Overtourism in Dutch coastal municipalities?

Abstract

Tourism has grown tremendously worldwide in recent decades and will continue to increase in the coming years. The result is that in some places the relationship between the living environment, residents, and tourists has become out of balance. As a result, overtourism can be experienced because the impact of tourism, at certain times and in certain locations, exceeds physical, ecological, social, economic, psychological, and/or political capacity thresholds. This research focuses on the Dutch coastal municipalities intending to gain insight into the levers to mitigate the (potential) impact. The question answered by this research is: ‘Which policy responses do Dutch coastal municipalities apply to create a balance between a good living environment and tourism, in a situation of overtourism?’

It can be concluded that municipalities have insufficient insight into the current tourism situation and the experience of local residents. Tourism policy must be aimed at an optimal balance between tourist pressure and the carrying capacity of the living environment. The set of policy measures to control this differs per destination and is highly context dependent. Although in many municipalities tourism is linked to economic policy, tourism has an influence on several policy areas and must therefore be tackled integrally.