Assessing Tourist Perceived Attributes of Overtourism

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to assess the perceived importance and satisfaction of domestic tourists who visited Venice, Italy, regarding the attributes of overtourism. Design/methodology/approach - An online survey was conducted to measure the tourist perceived attributes of overtourism from November 8th to 22nd, 2023. Convenience sampling was employed to target study participants who are domestic tourists in Venice, Italy. A total of 127 responses were used for analysis, including frequency analysis, paired-sample t-tests, and Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). Findings - First, the results of the IPA showed that attributes related to urban facilities and spaces directly associated with travel behavior were highly rated in both importance and satisfaction by tourists. Second, attributes related to carrying capacity were perceived as highly important but had lower satisfaction level. Third, tourists evaluated the management of affordable prices for tourism products as both less important and less satisfying. Lastly, attributes related to the protection of local businesses showed higher satisfaction levels compared to their perceived importance. Research implications or Originality - This study contributes to an extended understanding of overtourism by examining the phenomenon from the tourists' perspective.