Overtourism in the Context of the Global Housing Crisis

Overtourism is associated with a crisis in housing; principally the shortage of affordable housing, but also the cultural implications of this. The emphasis on housing is something distinct about an otherwise indistinct term. The rise of peer-to-peer accommodation platforms, plus the intensification of a pre-existing global housing crisis post the 2008 financial crisis, has brought tourism’s role in housing to the fore. This is commonly seen in terms of the financialization of housing – housing playing the role of financial asset first, a home and community second. Yet addressing the global housing crisis requires a step change in the supply of homes, and this in turn requires economic growth and prosperity, something tourism can contribute to. This chapter reflects on this paradox and argues that it is more useful to conceive of the issues in terms of good growth versus bad growth rather than, as it is often framed, growth versus degrowth.