Rising tourist numbers threaten the preservation of European historic city centres
In short: Researchers reviewing the impact of urban tourism found that increasing visitor flows pose a significant threat to the conservation of cultural heritage. By examining the historic centre of Donostia-San Sebastián in Spain, the study highlights how growing tourist pressure affects the sustainability of historic urban landscapes.
Drawing on a case study of Donostia-San Sebastián in Spain's Basque Country, the researchers review existing work on tourism's effects and set out several different ways that tourist pressure strains a historic centre, against the backdrop of the wider public debate over mass tourism playing out in cities such as Venice and Barcelona.
The aim is to inform how cities protect historic urban landscapes while deciding what kind of tourist destination they want to be, though the conclusions are drawn from a single city and may not generalize to every historic centre.
Why it matters: Managing tourism in historic centres means balancing heritage protection against the pressures of being a popular destination.
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Sources
- Source: Research: Hernandez et al. (2017). Cultural Heritage and Urban Tourism: Historic City Centres under Pressure. Sustainability. · cc-by
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