The integration of sustainable tourism policies in European cities

ABSTRACT

European cities have experienced an intense growth in tourism and other related mobilities. This pressure on urban centers has increased the public's perception of the need to design more sustainable tourism policies that deal with the various associated dilemmas. This article compares the tourism policies of eleven European cities considering what governments have introduced, or avoided, in their tourism policy documents. The objective is to observe the extent to which these actions directly related to sustainability are being incorporated. The results indicate that local tourism policies are moving away from a model of public action based only on considering the economic impact of tourism and are starting to work with a wider range of associated impacts. In this scenario, the ideas of balance and sustainability find a much clearer accommodation. This research presents a pre-crisis tourism framework that can be challenged during post--Covid19 transitions.