Eve Hou

Sustainable Tourism Transition

The first attempt to define “overtourism” was in August 2016, in an article from Rafat Ali entitled “Foreword: the coming perils of overtourism”(Dickinson, 2018). Edinburgh has been named one of the world's most serious ‘over-tourism hotspots'(Ferguson, 2019). There is no denying that tourism has boosted Edinburgh's economy, but it has also caused problems, such as overcrowding in the city centre, damage to the environmental heritage, a poor tourist experience, and a negative impact on the lives of residents. This project addresses how to reduce the negative impact on the environment, society, and economy from over-tourism through transition design and explores the pathway of sustainable tourism.

Based on art space research on over-tourism in Edinburgh, lack of management is the key factor resulting in these issues, especially the festival in August. Changing the installation can directly affect people’s behaviour. So, the transition design of this project uses the existing transport system through design by distributing and designing a new form for the festival show to attract people to explore places other than the city centre. Furthermore, this transition design proposal might raise awareness of over-tourism and sustainable tourism.