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Change Management Approaches to Encounter Rural Overtourism

  • Anja Berghammer and Elisabeth Bartl
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Tourism Destination Development
This chapter is in the book Tourism Destination Development

Abstract

Overtourism has long been a well-known phenomenon in hotspot destinations such as Venice or Machu Picchu. However, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, rural destinations are increasingly affected by overtourism. However, since regional overtourism is a complex problem with special characteristics of the rural area (e.g., infrastructure, difficult demarcation) and manifold effects (e.g., traffic, noise, environmental pollution), affecting many different stakeholder groups with different interests, the challenge is not so much to identify too many tourists, but to deal with them in a practical and purposeful way. The authors therefore transfer approaches and methods from organisational change management to the regional context. Accompanying change management allows companies to deal successfully with changing framework conditions and internal change processes in the long term. The focus here is on the integration of all stakeholder groups involved, the development of a common vision and the facilitation of changes in perspective to make the interests of the other stakeholders comprehensible. The authors postulate that these aspects are also elementary for the regional discussion of a problem. The chapter first takes a closer look at the phenomenon of regional overtourism with a focus on rural day tourism and presents different approaches of tourism carrying capacity. After a consideration of the principles, levels and process model of organisational change management, its transferability to the regional context is examined based on a case study from the Bavarian Alpine region. The case study shows which problems rural destinations, especially regions in the immediate vicinity of larger agglomerations - such as the Alpine foothills for Munich - have to deal with in the context of overtourism and under which conditions approaches of organisational change management can be applied to a regional issue and which challenges must be considered.

Abstract

Overtourism has long been a well-known phenomenon in hotspot destinations such as Venice or Machu Picchu. However, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, rural destinations are increasingly affected by overtourism. However, since regional overtourism is a complex problem with special characteristics of the rural area (e.g., infrastructure, difficult demarcation) and manifold effects (e.g., traffic, noise, environmental pollution), affecting many different stakeholder groups with different interests, the challenge is not so much to identify too many tourists, but to deal with them in a practical and purposeful way. The authors therefore transfer approaches and methods from organisational change management to the regional context. Accompanying change management allows companies to deal successfully with changing framework conditions and internal change processes in the long term. The focus here is on the integration of all stakeholder groups involved, the development of a common vision and the facilitation of changes in perspective to make the interests of the other stakeholders comprehensible. The authors postulate that these aspects are also elementary for the regional discussion of a problem. The chapter first takes a closer look at the phenomenon of regional overtourism with a focus on rural day tourism and presents different approaches of tourism carrying capacity. After a consideration of the principles, levels and process model of organisational change management, its transferability to the regional context is examined based on a case study from the Bavarian Alpine region. The case study shows which problems rural destinations, especially regions in the immediate vicinity of larger agglomerations - such as the Alpine foothills for Munich - have to deal with in the context of overtourism and under which conditions approaches of organisational change management can be applied to a regional issue and which challenges must be considered.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Foreword VII
  3. Preface IX
  4. Contents XI
  5. The Need to Engage with Destination Development 1
  6. Part I: Developing Competitive Destinations
  7. Tourism Destinations: Risk, Management and Communication 11
  8. Destination Competitiveness and AI-based Methods 33
  9. Change Management Approaches to Encounter Rural Overtourism 55
  10. Visitor Management in Tourism Destinations: Current Challenges in Measuring and Managing Visitors’ Spatio-Temporal Behaviour 81
  11. Supporting Economically and Socially Sustainable Destination Development through Branding: Opportunities and Challenges 105
  12. Part II: Developing Sustainable Destinations
  13. From Global Frameworks to Local Meanings: Assessing Resilience for Sustainable Destinations through the Lens of Transdisciplinary Research 127
  14. Destination Resilience in the Context of COVID-19 and Its Hysteretic Impact on the Tourism System of South Tyrol 149
  15. Local Participation for a Higher Commitment to Destination Development 173
  16. Residents’ Attitudes and Sustainable Destination Development: Introducing the Tourism Acceptance Score 197
  17. Dogs, Frogs and Degrowth: Sustainable Development and Arctification as a Destination Development Dilemma in Northern Sweden 219
  18. Part III: Developing Accessible Destinations
  19. Principles and Practices of Effective Inclusive Stakeholder Community Engagement 243
  20. The Role of Universal Design in the Future of Tourism Planning and Development 261
  21. Developing Social Sustainable Tourism for and with People with Hidden Disabilities: Reflections from Fyn, Denmark 287
  22. Tourism Promotional Materials: Examining the Intersections of Accessibility and Inclusion 309
  23. Inclusive Destination Management Strategies 333
  24. Part IV: Developing Future-Proof Destinations
  25. Business as Usual or Completely Different? COVID-19 and Its Influence on the Participation in Tourism of the German Population 361
  26. Beyond Overtourism, Undertourism, the End of Tourism: New Perspectives for Urban Tourism 381
  27. Flight and Migration in the Context of Destinations: Conceptional Approaches and Empirical Insights Based on the Repurposing of Tourist Accommodation as Accommodation for Refugees – Case Study Bavaria 405
  28. The Challenge of Climate Change and Net-Zero Emissions for Destinations 425
  29. Techno-Utopia or Techno-Dystopia: Current and Future Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence Developments in Destinations 453
  30. The Contribution of Academia to Destination Development 473
  31. List of Figures 483
  32. List of Tables 487
  33. List of Contributors 489
  34. Index 497
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110794090-004

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Foreword VII
  3. Preface IX
  4. Contents XI
  5. The Need to Engage with Destination Development 1
  6. Part I: Developing Competitive Destinations
  7. Tourism Destinations: Risk, Management and Communication 11
  8. Destination Competitiveness and AI-based Methods 33
  9. Change Management Approaches to Encounter Rural Overtourism 55
  10. Visitor Management in Tourism Destinations: Current Challenges in Measuring and Managing Visitors’ Spatio-Temporal Behaviour 81
  11. Supporting Economically and Socially Sustainable Destination Development through Branding: Opportunities and Challenges 105
  12. Part II: Developing Sustainable Destinations
  13. From Global Frameworks to Local Meanings: Assessing Resilience for Sustainable Destinations through the Lens of Transdisciplinary Research 127
  14. Destination Resilience in the Context of COVID-19 and Its Hysteretic Impact on the Tourism System of South Tyrol 149
  15. Local Participation for a Higher Commitment to Destination Development 173
  16. Residents’ Attitudes and Sustainable Destination Development: Introducing the Tourism Acceptance Score 197
  17. Dogs, Frogs and Degrowth: Sustainable Development and Arctification as a Destination Development Dilemma in Northern Sweden 219
  18. Part III: Developing Accessible Destinations
  19. Principles and Practices of Effective Inclusive Stakeholder Community Engagement 243
  20. The Role of Universal Design in the Future of Tourism Planning and Development 261
  21. Developing Social Sustainable Tourism for and with People with Hidden Disabilities: Reflections from Fyn, Denmark 287
  22. Tourism Promotional Materials: Examining the Intersections of Accessibility and Inclusion 309
  23. Inclusive Destination Management Strategies 333
  24. Part IV: Developing Future-Proof Destinations
  25. Business as Usual or Completely Different? COVID-19 and Its Influence on the Participation in Tourism of the German Population 361
  26. Beyond Overtourism, Undertourism, the End of Tourism: New Perspectives for Urban Tourism 381
  27. Flight and Migration in the Context of Destinations: Conceptional Approaches and Empirical Insights Based on the Repurposing of Tourist Accommodation as Accommodation for Refugees – Case Study Bavaria 405
  28. The Challenge of Climate Change and Net-Zero Emissions for Destinations 425
  29. Techno-Utopia or Techno-Dystopia: Current and Future Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence Developments in Destinations 453
  30. The Contribution of Academia to Destination Development 473
  31. List of Figures 483
  32. List of Tables 487
  33. List of Contributors 489
  34. Index 497
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