THS3FUT: From Conflict to Coexistence: A Strategic Response to Overtourism in Barcelona

This assessment required the development of a 1,500-word case study on overtourism in a specific Spanish destination. The task focused on four clear objectives: (1) describing the chosen destination’s popularity and current tourism status, (2) analyzing tourist-resident interactions using Fan’s (2023) Social Contact Development model, (3) evaluating the relationship type via Fan’s (2023) Relationship Axis, and (4) recommending innovative, trend-aligned strategies to mitigate negative impacts while enhancing tourism opportunities. This report fully addressed the brief by selecting Barcelona, a high-profile case of overtourism, supported by recent statistics and scholarly sources. The social contact model was applied to explore antecedents of interaction, such as cultural differences, surface-level engagement, and tourism structures. The resident-tourist relationship was positioned between conflict and coexistence, based on evidence of social tensions, protests, and economic strain. In response, the report provided well-researched, future-oriented solutions such as AI-driven tourist flow management, community-led micro-tourism, gamification of sustainable behaviors, AR/VR alternatives to physical visits, and urban infrastructure investments. These recommendations were linked to academic literature and grounded in real-world applicability, fulfilling both the theoretical and practical components of the assignment.