New Paradigms in Urban Tourism Policy? On Persistence and Change in Berlin and Amsterdam

Keywords: policy paradigms, urban tourism, governance, overtourism, Berlin, Amsterdam
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 30

Abstract

Urban tourism has become a highly dynamic and controversial policy field. Even before the challenges caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic emerged, there had been extensive discussions in many European cities about the urgency of a long-term and sustainability-oriented development strategy. In order to examine in depth the impacts of both overtourism and undertourism and their significance for future tourism development, this paper proposes an analytical framework that substantially draws on the theoretical debate on policy paradigms (Hall 1993, Baumgartner 2014, Hogan and Howlett 2015). Embedded in a qualitative-interpretive and comparative research approach, policy paradigms – seen as a framework of ideas and standards policy-makers work within, that specify the goals and instruments of policies – is used as a term that structures the analytical field of investigation and identifies explanations for policy change or persistence. Based on initial findings from empirical fieldwork conducted before and during the pandemic in Berlin and Amsterdam, the paper analyses on the one hand in what manner certain perceptions have changed in the aftermath of the pandemic, which foster ideas for change towards sustainable tourism. On the other hand, observable policy activities in both cities show an adherence to traditional development strategies, which reinforces the assumption of a (still) predominant growth-oriented policy paradigm. In conclusion, it will be discussed how these findings correspond to the ideas of a desirable paradigm shift towards a post-capitalist tourism.