How Much Tourism Is Too Much? Stakeholder’s Perceptions on Overtourism, Sustainable Destination Management During the Pandemic of COVID-19 Era in Santorini Island Greece

The newly adapted concept of“overtourism”based on the old concept of carrying capacity has emerged in various destinations worldwide and it seems to be one of the most important issues on destination management literature.Santorini is one of the most picturesque islands globally and at the same time one of the destinations that have been incorporated into the discourse of overtourism.However,Santorini is different to many of the destinations exposed to overtourism as an island destination with specific limitations in physical space,natural and physical resources.For many years we have experienced the rapid growth of tourism worldwide until the emergence of the COVID pandemic that stopped almost every economic activity.The rapid increase of visitors in Santorini had various impacts on the island’s economy,society,and environment.This paper is about overtourism on the Aegean Island of Santorini,where overtourism has been a fact for several years.In the island tourism development is evident but sustainability is a critical theme for the locals,the entrepreneurs,and the tourism industry of the destination.In this paper the perceptions of the destination’s stakeholders are examined on issues like sustainability,overtourism,and the impacts of the pandemic.Finally,the paper examines the stakeholders’thoughts on the possibility of the pandemic might become the springboard for redefining tourism on the island.

Multiscale Characteristics and Connection Mechanisms of Attraction Networks:A Trajectory Data Mining Approach Leveraging Geotagged Data

Urban tourism is considered a complex system,and multiscale exploration of the organizational patterns of attraction networks has become a topical issue in urban tourism,so exploring the multiscale characteristics and connection mechanisms of attraction networks is important for understanding the linkages between attractions and even the future destination planning.This paper uses geotagging data to compare the links between attractions in Beijing,China during four different periods:the pre-Olympic period(2004–2007),the Olympic Games and subsequent‘heat period’(2008–2013),the post-Olympic period(2014–2019),and the COVID-19(Corona Virus Disease 2019)pandemic period(2020–2021).The aim is to better understand the evolution and patterns of attraction networks at different scales in Beijing and to provide insights for tourism planning in the destination.The results show that the macro,meso-,and microscales network characteristics of attraction networks have inherent logical relationships that can explain the commonalities and differences in the development process of tourism networks.The macroscale attraction network degree Matthew effect is significant in the four different periods and exhibits a morphological monocentric structure,suggesting that new entrants are more likely to be associated with attractions that already have high value.The mesoscale links attractions according to the common purpose of tourists,and the results of the community segmentation of the attraction networks in the four different periods suggest that the functional polycentric structure describes their clustering effect,and the weak links between clusters result from attractions bound by incomplete information and distance,and the functional polycentric structure with a generally more efficient network of clusters.The pattern structure at the microscale reveals the topological transformation relationship of the regional collaboration pattern,and the attraction network structure in the four different periods has a very similar importance profile structure suggesting that the attraction network has the same construction rules and evolution mechanism,which aids in understanding the attraction network pattern at both macro and micro scales.Important approaches and practical implications for planners and managers are presented.

New Insights in Sharing Economy During the COVID 19 Pandemic

Sharing Economy has arrived in Greece carrying on the experience of abroad and together with the so-called“good practices”,it still seems to be in a standstill.So,the“hosts”are multiplying day by day,the big hotel companies are not responding at the moment,and most studies end up with balanced use of the phenomenon.Main research objective of this paper is to examine the consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic to the Sharing Economy according to the perceptions of the owners.More precisely,the paper examines the characteristics of Thessaloniki’s tourism product and how they emerge more effectively through the Sharing Economy.In the city center there are more than 2,000 active properties.The present research uses a non-random sample as descriptive means.The“convenience sampling method”was addressed to participants with the above qualities whose contact details were known to the researchers.The research population is the active depositors on the Sharing platforms and/or the accommodation managers.Their contact details were found after research done at Sharing Economy platforms,internet sites,social media profiles and groups,and AirDNA data.To the authors’best knowledge this is the first attempt that has been done in order to investigate the effects and the future of the Sharing Economy in the Municipality of Thessaloniki during the COVID 19 pandemic based on the views of the owners.

Events and the Governance of the Territory:The Festival“La Notte della Taranta”in Apulia,Italy

Events are an important attraction for tourist destinations (Getz, 2008). Even in well-known destinations for their sea, events can attract different types of tourists and can help counteract seasonality (Ritchie & Beliveau, 1974). In Apulia (Italy), this happens thanks to the “La Notte della Taranta” Festival, which was born in 1998 and is currently the largest European music event dedicated to traditional music, able to attract over 230,000 viewers from around the world every summer in the Salento region. Analyzing the Festival “La Notte della Taranta” from an economic and legal point of view has been the main purpose of our research.