IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/anture/v115y2025ics0160738325001483.html

A proposal for an overtourism index

Author

Listed:
  • Burlando, Claudia
  • Musso, Enrico
  • Pavanini, Tiziano
  • Traversa, Susanna

Abstract

The rise of mass tourism has led to overtourism, where visitor numbers surpass a destination's sustainable capacity, causing environmental degradation, resource overuse, and social tensions. This study introduces a novel tourism intensity index tailored for small littoral towns, using the Cinque Terre (Italy) as a case study. Employing the Peña Distance method (DP2), the research quantifies tourism pressure and provides a framework for assessing overtourism risks. The resulting index aids in identifying policy interventions and strategies to mitigate overtourism, fostering long-term sustainability for vulnerable destinations. This approach offers a quantitative tool to address the critical challenges posed by overtourism, with implications for sustainable tourism management in similar contexts globally.

Suggested Citation

  • Burlando, Claudia & Musso, Enrico & Pavanini, Tiziano & Traversa, Susanna, 2025. "A proposal for an overtourism index," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:115:y:2025:i:c:s0160738325001483
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2025.104042
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738325001483
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.annals.2025.104042?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stéphane Bourliataux-Lajoinie & Frederic Dosquet & Josep Lluís del Olmo Arriaga, 2019. "The dark side of digital technology to overtourism: the case of Barcelona," Post-Print hal-03165055, HAL.
    2. Andrea Ciacci & Enrico Ivaldi & Reyes González-Relaño, 2021. "A Partially Non-Compensatory Method to Measure the Smart and Sustainable Level of Italian Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-24, January.
    3. Vanessa Gaitree Gowreesunkar & Tan Vo Thanh, 2020. "Between Overtourism and Under-Tourism: Impacts, Implications, and Probable Solutions," Springer Books, in: Hugues Séraphin & Tatiana Gladkikh & Tan Vo Thanh (ed.), Overtourism, pages 45-68, Springer.
    4. Gianpaolo Basile & Aurora Cavallo, 2020. "Rural Identity, Authenticity, and Sustainability in Italian Inner Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-22, February.
    5. Bang, Dohyung & Jang, SooCheong (Shawn), 2025. "Reframing carrying capacity: A visitor-oriented approach," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    6. Fernando Almeida-García & Rafael Cortés-Macías & Krzysztof Parzych, 2021. "Tourism Impacts, Tourism-Phobia and Gentrification in Historic Centers: The Cases of Málaga (Spain) and Gdansk (Poland)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-25, January.
    7. Gössling, Stefan & McCabe, Scott & Chen, Ning (Chris), 2020. "A socio-psychological conceptualisation of overtourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    8. Vanessa Gaitree Gowreesunkar & Tan Vo-Thanh, 2020. "Between Overtourism and Under-Tourism: Impacts, Implications, and Probable Solutions," Post-Print hal-03403879, HAL.
    9. Enrico Ivaldi & Lara Penco & Gabriele Isola & Enrico Musso, 2020. "Smart Sustainable Cities and the Urban Knowledge-Based Economy: A NUTS3 Level Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 45-72, July.
    10. H. Séraphin & Damien Chaney, 2023. "A Research Agenda for the Sustainability of the Tourism Industry: A Childism Perspective on Overtourism," Post-Print hal-04435520, HAL.
    11. Mihalic, Tanja, 2020. "Conceptualising overtourism: A sustainability approach," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    12. Antonio Sánchez-Bayón & Frank Daumann, 2025. "European Tourism Sustainability and the Tourismphobia Paradox: The Case of the Canary Islands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Duignan, Michael B. & Everett, Sally & McCabe, Scott, 2022. "Events as catalysts for communal resistance to overtourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    14. Nichole C. Hugo, 2020. "Overtourism at Heritage and Cultural Sites," Springer Books, in: Hugues Séraphin & Tatiana Gladkikh & Tan Vo Thanh (ed.), Overtourism, pages 169-185, Springer.
    15. Noelia Somarriba & Bernardo Pena, 2009. "Synthetic Indicators of Quality of Life in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 94(1), pages 115-133, October.
    16. Diamantopoulos, Adamantios & Riefler, Petra & Roth, Katharina P., 2008. "Advancing formative measurement models," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 1203-1218, December.
    17. Hugues Seraphin & Stanislav Ivanov, 2020. "Overtourism: a revenue management perspective," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 146-150, June.
    18. Larry Dwyer, 2024. "Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (SF-MST): New Wine in an Old Bottle?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-20, July.
    19. Santos-Rojo, Cristina & Llopis-Amorós, Malar & García-García, Juan Manuel, 2023. "Overtourism and sustainability: A bibliometric study (2018–2021)," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    20. Mashkov, Rotem & Shoval, Noam & Rizowy, Brian Isaac & Shavin, Uriel & Srulovitch, Hagar & Shwartz, Assaf, 2025. "Measuring reactions to congestion in the digital era," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    21. Matteo Mazziotta & Adriano Pareto, 2018. "Measuring Well-Being Over Time: The Adjusted Mazziotta–Pareto Index Versus Other Non-compensatory Indices," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 967-976, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roberta Capello & Silvia Cerisola & Elisa Panzera, 2026. "From optimal to efficient tourism flows in cities: an urban economics perspective," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 75(1), pages 1-21, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Susanna Traversa & Enrico Ivaldi, 2025. "eGovernment Implementation in Italy. Regional Index for NRRP Goals Evaluation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 1125-1144, July.
    2. Damien Chaney & Hugues Séraphin, 2023. "A systematic literature review and lexicometric analysis on overtourism: Towards an ambidextrous perspective," Post-Print hal-04455019, HAL.
    3. Carolina Bruzzi & Enrico Musso & Pietro Stanislao Parisi & Tiziano Pavanini, 2025. "Beyond the rankings: What multidimensional index and clustering reveal about environmental sustainability," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 59(6), pages 5511-5536, December.
    4. Rajko Tomaš, 2022. "Measurement of the Concentration of Potential Quality of Life in Local Communities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 79-109, August.
    5. Paolo Parra Saiani & Enrico Ivaldi & Andrea Ciacci & Lucia Di Stefano, 2024. "Broken Trust. Confidence Gaps and Distrust in Latin America," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 269-281, May.
    6. Enrico Ivaldi & Margaret Antonicelli, 2025. "Deprivation and Regional Cohesion as Challenges to Sustainability: Evidence from Italy and Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-23, June.
    7. Matteo Mazziotta & Adriano Pareto, 2019. "Use and Misuse of PCA for Measuring Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 451-476, April.
    8. Cantone, Giulio Giacomo & Tomaselli, Venera, 2024. "On the Coherence of Composite Indexes: Multiversal Model and Specification Analysis for an Index of Well-Being," MetaArXiv d5y26, Center for Open Science.
    9. Angela Stefania Bergantino & Alessandro Buongiorno & Mario Intini, 2026. "Assessing the vulnerability of tourist destinations to overtourism: An empirical approach," Tourism Economics, , vol. 32(2), pages 489-496, March.
    10. Ciacci, Andrea & Ivaldi, Enrico & Pavanini, Tiziano, 2026. "Uneven paths toward sustainability in Africa: A multidimensional and Spatio-temporal assessment of SDG progress (2000–2022)," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Pande Gde Bagus Naya Primananda, 2025. "Tourism Issues and Destination Image Development in Current Tourism," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(15), pages 92-99, January.
    12. Duignan, Michael B. & Everett, Sally & McCabe, Scott, 2022. "Events as catalysts for communal resistance to overtourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    13. Daniela Bonardo & Valeria Quondamstefano, 2022. "Measuring Well-Being in Italian (Eco)regions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 433-456, June.
    14. Eugenia Nissi & Annalina Sarra, 2018. "A Measure of Well-Being Across the Italian Urban Areas: An Integrated DEA-Entropy Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 1183-1209, April.
    15. repec:osf:metaar:d5y26_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Alessandra Adduci & Edoardo Latessa & Luca Muzzioli, 2024. "The challenges of tracking early childhood development: a new methodological approach using the Mazziotta-Pareto index," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 78(1), pages 193-207, January-M.
    17. Roberta Capello & Silvia Cerisola & Elisa Panzera, 2026. "From optimal to efficient tourism flows in cities: an urban economics perspective," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 75(1), pages 1-21, March.
    18. Livia Fioroni & Valeria Quondamstefano, 2021. "A well-being measurement approach for ranking Italian municipalities," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 75(4), pages 119-129, October-D.
    19. Rossi, Luca & Pasca, Maria Giovina & Arcese, Gabriella & Poponi, Stefano, 2024. "Innovation, researcher and creativity: A complex indicator for territorial evaluation capacity," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    20. Andrea Ciacci & Enrico Ivaldi & Reyes González-Relaño, 2021. "A Partially Non-Compensatory Method to Measure the Smart and Sustainable Level of Italian Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-24, January.
    21. Andrea Ciacci & Enrico Ivaldi & Lara Penco & Ginevra Testa, 2025. "Measuring Digital Sustainability Paying Attention to the Economic, Social, and Environmental Dimensions: A European Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 177(1), pages 1-29, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:115:y:2025:i:c:s0160738325001483. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/annals-of-tourism-research/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.