Inside City Tourism

Inside City Tourism explores how European cities use tourism to bolster their economies and image, appraising it in terms of history, measurement, structure, operations and leadership. This book distinguishes itself from other texts through its pan-European perspective and by combining both theory and practice. New and original case materials are used to exemplify mainstream approaches to city marketing, identify recurrent problems and opportunities, and exemplify best practice.

Cities are the dominant geographical focus of business and leisure tourism travel, and cities everywhere are regenerating and reinventing themselves so as to attract visitors, students and investment. Inside City Tourism explores the organisational challenges to which this gives rise, and in particular examines the history, structure and functioning of the urban delivery mechanisms set up to raise profile and maximise tourism. The book is written by the Chief Executive Officer of European Cities Marketing who – as a former tourism academic and city marketing professional – is uniquely placed to synthesise academic and practical insights and to provide a distinctively European overview. While cities increasingly seek to differentiate themselves through brands, events and iconic structures, the approaches, techniques and language used by cities to promote themselves is remarkably similar across the length and breadth of Europe. Never before published case material exemplifies best practice in city marketing, with the greater part of leading edge practice to be found in Scandinavia, Holland, Germany, Austria and Spain. Inside City Tourism ‘tells it like it is’, uncovering the pitfalls and failures as well as the opportunities and successes, and the attendant leadership challenges. It is essential reading for practitioners and policymakers as well as students and academics.

This book critically explores the interconnections between tourism and the contemporary city from a policy-oriented standpoint, combining tourism perspectives with discussion of urban models, issues, and challenges. Research-based analyses addressing managerial issues and evaluating policy implications are described, and a comprehensive set of case studies is presented to demonstrate practices and policies in various urban contexts. A key message is that tourism policies should be conceived as integrated urban policies that promote tourism performance as a means of fostering urban quality and the well-being of local communities, e.g., in terms of quality spaces, employment, accessibility, innovation, and learning opportunities. In addition to highlighting the significance of urban tourism in relation to key urban challenges, the book reflects on the risks and tensions associated with its development, including the rise of anti-tourism movements as a reaction to touristification, cultural commodification, and gentrification. Attention is drawn to asymmetries in the costs and benefits of the city tourism phenomenon, and the supposedly unavoidable trade-off between the interests of residents and tourists is critically questioned.

This timely and significant book explores the characteristics and complexities of Asian urban tourism, considering the extent to which Western paradigms can be transferred to Asian settings and the striking contrasts that exist within the region. In an era of unprecedented urban expansion in Asian cities, this book comes at a time of great urgency, illuminating the possible problems and opportunities that arise when a destination emerges as a tourism hotspot. Split into three parts; introducing Asian urban tourism and urbanization, the management and marketing of Asian cities, and emerging trends and issues associated with Asian urban tourism, the book offers a range of varying and vibrant perspectives from international and interdisciplinary experts in the field. Chapters include studies on a wide range of destinations such as Hong Kong, Macau, Cambodia, Phuket, Kolkata, Busan, Delhi, and Sri Lanka among many others, and explore crucial contemporary themes such as overtourism, urbanization and administrative challenges, world heritage, smart cities and the use of technologies such as VR in urban tourism experience creation. It will be a vital resource for upper-level students, researchers, and academics in tourism, city tourism, Asian studies, development studies, cultural studies, and sustainability, as well as professionals in the field of tourism management.

Tourism in European Cities explores the relationship between tourist activity and the architecture and built environment within which it takes place. This is the first book to consider urban tourism with a particular focus on European cities. Tourism in European Cities considers the tourist experience and the various elements that shape it. In many cities, the historic core plays a crucial role in tourism either as the location of the more important attractions, or as an attraction in its own right. The book dedicates a chapter to urban heritage and its relationship to tourism, including urban conservation and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Another chapter considers contemporary architecture and debates some cities’ efforts to use iconic architecture, in particular, to enhance their attractiveness in the context of increased competition between cities. In the context of competition, many cities are resorting to events as a strategy to reposition and differentiate themselves from other cities. Major events are accompanied by major investment in event venues and in urban infrastructure. The city often serves as a backdrop to the urban festival as activities and performances are staged in the city’s urban spaces. This book is essential reading for students of tourism and urban geography. It is also of interest to students of urban planning and architecture, and anyone keen to learn more about tourism and European cities.

An investigation of tourism and its transforming impact on cities, by urban experts from a variety of disciplines. They examine such tourist meccas as Las Vegas, Orlando and Boston, and take up themes such as the marketing of cities and how tourists perceive places.

This book explores the phenomena of the urban everyday and new urban tourism. It provides a systematic framework and draws on a mix of theoretical and empirical work to look at the increasing intermingling of ‘tourists’ and ‘residents’. Tourism and urban everyday life are deeply connected in a mutually constitutive way. Tourism has become a key momentum of urban development and affects cities beyond its economic dimension. Urban everyday life itself can turn into a matter of tourist interest for people searching for experiences off the beaten track. Even living in a city as a resident involves moments, activities and practices which could be labelled as ‘touristic’. These observations demonstrate some of the various layers in which urban tourism and everyday city life are intertwined. This book gathers multiple interdisciplinary approaches, a diversity of topics and methodological variety to examine this complex relationship. It presents a systematic framework for the dynamic research field of new urban tourism along three dimensions: the extraordinary mundane, encounters and contact zones, and urban co-production. This book will be of interest to students and researchers across fields such as Tourism and Mobility Studies, Urban Studies, Leisure Studies, Tourism Geography, and Tourism Sociology.

Capital city status attracts and drives tourism by enhancing a city's appeal to the tourist and its international standing. With a focus on city tourism themes, this book examines subjects including the identity of a city in a tourism context and practical matters such as promoting the city as a product. By examining tourist activities in national capitals, the book addresses issues in capital city development as tourist destinations with a broad, international approach and case studies on major tourist cities.