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A Normative Model of Overtourism with Implications for Sustainable Destination Management
1
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
2
School of Business and Law, CQUniversity, 160 Ann Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
3
Noosa Parks Association, 5 Wallace Drive, Wallace Park, Noosaville, QLD 4566, Australia
*
For correspondence.
Academic Editor:
Highlights of Sustainability, 2025, 4(1),
1–15.
https://doi.org/10.54175/hsustain4010001
Received: 31 October 2024 Accepted: 9 January 2025 Published: 15 January 2025
Abstract
We adopt a normative model of crowd tolerance (expressed as a willingness to support more or fewer tourists) as a proxy for overtourism. Consistent with Social Exchange Theory, it is proposed that a person will perceive the impacts of tourism at a destination as positive or negative depending on the extent to which they view visitor levels as under or over a threshold that they expect or support (i.e., their norms or tolerance level). A total of 420 residents and 1048 visitors completed a survey interview in the tourist shire of Noosa between 2022 and 2024. Results show that residents and visitors differed significantly on many of the perceived tourism impacts, with long-term residents less favorable to the positive impacts than visitors. There was broad consensus across both residents and tourists, and the highest level of agreement, with negative impacts (especially that tourism contributes to traffic and parking congestion, and higher prices). The lowest levels of agreement with positive tourism impacts were found for “over tourists” (respondents who supported a fewer number of tourists). Implications for sustainable destination management are discussed in the context of the Quadruple Bottom Line, including efforts that enable tourism communities to grow well using a guardianship ethos and collective action of Gifts and Gains.
Keywords
Copyright © 2025
Tarrant et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use and distribution provided that the original work is properly cited.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Cite this Article
Tarrant, M., Gleason, M., Boyd, S., & Wellington, T. (2025). A Normative Model of Overtourism with Implications for Sustainable Destination Management. Highlights of Sustainability, 4(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.54175/hsustain4010001
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