Tourism Geographies Podcast25 Apr 2025

Land of sky and tourists: impacts of tourism in Asheville, North Carolina

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2025.2464101

Abstract

This study analyzed tourism history, management, and impacts in the city of Asheville in Western North Carolina, a prime tourism location for over a century. First marketed for its healthful mountain air in the mid-1800s, its proximity to the famed Blue Ridge Mountains remains one of the city’s major attractions. Over the years, Asheville expanded its tourism opportunities and now sits atop dozens of ‘Top 10’ lists. With over 10 million annual visitors, residents have expressed concerns about the repercussions of tourism, including increased cost of living, decreased quality of life, impaired access to natural and cultural sites, and degraded ecosystems. This research explored tourism management and its impacts in Asheville and on residents through an extensive literature review and interviews. Using a regenerative tourism lens, this study developed recommendations for Asheville’s tourism management. To address the growing overtourism repercussions, it is recommended that Asheville take steps toward more sustainable and regenerative tourism management and development. Proposed solutions are presented, including implementing a sustainability pledge, creating a destination stewardship management body, engaging the community, redistributing occupancy tax revenue, and educating visitors. These proposed solutions may apply not only to the situation in Asheville, North Carolina, but also in similarly sized tourism destinations globally that are striving for resilient, regenerative tourism.

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Episoder(150)

Critical localisms and commons governance in occupied surfscapes

https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2594716AbstractThe niche field of critical surf studies examines localism as a ubiquitous phenomenon wherein experiences of place and belonging are negotiated thr...

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https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2582648AbstractMass-tourism destinations are under criticism for intensifying climate risk, biodiversity loss, and social inequities, yet practical alternatives r...

24 Apr 40min

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https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2578620AbstractOkinawa prefecture is an archipelago in southwestern Japan. This article examines the urban musical soundscape of Kokusai Street in Naha City, Okin...

17 Apr 39min

Navigating the Galápagos paradox: tourism growth management discourses in protected areas

https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2582669AbstractIn tourism literature and practice, pro-growth tourism management discourses argue that tourism growth can decouple from its negative impacts throu...

10 Apr 39min

Tourism destination development: the tourism area life cycle model

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2024.2325932AbstractThe tourist area life cycle has been in existence for over four decades since its publication in The Canadian Geographer and w...

3 Apr 57min

Polar tourism and the changing geographies of the Arctic and the Antarctic regions

https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2462777AbstractThe polar areas have long endured as an exotic playground for adventure in the wilderness. Tourism figures have remained low and hence the regions ...

27 Mar 41min

Macro level geoarbitrage and digital nomad policymaking in Portugal

https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2598624AbstractPortugal has become one of the most popular countries for digital nomadism in Europe, with Lisbon being a top-rated destination. The global digital...

20 Mar 30min

Tourism, creative destruction, and the political economy of urban transformation in Beirut

https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2580393AbstractThis paper combines Schumpeter’s creative destruction concept with Harvey’s urban capital circulation theory to investigate the influence of politi...

13 Mar 35min