Policing the 'Anti-Social' Tourist. Mass Tourism and 'Disorderly Behaviors' in Venice, Amsterdam and Barcelona.


Abstract


In the last years, several cities in Europe and around the world have witnessed the emergence of social movements critical of mass tourism, underlining a diversity of 'externalities' associated to this highly-complex global industry. The so-defined 'anti-social' (i.e. unruly, offensive, inappropriate) behavior of tourists has been highlighted by both social movements and the local and global media among these negative effects of tourism, and local authorities have responded with many campaigns and strategies to regulate the impact of visitors in the lives of locals. By focusing on three European city-cases (namely Amsterdam, Venice and Barcelona), this paper discusses the current efforts to regulate 'disruptive behavior', while examining the limits of these initiatives and the challenges that these approaches create to the daily management of public spaces.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i20356609v13i2p1190

Keywords: disorder; mass tourism; media discourses; policing; urban spaces

References


Aidsfonds (2018), “Sekswerk, stigma en geweld in Nederland”. PROUD en Soa Aids Nederland. Retrieved from: https://wijzijnproud.nl/2018/12/04/report-about-sex-work-stigma-and-violence-in-the-netherlands-translated-in-english/

Armellini, A. (2014), “Romance aplenty in Venice for Clooney wedding, but locals grumble”, Deutsche Presse Agentur, September 27th.

Bansal, A. et. al. (2018), “Selfies: A boon or bane?”, Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 7(4): 828-831.

Bertasi, G. (2018), “Venezia, in costume a San Marco scambiati per turisti e multati: ma era una performance di studenti”, Corriere del Veneto, October 18th, 2018. Retrieved from: http://www.corrieredelveneto.corriere.it

Colomb, C. and Novy, J. (2017), Protest and Resistance in the Tourist City, New York: Routledge.

Cols, C. (2018), “L’Hospitalet descubre la ‘cara b’ del turismo”, El Periódico de Catalunya, August 24t. Retrieved from: https://www.elperiodico.com/es/

Città di Venezia (2018), #EnjoyRespect Venezia. Venice and its Lagoon UNESCO World Heritage Site, Vademecum for Sustainable Tourism.

Davis, R. C. and Marvin, G. R. (2004), Venice, the tourist maze. A cultural critique of the world’s most touristed city, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Dahles, H. (1998), “Redefining Amsterdam as a tourist destination”, Annals of Tourism Research, 25(1): 55-69.

D’Eramo, M. (2014) “UNESCOCIDE”, New Left Review, 88: 47-53.

De Lazzari, N. (2018), “Venezia, mangia un panino in campo per sfidare il divieto: multato”, La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre, October 11th, Retrieved from: https://nuovavenezia.gelocal.it/venezia

Dickinson, G. (2018), “Dear dictionaries, this is why 'overtourism' should be your 2018 word of the year”, The Telegraph, April 20th, Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Epler Wood, M., Milstein, M., Ahamed-Broadhurst, K. (2019), “Destinations at Risk: The Invisible Burden of Tourism”. The Travel Foundation.

Fernández, J.J. (2020), “Turistas extranjeros se enfrentan con la policía de Benidorm por cerrar los bares”, El Periódico, March 14th. Retrieved from: http://www.elperiodico.com

Ferrell, J. et. al. (2008), Cultural criminology, London: SAGE Publications.

Goffman, E. (1963), Stigma. Notes on the management of spoiled identity, New York: Touchstone.

Giuffrida, A. (2017), “Florence mayor aims to keep picnicking tourists at bay with hosepipes”, The Guardian, May 31th, 2017. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/

Henley, J. (2018), “Amsterdam to ban 'disrespectful' tours of red-light district”, The Guardian, March 20th, Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com

Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2005), “More than an ‘‘industry’’: The forgotten power of tourism as a social force”, Tourism Management, 27 (6): 1192-1208.

Holligan, A. (2019), “Tough times for Amsterdam sex business”. BBC. January 19th, 2019. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com

Hutton, M. (2018), “Overtourism in Kyoto reaches breaking point, with ‘half-naked hikers, trespassing travellers’ making life a misery for residents”, South China Morning Post, October 24th, Retrieved from: http://www.scmp.com

Jay, M. and Conklin, P. (2017), “Detroit and the political origins of the ‘broken windows’ policing”, Race & Class, 59(2): 26-48.

Kakissis, J. (2018), “In Amsterdam, even the tourists say there are too many tourists.” NPR, August 7th, Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org

Katyal, N. K. (2002), “Architecture as Crime Control”, The Yale Law Journal, 111(5): 1039-1139.

Lenzen, M. et. al. (2018), “The carbon footprint of global tourism”, Nature Climate Change, 8: 522-528.

Marcuse, P. (2014), “The paradoxes of public space”, Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38 (1): 102-106.

Mansilla, J.A. and Milano, C. (2018), ‘Introducción a la Ciudad de Vacaciones. Apuntes sobre el turismo y el malestar social en Barcelona’, Ciudad de Vacaciones. Conflictos urbanos en espacios turísticos. Barcelona: Pol•len Edicions, 19-79.

Matza, D. and Sykes, G. M. (1961), “Juvenile Delinquency and Subterranean Values”, American Sociological Review, 26(5): 712-719.

McKinsey and WTTC (2017), “Coping with Success: Managing overcrowding in tourism destinations”. McKinsey & Company and World Travel & Tourism Council. Retrieved from: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel-transport-and-logistics/our-insights/coping-with-success-managing-overcrowding-in-tourism-destinations

Milano, C. (2018), “Overtourism, malestar social y turismofobia. Un debate controvertido”, Pasos. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 16 (3): 551-564.

Parkinson, J. R. (2013), “How is space public? Implications for spatial policy and democracy”, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 31: 682-699.

Parr, S. (2009), “Confronting the reality of anti-social behavior”, Theoretical Criminology,13 (3): 363-381.

Roberts, A. (2013), The End of Protest. How free-market capitalism learned to control dissent, New York: Cornell University Press.

Russo, A.P. and Scarnato, A. (2018), “‘Barcelona in Common’ A new urban regime for the 21st-century tourist city”, Journal of Urban Affairs, 40 (4): 455-474.

Sampson, R. J. and Raudenbush, S. W. (2004), “Seeing Disorder: Neighborhood Stigma and the Social Construction of «Broken Windows»”, Social Psychology Quarterly, 67(4): 319-342.

Sennett, R. (2002 [1977]), The Fall of the Public Man, London: Penguin Books.

Sennett, R. (1990), The Conscience of the Eye: The Design and Social Life of Cities, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Sykes, G. M. and Matza, D. (1957), “Techniques of Neutralization”, American Sociological Review, 22(6): 664-670.

The Economist (2018), “How to dispose of human waste on Mount Everest”, The Economist, October 25th, Retrieved from: https://www.economist.com/

Thompson, J. P. (2015), “Broken Windows: The Origins of the ‘Broken Windows’ Policy”, New Labour Forum, 24 (2): 42-47.

Tonkiss, F. (2004), “Analysing text and speech: Content and discourse analysis”, in C. Seale (Ed.), Researching Society and Culture, London: Sage, 367-382.

Torres García (2016), “Cultural Keys to the Evolution of Spanish Urbanism”, Journal of Urban History, 45 (1): 44-66.

UNWTO (2018), “‘Overtourism’? Understanding and Managing Urban Tourism Growth beyond Perceptions”, Madrid: World Tourism Organization. Retrieved from: https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/10.18111/9789284420070

Whitnall, A. (2020), “Coronavirus: Tourists in India forced to write 'I am sorry' 500 times after breaching lockdown.”

Williams, R. (2008), “Night Spaces: Darkness, Deterritorialization, and Social Control”, Space and Culture, 11: 514-532.

Wilson, J. Q. and Kelling, G. L. (1982), “Broken Windows”, The Atlantic Magazine, March.

Yar, M. (2012), “Crime, media and the will-to-representation: Reconsidering relationships in the new media age”, Crime Media Culture, 8 (3), 245-260.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.
کاغذ a4
Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.