On 26 and 27 November 2020, the POLITUR International Workshop Webinar took place. This international webinar discussed ways in which tourist destinations can face transformations due to multiple mobility inherent in contemporary societies. It also hosted sessions where discussions were held to understand how urban and regional policies and digital regulatory mechanisms could be a solution to achieving prosperity and sustainability.
Professor New Urban Tourism Ko Koens and ‘visting research fellow’ Claudio Milano also contributed to the webinar in the form of a lecture. The lecture, entitled ‘The politics of overtourism in troubled times’, focused, among other things, on the setting of new indicators when it comes to measuring successful tourism. The presentation can be downloaded via the link below.
New Urban Tourism
Within New Urban Tourism, part of the Creative Business knowledge centre, we focus on tourism as an integral part of the urban environment. Tourists literally walk among locals and use the same facilities. In other words, they cannot be considered a separate entity. But how do these large groups of visitors affect cities and neighbourhoods? And can we find a way for tourism to benefit the city? For instance, can we design activities in such a way that they engender new local business, make places more liveable and make locals prouder of their neighbourhoods? What can we learn about this from studies carried out in other cities abroad? We take a holistic approach to tourism, combining an international frame of mind with a local approach. In our lab environments, in association with stakeholders, we design interventions designed to help us gain a better understanding of underlying processes in major cities and their surroundings and ultimately to improve these regions.
