Touristification is a process by which a place changes as it becomes an object of tourist consumption. [1] It leads to negative implications for the touristified place and has received both informal and formal opposition.
Touristification by alternative tourism in rural areas and indigenous territories has been promoted by countries like Mexico as a development strategy that can be integrated with environmental conservation. [2]
Touristification has come about as transport has improved. In the modern age, it is quicker and cheaper to travel than ever, leading to more international (and national) trips such as city breaks. [1]
The growth of the peer-to-peer rental market (platforms such as Airbnb) have led to the touristification of housing in many cities, with the peer-to-peer market now present in almost every European city. [1] The growth in peer-to-peer holiday rentals is becoming a 'gentrification battlefront' both in the Global North and South. [3]
In the peer-to-peer rental market, individuals can occasionally rent out the homes in which they live through a platform such as Airbnb. However, these platforms have been criticised for allowing investors and landlords to set up permanent holiday rentals in homes which would otherwise form part of the local housing stock. This is a form of gentrification, as local city dwellers are displaced from their homes (or districts) to cater for the needs of affluent (in this case, transient and mobile) people. [3] Lestégas refers to districts which have become dominated by holiday rentals as airbnbarrios. [4]
The production of a short-term rental housing market in cities became pivotal in the early 2000s. This came about due to the increasing importance of digital technologies in the economy, and a drive by capital to extract more value from the city. [4]
Solastalgia is the collective melancholia that a community feels when its space is touristified. Solastalgic people feel deprived when their daily activities are altered or restricted to cater for a more affluent tourist class and yearn for the past pre-mass tourism. [5] [6]
Touristification has received protests from negatively affected groups. In some cities, anti-Airbnb billboards have appeared. [4] In some cases, cities across the world have directly taken on Airbnb and similar organisations. In August 2021, Barcelona became the first city to ban short-term private room rentals. [7]
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more affluent residents and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has been used to describe a wide array of phenomena, sometimes in a pejorative connotation.
Quintana Roo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 municipalities, and its capital city is Chetumal.
Cozumel is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by the Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucatán Channel. The municipality is part of the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Lodging refers to the use of a short-term dwelling, usually by renting the living space or sometimes through some other arrangement. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, food, safety, shelter from cold temperatures or rain, storage of luggage and access to common household functions. Lodging is a form of the sharing economy.
Cancún is the most populous city in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat of the municipality of Benito Juárez. The city is situated on the Caribbean Sea and is one of Mexico's easternmost points. Cancún is located just north of Mexico's Caribbean coast resort area known as the Riviera Maya.
Puerto Morelos is a municipality, town, and seaport in Quintana Roo, Mexico's easternmost state, on the Yucatán Peninsula. The town is located in the northeast of the state, about 36 km (22 mi) south of the resort city of Cancún, and about 30 km (19 mi) north of the city of Playa del Carmen.
Spatial politics is an interdisciplinary field that analyses the ways in which space and geographic location influence political processes, power relations, and social dynamics. It examines how spatial arrangements, urban planning, and territorial boundaries impact societal structures and the distribution of resources, privileges, and disadvantages among different groups.
Heron Gate or Herongate is a neighbourhood in Alta Vista Ward and Gloucester-Southgate Ward in the south end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is defined by the Herongate Tenant Coalition as being bounded on the north by Heron Road, on the west by Heron-Walkley Park and Albion Road, and by the Walkley rail corridor on the south. The total population for this area according to the Canada 2021 Census was 9,974.
A vacation rental is the renting out of a furnished apartment, house, or professionally managed resort-condominium complex on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel. The term vacation rental is mainly used in the US. Other terms used are self-catering rental, holiday home, holiday let, cottage holiday and gite.
Alternative tourism combines tourist products or individual tourist services, different from mass tourism by means of supply, organization and the human resources involved. Other examples of different terms include "intelligent" or "motivated tourism." In addition, "anti-tourism" or "participative tourism" are some others. That was just to name few of them. Natural, social, and community value in which allow both host and guest to enjoy positive, worthwhile and shared experience.
Collaborative consumption is the set of those resource circulation systems in which consumers both "obtain" and "provide", temporarily or permanently, valuable resources or services through direct interaction with other consumers or through a mediator. It is sometimes paired with the concept of the "sharing economy". Collaborative consumption is not new; it has always existed.
Airbnb, Inc. is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays and experiences in various countries and regions. It acts as a broker and charges a commission from each booking. Airbnb was founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk, and Joe Gebbia. It is the best-known company for short-term housing rentals.
Verticalization is a phenomenon, typically seen in major cities, where there is a general increase in the population of high-rise residential buildings. As of 2024, there is no agreed-upon definition of verticalization.
The sharing economy is a socio-economic system whereby consumers share in the creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods, and services. These systems take a variety of forms, often leveraging information technology and the Internet, particularly digital platforms, to facilitate the distribution, sharing and reuse of excess capacity in goods and services.
The gentrification of San Francisco has been an ongoing source of tension between renters and working people who live in the city as well as real estate interests. A result of this conflict has been an emerging antagonism between longtime working-class residents of the city and the influx of new tech workers. A major increase of gentrification in San Francisco has been attributed to the Dot-Com Boom in the 1990s, creating a strong demand for skilled tech workers from local startups and close by Silicon Valley businesses leading to rising standards of living. As a result, a large influx of new workers in the internet and technology sector began to contribute to the gentrification of historically poor immigrant neighborhoods such as the Mission District. During this time San Francisco began a transformation eventually culminating in it becoming the most expensive city to live in the United States.
Gentrification, the process of altering the demographic and socioeconomic composition of a neighborhood usually by decreasing the percentage of low-income minority residents and increasing the percentage higher-income residents, has been an issue between the residents of minority neighborhoods in Chicago who believe the influx of new residents destabilizes their communities, and the gentrifiers who see it as a process that economically improves a neighborhood. Researchers have debated the significance of its effects on the neighborhoods and whether or not it leads to the displacement of residents.
Overtourism is congestion or overcrowding from an excess of tourists, resulting in conflicts with locals. The World Tourism Organization defines overtourism as "the impact of tourism on a destination, or parts thereof, that excessively influences perceived quality of life of citizens and/or quality of visitor experiences in a negative way". This definition shows how overtourism can be observed both among locals, who view tourism as a disruptive factor that increasingly burdens daily life, as well as visitors, who may regard high numbers of tourists as a nuisance.
Community displacement is the movement of a population out of a neighborhood as formal or informal redevelopment occurs. Community displacement is a key argument against informal and formal urban renewal projects. The implication is that the benefits calculus undervalues the interests of the community residents who will be displaced.
Environmental, ecological or green gentrification is a process in which cleaning up pollution or providing green amenities increases local property values and attracts wealthier residents to a previously polluted or disenfranchised neighbourhood. Green amenities include green spaces, parks, green roofs, gardens and green and energy efficient building materials. These initiatives can heal many environmental ills from industrialization and beautify urban landscapes. Additionally, greening is imperative for reaching a sustainable future. However, if accompanied by gentrification, these initiatives can have an ambiguous social impact. More specifically, in certain cases the introduction of green amenities might lead to (1) the physical displacement of low income households due to soaring housing costs, and/or (2) the cultural, social, and political displacement of long-time residents. First coined by Sieg et al. (2004), environmental gentrification is a relatively new concept, although it can be considered as a new hybrid of the older and wider topics of gentrification and environmental justice. Social implications of greening projects specifically with regards to housing affordability and displacement of vulnerable citizens. Greening in cities can be both healthy and just.
Inside Airbnb is an investigatory/watchdog website launched by Murray Cox in 2016. It reports and visualizes scraped data on the property rental marketplace company Airbnb, focusing on highlighting illegal renting on the site and gentrification caused by landlords buying properties to rent on Airbnb.