Balance between Hosts and Guests: The Key to Sustainable Tourism in a Heritage City

Manuel Rama, Emilio Carral, Sara González-García, Elías Torres-Feijó, Maria Luisa del Rio, María Teresa Moreira and Gumersindo Feijoo ()
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Manuel Rama: CRETUS, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Emilio Carral: Galabra Research Group, Functional Biology Department, Ecology Section, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 27002 Lugo, Spain
Sara González-García: CRETUS, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Elías Torres-Feijó: Galabra Research Group, Galician Philology Department, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Maria Luisa del Rio: Galabra Research Group, Business Organization and Marketing Department, Marketing and Market Research Area, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
María Teresa Moreira: CRETUS, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Gumersindo Feijoo: CRETUS, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-18

Abstract: A sustainable city implies socio-economic characteristics that allow citizens to maintain a certain quality of life. However, the effect of overtourism in some tourist cities negatively affects the community. In this study, a methodology was developed to analyze how tourism affects the way of life of residents in Santiago de Compostela. This work aims to define a set of environmental and socio-economic indicators to assess the impact of tourism activity. To this end, surveys were carried out among the three groups involved in the tourism sector: Citizens, traders, and visitors. Thereby, data were collected from the responses to the surveys conducted. Finally, this set of indicators was aggregated to a sustainability score on a scale of 1 to 10. The results show a sustainability score of 6.84, and the main weak points were the mobility between the residence of citizens and peripheral areas and the change in the offerings by the commerce promoted by tourism. Consequently, this methodology is useful for policy makers when making decisions and proposing actions to foster sustainable tourism.

Keywords: sustainable city; integrated tourism; historical heritage; overtourism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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