Urban Planning Regulations for Tourism in the Context of Overtourism. Applications in Historic Centres

Manuel de la Calle-Vaquero, María García-Hernández and Sofía Mendoza de Miguel
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Manuel de la Calle-Vaquero: Department of Geography, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
María García-Hernández: Department of Geography, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Sofía Mendoza de Miguel: Department of Geography, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: The rapid growth in urban tourism has brought great pressure to the historic centres, intensifying the negative externalities that threaten their protection and proper functioning. The aim of this article is to analyse the use of urban planning regulations as an instrument for containing tourism activity in situations of overtourism. A two-stage methodological approach is employed: Firstly, a review of the local governments’ response to the effects of tourism growth and the possibilities of local control in 46 Spanish cities is presented; secondly, a comparative analysis of the stricter short-term rentals regulations adopted by those cities is carried out. The common basis of the adopted regulations is the control of tourist use of an entire dwelling. Of the cities analysed, Barcelona has the most restrictive regulation, while in all the other cities, regulation is less restrictive and depends on the type of accommodation in question and/or the conditions imposed on issuing new licences. The results demonstrate the difficulties entailed in the process of formulating and applying regulations and reveal imbalances between the economic and urban planning visions, and between the rapid change in tourism and the much slower response capacity of governments.

Keywords: urban planning; overtourism; short-term rentals; historic centres; Spanish cities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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