Urban tourism

Urban tourism is not just about attracting visitors, increasingly it is about managing flows of tourists. Many city destinations pursue active policies to limit the number of visitors and their impact on quality of life in the city. However, for many tourists are also a source of revenue, leading to urban challenges.

Managing impacts

Famous cities and established tourism regions profit from growing foreign and domestic tourism, but also experience negative impacts. Cases such as Venice, Barcelona and Amsterdam show that strong visitor flows can have negative impacts on local quality of life. This leads to a trend of managing tourism, instead of tourism promotion.

Addressing all urbanites

Erasmus UPTs experts consult and research many questions of urban tourism. We offer a unique data-driven perspective on tourism development, where we measure economics, social and environmental impacts of tourism.

Actual questions our experts are working on: What is the impact of Airbnb on local quality of life? Do short term rental services increase local house prices? How is social cohesion in cities affected by tourism? How to address crowding due to over tourism?

Thorough and fact-based 

By combining data research and strategy building, we can help cities and marketing organisations, as well as tourism policy makers, make better decisions. And thereby help economies and citizens thrive.