Short-Term Rental Development and Overtourism

Abstract

The boom of short-term rental (STR) intensifies the debate on overtourism because of some negative effects on destinations. Conversely, the STR was a way out in moments of crisis. Until now, only a few studies extend the analysis outside the limits of individual cities; that's why this case-study research was conducted by the analyses of Airbnb listings and the tourists' spatial distribution in Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA). For this purpose, this chapter uses two cartographic tools: 1) Airbnb listing from Inside Airbnb Project of Lisbon and 2) Geotaggers' World Atlas (map of sites that tourists took photos). Also, institutional Lisbon urban planning plans fed this study. Methodologically, combining the selected maps is a way to understand tourism spatial analysis by bringing together data on supply-side (rooms) and demand-side (distribution of tourists). The analysis demonstrates that a time-spatial distribution of visitors and the STR throughout the LMA could contribute to avoiding tourism congestion and proper distribution of economic benefits.