Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights 5 (2024) 100136

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Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights

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Considering urban tourism in strategic spatial planning

David Klepej a, b, *, Naja Marot a
a
Department of Landscape Architecture, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
b
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva ploščad 5, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Editor: Ksenia Kirillova This paper addresses how strategic spatial planning is considering urban tourism, a phenomenon that has an
increasing impact on the development of cities. A research approach interlinking urban tourism and spatial
Keywords: planning is conceptualised based on responsiveness theory and applied to a case study of ten medium-sized
Strategic spatial planning Central European cities. Descriptive statistical analysis of the presence of tourism in cities and policy analysis
Urban tourism
of strategic spatial planning documents enable a comparison analysis of the level of consideration of tourism
Medium-sized cities
alongside screening of proposed tourism-related measures. The paper reveals that strategic spatial planning
Central Europe
Responsiveness documents are not responsive enough to tourism growth, and there is a lack of strategic measures steering to­
Policy analysis wards sustainable tourism development in cities.

1. Introduction environments and their character (gentrification) (Amore, 2019), and

lower availability and rising prices of housing (Garza & Ovalle, 2019).
Recently, tourism has become one of the major drivers of develop­ These factors may lead to the degradation of the quality of life and space,
ment in cities. This is the result of solid promotions and investments in and could also result in resistance against urban tourism from local
urban tourism development (Heeley, 2011; Kotus, Rzeszewski, & communities as Colomb and Novy (2016), Füller and Michel (2014),
Ewertowski, 2015), as well as urbanisation, globalisation, affordable air Mihalič (2020) and others have reported with regard to mature urban
travel and accommodation, the popularisation of short and weekend destinations.
breaks, information access, and new tourism activities (Bock, 2015; IPK This is demonstrating a clear need to enable a more sustainable
International, 2015; Maitland & Newman, 2014; Nientied, 2021; Spirou, development of tourism in cities as well as in other settings. In addition,
2011; Zekan & Wöber, 2022). In the pre-pandemic period, urban travel a more comprehensive approach to tourism planning is necessary,
accounted for almost a quarter of all trips (IPK International, 2015). considering all three pillars of sustainable development, including the
Moreover, MasterCard (2019) reported a 76% growth in international society, economy and the environment. This furthermore reflects the
arrivals and a 91% growth in revenue in 200 urban destinations between need for spatial planning to increase its consideration on all levels.
2009 and 2018. Several European cities recorded higher than 10% Among other aspects, tourism should be acknowledged by the planning
annual growth rates of tourism, and medium-sized Central European sector via its integration into the strategic objectives of the urban plans
cities were among those with the highest growth rates (ECM, 2019). (Ashworth & Page, 2011; Rahmafitria, Pearce, Oktadiana, & Putro,
From being an ‘easy’ solution for the post-industrial transition into 2020), and measures should be put in place to mitigate its (negative)
service-based economies, urban tourism has, in many places, overtaken impacts, especially in light of the emergence of over-tourism and the
urban spaces, and has also conditioned urban design; causing negative global trends towards more sustainable tourism (González Domingo,
impacts on various aspects of life in cities without much thought on Jérémie, & Santos Lacueva, 2018). Contrary to a project-oriented plan,
sustainable efforts to development steering otherwise. Among such designed to serve as a blueprint for a specific outcome, strategic spatial
negative impacts are increased pollution, resource usage, and trans­ plans are concerned with gaining a better understanding of current and
portation demand (Albalate & Bel, 2010; Gössling, 2002; Russo et al., future problems to facilitate better decision making now, and in the
2020; Rutty, Hall, Gossling, & Scott, 2015), changes in provision of future (Dühr, Colomb, & Nadin, 2010). According to a study by Her­
services (touristification) (Freytag & Bauder, 2018; Nofre, Giordano, sperger et al. (2019), strategic spatial planning is increasingly used in
Eldridge, Martins, & Sequera, 2018), changes to physical urban urban regions to develop a coordinated approach for steering mid- and

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (D. Klepej), [email protected] (N. Marot).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annale.2024.100136
Received 10 August 2023; Received in revised form 12 April 2024; Accepted 16 April 2024
Available online 26 April 2024
2666-9579/© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
D. Klepej and N. Marot Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights 5 (2024) 100136

long-term development, also in light of the push towards increased negative development trends.
sustainability and a need for regions and cities to be responsive to As tourism literature does not address spatial planning, similarly,
sudden changes and development trends. spatial planning literature does not address tourism in proportion to its
With its increasing dominance in cites, urban tourism represents an growing impact on spatial development. Ashworth (1989, 2003, 2009)
excellent example through which to examine the (lack of) responsive­ was among the first to highlight the lack of attention given to the spatial
ness of the strategic spatial planning sector to changes in urban envi­ aspects of urban tourism, outlined four approaches to the study of urban
ronments. Responsiveness theory was first applied in area of political tourism (spatial analysis of tourism infrastructure, urban ecological
studies, primarily in relation to public opinion, citizens’ needs, and approach, user-centred approach, and policy analysis), and together
stakeholder analysis (Degner & Leuffen, 2020; Grimble & Wellard, with Page (Ashworth & Page, 2011), identified twelve research themes
1997; Stivers, 1994). It has since been used in many scientific areas, of urban tourism, including: management, planning, infrastructure,
including the built environment, spatial planning, and tourism (e.g. da impacts and case studies. Among other authors who have explicitly
Silva, Kernaghan, & Luque, 2012; Rauws & De Roo, 2016). This paper focused on the spatial planning aspects of urban tourism are Spirou
builds on the preposition that one way to achieve the objectives of (2011) on urban change, Hall and Page (2014) on geographical and
improved and more sustainable tourism development in cities is through social science perspectives of tourism, Maitland and Newman (2014) on
enhancing the ability to identify and deal with changes in urban spaces. new urban tourism forms, and Shoval (2018) on urban planning of
This can be done by improving the responsiveness of public policies, tourism in Europe. There has been significant development in the
including those related to strategic spatial planning, as discussed in research area in the last decade. According to a recent study by Page and
Rauws & De Roo (2016) and Tun et al. (2021). Herby, responsiveness Duignan (2023), there is an increased interest in urban governance,
should be understood as the ability of strategic spatial plan to detect and shared economy, overtourism, place-based tourism, and sustainable
enable adaptation to foreseen and unforeseen changes considering tourism. These topics are closely related to spatial planning and related
tourism presence and development in a given city. Improving links be­ development issues could be addressed through strategic plans.
tween these two sectors could result in higher quality and more sus­ Although there has been an increased focus on urban tourism concern­
tainable tourism development and presence in cities, as well as increase ing global south and developing regions, destinations in Central and
their resilience to abrupt changes. Furthermore, increased consideration Central East Europe still remain underrepresented in urban tourism
of tourism in strategic spatial planning could contribute to better dealing research (Kowalczyk-Anioł, 2023; Page & Duignan, 2023).
with tourism-related issues with spatial dimension, such as high density Despite calls for more holistic approaches, spatial planning in many
of tourism in historic centres, real estate market impacts, insufficient places is becoming increasingly sectoral, and tourism is only one of the
infrastructure development, tourisitification of services. sectors with a spatial dimension that is not adequately considered in
Taking these presumptions into account, qualitative statistical planning (Nadin et al., 2018). It can also be seen at the European level,
analysis, policy analysis, and comparative analysis are applied within that the tourism sector has not gained much attention in planning pol­
this study to address two respective research questions. First, how icies – the Territorial Agenda 2030, the latest spatial planning document
responsive is strategic spatial planning to the development of urban of the European Commission (2020), does not address tourism as a
tourism through its inclusion into strategic spatial planning documents? separate development activity but mentions it as a threat to housing
Secondly, what measures have these documents provided to steer affordability, as well as being a factor that impacts gentrification, social
tourism development and mitigate its potential negative impacts? exclusion and the protection of cultural and natural assets. At a local
Responsiveness theory (Chan et al., 2020; Degner & Leuffen, 2020; level, the construction and development of tourism infrastructure are
Rauws & De Roo, 2016; Salet & Woltjer, 2009) was applied to explore predominantly shifting into the domain of private investors, who put
the gap in steering urban tourism development through strategic spatial pressure on legislators, decision-makers and spatial planners with de­
planning in ten medium-sized Central European cities. Capital cities and mands to adapt spatial planning and other regulations. Planning regu­
regional centres with fewer than one million inhabitants were selected lation varies considerably between countries and cities (Adams, Alden,
to address calls for more insights into less researched urban destinations & Harris, 2006; Nadin et al., 2018); making it difficult to control both
in Europe and in Central Europe in particular (Esposito, 2023; Kowalc­ the acceleration of hotel construction and the growth of the sharing
zyk-Anioł, 2023), as most urban tourism research remains focused on economy in a unified manner.
the most prominent tourist destinations. Among such are London, Paris, Furthermore, tourism as a development trend presents certain un­
Barcelona, and Berlin (Colomb & Novy, 2016; Morrison & Maxim, 2022; certainties. It can lead to disproportionate negative impacts, for
Maitland & Newman, 2014; Shoval, 2018; Stors et al., 2019) or in instance; too much demand for space locally, or the economy becoming
Central Europe Vienna, Budapest, Venice, and Prague (Bertocchi & too mono-sectoral and consequently vulnerable to sudden changes (e.g.
Visentin, 2019; Kádár, 2018; Kadi, Plank, & Seidl, 2022; Russo, 2000; economic or health crises). Such issues could, however, be addressed
Smith et al., 2018). through the theory of responsiveness. This has first been introduced in
the area of political studies, calling for a more inclusive and democratic
2. Theoretical framework approach of governing, achieved through public opinion polls, stake­
holder analysis, and participation processes (Degner & Leuffen, 2020;
Despite the clear spatial dimension of tourism and its impacts, Grimble & Wellard, 1997; Stivers, 1994). With development and
existent scholarly literature on the development and management of application of the concept in other scientific areas, responsiveness is also
(urban) tourism (e.g. Edgell & Swanson, 2013; Hall, Gossling, & Scott, used to examine how a system as a whole or some of its actors respond to
2015; Heeley, 2011) rarely addresses issues pertaining to the spatial occurring changes. According to Tun et al. (2021), responsiveness of
development of this activity. Instead, it mostly focuses on tourism sta­ public systems can be achieved through detecting, recognising and
tistics, and economic and promotional aspects (Bertocchi & Visentin, adapting to (changing) needs and desires of citizens and other stake­
2019; Zmyslony, 2011). E.g., while highlighting the need for integrated holders. However, in light of a highly complex context of urban devel­
planning and management of tourism destinations, consideration of opment, changes occurring due to other processes should be addressed
sustainable development and the life cycle stages of a tourism destina­ as well. Therefore, responsiveness also means ‘an ability of (public)
tion (Butler, 1980), Hovinen (2002) does not address spatial planning. governance actors and policies to detect and adapt to foreseen and un­
Even literature focusing on the spatial distribution of tourism infra­ foreseen changes in the public domain’ (Degner & Leuffen, 2020;
structure and/or tourists (e.g. Kadi et al., 2022; Nientied, 2021; Shoval, Rauws, 2017; Salet, 2006; Salet & Woltjer, 2009). Even though re­
McKercher, Ng, & Birenboim, 2011) rarely addresses the potential role searchers have long pointed to the need for more responsive spatial
for spatial planning measures to improve the current situation or address planning (Nadin et al., 2018; Rauws, 2017; Salet & Woltjer, 2009), the

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extent to which cities are following these orientations is not known; Second selection criterion was the availability of statistical data pro­
especially in the case of the growing presence of tourism in cities. vided through the European Cities Marketing (ECM) Benchmarking
Indeed, existing literature on the responsiveness of spatial planning Report 2018–2019 (ECM, 2019). The report was considered relevant
and public governance is mainly concerned with the anticipation of since it supplies the comparable statistical data, including number of
multiple possible development scenarios and the variability of measures total bednights and international bednights, bed capacities, bed occu­
(Nadin et al., 2018; Rauws & De Roo, 2016; Salet, 2006; Vranić, Nikolić, pancy etc. for at the time 119 cities altogether. The list was arbitrary
Milutinović, & Velimirović, 2018), the tailoring of public administration narrowed to small and medium-sized central European cities with less
services to the needs of residents and other stakeholders (Chan et al., than one million inhabitants, similar spatial dimensions and tourist
2020; Mingus & Zhu, 2018; Rauws, 2017; Salet, 2006; Tun et al., 2021), numbers, for example Brno fell through as it is not in the report, but we
and the conditions and modalities for improving responsiveness to so­ found it relevant in the start. The last selection criterion was the
cial, technological and climate change (Luz et al., 2019; Nadin et al., approach to spatial planning and availability of strategic spatial plan­
2018; Rauws, 2017; Rauws & De Roo, 2016; Salet & Woltjer, 2009). ning documents at hand for the analysis. Hereby, we chose cities to
Tourism or other specific economic activities are not addressed in represent a variety of spatial planning systems and urban development
existing research so far, although the OECD (2018) has identified characteristics, altogether covering ten cities from eight countries;
improving the responsiveness of public administrations at all levels as Bratislava (Slovakia), Graz (Austria), Leipzig (Germany), Ljubljana
one of the priorities for the future development of tourism. Given this we (Slovenia), Maribor (Slovenia), Padua (Italy), Poznan (Poland), Turin
are applying responsiveness theory in this paper to better explain the (Italy), Zagreb (Croatia), and Zurich (Switzerland).
gap that exists between tourism and planning, and then to improve its For the selected cities the descriptive statistical analysis was per­
capacities of managing tourism in the city. formed in order to gather more insight into the state of urban tourism.
The paper further looks into the responses and measures strategic Urban tourism indicators, available in the ECM Benchmarking Report
spatial planning had put in place to steer the tourism development on a 2018–2019 (ECM, 2019), were supplemented by statistical data and
case study of ten Central-European cities. The state of the tourism in information from the official web pages of the cities (for official titles,
them was analysed using descriptive statistics and an overview of the political roles and strategic spatial planning documents), and additional
socio-political environment of each city is provided. Thereafter a stra­ secondary sources such as scientific articles. Secondary data was used to
tegic spatial planning document of each case study city was analysed as assess the cities’ urban tourism trends (e.g., growth and occupancy
a representation of the management and planning policy stance that rates), the scope of tourism therein (e.g. beds, bednights, airport pas­
exists within the same. Policy analysis, as a type of document analysis sengers per inhabitant), and the different developed types of tourism (e.
that looks into the content of policy documents, was performed to g. cultural, congress, elite). Furthermore, data on the number of in­
determine the responses of cities to the growing presence of tourism, and habitants was analysed alongside tourism statistics, the annual number
extract the measures being undertaken to guide its further development. of airport passengers, the number of international conferences that take
A scheme highlighting the applied research concept is presented in place within the selected cities, and the number of five-star hotels that
Fig. 1. each city possesses. The cities were also analysed and categorised ac­
cording to their status as national or subnational capital cities, UNESCO
3. Methods Creative City status or World Heritage sites, titles awarded by the Eu­
ropean Commission, and their predominant political orientation in the
The methods used are desk-based case study research with corre­ second half of the 20th century; the latter can indirectly indicate dif­
sponding descriptive statistical analysis, policy analysis and comparison ferences in spatial planning cultures (Knieling & Othengrafen, 2015),
analysis. A diagram of research approach is presented on Fig. 2. Before and EU and Schengen area membership, as this indicates the levels of
conducting the first step of the analysis, the cities in question needed to obstacles which may exist concerning international travel (Edgell &
be identified. The goal was to have a look at the situation of the cities in Swanson, 2013). The Fig. 3 represents the scope of tourism graphically
the Central Europe that are not the prime global urban destinations. while more detailed data is available in the supplementary data.

Fig. 1. Research concept.

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Fig. 2. Diagram of research approach consisting of three methods.

Fig. 3. Case study cities with selected characteristics and registered tourist bednights.

Policy analysis was performed via text analysis with the help of 15 The document analysis started with the extraction of policy main
indicators reported in three comparison tables; inclusion of tourism, development challenges and their prioritised development foci and
assessment of tourism, and measures for tourism development. The goals. Simultaneously, the structure and role of the analysed documents
policy analysis aimed to assess the representation of tourism in the were observed to address the (non)uniform characteristics of spatial
analysed strategic documents and to detect the measures that guide planning in Europe, in keeping with the views of Knieling and Othen­
tourism development in the selected cities. If the documents obtained grafen (2015). Then, the policy analysis focused on the level of inclusion
from the official website of the respective city authorities were available of tourism in the analysed strategic documents. This was done by
in English, the English versions were analysed (Leipzig, Poznan, Turin, screening the general presence of tourism in the development objectives
Zagreb and Zurich); otherwise, the local language version was used and the documents’ text, as well as occurrences of tourism as a separate
(Slovak for Bratislava, German for Graz, Slovene for Ljubljana and (sub)chapter, mention of tourism indicators, analysis of the current state
Maribor, and Italian for Padua). While eight documents are dealing with of tourism, tourism development objectives, and tourism-related prob­
the area of city municipality, the document of Padua is used to guide lems. Additional focus was given to spatial measures and guidelines for
development in the province, and the document of Turin for the tourism development in the individual cities’ urban environments. A
metropolitan region. summary of findings evaluated the scope and development trends of

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tourism in the case study cities, while the inclusion of tourism in the per inhabitant), which can be attributed to the airport’s status as a major
strategic documents enabled comparative analysis to be carried out with global hub. Other cities recorded similar numbers (approximately 4 to 5
regard to tourism presence in the cities. The (lack of) cross-sectoral passengers per inhabitant), except for Maribor, without regular flight
integration and the responsiveness of strategic spatial planning to the lines, and Padua without a passenger airport. The attractiveness of the
growth of urban tourism was evaluated by categorising values of in­ cities was also checked via the number of international events held
dicators into three categories; low, medium and high, and thereby within them and via reference to hotel exclusivity. Zurich had by far the
comparing the situation in the cities. highest number of five-star hotels, indicating its possession of devel­
oped, elite, and high-class tourism. These were less present in smaller
4. Tourism in the CASE study cities cities; Graz, Maribor and Padua have no such hotels, and Ljubljana has
only one five-star hotel, while the rest possess three to seven five-star
This section presents the selected cities and their performances as hotels. Congress tourism as a significant niche in urban tourism mani­
urban destinations. Tourism statistics, applied to evaluate the presence fests in many international conferences organised in the selected cities.
(volume and growth) of tourism in the cities are supplemented with data Ljubljana, Zurich and Zagreb hosted the most conferences; over 50 in
on tourism infrastructure and the cities’ socioeconomic and political each in 2019 (ICCA, 2019).
frameworks as urban destinations (see also Fig. 3). Each of the selected Most of the case study cities are active in acquiring international
cities had between 110,000 and 880,000 inhabitants (Statistik Austria, titles or events. Possession of such titles or hosting large events is often
2024; Eurostat, 2024; Statistics Poland, 2024) and registered between seen as a marketing tool that can put an individual city on the global
half a million and up to five million tourist overnight stays annually tourist map, e.g. the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona. So far, Graz (in
(ECM, 2019). According to ECM (2019), Bratislava, Leipzig, Ljubljana, 2003) and Maribor (in 2012) have been awarded the title of European
Padova, Turin, Zagreb and Zurich are premier league cities, registering Capital of Culture, Ljubljana was the 2016 European Green Capital, and
at least 1.5 million annual tourist bednights, while Graz, Maribor and Turin hosted the 2006 Olympic games. In addition to their marketing
Poznan are second division cities with a lower number of tourists. By potential, such award titles push cities to rethink their urban manage­
comparing the number of bednights to the number of inhabitants, the ment and the quality of their urban spaces, and often result in the
extent and intensity of tourism in the case study cities was assessed commissioning of various renovation projects, e.g., the Olympic games
(Table 4, indicator 4a). The highest ratio of tourist bednights per capita in London (Malchrowicz-Mośko & Rozmiarek, 2017).
was recorded by Zurich (12.8), followed by Padua (7.9), Ljubljana (7.5), Regarding their political contexts, the case study cities possess
Bratislava (6.2), Leipzig, and Turin (both 5.8). From this, it can be different historical paths and (political) roles in their countries; all can
argued that these cities are more prone to the emergence of overtourism. be seen as factors that impact tourist appeal. Seven cities are national
Under five bednights per capita were recorded by Graz (4.2), Maribor (Bratislava, Ljubljana and Zagreb) or subnational state capital cities
(4.1), Zagreb (3.2), and Poznan (2.7). (Graz, Poznan, Turin and Zurich). Three are UNESCO Creative Cities
Between 2014 and 2018, the number of registered bednights (Graz, Ljubljana and Turin), and five have UNESCO World Heritage Sites
increased in all the case study cities, but the growth rate differed (Graz, Ljubljana, Padua, Turin and Zurich). Historically, in the late 20th
significantly between them. For example, between 2014, while Graz and century, four cities (Graz, Padua, Turin, and Zurich) were predominately
Ljubljana both recorded a similar number of bednights, in 2018 Graz in a capitalist economic and political system. Three were in a socialist
recorded a 10% growth whilst Ljubljana’s numbers more than doubled (Ljubljana, Maribor, and Zagreb), and three were in a communist system
(ECM, 2019). In this period, the highest average annual growth rates (Bratislava, Leipzig, and Poznan). These differences are reflected in the
(Table 4, indicator 4b) were recorded in Ljubljana (21.8%), Maribor spatial planning regulations of the individual cities and the development
(17.8%), Zagreb (12.8%), and Bratislava (11.2%). Growth rates in Turin of their respective tourism sectors.
(6.1%), Poznan (6.0%), Padua (5.6%), and Zurich (4.7%) were close to
the average for European cities, while Graz recorded a significantly 5. Policy analysis
lower growth rate of 2.4%. International bednights accounted for the
majority of registered bednights in most cities, with the highest shares of The analysis of strategic spatial documents was conducted to
the same being recorded in Ljubljana (95%), Maribor (88%), and Zagreb examine the spatial planning approaches used to manage tourism and
(84%). The lowest shares were recorded in Leipzig (16%), Poznan, and identify associated problems. As already observed, there is no uniform
Turin (each around 25%); they are not main urban destinations in their approach to policy coverage between the individual cities as a result of
respective countries. the different planning cultures of European countries influencing how
Despite the strong growth trends of arrivals and bednights, bed ca­ well specific sectors are considered and integrated into spatial planning
pacity has not kept pace and has increased much slower (ECM, 2019). activities (Klepej, Ograjenšek, Krošelj, & Marot, 2022). The analysed
The occupancy rate in most cities was between 40% and 50% in 2018, documents (City of Zagreb, 2018; Degani et al., 2011; Heinig et al.,
slightly under the ECM Benchmark average of 51% (lowest in Turin at 2018; Inninger et al., 2013; Kilián, Horanská, Vlasák, Kulka, & Tremboš,
27%, and highest in Zurich at 60%). These numbers are still consider­ 2010; Kochalski et al., 2013; Kos et al., 2015; Mangili, 2015; Mestna
ably lower than in Barcelona, Rome, and Helsinki; the top European občina Ljubljana, 2018; Zurich City Council, 2016) vary in name, aims,
cities with over 75% occupancy. The scope of tourism infrastructure was authorities responsible for policy making and implementation, struc­
assessed by calculating the number of tourist beds per 100 inhabitants. ture, level of details, and foreseen measures. The difference is also seen
Again, Zurich scored the highest value (5.7), followed by Padua (4.6), in the administrative areas they cover: city municipalities, metropolitan
Turin (3.4), Zagreb (3.2), and Leipzig (3.1). Poznan, Ljubljana, and Graz areas, or territorial regions. Interestingly, the inclusion of SWOT anal­
had the lowest values (1.7, 2.2, and 2.8, respectively), and data for ysis as groundwork for the strategic documents was widespread, as it
Bratislava and Maribor was unavailable. All the case study cities have was used in Bratislava, Maribor, Poznan, and Zagreb.
seen a significant increase in tourist rentals of housing stock in recent Despite these differences, the selected cities seek, in their respective
years. This trend was enabled by the widespread use of shared economy strategic documents, to achieve similar development goals and objec­
platforms, e.g. Airbnb, and eased by slow development of traditional bed tives (see Table 1, indicator 1a). Most cities focus their long-term
capacities. As regulation of these renting platforms differ between cities development goals on improving economic development (described
and countries, it is hard to estimate the extent to which these capacities through keywords such as: developing, competitive, growing, opportu­
are included in official statistics. nities, revitalisation, entrepreneurship, innovation, knowledge-based
The global accessibility of the cities was evaluated using annual economy), increasing the sustainability of their urban environments,
airport passenger numbers. This figure was highest in Zurich (almost 80 improving the quality of their urban spaces, and enhancing their city’s

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Table 1
Development objectives and inclusion of tourism in analysed documents.
Indicators 1a Main document 1b Tourism as strategic 1c Tourism as 1d Sector addressing tourism 1e Tourism development
development objective orientation subchapter the most objectives
Cities

Bratislava Metropolis Yes Yes Economy Better utilisation and valorisation of

tourism potential
Graz High quality of life Minor No Internationalisation Development through cooperation
Leipzig Sustainable growth Minor No Internationalisation Attractive destination
Ljubljana Sustainable metropolis Yes No Economy European destination
Maribor Sustainable city of opportunities Partial Yes Tourism, culture and sport Tourism as integrative activity in the
city
Padua Socio-economic revitalisation Partial No Culture Factor in the development of quality
space
Poznan Metropolis Yes Yes Knowledge, culture, tourism International centre of culture and
and sport tourism
Turin Metropolis of opportunities Yes No Economy, assets Increased valorisation of tourism
potential
Zagreb Sustainability, entrepreneurship, Minor No Economy Improving tourism offer
new values
Zurich Sustainably developing Partial No Economy Further development
metropolis

governance/management. Most cities also strive to become open and the protection and valorisation of cultural heritage (Maribor, and
inclusive metropolitan (or cosmopolitan) cities of higher (global/ Padua).
transnational) importance. Some also target a better (or sustained) Regarding numeric tourism indicators, six of the analysed documents
quality of life for their inhabitants, while most do not challenge topics reported no tourism statistics as background or monitoring information
such as smart or digital cities. Main development goals were further (see Table 2, indicator 2a). However, this did not necessarily mean that
elaborated upon in detailed development topics and objectives. Most there was a lack of tourist indicators per se, as some documents (Graz,
cities have between four and six main development topics and objectives Padua, and Zagreb) disregarded numeric indicators for all policy sectors.
(however, they range from two to ten), and they are organised with All four documents with indicators on tourism (Bratislava, Maribor,
regards to strategic goals, development principles, sectors, and spatial Poznan, and Turin) included basic statistics on the changing number of
divisions - or a combination of these factors. tourists. Bratislava and Poznan also included statistics on accommoda­
Tourism was considered in all of the analysed strategic development tion and comparisons with other cities (Bratislava was compared with
documents, yet its extent varied significantly (indicator 1b). Four out of Budapest, Prague, and Vienna; Poznan was compared against the six
the ten cities stated that tourism was one of their strategic development largest Polish cities). Maribor included data on registered bednights, the
orientations, three addressed it partially, and further only ascribed a length of average stays, and statistics about visits to the main attractions
minor role to it (the sector was barely mentioned). Furthermore, none of and tourist information centres, whilst Poznan included the number of
the documents had tourism as a separate chapter, and only three cities’ fairs and flight connections.
documents (Bratislava, Maribor and Poznan) had a subchapter on Most cities assessed their tourism sector to be either underdeveloped
tourism development (indicator 1c). Since no single chapter addressed or growing (indicator 2b). Zurich is considered the number one desti­
tourism, other sectors associated with tourism were identified (indicator nation for foreign tourists visiting Switzerland, indicating mature
1d). Five out of the ten documents addressed tourism as an economic development stage of the destination. The analysed strategic documents
sector (Bratislava, Ljubljana, Turin, Zagreb, and Zurich), three of Leipzig, Padua, and Zagreb did not contain assessments of the state or
addressed tourism under the umbrella of culture (Maribor, Padua, and development trend of tourism. Furthermore, most documents did not
Poznan), and two included tourism under their internationalisation aims specify the developed or present types of tourism (indicator 2c). These
(Graz, and Leipzig). The main tourism development objectives (indica­ were only addressed (or at least perceptible) in the documents of five
tor 1e) were: destination building (Leipzig, Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Zur­ cities; ones that are seen to be established cultural tourism destinations.
ich), increased utilisation and valorisation of tourist and cultural assets On the other hand, all of the cities except for Graz and Zurich specified
(Bratislava, and Turin), and gaining multiplicative positive effects types of tourism to be developed (indicator 2d). Most mentioned were
through tourism as an integrative city development activity, as well as various activities of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing,

Table 2
Assessment of tourism in analysed documents.
Indicators 2a Tourism 2b Assessment of the tourism 2c Types of tourism developed 2d Types of tourism 2e Mentioning of
indicators (numeric) development phase to be developed tourism strategy
Cities

Bratislava Yes Underdeveloped Cultural, business, recreational, Congress, exhibition, fair, No

congress, exhibitions recreational
Graz None Underdeveloped Not specified Not specified Yes, local
Leipzig None None Not specified Congress, general Yes, regional
Ljubljana None Growing Not specified Events, sports No
Maribor Yes Underdeveloped, growing Cultural Sport, sustainable, cultural Yes, regional
Padua None None Cultural Sustainable agritourism, spa and No
wellness, fairs, events
Poznan Yes Underdeveloped Short-term business Cultural Yes, local
Turin Yes Underdeveloped, growing Cultural Cultural, target groups oriented Partial, local
Zagreb None None Not specified General, rural No
Zurich None Developed Not specified Not specified Yes, regional

6
D. Klepej and N. Marot Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights 5 (2024) 100136

exhibitions), followed by sports and cultural tourism. Other mentions area). Graz also emphasised the importance of connecting the wider
included sustainable tourism (Maribor), sustainable agritourism region into one tourist destination and the need to valorise – from a
(Padua), spa and wellness tourism (Padua), and rural tourism (Zagreb). tourist perspective - existing cultural, recreational, and ‘other’ offers in
Strategic spatial planning and urban development documents, the city’s wider area. Four cities planned to further develop and valorise
despite their multisectoral character, are only one of the policy areas their natural resources, namely: thermal water (Padua), river (Ljubljana
relevant to tourism at the selected planning level. Screening for inclu­ and Maribor), forests (Ljubljana and Zagreb), and agriculture (Padua
sion of other tourism-related strategic and planning documents revealed and Zagreb). Renovations, upgrades, and the further development of
that six of the ten analysed documents referred to other relevant docu­ sports infrastructure were empathised in Ljubljana, Maribor, and
ments (indicator 2e). Three documents (those of Graz, Poznan, and Poznan. Development or improvements of services, events, and pro­
Turin) mentioned local tourism development documents, while three motional activities were planned in Bratislava, Poznan, and Turin,
others (those of Leipzig, Maribor, and Zurich) emphasised regional and whilst Graz, Padua, Poznan, and Turin wanted to attract more tourists
inter-municipal cooperation in the development of tourism and tourist through their urban characteristics (e.g. architecture, culture, diversity,
destinations. In this way, they also identified the relevance of regional gastronomy). Maribor aimed to develop its airport, while Bratislava
development documents for tourism management. intended to better connect the airport to the city centre via public
Coverage of tourism-related problems varied significantly between transport. The documents of Leipzig and Zurich did not specify any
the rest of case study cities (see Table 3, indicator 3a). The documents of tourist infrastructure or attractors to be developed.
Graz, Leipzig, Padua, and Zagreb did not contain any evaluation of the Some of other spatial measures covered by the analysed documents
current state of their respective tourism sectors, and also did not refer­ included guidelines for the spatial development of tourism in the indi­
ence any problems related to them. In addition, the major issues that vidual cities (indicator 3e); in Bratislava, it was seen that new accom­
were noted with regard to Bratislava were outdated or inadequate modation facilities must be developed in compliance with the existing
infrastructure and uneven visitor patterns, which led to lower hotel urban fabric and the composition of tourist attractions throughout the
occupancy and, in turn, an excessive approach of providing discounts city; in Ljubljana, the tourism sector it was suggested that there was a
and promotions for weekend stays. Poznan recognised the city’s lack of a need to acknowledge natural and landscape typologies (the focus being
positive image (especially in terms of its international recognition), on the suburban and rural surroundings of the city); in Maribor, the
insufficient use of public infrastructure, and underutilised tourism po­ development of heritage, public space, cycling infrastructure etc., were
tential as significant problems. In Zurich, some leisure spaces and seen as areas that must be developed in cooperation with tourism pro­
landmarks have changed their functions due to competition between viders; whilst in Padua it was suggested that all real estate developments
different uses, and this may have caused uncertainty among residents. In must consider the overall historical-environmental context of the city,
Maribor, current (tourism) development patterns were seen to have potential archaeological discoveries, and cityscape vistas. Poznan noted
resulted in the (ongoing) ad hoc development of the city centre, a high its intention to reclaim degraded areas by increasing their attractiveness
number of tourism businesses ceasing operation, a lack of investment in and expanding tourism from the city centre into surroundings suburbs
infrastructure, and unclear destination tourist branding. The document and areas, and there was also discussion of the need to increase tourism
for Ljubljana pointed out that a large number of tourists (in combination stakeholders’ cooperation and improve tourism flow management;
with students and daily commuters) significantly increase the daily thereby motivating more tourists to visit the city.
population of the city (this could be an indication of overtourism in the
city) and also noted how this number should be considered as a de facto 6. Discussion
population of the city for planning and urban development purposes.
Diverse development orientations were also reflected in the various While cities strive to attract more tourists and benefit economically
measures which the respective documents suggested needed to be un­ from tourism, the increasing presence of tourism should also be
dertaken to improve tourist infrastructure and attractors, as well as the addressed in their mid- and long-term strategic plans. Therefore, this
tourist appeal of the individual cities (indicators 3b, 3c and 3d). Inter­ paper has tested two research questions; how responsive cities are to
estingly, new accommodation facilities were only planned in Bratislava urban tourism development through their strategic spatial plans, and
(focused on areas with good public transportation and near tourist at­ what specific measures these documents provide to steer tourism
tractions) and partially in Graz (focusing on a resort outside its urban development and mitigate its potential negative impacts. The

Table 3
Measures for tourism development in analysed documents.
Indicators 3a Recognised tourism related 3b Measures towards 3c Infrastructure 3d Attractors 3e Spatial
problems recognised problems to be developed to be developed measures
Cities

Bratislava Uneven accommodation New accommodation MICE infrastructure, New events and services Yes
occupancy, outdated accommodation, public
infrastructure transportation
Graz None None Tourist centre on the outskirts Diversified city centre None
Leipzig None None None None None
Ljubljana Increased daily population of the None Sport and tourism centres River mobility, urban forests, Yes
city surrounding settlements
Maribor Urban management, economy, Comprehensive planning, Airport, improving tourist and River space Yes
branding scattering of tourist activities sports infrastructure
Padua None None Geothermal tourist infrastructure Fairground Yes
Poznan Branding, urban management City image building New attractions, enriching sports Expending offer, better utilisation of Yes
and recreational facilities cultural heritage
Turin None None Not specified Promotion to target groups None
Zagreb None None Not specified Improving the tourism offer, None
agriculture that will encourage rural
tourism
Zurich Disappearing leisure spaces and None Not specified Not specified None
landmarks

7
D. Klepej and N. Marot Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights 5 (2024) 100136

responsiveness of strategic spatial planning to the growth of urban tourism industries of the case study cities. Cities’ main tourism devel­
tourism was evaluated by three value categories of indicators; low, opment goals are growth, higher utilisation and valorisation, and new
medium and high. First, the scope of presence (volume) and change infrastructure, all contradictory to sustainability principles itself.
(growth) of urban tourism in the case study cities was evaluated. While Based on these results, it can be concluded cities do not sufficiently
Zurich had significantly higher indicator values for the volume of consider urban tourism in their strategic spatial planning documents.
tourism (see Table 4, indicator 4a); Padua, Ljubljana, Bratislava, Leipzig, With regard to the first research question, there is a small to limited
and Turin also recorded over five bednights per inhabitant in 2018. responsiveness of strategic spatial planning to the development of urban
Based on the annual rise of registered bednights in period 2014–2018 tourism. Regarding the second research question, there is also an evident
(under 5%; 5–10%; above 10%), only Graz and Zurich recorded low lack of measures strategic spatial plans propose to ensure a sustainable
growth rates (indicator 4b). The growth rate was the highest in post- and responsible tourism presence in most case study cities. Despite the
communist and post-socialist cities that attracted the highest shares of significant differences among the case study cities and their strategic
international tourists (Ljubljana, Maribor, Zagreb and Bratislava). The spatial planning documents, all could improve the consideration and
latter have more recently fully embraced the international tourism collaboration between urban tourism development and spatial planning.
markets and are focusing more on active promotion, building positive At EU and global levels, there are already several handbooks on how to
image and recognition. They are more proactive to acquire awards and approach the management of urban destinations, such as guidelines for
promotion titles from the European Commission to increase their in­ the integrated quality management of urban tourist destinations (Eu­
ternational recognition and outreach, while other cities had more ropean Commission, 2000), guidelines for urban readiness and policy
UNESCO listings and titles. engagement regarding the current tourism status and typology of indi­
The results presented in Table 4 indicate that higher tourism pres­ vidual cities (WTTC & JLL, 2019), strategies for managing overcrowding
ence was acknowledged for the actual presence of tourism in urban (WTTC & McKinsey&Company, 2017), and a good practices handbook
space (columns “tourism in the city”) than in analysed policy documents (UNWTO, 2014; WTTC, 2019). These should be out in use while stra­
(columns “tourism in strategic documents”). Policy analysis of the tegic policy making and implementation, alongside new concepts and
strategic spatial planning documents showed a non-uniform approach to approaches in spatial planning, such as responsive, integrative or co-
strategic spatial planning and uneven integration of tourism. Docu­ evolutionary spatial planning.
ments’ content was screened considering three aspects of responsive­ Building on the recognised need for a better integration of urban
ness; perception of the tourism sector and its current impact on the city tourism into spatial planning, alongside examining smaller and
(indicator 4c), response to current state and trends in tourism (indicator emerging urban destinations (Bock, 2015; Esposito, 2023; Kowalczyk-
4d), and provision of tourism infrastructure corresponding to the growth Anioł, 2023; Shoval, 2018), this paper represents a novel approach to
of tourism (indicator 4e). Results show that in Bratislava, Maribor, and analysing the consideration of tourism development in strategic spatial
Poznan spatial planning sector is the most responsive to tourism growth, planning documents. An evaluation model is built upon the respon­
while some cities, like Graz, Leipzig, Zagreb, and Zurich are less siveness theory (Chan et al., 2020; Degner & Leuffen, 2020; Rauws & De
responsive. It can be generalised that post-socialist and post-communist Roo, 2016; Salet & Woltjer, 2009), and applied to study the cross-
cities not only experienced higher rates of tourism growth, but most of sectoral gap between tourism and spatial planning. Responsiveness
them also consider tourism strategically in more details in their docu­ theory is also aligned with building capacities of cities for sustainable
ments (except Zagreb). and resilient development and planning, enabling them better pre­
Strategic spatial planning documents were also analysed regarding paredness for facing current and future challenges. Applied approach
specific measures for steering tourism development and mitigating its can be used also to study responsiveness of other strategic documents or
potential negative impacts (see Table 3). Results show that spatial management models, as the same approaches could be applied to other
planning measures intended to guide tourism development are mostly activities and changes in urban space (e.g. digitalisation, mobility,
absent, and there is a general a lack of direction for tourism growth. climate resilience, population changes).
However, documents of Bratislava and Maribor provided detailed However, there are several limitations to this study that need to be
tourism-development-related measures, while half of the cities did not acknowledged. First limitation is related to the nature of data available
provide any at all (indicator 4d). Though general measures are mostly and selection of case study cities. As the purpose was to deepen the
lacking, cities are more proactive regarding the development of tourism knowledge on Central European cities, the results are mostly valid for
infrastructure and attractors (indicator 4e), as four (Bratislava, Ljubl­ this geographical area due to the existing spatial planning systems,
jana, Maribor and Poznan) have a high, and two (Padua and Turin) have planning culture and tourism development trends. Second limitation
a medium level of developmental drive. Cities tend to ignore the nega­ concerns the selection of documents which was now focused on spatial
tive impacts of urban tourism and are not strategically equipped to planning documents, as spatial planning was in the focus of the research.
address them. Despite sustainability being one of the primary growth In the future it would certainly be of interest to analyse in the same
orientations in the examined documents, this does not resonate with the manner other sectoral policy documents and check if they are more

Table 4
Comparison of tourism presence in case study cities and in their analysed strategic documents.
Indicators Tourism in the city Tourism in strategic document

4a Volume of tourism 4b Growth rate 4c Integration of tourism 4d Provision of measures 4e Developmental drive
Cities

Bratislava Medium High High High High

Graz Low Low Low Low Low
Leipzig Medium Medium Low Low Low
Ljubljana Medium High Medium Medium High
Maribor Low High High High High
Padua Medium Medium Medium Medium Medium
Poznan Low Medium High Medium High
Turin Medium Medium Medium Low Medium
Zagreb Low High Low Low Low
Zurich High Low Low Low Low

8
D. Klepej and N. Marot Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights 5 (2024) 100136

responsive towards urban tourism. To overcome these limitations, the could be performed, most likely by using interviews or structured
model could be applied to other cities as well and in this way broaden questionnaires targeted at representatives of the individual cities. It
the geographical scope of the research. Furthermore, the desk analysis would also be of further interest to compare the interplay between the
could be accompanied by the interviews to fill in for the gap on data on tourism and spatial planning for the larger cities - the so-called urban
how the relevant stakeholders perceive the urban tourism growth and tourism frontrunners – and the cities that were in the focus of this
might pursue activities that are responsive to it, though this might not be research to see if the size of the city and of the governance apparatus is a
foreseen in the strategic documents per se. factor relevant to the research question on responsiveness.

7. Conclusion Funding sources

As tourism is increasingly present in cities regardless of their size, its This study has been carried out within a junior research project on
impacts to urban environment require adequate responses from all urban tourism [junior research programme, duration October
spheres of urban governance, including strategic spatial planning. This 2019–September 2023, researcher number 53619] and the research
paper examines how strategic spatial planning responded to the rapid project MESTUR - Analysis of territorial and social impacts on urban
growth of the urban tourism phenomenon since 2010, and how cities tourism and territorial governance: the cases of Ljubljana and Maribor
were strategically prepared for tourism as an ongoing and growing ac­ [call number 6316–9/2019–1197 and project code J7–1823, duration
tivity in the city leaving a significant footprint in urban space as well. July 2019–June 2022]; both funded by the Slovenian Research and
The research shows that tourism increasingly influences the selected Innovation Agency.
cities and is an important factor in their (spatial) development. The
article builds upon the responsiveness theory to develop a model for CRediT authorship contribution statement
evaluation of strategic spatial planning documents. Looking at the
selected cities and evaluation results it can be concluded that no matter David Klepej: Writing – original draft, Visualization, Methodology,
their spatial planning system or the type of existing strategic documents, Investigation, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. Naja Marot: Writing
in the field of spatial planning cities are not strategically prepared to – review & editing, Project administration, Methodology, Funding
manage tourism growth and its impacts, or to appropriately respond to acquisition, Conceptualization.
the changes this growth imposes on the urban area.
It can therefore be concluded, with regard to the first research
question, that there is small to limited responsiveness of strategic spatial Declaration of competing interest
planning to the development of urban cities. As a recommendation to the
first finding, the cities should establish monitoring systems to follow the None.
urban tourism growth and its impacts. More data input could lead to
more sustainable and controlled development. Second recommendation Acknowledgements
is that cities should promote greater collaboration between urban
tourism development and spatial planning, as well as broader stake­ This study has been carried out within the research project MESTUR -
holder inclusion in processes of urban development, intercity coopera­ Analysis of territorial and social impacts on urban tourism and territorial
tion, and the implementation of appropriate development guidelines. governance: the cases of Ljubljana and Maribor and a junior research
The selected cities’ planning departments should also better consider the project on urban tourism; both funded by Slovenian Research and
solutions that could be realised through newer types of spatial planning, Innovation Agency.
such as integrative and co-evolutionary planning, which provide tools
for on-going dialogues between sectors and the joint preparation of Appendix A. Supplementary data
strategies and measures. Instead, most cities focus on tourism’s general
development (growth) and do not include tourism-related problems or Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
appropriate measures to minimise them. org/10.1016/j.annale.2024.100136.
Corresponding to this are also findings concerning the measures to
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David Klepej holds a Master’s degree in Spatial Planning and is a PhD candidate in spatial
Stors, N., Stoltenberg, L., Sommer, C., & Frisch, T. (2019). Tourism and everyday life in
and environmental studies at Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, focusing
the contemporary city. In Tourism and Everyday Life in the Contemporary City..
on urban development policies and urban tourism.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429507168-1
Tun, S. K. T., Lowatcharin, G., Kumnuansilpa, P., & Crumpton, C. D. (2021). Considering
the responsiveness, accountability and transparency implications of hybrid Naja Marot holds PhD in urban and spatial planning. She teaches Tourism and Recreation,
organization in local governance: A comparison of public service provision and Regional Planning. Her research is on urban tourism, regional planning, policy
approaches in Myanmar and Thailand. Asia-Pacific Social Science Review, 21(2), analysis and Territorial Impact Assessment. Both authors work at the Department of
125–142. Landscape Architecture at Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana.

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