Article    Peer-Reviewed

Island Tourism: Vulnerable or Resistant to Overtourism?

Richard W. Butler 1,* and Rachel Dodds 2
1
School of Business, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G4 0LG, UK
2
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
*
For correspondence.
Academic Editor:
Highlights Sustain. 2022, 1(2), 54–64.
Received: 24 February 2022    Accepted: 27 April 2022    Published: 29 April 2022
Abstract
Islands have long attracted tourists and some islands rank amongst the most visited places in the world. Such popularity has created problems of overdevelopment and tourism at unsustainable levels, leading to the phenomenon of overtourism. Traditionally islands could rely on natural features to limit tourist numbers but this is increasingly not the case today, therefore, this paper reviews how changes in attitude, access and media coverage have led to problems of excessive visitation. The paper discusses the failure to create and implement appropriate policies which might mitigate against such developments and notes the inherent long-term problems many island authorities have traditionally faced when trying to improve economic conditions for their residents. The paper concludes that more specific action in terms of policy goals and implementation are needed if islands are to avoid the issues of unsustainable development and overtourism currently being experienced in many mainland tourist destinations.
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Copyright © 2022 Butler and Dodds. 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.
Cite this Article
ACS Style
Butler, R.W.; Dodds, R. Island Tourism: Vulnerable or Resistant to Overtourism? Highlights Sustain. 2022, 1, 54–64. https://doi.org/10.54175/hsustain1020005
APA Style
Butler, R. W., & Dodds, R. (2022). Island Tourism: Vulnerable or Resistant to Overtourism? Highlights of Sustainability, 1(2), 54–64. https://doi.org/10.54175/hsustain1020005
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