New publication: Journal article on escalation levels of measures within visitor management

In times of overcrowding, successful visitor management is essential for destination management organizations in order to promote sustainable tourism development. The German Institute for Tourism Research (DI Tourismusforschung) and its partners have therefore been working on the conceptualization, validation and – in the case of AIR – implementation of an effective digital visitor management system as part of the current research projects “State-wide digital visitor management for tourism in Schleswig-Holstein” (LAB-TOUR SH) and “AI-based recommender for sustainable tourism” (AIR) since the beginning of 2022. Through a cooperation between DI Tourismusforschung of FH Westküste University of Applied Sciences and NIT Kiel, these projects have resulted in a journal contribution on measures and their escalation stages within visitor management. Based on the responsiveness of visitors and visitor pressure, i.e. the number of people in a small area at the same time, different visitor management measures are required. These range from the provision of information, nudging and recommendations to occupancy-based pricing and reservations through to the highest escalation level of stopping the flow of visitors (information, nudging & recommendation, pricing, reservation, stop). The conceptual framework is designed to support destination management organizations in selecting the appropriate visitor management measures for the sustainable development of their destination. Always in view: The overarching goal of equalizing visitor flows so that the effects of overcrowding can be avoided or mitigated. The recently published, freely available article “The INPReS Intervention Escalation Framework for Avoiding Overcrowding in Tourism Destinations” is part of the Special Issue “New Roles and Responsibilities of the Future DMO: Beyond Marketing towards Integrative Management and Stewardship” of the Tourism and Hospitality Journal. To read the paper: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/4/2/17 Further information on the Labtour SH project and AIR can be found at https://di-tourismusforschung.de/de/details-zu-projekte/landesweites-digitales-besuchermanagement-fuer-den-tourismus-in-schleswig-holstein-labtour-sh and https://di-tourismusforschung.de/de/details-zu-projekte/ai-basierter-recommender-fuer-nachhaltigen-tourismus-air