in Bangkok. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 6 (2), 84–94.

Ziaee, M., & Amiri, S. (2018). Islamic tourism pilgrimages in Iran: Challenges and perspectives. In S. Seyfi & C. M. Hall (Eds.), Tourism in Iran: Challenges, development and opportunities . London: Routledge.

Download references

Acknowledgements

Thanks to comments received from two reviewers which influenced the final revision of this chapter. Arno Booyzen produced the accompanying maps. Dawn and Skye Norfolk assisted the writing process.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

School of Tourism & Hospitality, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Christian M. Rogerson & Jayne M. Rogerson

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian M. Rogerson .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

Christian M. Rogerson

Jayne M. Rogerson

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Rogerson, C.M., Rogerson, J.M. (2021). The Other Half of Urban Tourism: Research Directions in the Global South. In: Rogerson, C.M., Rogerson, J.M. (eds) Urban Tourism in the Global South. GeoJournal Library(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71547-2_1

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71547-2_1

Published : 14 July 2021

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-030-71546-5

Online ISBN : 978-3-030-71547-2

eBook Packages : Social Sciences History (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Mapping urban tourism issues: analysis of research perspectives through the lens of network visualization

International Journal of Tourism Cities

ISSN : 2056-5607

Article publication date: 9 June 2021

Issue publication date: 15 October 2021

The purpose of this study is to identify research perspectives/clusters in the field of urban tourism (city tourism) in narrow sense and tourism cities (cities and tourism) in the broader sense to examine the complex relationship through the optics of science mapping. This paper believes that the existing qualitative assessments of this field can be experimentally verified and visualized.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the key conceptual dilemmas of research perspectives in urban tourism are highlighted. Based on the Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection and the VOSviewer (computer program for visualizing bibliometric networks), the data will be analyzed. Clustering is used to evaluate information retrieval (inclusivity or selectivity of the search query), publication patterns (journal articles), author keywords, terminology and to identify the respective cities and author collaborations between countries.

Terminological specificities and their contextuality (authors’ preferences) are elaborated, as the topic is studied by authors from different disciplinary fields. Compared to other specific tourisms, urban tourism includes geographic terms (variations of city names) and terms with different connotations (travelers, visitors). Recent Spanish (also Portuguese) linguistic/geographic contexts are noticeable and a strong presence of WOS Emerging Sources Citation Index papers. Research perspectives are represented in the network of clusters of connected terms. If the search is based on a narrower sense of strict urban tourism, then tourism-business topics predominate. If tourism and cities are less closely linked, socio-cultural and environmental-spatial perspectives emerge, as does tourism/cities vulnerability (climate change and health issues).

Research limitations/implications

The construction of a search syntax for the purpose of retrieval is always marked by compromises, given different terminological usages. A narrow search query will miss many relevant documents. On the other hand, if the query is too general, it returns less relevant documents. To this end, this paper tested queries on three different levels of inclusivity or selectivity. More consistent use of terms would benefit authors in the field of urban tourism when searching for references (information retrieval) and, as a consequence, would allow better integration of the field.

Practical implications

This study provides a practical method for evaluating cities and tourism in combining the expertise of an information scientist and a sociologist. It points out numerous caveats in information retrieval. It offers an overview of publishing just prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, thus providing an opportunity for further comparative studies.

Originality/value

This study is the first to examine urban tourism using such a method and can serve as a complement to the existing systematization of qualitative approaches. The findings are consistent with numerous qualitative assessments of weak the research interconnection between the specifics of cities and tourism in terms of broader socio-spatial processes. However, the study suggests that such research linkage is increasing, which is noticeable in relation to issues of social sustainability (e.g. overtourism, Airbnb and touristification).

• Bibliometrics
• Social change
• Urban tourism
• Science mapping
• Social sustainability

Hocevar, M. and Bartol, T. (2021), "Mapping urban tourism issues: analysis of research perspectives through the lens of network visualization", International Journal of Tourism Cities , Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 818-844. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-05-2020-0110

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Marjan Hocevar and Tomaz Bartol.

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial & non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

The issues of the specificity of urban within the tourism and the specificity of tourism within the urban domain have been widely discussed in tourism studies, urban studies and other fields of the social sciences. The purpose of this study, however, is not to continue the thematization and discussion on these specificities but to examine matters concerning information retrieval in the research field of urban tourism (city tourism) and tourism and cities . We start from the assumption that the existing qualitative analyzes assessments of this field of research can also be verified experimentally thereby complementing conceptual discussions and findings. It might be meaningful to observe how divergent approaches and different uses of terminology behave at the level of aggregate data analysis through visual presentation.

According to numerous analytical observations, the evolution of research dedicated to urban tourism is accompanied by a questioning of its development toward greater coherence and maturity. Here, we focus on those who thematize urban tourism as inherently multidimensional; as an industry (business), a socio-cultural phenomenon (practice) and a specific geographic setting (in spatial and environmental terms). This is not only a question of epistemological but also of etymological coherence. In fact, it is understandable that evaluations and self-criticisms are reflected, to a large extent, by those who study tourism and cities in general. Hand in hand with this goes the broader trend toward diversity in tourism practices themselves, reflecting the de-differentiation between tourism activities and other social domains ( Cohen and Cohen, 2019 ).

1.1 Theoretical background

In tourism studies and in the social sciences in general, diverse approaches can steer in both directions: rarely toward interdisciplinary networking and more often in the direction of problematic fragmentation that hinders the progress of distinct but coherent disciplinary epistemologies. Although their emphasis may be different, this is overall a consistent supposition of authors ( Selby, 2003 ; Taillon and Jamal, 2009 ; Tribe and Xiao, 2011 ; Darbellay and Stock, 2012 ; Balietti et al. , 2015 ). Indeed, researchers deploy various approaches, epistemologies and methodologies and also use diverse terminologies ( Fainstein and Judd, 1999 ; Hoffman et al. , 2001 ; Gospodini, 2001 ; Bellini et al. , 2017 ; Romero-García et al. , 2019 ). The differences can already be detected in the uses of terms with which the authors operate, but which often explain related or similar concepts: urban tourism domain, approaches, perspectives, types, topics and sub-themes. The published works are scattered across different academic networks and disciplines.

Within a simple semantic framework, “urban tourism is best defined as an overlap area between a number of adjectival tourisms” ( Ashworth, 2009 , p. 208), but is clearly not like other “adjectival” tourisms ( Ashworth and Page, 2011 ). As Ashworth points out, this definition does not cover the much broader relationship between cities and tourism, but only a narrow one. From a certain research perspective, it depends whether the focus is either on the issue of urban (city, town) or on tourism [ 1 ]. Definitions are inevitably delineated by an author’s primary disciplinary affiliation, e.g. geography, sociology, economics, etc. ( Edwards et al. , 2008 ).

In exploring the tourism-business topic, the “urban setting” is more likely to play an “adjective” role to achieve the desired business effect but less likely so when, for example, research focuses on urban sustainability due to the impact of tourism activities.

As a specific feature of urban tourism studies, one would expect a strong integration of tourism studies with urban studies. In accordance with the above we assume, that the most permeating research framework should be the relationship between cities and tourism, which is complex and would ideally require a good knowledge of the urban field by tourism researchers and vice versa. However, what does the actual research coexistence between the two look like? Various assessments focus in particular on the critique of the fragmentation or insufficient integration of the broader knowledge of the relationship between cities and tourism in the wider context of social and cultural dynamics, which involves long-term processes of globalization ( Pearce, 2001 ; Ashworth and Page, 2011 ; Pasquinelli, 2017 ). An example of this is a three-decade-old and repeated observation by Ashworth (1989 , 2003 , 2012). According to him, both tourism studies and urban studies much too often pay no necessary attention to each other. This annoyance explains the lack of understanding of the special role of cities within the tourism or the place of tourism within the form and function of cities. He interprets the narrowness of approaches or the lack of tourism/urban causality as a “paradox,” “imbalance,” “indiscipline” or “double neglect.” Often the reference to this particular argument by other authors allows a conclusion that a considerable agreement on such assessments remains relevant to date, at least as a tool of exploration. In recent years his arguments and those of others have even gained in weight with “paradoxes” or apparent contradictions on a larger scale in two opposite directions as indicated above: growth and differentiation of tourism practices in cities and de-differentiation between tourism and other social domains. The conflict or at least issues, in the relationship between the day-to-day operation of cities and tourism-related activities, is intensifying ( Colomb and Novy, 2016 ). However, these are clearly only a part of the emerging phenomena, and long-term social changes in general, in particular, in mobility patterns and Spatio-temporal arrangements affecting cities, such as travel, leisure or home-and-away residency ( Sheller and Urry, 2006 ; Füller and Michel, 2014 ). In conjunction with these socio-spatial dynamics, there is a significant increase of research, especially critically oriented, linking various aspects of tourism with urban sustainability in different contexts, from the environmental, housing, spatial planning to mobility/travel patterns ( Bianchi, 2009 ; Cohen et al. , 2015 ; Hall, 2015 ; Bauder and Freytag, 2015 ; Hall, 2016 ). We depart from our particular investigation with the assumption that research on urban tourism should go beyond the “adjective” by strengthening the pervasive link between the urban (city) and tourism, and the linking of both with wider social and environmental processes.

In light of the above, the question arises as to what the terms urban and tourism actually mean when the adjective urban and the noun tourism are put together, especially when it comes to finding reliable sources in databases used by researchers. How, then, are the dilemmas raised in the study of urbanity and tourism reflected in terminology? Although heterogeneous and occasionally volatile and ephemeral terminology is only part of the problem of fragmentation in researching the phenomenon, it can help shed light on its nature. For example, insights into bibliographic databases reveal a recent “buzz” of new keywording such as overtourism, antitourism, post-tourism and new tourism in relation to various problems between tourists and urban residents or between the tourism industry and urban management ( Jansson, 2018 ; Jovicic, 2019 ; Perkumienė and Pranskūnienė, 2019 ; Šegota et al. , 2019 ). Can this development, both semantic and topical, be quantitatively assessed? Before formulating our research questions, we present selected works that have dealt with tourism using tools of quantitative methodology. Indeed, our study has used the expertise of both an information specialist and a sociologist.

1.2 Empirical background

Although urban tourism has not been specifically examined, other aspects of tourism have received attention also in quantitative studies, often referred to in the informetric literature as bibliometrics, scientometrics, science mapping, research evaluation and the like. Most such studies have investigated bibliographic data, for example, researchers, countries or journals. Different textual issues have also been addressed, for example, disciplinary structure and categorization of tourism ( Benckendorff and Zehrer, 2013 ; Park et al. , 2016 ). Köseoglu et al. (2016) and Okumus et al. (2018) who investigated many different tourism-related sub-fields thus emphasized that quantitative bibliometric methods should complement the qualitative and theoretical reviews.

Tourism-related bibliometric research frequently used science mapping and visualizations which facilitate the evaluation of “big data” or large corpora of documents which would be difficult to evaluate only in a qualitative way. We identified only a few tourism-related bibliometric studies where urban tourism and cities and tourism, was detected. However, it was never addressed on its own, except for the study by Musavengane et al. (2019) where urban tourism was tackled in a specific setting of sub-Saharan African cities. Estevão et al. (2017) noticed urban tourism, in terms of co-citations, in the cluster of marketing and tourism management. Galvagno and Giaccone (2019) placed it close to creative tourism. It was identified among the keywords in tourism journals ( Wu et al. , 2012 ). Visualizing tourism by countries, Shen et al. (2018) also noticed urban tourism although only in the context of competitiveness with rural tourism.

With regard to the data sets, citation databases Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) are usually used. WOS, for example, in the bibliometric analysis of urban sustainability ( Fu and Zhang, 2017 ) or Scopus in a review of overtourism or destination branding ( Nilsson, 2020 ; Dioko, 2016 ). Sometimes, both citation databases are used, for example, in the aforementioned study by Musavengane et al. (2019) and in mapping tourist mobility ( Chantre-Astaiza et al. , 2019 ). Such bibliometric studies present some limitations for the social sciences, where research is disseminated through different publishing avenues (especially books) ( Hall, 2005 ). Google Scholar could also be used, but still lacks better quality control. Visualizations and mapping of database records can be conducted with several tools. VOSviewer has been identified as having, in general, the highest diffusion ( Pan et al. , 2018 ) although other programs have also been used, for example, CiteSpace in a study on tourist mobility ( Chantre-Astaiza et al. , 2019 ) and Pajek in a three-level co-citation analysis of innovation in tourism ( Gomezelj-Omerzel, 2016 ). Additional examples from the literature will be presented in methodological and experimental sections.

1.3 Research questions

Taking into account the issues motivating the research field of tourism on the one hand and urban processes on the other, we want to test these relationships quantitively. The aim is to identify the main research agendas (research perspectives) and interpret the relationships based on journal publication patterns and authors’ choice of terminology.

We would like to determine a search query (search statement) that optimizes the terminological landscape (research field contextuality) as this influences bibliographic exploration. The constraints of a more limited (or broader) search query need to be explored as an important factor in the retrieval of information. By testing queries at different levels of inclusivity, we aim to answer the questions that motivated our study: How are analytical dilemmas in the relationship between tourism studies, urban studies and other academic disciplines reflected in the authors’ choice of publication venues (journals)? Can some evolution in time be detected, as well as some particular characteristics of publications identified on the basis of links and shared references? A further and main goal is the identification of research perspectives based on textual data (authors’ choice of terminology in titles and abstracts). As such terminology can be highly scattered, specific developments can perhaps be revealed by examining author keywords and terms that have emerged only in the most recent period. Finally, we wish to explore some features of a geographic nature. Which are the most important cities in tourism research and how are the countries linked by author collaboration (co-authorship) on a time scale? The limitations of such empirical studies will also be addressed.

This research thus aims to complement the existing theoretical assessments of urban tourism (cities and tourism) with an empirical analysis based on a complex computer visualization program designed for the purposes of science mapping. As far as we know, such an approach to the assessment of urban tourism has never been attempted before.

2. Materials and methodology

2.1 choice of research material (database).

Citation databases Scopus (Elsevier) or Web of Science (WOS, Clarivate Analytics) are commonly used in visualization studies. Our pilot based on article titles (“urban tourism” or “city tourism”) found high similarity between Scopus and WOS Core Collection in recent years. WOS was used more frequently because it has been around for much longer. WOS was chosen for this study because of its categorization (WOS Categories) and inclusion of a much longer time period, as well as the recent introduction of a new index. We used to research and review articles mapped to three established citation indexes (indices): Social Sciences Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE a.k.a. SCI-Expanded) and Arts and Humanities Citation Index. An aim was also to investigate the impact of the recent expansion of WOS by the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). This ESCI Index was introduced in 2015, and has already been used in the studies of tourism ( Köseoglu et al. , 2019 ).

2.2 Construction of search syntax

A key procedure was to create a query (Boolean search syntax or Search statement) of concepts and terms related to urban tourism in a narrow sense and cities and tourism (tourist cities) in a broader sense. Town(s) [ 2 ] were also included. Many terms have too many connotations and meanings are not used consistently by the authors. This makes it difficult to find them on uniform principles. For example, travel and cities usually refer to the commuting of the “local populace” [ 3 ] although travel can also be considered a social practice in its own right (e.g. “new-nomadism”) ( Cohen et al. , 2015 ).

Living (in) cities of the past: time travel in second life.

Cordon toll […] network of two cities […] traveler route and demand responses.

Factors affecting adolescents’ use […] leisure time […] city of Vienna.

Informant-provided leisure constraints in six Taiwanese cities.

Visitor inflows and police use of force in a Canadian city .

Home visiting among inner- city families.

To compensate for search noise, only such tourism -based concepts ( tourism, touristic, tourists …) that are sufficiently focused and unambiguous could be used. As the specific term urban tourism returns only a few hundred records, we tested several queries: a narrower query (NQ) with urban/city tourism in a narrower (more strict and focused) sense and then two increasingly extended queries representing the concepts denoting tourism and cities in less closely connected contexts (up to and including 2018). The contexts are referred to as NQ, broader (BQ) and general (GQ) queries ( Table 1 ). In the database, search terms in the singular (e.g. city ) also return the plural (cities) and vice versa. The BQ may seem somewhat lengthy, but a shortened “tourist cit*” would have yielded other meanings (for example, tourist citation ), so the terms with more restricted meanings were included in the query.

For each of the data sets (NQ, BQ and GQ) we provide an example of contexts:

2.2.1 Narrower query.

Title: Making sense of the square: Facing the touristification of public space through playful protest in Barcelona.

Abstract: Drawing from assemblage thinking, this article explores the complexity of urban tourism conflicts. The case study of […].

Author Keywords: assemblage thinking; […] urban tourism conflicts .

2.2.2 Broader query.

Title: The What, Where and Why of Airbnb Price Determinants.

Abstract: Breakthrough changes in the rental market […] cities selected as case study […] tourist area […] with previous studies.

Author keywords: Airbnb; price determinants; touristic cities […].

2.2.3 General query.

Title: Residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards future tourism development A challenge for tourism planners.

Abstract: This paper aims to present the results of a quantitative […] residents consider that tourism […] development of the city […].

Author keywords: Perceptions; Tourism ; Impacts; Residents; Porto; Overtourism.

2.3 Analysis of article-growth and article distribution by Web of Science indexes and journals

The data were verified at the end of 2019. Growth was assessed for the past 20 years (there were very few earlier articles). Visualizations were conducted on the entire corpus (up to and including, 2018). The distribution by journals usually conforms with power laws according to which a large proportion of articles are published in a few so-called core journals (mapped to core WOS categories) while many other articles are scattered over many occasional journals (decreasing exponential ratio). Such patterns are evaluated by the eponymous Bradford’s law ( Bradford, 1934 ) which has been tested by many authors, and is theoretically represented as 1:n:n 2 . In visualizations, we assessed possible connections among journals through the number of shared references and average publishing year.

2.4 Visualization program

Using VOSviewer, we created the following maps/figures: Maps based on text data ( Figures 5 to 7 . Type of analysis: co-occurrence. Units: title and abstract fields).

Journals ( Figures 3 and 4 . Type of analysis: bibliographic coupling/unit: sources = journals).

Author keywords ( Figures 8 and 9 . Type of analysis: co-occurrence/unit: author keywords).

Co-authorship based on country of affiliation ( Figures 11 and 12 . Type of analysis: countries).

In the network visualization, items (units of analysis) are represented by a label (terms) and a circle, where the size reflects the weight of an item. An “item” is a general term for each unit under consideration, which is included in different thematic visualization maps. In our case, the items are terms in article titles and abstracts, journals, author keywords and countries of co-authorship.

When the items are related to each other, they are arranged in clusters by color. The strongest relationships (co-occurrence or the number of documents in which they occur together) are represented by lines. The procedure is explained in the manual ( van Eck and Waltman, 2019 ). In the overlay visualization (bibliographic coupling of journals, co-occurrence of author keywords, co-authorship), the maps reflect the average year, starting from early average years (blue color palette) to recent years (red color).

2.5 Clusters of article terms and topics by author keywords

Terms in titles and abstracts (maps based on text data) were visualized by way of co-occurrence. Terms were arranged in clusters according to the relatedness of terms. Generic terms from structured abstracts (such as aim , material and results) were excluded as were the generic terms article, paper, research, study .

Author keywords (maps based on bibliographic data) were presented using overlay visualization in which the keywords are highlighted according to the average year of occurrence of a keyword.

2.6 Identification of the cities

The identification of principle cities was carried out in the WOS database itself. First, all terms were downloaded from the text data maps into an experimental auxiliary database. Then, the city names were identified. These cities were then ranked according to their frequency in WOS. Some disambiguation was necessary (for example, Cordoba in Spain vs Cordoba in Argentina). Different linguistic forms were also checked (for example, Beijing vs Peking).

2.7 Co-authorship of papers (by country of an author’s affiliation address)

The last two maps were visualized by co-occurrence using clusters. Relatedness was determined by the number of co-authored documents (co-authorship links). The resulting country network shows the strength of co-authorship links between authors from different countries. The elements are displayed and connected by an overlay visualization, with the maps reflecting the average year of contributions from a country.

3. Findings and discussion

3.1 progression of articles on urban tourism as reflected by publications and web of science indexes.

Figure 1 shows articles retrieved with NQ and BQ query ( Table 1 ). The growth of records is similar in both queries and has intensified after 2015 with the introduction of ESCI (Emerging Sources Citation Index, WOS). This share is 50% for and up to 53% in the BQ. At the same time, only 9% of the total WOS records were attributed to ESCI in 2018.

The aim was to test the assumption of “paradox” and “imbalance” in the interconnectedness of narrower urban tourism studies and urban studies in general (see Introduction). The findings that follow can only be tentative, as they depend on the categorization used by the individual journals, the author’s choice of publishing and the editorial policies of the journals.

Journals are mapped to different WOS categories. With the exception of the journal Sustainability , four other main journals are all mapped to the category of Hospitality Leisure Sport Tourism (HLST) ( Figure 2 , right inset). Although the articles are scattered across journals in many different WOS categories HLST is the principal category in this field. In retrieval with the NQ, half of all articles were mapped to HLST . This share was someway lower when articles were retrieved with BQ but the principal journals were nevertheless the same ( Figure 2 , left inset). The category HLST is followed by the categories which indicate spatial topics, Urban Studies being the most important, followed by Regional Urban Planning . However, none of the five most important journals were mapped to such categories. We also conducted an exploratory overview of authorship. Among the many authors, only a couple of them published at least two articles in HLST journals and Urban -related journals. Thus, the connections between the principal authors in the two journal groups are weak. We may also mention Environmental Sciences which covers aspects of the environment as related to natural sciences while the category of Environmental Studies is designated as pertaining to social sciences. From the categorization of the journal Sustainability , we infer that these classifications are not strictly defined. The environment -related categories are thus important, however, most such articles are mapped to the journals Tourism Management and Sustainability which is also evident in Figure 2 (right inset).

In the interpretations of categories, a limitation applies. Namely, WOS categorization and disciplinary orientation of journals do not always correspond very exactly ( Boyack et al. , 2005 ; Leydesdorff and Bornmann, 2016 ; Bartol et al. , 2016 ). This wide assignment of categories can also be seen in the right inset of Figure 2 where principal journals are mapped to a variety of categories, although the HLST category prevails. It seems a kind of a universal canopy for tourism studies of different kinds. For example, very similar principal journals were also identified for the topic of rural tourism ( Lane and Kastenholz, 2015 ; Hocevar and Bartol, 2016 ).

An important volume of urban tourism (cities and tourism) studies, therefore, gets published in the “generic” HLST journals. This “touristic emphasis” then prevails although many dimensions of urban tourism are inherent particularly to cities (and society issues). Many authors dealing with tourism in the cities may thus fail to notice that such tourism involves, in particular, urban space and its very specific (societal) characteristic. The importance of “the urban” thus remains unnoticed or indeed dismissed or perhaps remains perceived as yet another “adjectival” variant. We may speculate: although there do exist many Urban- category-related journals, the authors seem to favor touristic categories (journals). The issues of the author or editorial motivations, however, would require an analysis on its own.

The distribution of journals follows the patterns of an exponentially descending curve ( Figure 2 , main part): a few principal journals (among several hundred) published an important segment of all articles, but soon a long tail of journals with very few articles follows. The five principal journals are, however, identical in both queries (left inset in Figure 2 ). Such Bradford-like patterns have already been observed ( Barrios et al. , 2008 ).

Figures 3 (NQ) and 4 [ 4 ] (BQ) show the average year of articles (by journals) and links based on the number of references that these journals share (bibliographic coupling) which suggests that these journals are (cognitively) related in terms of content ( Yuan et al. , 2015 ). The two principal journals Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Management were important in this field already a decade ago (purple colors). The strong early average links between these two journals (cf. Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Management ) can be attributed to the fact that the topic of our study was not as intensively researched at that time and was primarily approached by researchers contributing to these two journals. Almost 40% of all such articles were published in these two journals before 2010. These were, in fact, already established tourism journals. Some of the newer journals discovered in our study are still quite “young.” Moreover, cities and tourism have recently become quite strongly associated with sustainability issues. Therefore, many more journals are now attracting the attention of authors as a publication opportunity, including journals published in other languages.

While the entire WOS database contains only 0.7% Spanish-language articles, the ESCI contains 7.2% of these. Such language-related patterns were also detected by other authors ( Huang et al. , 2017 ), for the ESCI index in general. The topic of our study of urban tourism and tourist cities, therefore, plays an important role in relation to this geographic (and to some extent linguistic) milieu. Researchers have raised the question of whether all topics have equal importance in various parts of the world and whether articles have been around long enough to be discovered ( Jamal et al. , 2008 ). ESCI journals, already recommended for future tourism research ( Mulet-Forteza et al. , 2019 ), have substantially advanced representation of urban tourism and tourist cities , therefore, offering new possibilities for such “discoveries.” The most important ESCI journal now seems to be the International Journal of Tourism Cities which has recently become one of the principal journals in this field ( Figure 2 ). This journal has been attributed a central position by computer visualizations ( Figures 3 and 4 ) which indicates strong interdisciplinary links and relationships with other journals. Here we need to point out that the number of articles is not an indication of quality. Given the only recent introduction of ESCI, the impact will only be quantifiable after some time-lapse.

At the end of the journal appraisal, it is worth mentioning that the very recent accents of the non-ESCI journal Sustainability and Journal of Sustainable Tourism (orange-to-red colors in Figures 3 and 4 ) corroborate our preliminary reflection on a significant increase in research interest in various aspects of sustainability which evidently applies to tourism and cities as well.

3.2 Identification of research perspectives through clusters of terms

As highlighted above, the common point in the analytical debates is the assumption that urban tourism is a subject area with a growing body of work but with divergent, disconnected and narrowly confined research backgrounds which includes a non-uniform and heterogeneous terminological use. This fragmentation could limit coherence and integration. As highlighted, Ashworth (2003) and Ashworth and Page (2011) address the “paradoxes” in the progress of urban tourism research which results from the researcher’s lack of engagement with debates in urban studies along with the wider societal dynamics of globalization and vice versa. Based on links between journals established on bibliographic coupling ( Figures 3 and 4 ), we found that the assumption is not fully justified, especially relating to BQ which is more inclusive. In this section, we therefore further evaluate, through visual analysis of article terms, whether a perceived “paradox” contained in unresolved shortcomings (“imbalances” and “double neglect”), especially in terms of descriptive (“adjectival”) rather than inclusive treatment of the urban condition in the conducting of research on urban tourism, could be somehow detected. Many analytical typologies of perspectives, discourses, disciplinary perspectives and bibliographic measurements of urban tourism alone or within tourism studies, in general, have been presented, ranging from generalized binaries to more detailed ( Fainstein and Judd, 1999 ; Yuan et al. , 2015 ) [ 5 ]. As we highlighted in the introduction, we focus on those perspectives which thematize urban tourism as inherently multidimensional; as an industry, a socio-cultural phenomenon and a geographic setting.

In the above consideration, it is important to determine how strongly certain research agendas, here analytically represented by article terms, determine a perspective as visualized in clusters. Terms organized in clusters could be considered, on an experimental basis, as perspectives in the above sense. The weaker co-occurrence between the clusters, the more the research is self-sufficient and thus less connected with other perspectives.

For this purpose, we tested three different queries ( Table 1 ). We wanted to find out what the difference between the perspectives is when they are based on a very strict term of urban tourism as opposed to more inclusive queries enriched with other applicable terms, for example, tourism cities and cities together with tourism. All visualizations in the following three figures present 60% of the most relevant terms (designated by the program) which occur at least 10 times (last column in Table 2 ).

3.3 Research perspectives through the clusters in the narrower query

This query (383 articles) focused specifically on urban tourism (NQ). The program arranged related terms into clusters/perspectives ( Figure 5 ).

The presentation of at least 10 occurrences per term excluded terms with lower counts. The presented terms are thus more operational in nature. Overall, this narrower corpus is dominated by the empirical “business of tourism” with the city (“urban”) existing more in a geographic or setting context. Contextual terms are scattered across several clusters. Due to the predominantly author’s empirical treatment of the topic, the operational terms, especially those concerning the methods of studying urban tourism ( interview, year, model, effect, survey, demand, range ) are quite distinctive. Such terms occur in all clusters, although in lower counts, due to a low number of articles. Connections between urban tourism and marketing and tourism management were also detected by Estevão et al. (2017) . Even if the terms may occur in connection with socio-cultural and spatial issues, the occurrences are too small to be identified in the clusters. It seems that authors use a very heterogeneous or non-unified terminology so the clusters are difficult to delineate very exactly. The figures become much more meaningful when larger data sets are available. This will be revealed in the two next queries (BQ and GQ) which are more inclusive and where main research perspectives become evident.

3.4 Research perspectives through the clusters of article terms in broader query

Tourism-business cluster/perspective (red) – A.

Environmental-spatial cluster/perspective (blue) – B.

Socio-cultural cluster/perspective (green/yellowish) – C.

These three clusters of article terms are somewhere in between the “binary” approaches by Fainstein and Gladstone (1997) who specify the political and the cultural and the much more detailed 12 sub-themes-typology ( Ashworth and Page, 2011 ). There are other, detailed studies of approaches in terms of theoretical orientations ( Fainstein and Judd, 1999 ; Hoffman et al. , 2001 ) and more recent, updated discussions ( Bellini et al. , 2017 ; Romero-García et al. , 2019 ) about them. Our systematization of approaches or perspectives/clusters is, in terms of content and definition, quite close to a summarized division into three perspectives by Edwards et al. (2008) : urban planning/governance, industrial and cultural.

3.4.1 Tourism-business cluster/perspective (red cluster).

In this cluster, strong network links of article terms can be identified, covering both applied and business-related topics and related to empirical studies, for example, tourist-consumer issues (e.g. marketing, motivation, perception and various connotations of destination ) and research methods (e.g. questionnaire, respondent, sample). It exhibits weak network terminological links with other clusters and is very homogeneous; one would describe it as “self-sufficient” and “adjectival.” Here we can relate to the findings in Section 3.1 on the progression of articles on urban tourism as reflected by publications, where the journal Tourism Management plays a prominent role. Links with other clusters do exist, but a closer look reveals a different research contextuality. For example, the term accommodation is located toward the middle of the map and is also linked to other clusters. On the other hand, the term satisfaction is located on the perimeter of the map as is mainly focused on business. Accommodation issues, therefore, go beyond the business-related aspects and are thus more strongly related to clusters/perspectives B and C than term satisfaction , which is mostly related to tourist experience, and perhaps less to the impact of tourism on residents. Focusing only on visitors or only on residents is defined by some authors as “the reductive dualism” [e.g. empowered tourist – disempowered host ( Bianchi, 2009 )]. The context seems to be linked to the empirical studies in the previous map, which is based on the NQ ( Figure 5 ).

3.4.2 Environmental-spatial cluster/perspective (blue cluster).

This perspective shows topics and concepts of the natural environment and physical (built-up) space with links to urban systems in connection with tourism. Structural and functional activities reflect issues such as spatial patterns, morphology, population and natural resources. This is in line with the approaches specified by Gospodini (2001) . The cluster seems to be more concerned with the sustainable living conditions of residents under the impact of tourists who are only temporary visitors. The terms somehow suggest a more critical stance regarding tourism activities as opposed to mainly affirmative (or at least neutral) attitudes in the preceding cluster. It also involves time-scaling terms (days/months, seasons). Period is thus prominent. As analyzed in the journal section, the queries also retrieved articles in the category Environmental Sciences which are evident ( coast, land, pollution, water , etc.) and which have weak connections with urban studies in a more confined context of social sciences. Urban areas and tourism are here essentially geographic units (such as districts or precincts). The dispersion of terms suggests that such empirical studies use specific terminologies. One might expect to find various environmental sustainability issues, but the distinct notions of sustainability are more specifically reflected in the next cluster of socio-cultural perspectives. According to clustering algorithms, an item may belong to only one cluster – the one to which it is more related – although this does not preclude connections with other clusters.

3.4.3 Socio-cultural cluster/perspective (green/yellowish).

The green and yellowish terms are not only close to each other but also intermingle, so that we perceive them as one shared cluster with blurred boundaries between the more empirically oriented and the more qualitative or narrative oriented, for that matter. The empirical research (yellowish) addresses aspects of social issues ( participation, society ). These are dispersed and drawn to other clusters. It also includes the term sustainable development , which is not visible because of the overlap with the term society . Several authors ( Perkumienė and Pranskūnienė, 2019 ; Capocchi et al. , 2019 ) point out these more recent topics which will also be shown in Figures 8 and 9 . It seems quite clear that in this cluster/perspective the concept of sustainability , both in the use of terms and in the connections between them, is treated with a different emphasis than in cluster/perspective B. It is not focused on the natural but on the social and cultural “environment” or to put it better, milieu. Qualitative research and theoretical or narrative reflections (green) are more homogeneous and put more emphasis on the cultural-interpretative background ( identity, history, culture ) but may apply to “social issues” and “cultural issues.” To illustrate with an example: the noun in singular form heritage is yellowish, whereas composite heritage tourism is green. We deduce that strong network links here represent analytically related research agendas of tourism in cities and society (or culture) in general. Our deduction, which relates to terminological connections within and between clusters, is consistent with the review of literature on the topic, especially over the past 10 years. It seems that the authors are somehow pursuing a common socio-cultural perspective which includes cautionary, critical and non-positivistic perspectives toward tourism research ( Bianchi, 2009 ; Platenkamp and Botterill, 2013 ; Colomb and Novy Eds ., 2016 ; Novy, 2019 ).

This BQ cluster seems to be a good model for assessing publication patterns and relations among research perspectives in this field the way we perceive and interpret it through the lenses of terminology. The clusters in the selective NQ ( Figure 5 ) were less informative due to the low numbers of terms and narrow search syntax based on the rather restrictive concepts of urban tourism and city tourism . Now we want to compare these findings with an even “bigger picture”: a general query (GQ) based on more openly connected concepts of urban, city and tourism , where the three distinct perspectives become even clearer.

3.5 Research perspectives through the clusters in the general query

The third and the most inclusive query was based on the occurrence of urban or city on the one hand and tourism ( tourists ) on the other. It presents 1,992 relevant terms ( Figure 7 ). Most of the terms are displayed only by circles while the names cannot be displayed due to overlapping. These even broader pictures now identifies the socio-cultural perspective as one cluster (bottom left). The cluster at the top-left indicates the tourism-business perspective. This clustering shows a fairly similar picture as the clustering in the previous BQ where the socio-cultural terms were weakly indicated as two possibly distinct clusters but did, in fact, intermingle. This picture now shows that these concepts are indeed quite related which corroborates our inference of one cluster of shared perspectives.

Nevertheless, the original assumption of weak links between the perspectives is not fully confirmed, as the precise term urban tourism is clearly too narrow and does not cover the many relevant connections between cities and tourism. As we found (Section 3.1), articles are not only dispersed across different journals which are mapped to diverse categories; the authors also use heterogeneous terminology, when they wish to thematize cities in relation to tourism or vice versa. Thus, on analyzing clusters, we can substantiate our original assumption that a non-unified terminology at least partially hampers the integration and interconnectedness between perspectives in urban tourism (city tourism or tourism in cities).

Although the environmental-spatial cluster/perspective was already well-defined in the BQ ( Figure 6 ) it is now much more prominent (right side of the map in Figure 7 ). This cluster is in a clearly separated position with increasingly weak links to the other two clusters. We assume that many articles are no longer very strongly connected with the city- and tourism- associated topics. Contexts can be multidirectional: the impact of tourism or the impact of other forces on tourism and cities. The term climate change alone occurs 119 times (not visible because of the overlap). There are another 200 occurrences of terms based on climate .

Interestingly, with this GQ another “approach” (fourth cluster) now appears, which was not present in the previous maps: tourism and health , in the small centrally located cluster ( disease, epidemiology, hospital , etc.). The central location indicates some links with other clusters although the links with the environmental issues are stronger. It denotes links between cities, tourism and health, and suggests susceptibility of cities and tourism to climate change and outbreaks of diseases. An important WOS category of such documents is indeed Public Environmental Occupational Health although such research is also being published in Tourism journals.

Cities and tourism may have a weaker role in such articles although they do occur at least in abstracts or keywords. WOS category of HLST is still the main category and 9 of the top 10 journals are similarly tourism-related as in the first two more restricted queries.

3.6 Recent specific topics in urban tourism by the evolution of author keywords

The visualization of author keywords complements the existing research perspectives/clusters. Author keywords are the terms which the authors have assigned to their papers and which are then also recorded in databases. Although subjective, keywords reflect an author’s attunement to terminology in a given period. Some very recent terms (“hot topics,” as indicated by the red color) reflect emerging socio-spatial issues ( Airbnb, sharing economy, touristification ) and are shown in both maps ( Figures 8 and 9 ). The circles are still small, as these novel concepts are not yet very numerous. The very novel antitourism or overtourism (also as anti-tourism or over-tourism ) are not shown because the counts are still too low. In 2019, however, there was an upturn. It will, however, take some time for these issues to become established. This is discussed in the last chapter. Some authors may use two separate keywords to describe the context: tourism + city/cities . The subjective use of geographic terms likely reflects an author’s decision to highlight a particular city.

We may tentatively interpret the maps by way of the contextualization of terms. Time analysis and the emergence of author keywords provide only an approximate estimate of the research directions. Sustainability (also as an adjective sustainable ) has been addressed in general tourism and sustainability studies ( Garrigos-Simon et al. , 2018 ). In our case, we assess it specifically in relation to urban tourism. The emerging issues of sustainability were also reflected in journal maps ( Figures 3 and 4 ). Sustainability is gaining importance through contextually-related processes of gentrification , planning and mobility , which is also reflected in emerging topics, such as sharing economy, Airbnb and overtourism ( Bauder and Freytag, 2015 ; Colomb and Novy, 2016 ; Perkumienė and Pranskūnienė, 2019 ; Kadi et al. , 2019 ; Capocchi et al. , 2019 ). Studies of tourism and cities are thus increasingly focusing on various aspects of sustainability, embracing broader social phenomena in the context of urban dynamics: from the environment, housing and planning to mobility patterns ( Urry, 2016 ; Tokarchuk et al. , 2017 ). Looking at the above time-analysis of keywords, one could at least suggest that the problem of “imbalance in focus” or “paradox” (which Ashworth has repeatedly stressed) in the treatment of cities in tourism studies is indeed diminishing. This applies both to the aspect of tourism management and to the critical optics of the impact of tourism on cities and society. Point in the case could be the most frequent reference to Barcelona and even more recently Berlin (“blurred” red above gentrification in Figure 8 and to the right of touristification in Figure 9 ), which illustrates well the many discussions on these sustainability contexts ( Füller and Michel, 2014 ; Hall, 2016 ).

3.7 Cities as topics of research

Limitations linked with city names need to be highlighted first. Sometimes, the concept of a city is used as an epithet, for example, the city of Valencia, but this is not always the case. The particular urban- or city terms may not even be used in the abstract when an article deals with a particular city. Such a study can thus only serve as a model as many possibly relevant records cannot be retrieved. We were nevertheless interested which are the principal cities which come about in connection with tourism. A combined procedure was needed to this end. First, all terms from the NQ and BQs were downloaded into a temporary data set. This then required “manual” identification of all cities in the data set. Some disambiguation was essential. Also, different linguistic forms were merged. Then, the analysis of the occurrences was conducted in the WOS itself. The cities were then ranked according to their frequency ( Figure 10 ).

The cities thus identified confirm our findings on the particular role of urban tourism in the Spanish (and to some extent in Portuguese) geographic (including linguistic) context and the role of ESCI journals. While the publishing contribution of some countries in the field of tourism has been previously noted ( Yuan et al. , 2015 ), some countries and cities have recently gained a higher presence in this field of research. Thus, geographic and regional effects play an important role in publication behavior. For example, Barcelona appears about six times in the journal Documents d'Analisi Geografica (ESCI) which also publishes articles in Catalan. Figure 10 also roughly shows that Europe is the most studied region, followed by Asia and the Americas. Similar geographic patterns (research regions) have also been found in VOSviewer-based visualizations of mobile technologies and smart tourism ( Dorcic et al. , 2018 ).

The particulars and implications of geographic terms are not so evident in other “adjectival” tourisms, for example, in adventure tourism or rural tourism. However, in investigating the cities the very names of certain cities have a retrieval impact on Mexico City (sometimes only as Ciudad de Mexico ), NY City and Cape Town. The City of London denotes a particular area in London. Some “city names” may refer to an entire territory or a country ( Hong Kong, Singapore ). The name of Beijing (official Chinese Pinyin Romanization) is used almost without exception, although the now old-fashioned English exonym Peking still crops up (frequently in clear-cut phrasal contexts, for example, Peking opera, Peking duck). However, sometimes only the “international” English names are used (Vienna for Wien, Venice for Venezia, etc.).

This emphasis is important because it highlights the need for a unified terminology in the development of a disciplinary field. Awareness of this kind of limitation is also important for researchers and authors, especially when it comes to retrieval in databases.

3.8 Co-authorship of papers by country of an author

The counts of cities as topics of research ( Figure 10 ) are to some extent associated with contributions by authors from the respective countries ( Figures 11 and 12 ). Documents in both queries exhibit similar patterns of co-authorship links. Spain shows links with the countries from Spanish (Portuguese) linguistic/geographic neighborhoods. The average publication year of this authorship is much more recent. USA and England [ 7 ] show a longer presence in such studies (violet-to-blue colors). The US circle is located in the vicinity of East Asian countries. The authors affiliated to US institutions co-authored the highest number of articles with the authors in the Peoples Republic of China. This is shown by the close proximity of the two countries and the thickness of the connecting line. Such intense co-authorship between these two countries in tourism research was also observed by Shen et al. (2018) and Köseoglu et al. (2019) . The recent importance of Spain in tourism research was noted by Butowski et al. (2019) . The recent Spanish context substantiates our previous inferences on the role of ESCI journals in this field. While the contribution by countries was investigated earlier ( Yuan et al. , 2015 ) some countries have now gained higher prominence (orange-to-red color palette) which points to the changing landscape in (urban) tourism studies.

3.9 Recent upsurge of novel terms

A consistent analysis for the 2019 data cannot be made as many articles have not yet been indexed by WOS. Against this background, we conducted an exploratory assessment of the 2019 data in the early spring of 2020 (based on NQ). We needed to exclude documents with early access in WOS because they distort the visualizations as the publication year is not yet assigned. The data show a very strong increase in some novel terms, some of which we highlighted in the keyword section and which have obviously experienced an outbreak over the past year – or even months. In 2010, there were no such terms ( Figure 13 ). Degrowth first appeared in 2019. However, this is only a preliminary assessment. The 2019 documents are still arriving. We highlight an interesting terminological development: the novel t ou ristification also appears as t u ristification (Spanish: turistificacion), in up to 10% of the articles. As expected, these documents represent several ESCI journals and/or the Spanish research background, although the (incorrect) turistification was derived from English language titles, abstracts or keywords. Also, the compound word overtourism sometimes comes about as over tourism . Authors should therefore take care not to increase terminological entropy in addition to other challenges of information retrieval in this field.

At this point, we need to, however, mention that this evolution may take yet unexpected directions. Namely, in the time of the finalization of this study, a disturbing turn of events has begun with the outbreak of Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus). The troubling developments are likely to have a major impact on tourism and cities although this will not be immediately reflected in the publishing patterns in this field because the first articles to this end are just being published. This remains a subject to be followed in our future research based on science mapping and visualizations.

4. Conclusions

The study evaluates the conceptual framework in the field of urban tourism in a narrow sense and tourism and cities in a broader sense using quantitative visualizations. It thus contributes to existing theoretical frameworks in which the authors either systematize perspectives (or research approaches) or discuss them analytically. The findings on the importance of information retrieval represent an academic and practical contribution. The academic one refers to the extraction of information relevant to researchers in the field. Consequently, the better quality of information can contribute to the development, and more importantly, the integration of this disciplinary field. Of practical importance to urban and tourism professionals is guidance on how to search for research findings in the literature. The connections between research directions were tested at three levels of terminological inclusivity, with implications for information retrieval addressed at each level. This is a novel way for evaluating links in the field of urban tourism. The dual expertise of an information specialist and a sociologist was used for this purpose.

In creating the methodological search syntax, which was an introductory step, it became clear that a focused search query would miss a significant portion of the relevant documents. On the other hand, a broad query would also return documents that are no longer related to the topic. On the analytical level, this is a dilemma of the degree of inclusiveness of topics, approaches, perspectives in a given field, which also impacts connectivity to other fields. Obviously, this dilemma is also reflected in information retrieval. The practical implications are clear: researchers who want to get a more complete picture must be aware that some information will remain “undiscovered.”

The impression of particularly strong growth in this area after 2015 is due, at least in part, to the addition of journals to the WOS, although these journals are not really new. They may have been overlooked, however, if authors have previously searched only at WOS. In any case, the more recent publication patterns show a very strong occurrence, if not prevalence, of Spanish (Portuguese) linguistic-geographic contexts. This is reflected not only in the cities studied but also in the author’s collaborations. Other clusters are also apparent, albeit of early date (US – East Asia). The boundaries and implications are left to interpretation. Perhaps, this is an opportunity for future collaboration, for example, in sharing new insights in the face of the Covid-19 crisis that will inevitably hit tourism and cities hard.

Quantification, in this case, the dispersion of articles across journals, points to connectivity between the fields, allowing the theoretical assumption of imbalance in the perspective to urban tourism to be tested. This type of tourism has been fully embraced by HLST (WOS). Recently, the issues of (social) sustainability have also come to the fore. On the other hand, this research area seems to have been very weakly covered by urban studies, according to the respective WOS category, notwithstanding the limitations of this scheme. Nevertheless, we advise authors and editors outside the immediate field of tourism journals to open up to this type of research to better reflect the many aspects of urban tourism, especially social sustainability.

The central aim of the study was to identify research perspectives through clustering techniques and science maps. The correspondence between the clusters identified in this study and the perspectives analytically systematized in the literature is remarkable. Restricting the search to the narrow concept of urban tourism reveals dominance of the tourism business. It is only through broader searches that all perspectives become visible: tourism-business perspective, socio-cultural perspective and environmental-spatial perspective. Limitations exist nevertheless. The less restrictive the search query, the higher the proportion of articles with weaker direct references to issues of cities and tourism.

This inevitable trade-off has practical implications for researchers. If they want to find very focused documents, it is sufficient to limit the query to the conventional notion of “urban tourism.” However, such documents are not numerous. If they want to find documents that reflect the links between tourism and cities in a broader sense, they will need to test queries at multiple levels, which will inevitably produce unrelated documents. The least precise documents will be found in the interlinking area of tourism, cities and the environment, where impacts can go in all directions (impacts of cities and tourism on the environment and vice versa).

Recently, there has been a flood of terms such as Airbnb, overtourism and touristification, in response to changes in cities and society in general. From an informetric perspective, this is still too new to be perceptible in visualizations. These novel issues, all related to the social sustainability of cities, could possibly develop into a separate research front that we would like to pursue in the future. Such issues can also be discovered through the analysis of author keywords, as authors are inevitably influenced by urban dynamics and wider social processes. In fact, such subjective “buzzwords” may even skew the numbers. Or the keywords may simply reflect the politics of a journal. This has practical implications for search, so keywords should be interpreted with caveats.

The role of each city also needs to be considered in context, as the terms city or urban are not necessarily used in the context of a particular city. However, this is true for most cities, so the occurrence of a city name still reflects its relative importance. On the other hand, terms such as travel can be used for other types of mobility. Indeed, the enfolding broader socio-cultural processes promote Spatio-temporal accessibility and thus permeate different “mobilities” that affect urban morphology and consequently influence the changing nature of urban tourism. This will then have an impact on information retrieval. In any case, it will never be able to identify “all” relevant elements (apart from subjective notions of relevance).

Finally, one of the clusters points to links between tourism and health, recalling the vulnerability of cities and tourism to climate change and disease. This has already begun to manifest itself in publications related to the Covid-19 outbreak. The implications for cities and tourism are likely to be severe, potentially reversing or significantly reconceptualizing previous sustainability issues (due to overtourism). This could put earlier studies in a new perspective. Here, our study could serve as a temporal reference point, as it mapped this field shortly before the pandemic. This is an important implication for upcoming research. So this is also a front on which we intend to continue our science mapping in the future.

To conclude, we would like to reflect on a challenge in such studies: the multiple limitations and trade-offs in information retrieval perceived by the information specialist are interpreted by sociologists as a specific aspect of social complexity that must be reduced in order for the “big picture” to emerge. Authors can nevertheless contribute to better discoverability of their work by using more streamlined terminology, e.g. by at least using terms with clear and unambiguous meanings. In any case, despite all the challenges, we would like to encourage more interdisciplinary collaboration as a contribution to better integration in this field.

Articles between 2000-2018 in the four WOS indexes retrieved with Broader query (main figure) and Narrower query (inset)

Main part: exponential decrease of articles per journal

Links between journals established on shared references (bibliographic coupling) and average time of published articles (Narrower query)

Links between journals established on shared references (bibliographic coupling) and average time of published articles (Broader query)

Clusters/approaches of the 60 % of the most relevant terms identified in the titles and abstracts, occurring at least 10 times (Narrower query: based on 383 WOS records and 8,700 total terms)

Clusters/approaches of the 60 % of the most relevant terms identified in the titles and abstracts, occurring at least 10 times (Broader query: based on 1,386 WOS records and 25,000 total terms)

Clusters/approaches of the 60 % of the most relevant terms identified in the titles and abstracts, occurring at least 10 times (General query: based on 7,362 WOS records and 128,000 total terms)

Visualization of co-occurrence and average time of author keywords (Narrower query)

Visualization of co-occurrence and average time of author keywords (Broader query)

Twenty cities which come about most frequently in WOS in relation to urban tourism (cities and tourism)

Country collaboration links by co-authorship from the respective countries (Narrower query)

Country collaboration links by co-authorship from the respective countries (Broader query)

Development of specific terms in documents retrieved with the Narrower query (2010-2019)

Number of records retrieved by the three search queries (TS = occurrence of terms in either title, abstract or keywords; TI = occurrences in article titles)

WOS records by queries

Narrower query – NQ; broader query – BQ; general query – GQ

Later, we will highlight additional problems of terminological nature, for example, multifaceted terms, such as travel(lers) and visit(ors) which are used in tourism terminology but may also have “non-tourist” meanings and uses.

The share of town -associated documents relative to tourism is very low.

As highlighted in the introduction, tourism and day-to-day practices are increasingly interconnected and thus indistinguishable (de-differentiation of socio-spatial practices).

The length of journal names on the map is optimized by the program. If the number of journals increases then the names are shortened to lessen both the overlapping and blurring.

See a comprehensive and detailed summary of approaches in Edwards et al. (2008) .

With an increasing number of included terms in visualization maps, many terms are blurred or not visible because of overlap with other terms what is especially well demonstrated in Figure 7 which displays only the principal terms.

WOS counts UK’s countries/regions (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales) separately which hampers the comparison of the UK with other countries. This also applies to Chinese territories where Hong Kong and Macao are also counted separately in WOS.

Ashworth , G.J. ( 1989 ), “ Urban tourism: an imbalance in attention ”, Progress in Tourism, Recreation and Hospitality Management , Vol. 1 , pp. 33 - 54 .

Ashworth , G.J. ( 2003 ), “ Urban tourism: still an imbalance in attention ”, in Cooper , C.P. (Ed.), Classic Reviews in Tourism , Channel view publications , pp. 143 - 163 .

Ashworth , G.J. ( 2009 ), “ Questioning the urban in urban tourism ”, in Maciocco , G. and Serreli , S. (Eds), Enhancing the City: New Perspectives for Tourism and Leisure , Springer Netherlands , Dordrecht , pp. 207 - 220 .

Ashworth , G. and Page , S.J. ( 2011 ), “ Urban tourism research: recent progress and current paradoxes ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 32 No. 1 , pp. 1 - 15 .

Balietti , S. , Mäs , M. and Helbing , D. ( 2015 ), “ On disciplinary fragmentation and scientific progress ”, Plos One , Vol. 10 No. 3 , pp. e0118747 .

Barrios , M. , Borrego , A. , Vilaginés , A. , Ollé , C. and Somoza , M. ( 2008 ), “ A bibliometric study of psychological research on tourism ”, Scientometrics , Vol. 77 No. 3 , pp. 453 - 467 .

Bartol , T. , Budimir , G. , Južnič , P. and Stopar , K. ( 2016 ), “ Mapping and classification of agriculture in web of science: other subject categories and research fields may benefit ”, Scientometrics , Vol. 109 No. 2 , pp. 979 - 996 .

Bascur , J.P. , van Eck , N.J. and Waltman , L. ( 2019 ), “ An interactive visual tool for scientific literature search: proposal and algorithmic specification ”, BIR 2019 Workshop on Bibliometric-Enhanced Information Retrieval , Vol. 7 , pp. 76 - 87 .

Bauder , M. and Freytag , T. ( 2015 ), “ Visitor mobility in the city and the effects of travel preparation ”, Tourism Geographies , Vol. 17 No. 5 , pp. 682 - 700 .

Bellini , N. , Go , F.M. and Pasquinelli , C. ( 2017 ), “ Urban tourism and city development: notes for an integrated policy agenda ”, in Bellini , N. and Pasquinelli , C. (Eds), Tourism in the City: Towards an Integrative Agenda on Urban Tourism , Springer International Publishing , Cham , pp. 333 - 339 .

Benckendorff , P. and Zehrer , A. ( 2013 ), “ A network analysis of tourism research ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 43 , pp. 121 - 149 .

Bianchi , R.V. ( 2009 ), “ The ‘critical turn’ in tourism studies: a radical critique ”, Tourism Geographies , Vol. 11 No. 4 , pp. 484 - 504 .

Boyack , K.W. , Klavans , R. and Börner , K. ( 2005 ), “ Mapping the backbone of science ”, Scientometrics , Vol. 64 No. 3 , pp. 351 - 374 .

Bradford , S.C. ( 1934 ), “ Sources of information on specific subject ”, Engineering , Vol. 137 , pp. 85 - 86 .

Butowski , L. , Kaczmarek , J. , Kowalczyk-Anioł , J. and Szafrańska , E. ( 2019 ), “ Social constructionism as a tool to maintain an advantage in tourism research ”, Tourism Geographies , Vol. 23 No. 1-2 , pp. 53 - 74 .

Capocchi , A. , Vallone , C. , Pierotti , M. and Amaduzzi , A. ( 2019 ), “ Overtourism: a literature review to assess implications and future perspectives ”, Sustainability , Vol. 11 No. 12 , p. 3303 .

Chantre-Astaiza , A. , Fuentes-Moraleda , L. , Muñoz-Mazón , A. and Ramirez-Gonzalez , G. ( 2019 ), “ Science mapping of tourist mobility 1980-2019. Technological advancements in the collection of the data for tourist traceability ”, Sustainability , Vol. 11 No. 17 , p. 4738 .

Cohen , S.A. and Cohen , E. ( 2019 ), “ New directions in the sociology of tourism ”, Current Issues in Tourism , Vol. 22 No. 2 , pp. 153 - 172 .

Cohen , S.A. , Duncan , T. and Thulemark , M. ( 2015 ), “ Lifestyle mobilities: the crossroads of travel, leisure and migration ”, Mobilities , Vol. 10 No. 1 , pp. 155 - 172 .

Colomb , C. and Novy , J. (Eds) ( 2016 ), Protest and Resistance in the Tourist City , Routledge , doi: 10.4324/9781315719306 .

Darbellay , F. and Stock , M. ( 2012 ), “ Tourism as complex interdisciplinary research object ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 39 No. 1 , pp. 441 - 458 .

Dioko , L.A. ( 2016 ), “ Progress and trends in destination branding and marketing – a brief and broad review ”, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research , Vol. 10 No. 1 , pp. 5 - 13 .

Dorcic , J. , Komsic , J. and Markovic , S. ( 2018 ), “ Mobile technologies and applications towards smart tourism – state of the art ”, Tourism Review , Vol. 74 No. 1 , doi: 10.1108/TR-07-2017-0121 .

Edwards , D. , Griffin , T. and Hayllar , B. ( 2008 ), “ Urban tourism research: developing an agenda ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 35 No. 4 , pp. 1032 - 1052 .

Estevão , C.M.S. , Garcia , A.R. , Filipe , S.B. and Muniz , A.C.F. ( 2017 ), “ Convergence in tourism management research: a bibliometric analysis ”, Tourism & Management Studies , Vol. 13 No. 4 , pp. 30 - 42 .

Fainstein , S.S. and Gladstone , D. ( 1997 ), Evaluating Urban Tourism (Forthcoming as Chapter 2 of Places to Play: The Remaking of Cities for Tourists) , Yale University Press , New Haven .

Fainstein , S.S. and Judd , D.R. (Eds). ( 1999 ), The Tourist City , Yale University Press .

Fu , Y. and Zhang , X. ( 2017 ), “ Trajectory of urban sustainability concepts: a 35-year bibliometric analysis ”, Cities , Vol. 60 , pp. 113 - 123 .

Füller , H. and Michel , B. ( 2014 ), “ ‘Stop being a tourist!’ New dynamics of urban tourism in Berlin-Kreuzberg ”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research , Vol. 38 No. 4 , pp. 1304 - 1318 .

Galvagno , M. and Giaccone , S.C. ( 2019 ), “ Mapping creative tourism research: reviewing the field and outlining future directions ”, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research , p. 1096348019862030 .

Garrigos-Simon , F.J. , Narangajavana-Kaosiri , Y. and Lengua-Lengua , I. ( 2018 ), “ Tourism and sustainability: a bibliometric and visualization analysis ”, Sustainability , Vol. 10 No. 6 , pp. 1976 .

Gomezelj-Omerzel , D. ( 2016 ), “ A systematic review of research on innovation in hospitality and tourism ”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , Vol. 28 No. 3 , pp. 516 - 558 .

Gospodini , A. ( 2001 ), “ Urban design, urban space morphology, urban tourism: an emerging new paradigm concerning their relationship ”, European Planning Studies , Vol. 9 No. 7 , pp. 925 - 934 .

Hall , C.M. ( 2005 ), “ Systems of surveillance and control: commentary on an analysis of institutional contributors to three major academic tourism journals: 1992-2001 ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 26 No. 5 , pp. 653 - 656 .

Hall , C.M. ( 2015 ), “ On the mobility of tourism mobilities ”, Current Issues in Tourism , Vol. 18 No. 1 , pp. 7 - 10 .

Hall , C.M. ( 2016 ), “ Intervening in academic interventions: framing social marketing’s potential for successful sustainable tourism behavioural change ”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism , Vol. 24 No. 3 , pp. 350 - 375 .

Hocevar , M. and Bartol , T. ( 2016 ), “ Agriculture vs social sciences: subject classification and sociological conceptualization of rural tourism in scopus and web of science ”, Acta Agriculturae Slovenica , Vol. 108 No. 1 , pp. 33 - 44 .

Hoffman , L.M. , Fainstein , S.S. and Judd , D.R. (Eds) ( 2001 ), Cities and Visitors: Regulating People, Markets, and City Space , Vol. 57 , John Wiley & Sons .

Huang , Y. , Zhu , D. , Lv , Q. , Porter , A.L. , Robinson , D.K.R. and Wang , X. ( 2017 ), “ Early insights on the emerging sources citation index (ESCI): an overlay map-based bibliometric study ”, Scientometrics , Vol. 111 No. 3 , pp. 2041 - 2057 .

Jamal , T. , Smith , B. and Watson , E. ( 2008 ), “ Ranking, rating and scoring of tourism journals: interdisciplinary challenges and innovations ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 29 No. 1 , pp. 66 - 78 .

Jansson , A. ( 2018 ), “ Rethinking post-tourism in the age of social media ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 69 , pp. 101 - 110 .

Jovicic , D.Z. ( 2019 ), “ From the traditional understanding of tourism destination to the smart tourism destination ”, Current Issues in Tourism , Vol. 22 No. 3 , pp. 276 - 282 .

Kadi , J. , Plank , L. and Seidl , R. ( 2019 ), “ Airbnb as a tool for inclusive tourism? ”, Tourism Geographies , pp. 1 - 23 .

Köseoglu , M.A. , Rahimi , R. , Okumus , F. and Liu , J. ( 2016 ), “ Bibliometric studies in tourism ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 61 , pp. 180 - 198 .

Köseoglu , M.A. , Xiao , H. , King , B. and Ferreira , M.P. ( 2019 ), “ Chinese contributions to hospitality research: patterns of authorships and collaborations ”, Journal of China Tourism Research , pp. 1 - 22 .

Lane , B. and Kastenholz , E. ( 2015 ), “ Rural tourism: the evolution of practice and research approaches – towards a new generation concept? ”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism , Vol. 23 Nos 8/9 , pp. 1133 - 1156 .

Leydesdorff , L. and Bornmann , L. ( 2016 ), “ The operationalization of ‘fields’ as WoS subject categories (WCs) in evaluative bibliometrics: the cases of ‘library and information science’ and ‘science & technology studies’ ”, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology , Vol. 67 No. 3 , pp. 707 - 714 .

Mulet-Forteza , C. , Genovart-Balaguer , J. , Mauleon-Mendez , E. and Merigó , J.M. ( 2019 ), “ A bibliometric research in the tourism, leisure and hospitality fields ”, Journal of Business Research , Vol. 101 , pp. 819 - 827 .

Musavengane , R. , Siakwah , P. and Leonard , L. ( 2019 ), “ Does the poor matter’ in pro-poor driven Sub-Saharan African cities? Towards progressive and inclusive pro-poor tourism ”, International Journal of Tourism Cities , Vol. 5 No. 3 , pp. 392 - 411 .

Nilsson , J.H. ( 2020 ), “ Conceptualizing and contextualizing overtourism: the dynamics of accelerating urban tourism ”, International Journal of Tourism Cities , Vol. 6 No. 4 , pp. 657 - 671 .

Novy , J. ( 2019 ), “ Urban tourism as a bone of contention: four explanatory hypotheses and a caveat ”, International Journal of Tourism Cities , Vol. 5 No. 1 , pp. 63 - 74 .

Okumus , F. , van Niekerk , M. , Köseoglu , M.A. and Bilgihan , A. ( 2018 ), “ Interdisciplinary research in tourism ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 69 , pp. 540 - 549 .

Pan , X. , Yan , E. , Cui , M. and Hua , W. ( 2018 ), “ Examining the usage, citation, and diffusion patterns of bibliometric mapping software: a comparative study of three tools ”, Journal of Informetrics , Vol. 12 No. 2 , pp. 481 - 493 .

Park , J. , Wu , B. , Morrison , A.M. , Shen , Y. , Cong , L. and Li , M. ( 2016 ), “ The tourism system research categorization framework ”, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research , Vol. 21 No. 9 , pp. 968 - 1000 .

Pasquinelli , C. ( 2017 ), “ Tourism connectivity and spatial complexity: a widening bi-dimensional arena of urban tourism research ”, in Bellini , N. and Pasquinelli , C. (Eds), Tourism in the City: Towards an Integrative Agenda on Urban Tourism , Springer International Publishing , Cham , pp. 29 - 50 .

Pearce , D.G. ( 2001 ), “ An integrative framework for urban tourism research ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 28 No. 4 , pp. 926 - 946 .

Perkumienė , D. and Pranskūnienė , R. ( 2019 ), “ Overtourism: between the right to travel and residents’ rights ”, Sustainability , Vol. 11 No. 7 , pp. 2138 .

Platenkamp , V. and Botterill , D. ( 2013 ), “ Critical realism, rationality and tourism knowledge ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 41 , pp. 110 - 129 .

Romero-García , L.E. , Aguilar-Gallegos , N. , Morales-Matamoros , O. , Badillo-Piña , I. and Tejeida-Padilla , R. ( 2019 ), “ Urban tourism: a systems approach – state of the art ”, Tourism Review , Vol. 74 No. 3 , pp. 679 - 693 .

Šegota , T. , Sigala , M. , Gretzel , U. , Day , J. , Kokkranikal , J. , Smith , M. , Seabra , C. , Pearce , P. , Davidson , R. , van Zyl , C. and Newsome , D. ( 2019 ), “ Future agendas in urban tourism research: special editorial ”, International Journal of Tourism Cities , Vol. 5 No. 2 , pp. 109 - 124 .

Selby , M. ( 2003 ), Understanding Urban Tourism: Image, Culture and Experience , Bloomsbury Publishing .

Sheller , M. and Urry , J. ( 2006 ), “ The new mobilities paradigm ”, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space , Vol. 38 No. 2 , pp. 207 - 226 .

Shen , Y. , Morrison , A.M. , Wu , B. , Park , J. , Li , C. and Li , M. ( 2018 ), “ Where in the world? A geographic analysis of a decade of research in tourism, hospitality, and leisure journals ”, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research , Vol. 42 No. 2 , pp. 171 - 200 .

Taillon , J. and Jamal , T. ( 2009 ), “ Understanding tourism as an academic community, study, and/or discipline ”, in Papineau , D. (Ed.), Philosophy , Oxford University Press , pp. 4 - 20 .

Tokarchuk , O. , Gabriele , R. and Maurer , O. ( 2017 ), “ Development of city tourism and well-being of urban residents: a case of German magic cities ”, Tourism Economics , Vol. 23 No. 2 , pp. 343 - 359 .

Tribe , J. and Xiao , H. ( 2011 ), “ Developments in tourism social science ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 38 No. 1 , pp. 7 - 26 .

Urry , J. ( 2016 ), Mobilities: New Perspectives on Transport and Society , Routledge .

van Eck , N.J. and Waltman , L. ( 2019 ), VOSviewer Manual (Version 1.6.10) , Univeristeit Leiden , Leiden .

Wu , B. , Xiao , H. , Dong , X. , Wang , M. and Xue , L. ( 2012 ), “ Tourism knowledge domains: a keyword analysis ”, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research , Vol. 17 No. 4 , pp. 355 - 380 .

Yuan , Y. , Gretzel , U. and Tseng , Y.H. ( 2015 ), “ Revealing the nature of contemporary tourism research: extracting common subject areas through bibliographic coupling ”, International Journal of Tourism Research , Vol. 17 No. 5 , pp. 417 - 431 .

Further reading

Ashworth , G.J. ( 1992 ), “ Is there an urban tourism? ”, Tourism Recreation Research , Vol. 17 No. 2 , pp. 3 - 8 .

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency ARRS (H5-8286, P4-0085).

Corresponding author

About the authors.

Marjan Hocevar is based at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Centre for Spatial Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia where he teaches subjects related to socio-spatial issues (Spatial sociology, Sociology of spatial planning, urban sociology). He has lectured at the University of Trieste, Italy (PhD Program Territoriality and Networks). His research interests include cities, urban networks, urban transformation, gentrification, socio-spatial globalization and the social impact of tourism. He is the Editor of the Journal Druzboslovne razprave (Scopus), published by the Slovenian Sociological Association. He cooperates with city administrations in Slovenia in development programs.

Tomaz Bartol is based at Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is a Professor of “Information science and communication” at the Biotechnical Faculty and “Management of information resources” at the Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. He has lectured in several countries in the framework of the United Nations FAO Capacity Building programs. His research interests include science mapping, research evaluation, information science, library science, information literacy, bibliometrics and scientometrics. He sits on editorial boards of academic journals and program committees of several annual conferences in the information sciences. He has been a licensed tour guide for more than three decades.

Related articles

We’re listening — tell us what you think, something didn’t work….

Report bugs here

All feedback is valuable

Please share your general feedback

Join us on our journey

Platform update page.

Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

Questions & More Information

Answers to the most commonly asked questions here

• Original Article
• Open access
• Published: 12 December 2015

The changing nature of city tourism and its possible implications for the future of cities

• Kerstin Bock 1  

European Journal of Futures Research volume  3 , Article number:  20 ( 2015 ) Cite this article

47k Accesses

50 Citations

19 Altmetric

Metrics details

City tourism is one of the fastest growing travel segments worldwide [ 18 ] and the changing nature of city tourism becomes increasingly apparent in many cities. Facilitated by mobile access to information, tourists are increasingly seeking, finding and consuming ‘local experiences’ and the boundaries between tourists and residents become increasingly blurred. While the impact of the proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the travel industry as well as on tourist behaviour and the travel experience has been widely acknowledged (Egger J Hosp Tour Technol 4(2): 119–133, 2013 ), (McCabe et al. Tour Manage Perspect 4: 36–44, 2012 ), (Stamboulis and Skayannis Tour Manage 24: 35–43, 2003 ), [ 35 , 40 ], (Ye et al. Comput Hum Behav 27: 634–639, 2011 ), the implications of this new type of tourism for future urban development have received little attention (Füller and Michel Int J Urban Regional 38(4): 1304–1318, 2014 ). This paper aims to better understand the underlying causes of the changing nature of city tourism and how this change could impact the future development of cities. It is argued that in addition to the proliferation of ICTs, the phenomena of experiential travel and social acceleration have contributed to the rise in popularity of city tourism as well as to a change in tourist behaviour. Possible implications for the future development of cities resulting from this new type of tourism, as well as approaches to solving those challenges, are discussed. It becomes clear that an interdisciplinary approach will be required in order to fully understand the challenges posed by city tourism as well as to develop and implement strategies for a successful integration of tourism into future urban development.

Introduction

Although cities and their development have without doubt been increasingly shaped by tourism in the past decades, discussions of the links between city tourism and its impact on a city’s development remain scarce. City tourism is one of the fastest growing travel segments worldwide [ 18 ] and the impacts of the changing nature of city tourism become increasingly apparent in many cities. The proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has had a significant impact on the travel industry, as well as on tourist behaviour, and is also transforming the nature of travel and the actual tourist experience [ 9 , 22 ].

While the general impact of ICTs on the travel industry and tourist behaviour has been widely acknowledged [ 9 , 19 , 30 , 35 , 40 , 41 ], an understanding of the impact of ICTs on the nature of city tourism, and consequently on urban transformation and the future development of cities, has received little attention [ 13 ]. As travel experiences become increasingly dominated by ICTs, a change in travel behaviour can be observed in cities around the world. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the changing nature of city tourism, as well as the underlying causes of this change, by means of a literature review. Moreover, possible consequences of this phenomenon for the future development of cities will be delineated.

The first part of this paper provides a brief overview of the growth of city tourism and discusses possible reasons for the popularity of this type of tourism. Then, the changing nature of city tourism will be explored by focusing on the effects of the proliferation of ICTs on travel behaviour as well as on the phenomena of experiential travel and social acceleration. Based on these considerations, some of the challenges that city tourism and the changing tourist behaviour pose to the future of cities, and possible implications, will be discussed. This is followed by an outlook for the future of city tourism as well as by exploring possible approaches to solving challenges resulting from this new type of tourism.

• City tourism

The rise of city tourism

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities today and by 2030 an estimated five billion people will live in urban areas. As vibrant epicentres of culture and commerce, some of the world’s greatest tourism destinations are cities, attracting a growing number of visitors every year [ 37 ]. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), city tourism - also referred to as urban tourism - is considered as “trips taken by travellers to cities or places of high population density. The duration of these trips is usually short (one to 3 days)…” [UNWTO, 2012, cited in : 36:8][ 36 ].

While total international tourist arrivals are increasing year on year, different trends regarding different segments and types of trips can be observed. According to Euromonitor International [ 12 ], international tourist arrivals have increased by 4.8 % in 2013, while the world’s 100 leading cities in terms of international tourist arrivals have experienced a growth of 5.4 % in the same year. Although these growth figures include different trip purposes, including business trips, a rise in city tourism can also be observed when looking at holiday segments. While sun & beach holidays have grown by 31 % over the last 5 year period (representing 29 % of all holiday trips), the segment of touring holidays has grown by 28 % (to reach a 23 % share). The city trips segment, however, has increased by 72 % during the past 5 years to reach a share of 21 % [ 18 ]. In some countries, city trips have already overtaken sun & beach holidays as the most popular type of holidays. For example, 42 % of British people took a city break holiday in 2014, compared to 38 % who went on a sun & beach holiday in the same year [ 1 ].

In order to understand the implications for the future of cities, it is important to also look at the development of city trips from a city’s perspective. Using Barcelona and Berlin as examples, the enormous growth some cities have experienced in terms of tourist arrivals since 1990 can be illustrated. Arrivals in hotels and similar accommodation establishments in the city area of Barcelona have grown from 1.7 million in 1990 to 7.5 million in 2013. In the city area of Berlin, arrivals in all paid forms of accommodation establishments have increased from 2.8 million in 1990 to 11.3 million in 2013 [ 32 ]. What implications this growth already has on cities today, and what they might be in the future, will be discussed in more detail later. In the following section, some of the reasons for the popularity of city tourism will be explored.

The popularity of city tourism

What makes city tourism distinct from other types of tourism is that cities have a high density of diverse cultural offerings in a relatively small area, attracting different types of tourists. Moreover, most attractions and amenities tourists are drawn to have not been primarily intended for tourists, which often leads to an interaction between tourists and locals. As these characteristics of city tourism are not new, the question that arises is why the popularity of city tourism has drastically increased in recent years.

A number of factors may have contributed to the rising popularity of city tourism. Firstly, urbanisation is believed to reinforce the trend towards city tourism as people living in cities are more likely to associate with cities and the more they are inclined to visit other cities [ 37 ]. Secondly, without doubt the proliferation of low cost carriers has had a major impact on the popularity of city trips, mainly due to the fact that they made flights more affordable to the masses, but also because they expanded and improved flight networks, thus offering more city destination options and making them more accessible from a growing number of departure points than in the past, considerably decreasing travel times. As a consequence, this development has made a wide range of cities available to tourists at lower costs [ 8 ]. Thirdly, as the proportion of the population taking several trips per year continues to grow, there is a tendency towards an increasing number of shorter holidays rather than just one main holiday per year [ 8 , 17 , 34 ]. Fourthly, due to the increasing availability and penetration of internet based services during the travel cycle, information can easily be accessed, and the ease of making bookings online, and retrieve a wide range of information while in a destination, has greatly facilitated city tourism. As the biggest proportion in terms of the booking value of a city trip usually consists of the two elements transport and accommodation, it is relatively easy and not as risky to book online as, for example, a multi-country trip, a round trip or even a beach holiday where the hotel is not easily accessible from the airport by public transport. Moreover, as will be discussed in more detail later, the proliferation of ICTs, and in particular of mobile technologies, increasingly empowers consumers to create and plan further components of their city trip while in the destination. Due to the density of cultural offerings, the amount of options to choose from in a city surpasses those of other destination types. Finally, peoples’ perceptions of cities as tourist destinations has been changing. Nowadays, travellers no longer regard a city merely as an entry, exit, or transit point, but as a destination in its own right [ 8 ].

The changing nature of city tourism

The proliferation of icts.

In our increasingly mobile and connected world, devices connected to the internet, and increasingly mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are omnipresent. In terms of both product sales and broadband subscriptions, mobile devices are now outperforming PCs [ 28 ]. According to Ericsson [ 10 ], approximately 90 % of the world’s population will be covered by mobile broadband networks by 2020. Global mobile subscriptions are growing by around 5 % year on year. By 2020, smartphone subscriptions are forecast to have more than doubled and 70 % of the world’s population will own a smartphone [ 10 ]. As a result, mobile devices are set to play an increasingly important role in travel in the years to come [ 28 ].

In the past, ICTs have not only revolutionised the travel industry itself but also the role of consumers, who have acquired greater power thanks to the array of information available and the choices offered by the internet. However, the inexorable rise of the mobile channel and smartphones has triggered a new stage in this development, which is not only expected to have a major impact on the travel industry but also a significant impact on the travel behaviour. While in the past travellers used ICTs for pre-travel and post-travel arrangements, there has been a general shift to using mobile technologies during the travel experience as many travellers are nowadays connected to the internet during all stages of the travel cycle [ 11 , 20 , 42 ].

Smartphone applications provide a wide range of information, such as destination tour guides, language assistants, restaurant and bar finders, information on local transportation, events, etc. Moreover, users interact with each other via social media and provide reviews on places, local attractions, restaurants and bars as well as on accommodation, which in turn are read by tourists deciding on their own travel plans and things to do while in the destination. This results in the mobile internet changing tourists’ behaviour as they are now able to find what they require and when they require it through their mobile devices [ 6 , 19 , 23 ]. More easily available information increases the number and types of experience options a tourist can choose from in a shorter period of time.

While it has to be acknowledged that access to free Wi-Fi is still limited in some destinations, there is a rapid development towards mobile contract providers offering cheaper internet allowances for travellers on the one hand and cheaper or free internet access in hotels, cafes, and even throughout some cities on the other. At the same time, more elaborated apps are being developed for offline use. For example, Google is planning to offer new offline features that will allow navigating around a city in offline mode. Moreover, through Google’s new context-aware service, Now on Tap , tourists will be able to build a temporary offline library with all relevant data and information they would need for a day, for example of where they want to travel and what they are planning to visit. The data download can be completed while the mobile device is connected to free Wi-Fi, for example at the airport, accommodation and other Wi-Fi zones and hotspots and thus, expensive internet fees can be avoided [ 24 ]. According to Tripadvisor [ 34 ], 74 % of global travellers surveyed regarded free in-room Wi-Fi as the most influential amenity when booking accommodation. Furthermore, 87 % of global travellers use mobile devices while travelling, with 61 % of global travellers using social media while on holidays [ 33 ]. With a rapid expansion of the availability of free or cheap Wi-Fi access, the use of mobile internet devices by travellers is set to further increase in the future.

Experiential travel & social acceleration

Nowadays, travellers are increasingly in search for rich and memorable experiences that create value for them and engage them in a personal way. There are two major developments which can currently be observed with regard to the travel experience. The first one is the traditional experience economy being increasingly replaced by the concept of experience co-creation, meaning that consumers are becoming more active in co-creating their experiences. The second one, a more recent development, is that experiences become increasingly dominated by ICTs. As a result of travellers becoming more empowered through the use of technologies during their travels, they themselves can now become the main actor in co-creating richer experiences and additional value [ 21 , 29 ].

Travel is increasingly about how travellers experience destinations viscerally and how experiences change them and their understanding of places. They want to feel inspired by places and their encounters with locals - and they want individual experiences that are entirely their own. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as ‘Experiential Travel’ and is arguably the most significant, systemic trend in global travel. The term typically encompasses the notion of a more immersive, authentic and local and/or active travel experience. While it could be argued that travel is inherently experiential, the significance in this context is the shift towards the mainstream. An increasing number of people want to travel on a deeper emotional and more personal level and are turning their backs on pre-arranged package holidays [ 21 , 29 ].

One reason for the development of this trend might be the sameness of many mainstream travel experiences. Another reason, according to Wong, the founder and CEO of Vayable, an online sharing portal that pairs travellers with its network of local citizens around the globe offering to experience their destination like a local, is the fact that technology, while connecting individuals online, has ironically left people isolated and given individuals a real need for human connection [ 29 ]. While these are plausible reasons for this change in tourist behaviour, it is suggested here that another explanation might lie in the acceleration of society as described by the sociologist Hartmut Rosa [ 25 – 27 ]. In fact, social acceleration may not only explain the shift towards experiential travel and the increased use of internet devices while travelling, but might also offer an explanation for the enormous popularity of city tourism.

Rosa differentiates between three categories of acceleration: technological acceleration, the acceleration of social change, and the acceleration of the pace of life. Technological acceleration is “the speeding up of intentional, goal-directed processes of transport, communication, and production” [ 26 :6]. While technological acceleration could be classified as acceleration processes within society, acceleration of social change can be described as acceleration of society itself. The acceleration of social change is what Rosa describes as the “contraction of the present (Gegenwartsschrumpfung)” [ 26 :7], the present being the time-span for which “the horizons of experience and expectation coincide” [ 26 :7]. Social beliefs and actions have an increasingly shorter period of validity; social change is for example reflected in the stability of social institutions and practices as well as in personal relationships. Finally, the acceleration of the pace of life, which occurs despite the expectation that technological progress increases an individual’s free time, can be defined as the “increase of episodes of action and/or experiences per unit of time as a result of a scarcity of time resources” [ 27 :221].

These three categories of acceleration can be understood as an acceleration cycle: Technological acceleration is almost inevitably linked to a whole range of changes in social practices and communication structures. For example, the internet has not only speeded-up communication processes but also triggered new economic and communicative structures, establishing new patterns of social interaction and thus, driving social change. In a society where accelerated rates of social change affect all spheres of life, individuals develop a feeling of standing on a ‘slippery slope’, a phenomenon that is well known from the realm of capitalist production. Pausing and resting means becoming out-dated and old-fashioned in one’s knowledge and experience. Therefore, in order to avoid the loss of potentially valuable options, individuals feel forced to keep up with the speed of change they experience in their social and technological environment. This social change again leads to an acceleration of the pace of life, which in turn calls for technological acceleration to speed up processes in a repeated attempt to save time [ 26 ].

This acceleration circle that can be observed in Western societies is inextricably linked with the culturally dominant idea of the ‘good life’, according to which life should be conceived as the last opportunity, and one’s time span on earth should be used as intensively and comprehensively as possible. According to this modern ideal, the ‘good life’ is the full life (erfülltes Leben), and one should aspire to enjoy as much as possible of what the world has to offer by realising as many options as possibly realisable - or as Rosa states:

“[t]he idea of the fulfilled life no longer supposes a ‘higher life’ waiting for us after death, but rather consists in realizing as many options as possible from the vast possibilities the world has to offer. To taste life in all its heights and depths and in its full complexity becomes a central aspiration of modern man” [ 26 :13, italics in original].

The acceleration of life can be seen as an attempt to realise as many options as possible in our lifetime. Yet, due to the acceleration cycle’s self-propelling dynamic, this aim can never be fulfilled. For example, the internet not only speeds up communication and information processes, but it also vastly increases our options. We could possibly find more relevant, better or more interesting information if we kept on looking on other websites that might better serve our purpose than merely on the one website we visited in the first place. Consequently, the proportion of realised world options to potentially realisable options decreases; technological acceleration leads to increasing time scarcity [ 26 ]. Moreover, Rosa suggests that as the number of experiences in a given period of time increases, the depth of individual experiences might decrease, which in turn might lead to individuals looking for more ‘extreme’ experiences [ 25 ].

Looking at city tourism through the lens of social acceleration, this type of holiday is arguably the most suitable holiday type when pursuing the ‘good life’ due to the high density and vast number of possible realisable options a city has to offer. ICTs, and especially mobile devices, serve as technological accelerators, through which an increasing number of options can be realised, albeit increasing the rate of potential options at greater speed and thus, decreasing the proportion of realised ‘city options’ to potentially realisable options a city has to offer. As the number of experience episodes increases and the depth of those individual experience episodes decreases, as suggested by Rosa, travellers might look for a different quality of their experiences. The phenomenon of experiential travel might be the manifestation of this search for a different quality of experiences, for a quest for more ‘extreme’ experiences - from one extreme of being a tourist to another extreme of living like a local for a short period of time.

Therefore, it could be suggested that social acceleration could be regarded as both cause and effect of the changing nature of city tourism; a cause because the progress and proliferation of technology might enhance the need for human connection and meaningful experiences while increasing the potential options of experience episodes; and an effect because as a result of these phenomena, the attractiveness of cities as destinations increases due to the multitude of options paired with the opportunity of immersing oneself in meaningful and local experiences for a short period of time. While ICTs could be regarded as facilitators of this change, social acceleration may be a useful framework to understand and analyse the underlying causes as well as the qualitative shift of tourist behaviour, and may even be useful to anticipate tourists’ future needs and behaviours.

Possible implications for the future of cities

Challenges and possible implications of city tourism.

The boundaries between tourists and locals become increasingly blurred. This is because on the one hand the borders between tourists and residents become more difficult to define due to globalisation and changing developments related to the way people work and live. These changes result for example in a rise of long working holidays, medium-term business travel, commuting between two countries, and similar phenomena [ 14 ]. On the other hand the blurring of boundaries occurs because tourists are increasingly blending in with the local population. While in the past tourists mainly frequented tourist hot spots and officially designated tourist attractions, they are increasingly seeking ‘authentic and local experiences’, exploring ordinary but lively and diverse neighbourhoods and visiting cafes, bars and markets that were previously almost exclusively frequented by locals. This results in an interest in the same amenities, entertainment and retail infrastructure that city residents preferably consume. However, as leisure tourists are often not constrained on sleeping hours or spending power to the same extent as local residents, conflicts between tourists and residents increasingly occur in neighbourhoods that, in the past, have not been on the (analogue) tourist map. Causes of conflicts are for example nightly partying tourist crowds in residential areas as well as the transformation of affordable local pubs, grocery stores and markets into hyped, high-priced locations that become unaffordable to many local residents [ 13 ]. Moreover, this kind of development can slowly lead to residential areas losing their unique identity and character due to businesses increasingly adapting their offerings to the lucrative tourist demand, but can also pose development opportunities for deprived areas.

Due to the proliferation of ICTs, the information divide between tourists and locals is slowly dissolving. While in the past residents almost exclusively shared and exchanged information about new restaurants, unique shops, grocery stores and markets as well as about meet-ups and other events through word-of-mouth (offline) with friends, family and other residents, and tourists did not have access to this kind of information, nowadays there is almost a complete information transparency, no longer making any difference between tourist and local resident.

The quest for the authentic is not solely limited to tourist activities but also increasingly affects accommodation choices. Companies providing online platforms that permit the large-scale rental of apartments, rooms and entire properties from one individual to another have become hugely successful in recent years. Often referred to as sharing economy or collaborative consumption , in more general terms this concept involves individuals temporarily renting, or getting access to, goods or services offered by other individuals (peer-to-peer sharing). This new way of sharing and reaching a global audience has been facilitated by the Web 2.0 technology [ 3 , 15 ]. Arguably one of the most prominent - and most successful - companies of the sharing economy is Airbnb. As of August 2015, Airbnb had more than 1.5 million listings in more than 190 countries, and more than 40 million guests had booked their stay through the booking platform [ 2 ], which highlights the business concept’s huge popularity amongst travellers, and even amongst an increasing number of business travellers. It is estimated that Airbnb already accounts for a similar number of room nights as some major hotel brands [ 15 ]. According to Airbnb’s CEO, the company’s goal is to deliver local experiences to its customers, accessible through the internet, and increasingly through mobile devices. In early 2012, Airbnb announced its acquisition of NabeWise, and a few months later the acquisition of Localmind. While NabeWise offers travellers staying with Airbnb information about nearby businesses, Localmind provides information on what is happening in local neighbourhoods. In the same year, Airbnb introduced a new ‘Neighbourhoods’ feature on its website, which is essentially a travel guide that includes advice from hosts and other Airbnb users, helping users of the website and app to decide where to stay and what to visit in order to experience a city ‘like a local’ [ 16 , 31 ].

The company’s enormous success not only highlights changing tourist preferences, but has also implications for cities, their residents and businesses. Not only will traditional accommodation establishments and other businesses be affected by an increasing competition from the sharing economy, but the sharing economy is also increasingly causing fears of gentrification, and particularly of rising rents and property prices, amongst local residents. While there is little evidence to what degree the sharing economy, and tourism in general, is accelerating gentrification processes, in some cities tourists have been blamed for waves of gentrification processes by local residents. In recent years, this resentment towards tourists has become particularly evident in the cities of Barcelona and Berlin. Many of the problems and challenges faced by both cities and their residents are summarised in the documentaries Bye Bye Barcelona [ 4 ] and Welcome Goodbye [ 39 ]. From these documentaries it also becomes evident that often a negatively biased view of tourism exists among city residents. What also becomes clear from having watched these documentaries as well as from having reviewed the literature and having attended presentations and seminars about the topic is that there is a lack of solutions from politicians, tourism businesses and city planners to these challenges.

According to UNWTO projections, international tourist arrivals worldwide are expected to rise from 1.1 billion in 2014 to 1.4 billion by 2020 and to 1.8 billion by the year 2030 [ 38 ]. By 2030, an estimated five billion people will live in urban areas [ 37 ]. Given these two projections and the notion that people who live in cities are more likely to take city trips than people who live outside urban areas, it is very likely that city tourism is going to experience a sharp growth in the future, adding millions of tourists to a growing urban population. Due to the changing nature of city tourism, these tourists are increasingly looking for the same or similar experiences and amenities as local residents and are using to a large extent the same resources as cities’ inhabitants. Therefore, when developing future city plans or city visions, it is important to acknowledge the importance of tourism and to integrate tourism into those plans.

There are going to be enormous challenges to be solved, and if these are not going to be taken seriously by politicians and city planners, a deterioration of the quality of life in many cities might be the inevitable consequence. Already today, the balance between tourists’ and locals’ needs in certain cities - or parts of cities - is not given anymore. For example, in Venice and Barcelona, many parts of the city have undergone a process that could be described as ‘museumisation’. Those parts of the city are being enjoyed and consumed by tourists but can usually not be enjoyed by locals any longer. Due to the changing nature of city tourism as previously discussed, this process of museumisation could be amplified to affect more city locations, that have not been designated or apparent tourist areas in the past, in a shorter period of time than ever before.

As technological developments have facilitated a change in tourist behaviour, technology could also be part of the solution to some challenges city tourism poses to the future of cities. For example, the concept of smart cities - also sometimes referred to as urban informatics - uses ICTs to improve the understanding of peoples’ needs. While the primary goal of smart city projects is to better manage resources and improve residents’ quality of life, smart cities could better manage tourist flows in the future than cities that are not making use of big data in order to plan and manage tourism. This could offer new opportunities to governments and city planners and online data could be used as a digital reflection of physical spaces. For example, the use of GPS information could assist in determining which areas of a city are visited primarily by tourists or locals. Furthermore, city and tourism planners could analyse which places are the most popular - or becoming increasingly popular - by looking at the places’ geotagged information and photos and thus, develop a better understanding of what people appreciate about certain places. This information could also be used to understand and influence behavioural patterns and tourist flows in a city and to spread tourist flows to certain parts of a city [ 5 , 42 ]. In order for these strategies to be successful, it is of paramount importance to involve the local population and businesses, develop an understanding of the importance of keeping tourist streams in balance to avoid a negative impact on the quality of life of residents, and to clearly communicate the benefits that tourism contributes to cities and their residents; not only from a general economic point of view and its export value but also by indirectly supporting the quality of life of locals, for example through the creation of a more diverse cultural offer, improved public transport, regeneration projects, etc. It would go beyond the scope of this paper to explore these options in more detail but it is worth noting that one of the cities introducing new technologies to investigate how to make tourist flows more predictable and manageable is Amsterdam. The city is working on a project aimed at spreading tourist streams to areas that have not typically been visited by tourists in the past by involving the local population, businesses and authorities. It will be interesting to follow this development and to see if Amsterdam could be a model for tourist cities in the future - and other cities should follow soon as long-term planning is of vital importance. For example, with projects like the deviation of visitor streams it might take between 8 and 12 years until changes become visible [ 7 ]. Given the importance of solving the challenges discussed in this paper, research into urban development should try to better understand new developments in tourism in order to be able to plan for cities of the future.

The aim of this paper was to examine the changing nature of travel behaviour in cities, as well as causes of this change, and to delineate possible consequences of this phenomenon for the future development of cities. For this purpose, possible causes of a change in tourist behaviour have been explored, mainly by examining the proliferation of ICTs as well as the phenomenon of experiential travel. Moreover, it was discussed if social acceleration could offer an additional explanation for the underlying causes of the rising popularity and changing nature of city tourism. While ICTs could be considered as facilitators of a change in tourist behaviour, the phenomenon of social acceleration may be a useful framework to understand the underlying causes as well as the qualitative shift of tourist behaviour, and may even be useful to anticipate future tourist behaviour.

It became clear that due to a change in tourist behaviour, the boundaries between tourists and residents become more and more blurred. Facilitated by mobile access to information while travelling, tourists are increasingly seeking, and finding, more authentic experiences and are looking for ways to experience cities like locals do; they increasingly want to live like a local for the duration of their trip. This has several implications for cities and is going to become even more important as the segment of city tourism is set to significantly increase in the future. While in the academic literature little attention has been paid to the challenges that many cities will have to face in the future, some city and tourism authorities have started to recognise these, and to develop solutions.

Due to the limited scope of this paper, various aspects related to this field of research could not be fully examined and pose a limitation to discussing this topic to a greater extent. The following examples are merely a fraction of topics that should be addressed in the future in order to gain a better understanding of the subject.

Firstly, it would be important to gain a better understanding of views and attitudes of local residents towards tourists and of how those views are changing over time in different cities. More research is also required into how residents can successfully be involved in tourism planning projects and how an awareness of tourism’s benefits can positively influence locals’ attitudes. Secondly, a better understanding of the extent to which tourism contributes to the process of gentrification is required but also an understanding of how tourism can be used to develop deprived areas and enhance the quality of life for residents. Thirdly, a detailed understanding of why tourists are drawn to certain areas and locations and not to others, how meanings of places are being created and are changing over time, and of the role of technology during these processes would be important for future research. Fourthly, differences in tourist behaviour, for example by global region, age, income, etc. should be looked at in greater detail. If links between behavioural patterns and other variables could be established, this might help to better anticipate tourist behaviour in the future. Fifthly, it is of vital importance to establish viable future options for destinations with confined space, such as Venice or Vatican City. Moreover, a comprehensive analysis of best practice examples of city tourism strategies around the globe as well as a detailed review of existing and emerging technologies that could play an important role with regard to city tourism could help cities to better plan and prepare for the future. In order to fully understand the future challenges of city tourism as well as possible implications for the future of cities, and to successfully develop and implement strategies, an interdisciplinary approach will be required.

ABTA (2014) The consumer holiday trends report - ABTA consumer survey 2014 [pdf] London: ABTA Ltd. Available at: https://c0e31a7ad92e875f8eaa-5facf23e658215b1771a91c2df41e9fe.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/publications/1420_ABTA_Consumer_Survey_2014_WEB.pdf . Accessed: 4 Aug 2015

Airbnb (2015) About Us. [Online] Available at: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/about/about-us . Accessed 21 Aug 15

Belk R (2014) You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online. J Bus Res, 1595–1600

Bye Bye Barcelona (2014) Directed by Eduardo Chibás Fernández [Film]. Spain

Cisco (2014) Smart city infrastructure is helping Europe’s cities better understand and serve tourists. [ONLINE] Available at: http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1488545 . Accessed 07 Aug 15

Dickinson JE, Ghali K, Cherrett T, Speed C, Davies N, Norgate S (2014) Tourism and the smartphone app: capabilities, emerging practice and scope in the travel domain. Curr Issues Tour 17(1):84–101

Article   Google Scholar  

Dominicus H (2014) Future of city tourism conference: welcome & session one - importance of tourism to cities. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYLeI_SU2Zo . Accessed 17 Aug 15

Dunne G, Flanagan S, Buckley J (2010) Towards an understanding of international city break travel. Int J Tour Res 12:409–417

Google Scholar  

Egger R (2013) The impact of near field communication on tourism. J Hosp Tour Technol 4(2):119–133

Ericsson (2015) Ericsson Mobility Report - On the Pulse of the Networked Society, June 2015. [pdf] Stockholm: Ericsson. Available at: http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2015/ericsson-mobility-report-june-2015.pdf . Accessed: 16 July 2015

Eriksson N (2015) Travellers’ intended future trip arrangement strategies for things to do during a trip: implications for travel distribution. In: Tussyadiah I, Inversini A (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2015: Proceedings of the International Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, February 3–6, 2015. Springer International Publishing

Euromonitor International (2015) Top 100 City Destinations Ranking [Online] Available at: http://blog.euromonitor.com/2015/01/top-100-city-destinations-ranking.html . Accessed 04 Aug 15

Füller H, Michel B (2014) ‘Stop being a tourist!’ New dynamics of urban tourism in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Int J Urban Regional 38(4):1304–1318

Gibson C (2009) Geographies of tourism: critical research on capitalism and local livelihoods. Prog Hum Geogr 33(4):527–534

Guttentag D (2013) Airbnb: disruptive innovation and the rise of an informal tourism accommodation sector. Current Issues in Tourism, 1–26

Hempel J (2012) With neighborhoods, Airbnb expands its horizons. Fortune. [Online] 13 November. Available at: http://fortune.com/2012/11/13/with-neighborhoods-airbnb-expands-its-horizons/ . Accessed 20 Aug 15

IPK International (2013) ITB World Travel Trends Report, December 2013. Prepared by IPK International on behalf of ITB Berlin [pdf] Munich. IPK International. Available at: http://www.itb-berlin.de/media/itb/itb_dl_all/itb_presse_all/WTTR_Report_2014_Web.pdf . Accessed: 4 Aug 2015

IPK International (2015) Tourismus als globaler Wachstumstreiber. Press Release at ITB Berlin, 4. März 2015

McCabe S, Sharples M, Foster C (2012) Stakeholder engagement in the design of scenarios of technology-enhanced tourism services. Tour Manage Perspect 4:36–44

Minazzi R, Mauri AG (2015) Mobile technologies effects on travel behaviours and experiences: a preliminary analysis. In: Tussyadiah I, Inversini A (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2015: Proceedings of the International Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, February 3–6, 2015. Springer International Publishing

Neuhofer B, Buhalis D (2013) Technology Enhanced Tourist Experiences: a holistic exploration of how technology can enhance tourist experiences [Online] Available at: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/etourismlab/?s=enhanced . Accessed 21 July 15

Neuhofer B, Buhalis D, Ladkin A (2015) Technology as a catalyst of change: enablers and barriers of the tourist experience and their consequences. In: Tussyadiah I, Inversini A (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2015: proceedings of the International Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, February 3–6, 2015. Springer International Publishing

Ohta M, Watanabe Y, Miyazaki T (2015) Spatiotemporal analysis of rambling activities: approach to inferring visitor satisfaction. In: Tussyadiah I, Inversini A (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2015: proceedings of the International Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, February 3–6, 2015. Springer International Publishing

Pulvirent S (2015) Google maps is adding search and directions for offline use. [Online] Available at: http://skift.com/2015/05/29/google-maps-is-adding-search-and-directions-for-offline-use/ . Accessed 21 Aug 15

Rosa H (1999) Rasender Stillstand? Individuum und Gesellschaft im Zeitalter der Beschleunigung. In: Manemann J (ed.) Jahrbuch Politische Theologie, Bd. 3: Befristete Zeit, Münster, pp. 151–176

Rosa H (2003) Social acceleration: ethical and political consequences of a desynchronized high-speed society. Constellations 10(1):3–33

Rosa H (2015) Social acceleration: a new theory of modernity. Columbia University Press, Chichester

Rossini A (2014) The rise of mobile to drive bookings of in-destination services. [Online] Available at: http://www.tnooz.com/article/mobile-bookings-in-destination-services/ . Accessed 27 July 15

Skift and Peak (2014) The rise of experiential travel, Skift report 2014 [pdf] Available at: http://skift.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/skift-peak-experiential-traveler-report1.pdf . Accessed: 3 July 2015

Stamboulis Y, Skayannis P (2003) Innovation strategies and technology for experience-based tourism. Tour Manage 24:35–43

Thomas O (2012) Airbnb is turning itself into a local-business guide, Business Insider. [Online] 13 December. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-local-business-localmind-nabewise-acquisition-2012-12?IR=T . Accessed 20 Aug 15

TourMIS (2014) Overnight stays in European Cities [Online] Available through the Austrian National Tourist Office. Available at: http://www.tourmis.info/index_e.html . Accessed 12 Aug 2014

Tripadvisor (2013) TripBarometer Mobile & Social Survey Finds 85 % of US Travelers Bring Their Smartphones on Vacation & 61 % Report Using Social Media While Traveling. [Online] Available at: http://www.tripadvisor.com/TripAdvisorInsights/n2006/tripbarometer-mobile-social-survey-finds-85-us-travelers-bring-their-smartphones-vacation-61-report . Accessed 23 Aug 15

Tripadvisor (2015) TripBarometer 2015: Five key traveler trends. [Online] Available at: http://www.tripadvisor.com/TripAdvisorInsights/n2582/tripbarometer-2015-five-key-traveler-trends . Accessed 23 Aug 15

Tussyadiah I, Inversini A (eds.) Information and communication technologies in tourism 2015: proceedings of the international conference in Lugano, Switzerland, February 3–6, 2015. DEU: Springer International Publishing, Cham

UNWTO (2012) Global Report on City Tourism. AM Reports, Volume Six [pdf] Madrid: UNWTO. Available at: http://dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/sites/all/files/pdf/am6_city_platma.pdf . Accessed: 3 Aug 2015

UNWTO (2014) Global benchmarking for city tourism measurement. AM Reports, Volume Ten [pdf] Madrid: UNWTO. Available at: http://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284416691 . Accessed: 3 Aug 2015

UNWTO (2015) UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2015 Edition. [pdf] Madrid: UNWTO. Available at: http://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284416899 . Accessed: 5 Aug 2015

WELCOME GOODBYE (2014) Directed by Nana A.T. Rebhan [Film]. Germany

Xiang Z, Wang D, O’Leary JT, Fesenmaier DR (2014) Adapting to the Internet: trends in travelers’ use of the web for trip planning. J Travel Res, 1–17. doi: 10.1177/0047287514522883

Ye Q, Law R, Gu B, Chen W (2011) The influence of user-generated content on traveler behavior: an empirical investigation on the effects of e-word-of-mouth to hotel online bookings. Comput Hum Behav 27:634–639

Zimmerman C, Hansen K, Vatrapu R (2014) A theoretical model for digital reverberations of city spaces and public places. Int J Electron Gov Res 10(1):46–62

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Futures Research, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Kerstin Bock

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kerstin Bock .

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Bock, K. The changing nature of city tourism and its possible implications for the future of cities. Eur J Futures Res 3 , 20 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40309-015-0078-5

Download citation

Received : 31 October 2015

Accepted : 25 November 2015

Published : 12 December 2015

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40309-015-0078-5

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Tourist behaviour
• Experiential travel
• Social acceleration
• Information and communication technologies (ICTs)
• Urban development

• Even more »

Account Options

• Try the new Google Books
• Advanced Book Search

Get this book in print

• Springer Shop
• Barnes&Noble.com
• Books-A-Million
• Find in a library
• All sellers  »

Selected pages

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases, about the author  (2021).

Christian M. Rogerson is Research Professor at the School of Tourism and Hospitality, College of Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. For nearly 20 years he has been involved in research concerning the tourism-development nexus in sub-Saharan Africa, including local economic development, small enterprise development, poverty studies, historical research and with a particular interest in urban tourism. He has over 200 publications on tourism among others papers in Tourism Geographies, Tourism Management, International Journal of Tourism Research and Tourism Review. Edited books have included Tourism and Development in South Africa, Urban Tourism in the Developing World: The Southern Africa Experience, and The Geography of South Africa.

Jayne M. Rogerson is Associate Professor at the School of Tourism and Hospitality, College of Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She is an urban geographer by training with a specific research interest in the hotel industry and tourism in cities. She has published over 70 articles including papers in Urban Studies, Applied Geography, Urban Forum and Development Southern Africa. Currently, she is completing an edited book for Springer on New Directions in the Tourism Geography of South Africa .

Bibliographic information

UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

Share this content.

• Share this article on facebook
• Share this article on twitter
• Share this article on linkedin

UN Tourism and WTCF Advance Data-Driven Approach to City Tourism

• All Regions

UN Tourism and the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) have launched a new report highlighting the need to measure the social and environmental impact of tourism on urban destinations.

The report assesses into the current situation and challenges of tourism data at the city level . The analysis will help advance the creation of global database of urban tourism, enabling better understanding and benchmarking of its size and value, both globally and by region.

More and better data needed

The new report provides an overview of the current situation of tourism data collection and reporting in 22 destinations in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. The study:

• Identifies existing indicators and relevant data, highlighting the efforts taken to pave the path towards a creation of a global urban tourism database .
• Addresses the importance of measuring impacts beyond the economic factors and adding the socio-cultural and environmental dimensions of city tourism .
• Provides an overview of the potential use of big data for measuring urban tourism , including the main challenges, with a view to enhancing key elements of a smart destination including technology and governance.

The report was launched during the 2024 edition of the leading global travel and tourism trade fair, ITB Berlin

Towards a global urban tourism database

UN Tourism, with the support of the the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other parties, is leading the development of a Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (SF-MST) . This will develop a common approach to building harmonized data at the national and subnational level to support the analysis of tourism activity and its sustainability at all scales.

To date, the UN Tourism International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories has played a crucial role in helping destinations in its endeavours towards monitoring and evaluating the economic, environmental and social impacts of tourism fostering sustainable tourism practices locally and globally. 

Related links

• Download News Release on PDF
• “Quantifying tourism in city destinations: Towards a better understanding of urban tourism”
• Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (SF-MST)
• UN Tourism International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories
• Urban Tourism

Related Content

Over 260 applications from 60+ countries: best tourism ..., un tourism puts spotlight on investments and empowermen..., un tourism calls for cross-cultural dialogue and climat..., un tourism and icca partner around sustainable developm....

Things to Do in Elektrostal, Russia - Elektrostal Attractions

Things to do in elektrostal.

• 5.0 of 5 bubbles
• 4.0 of 5 bubbles & up
• Good for a Rainy Day
• Good for Kids
• Good for Big Groups
• Adventurous
• Budget-friendly
• Hidden Gems
• Good for Couples
• Honeymoon spot
• Good for Adrenaline Seekers
• Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, and popularity.

1. Electrostal History and Art Museum

2. Statue of Lenin

3. Park of Culture and Leisure

4. museum and exhibition center.

5. Museum of Labor Glory

7. Galereya Kino

8. viki cinema, 9. smokygrove.

10. Gandikap

11. papa lounge bar, 12. karaoke bar.