Identification of overtourism in Poznań through the analysis of social conflicts

Piotr Zmyślony , Marta Pilarczyk

Abstract

The purpose of the article is twofold: to diagnose tourism-related conflicts occurring in Poznań by identifying their intensity and key parties, and to determine the capacity of the key stakeholders in the city’s tourism system to mitigate these disputes. Because of its complex nature, overtourism in cities is a dangerous phenomenon, which is very hard to measure. Like other social conflicts, the intensity and development of overtourism can be measured by analysing tourism-related conflicts in the urban space, using tools offered by conflict management theories, especially Christopher Moore’s Circle of Conflict model. Conflict issues identified by the author are associated with the uncontrolled consumption of the city’s overall offering, which is manifested by the behaviour of city inhabitants, visitors from the metropolitan area, and tourists. The article contributes to the literature on overtourism by proposing an alternative method of identifying the scope and intensity of overtourism in the absence of objective measures and data. The author also proposes a method of evaluating key stakeholders’ capacity for conflict management in Poznań.