A methodological perspective on understanding overtourism in Mediterranean Islands. The case of Sardinia region, Italy

The term overtourism has become very popular, however it remains open to several interpretations. Its popularity is due to the acceleration and changes in tourism supply through the growth of tourist accommodation, low-cost airlines and other transport services, infrastructure and intermediary sectors, and demand that is driven by the growth in the world’s population, the ageing of parts of the population, and the appearance of increasingly diverse households, that have occurred across the world, but especially in urban areas. In some contexts, such as those of Mediterranean islands, overtourism occurs mainly in short periods, with significant peaks in some months of the year (especially in summer), increasing the pressure on the natural and human environments and on the supply of services for local communities. This study proposes a place-based methodology to evaluate the spatial distribution and autocorrelation of a set of tourism indicators to understand the potential for overtourism in insular, island contexts using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) maps. Validation of this methodology is conducted in the Sardinian region of Italy, which represents a relevant case study among Mediterranean islands. Results show how overtourism is concentrated in time and space, mainly affecting the summer season and clustering around coastal destinations. This approach aims to support policies that promote more sustainable tourism by improving the temporal and spatial distribution of tourist flows.