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The destination lifecycle revisited: Navigating overtourism and fostering sustainable growth in a post-pandemic world
WebinarOnline

The destination lifecycle revisited: Navigating overtourism and fostering sustainable growth in a post-pandemic world

  • 09:00–09:55 UK time55 minutes
  • Online, on Zoom, inside ScholardemiaRegister, then join on this page from 08:50. How to join
  • Richard ButlerConvened by Prof. Eugenia Wickens

How can lifecycle thinking help destinations respond to overtourism, changing demand and environmental limits?

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About this event

Speaker update, 2 October 2026: Richard Butler is confirmed as the academic speaker. The industry speaker will be announced once confirmed.
Destinations may experience growth, consolidation, renewal or decline, but their trajectories rarely follow a simple sequence. This webinar revisits destination life cycle theory in relation to overtourism, climate vulnerability and structural changes following the pandemic. It considers how established models can support diagnosis without being treated as fixed predictions. Particular attention will be given to the spatial and seasonal character of tourism pressure, since conditions can differ sharply among neighbourhoods, attractions and resident groups within one destination.
Panellists will analyse market diversification, longer seasons, visitor dispersal and destination repositioning. The discussion will ask whether these strategies reduce pressure or move environmental and social costs to places with less capacity to manage them. It will examine housing, infrastructure, public space, ecosystem limits and resident attitudes as evidence of destination health. Growth will be considered as one possible objective rather than an unquestioned measure of success, and alternatives such as stabilisation or managed reduction will be discussed.
Participants will gain diagnostic tools for comparing visitor demand with social and ecological capacity. They will learn to identify relevant scales of analysis, establish locally meaningful thresholds and evaluate how interventions affect different communities over time. The session will also consider governance arrangements that allow policy to change when evidence indicates that a strategy is failing. Delegates will be equipped to use life cycle concepts critically while developing destination policies based on resident wellbeing, environmental limits and the quality rather than the volume of tourism activity. This makes theoretical models useful for practical policy decisions.

How to join

This webinar runs on Zoom. You join it here on Scholardemia, where the meeting opens inside the page with the chat, questions and polls beside it. You do not need a Zoom account or a Zoom link.

  1. RegisterFree, with your Scholardemia account.
  2. Come back on the dayThe room opens at 08:50 on Friday 15 January. We email you reminders with the Join button 24 hours and 1 hour before.
  3. Press JoinSign in with the same account. The meeting opens here, with questions, polls and the group chat beside it.

Use an up-to-date Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox. Allow sound when your browser asks, and use headphones if you can.

Featured speakers

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Richard Butler

Professor Emeritus · University of Strathclyde

Scholardemia
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The destination lifecycle revisited: Navigating overtourism and fostering sustainable growth in a post-pandemic world

WebinarOnlineSession 8 of 29

How can lifecycle thinking help destinations respond to overtourism, changing demand and environmental limits?

  • 09:00–09:55 UK time
  • Online, on Zoom, inside Scholardemia · 55 minutesRegister, then join on this page from 08:50. How to join
  • Richard ButlerConvened by Prof. Eugenia Wickens

About this webinar

Speaker update, 2 October 2026: Richard Butler is confirmed as the academic speaker. The industry speaker will be announced once confirmed.
Destinations may experience growth, consolidation, renewal or decline, but their trajectories rarely follow a simple sequence. This webinar revisits destination life cycle theory in relation to overtourism, climate vulnerability and structural changes following the pandemic. It considers how established models can support diagnosis without being treated as fixed predictions. Particular attention will be given to the spatial and seasonal character of tourism pressure, since conditions can differ sharply among neighbourhoods, attractions and resident groups within one destination.
Panellists will analyse market diversification, longer seasons, visitor dispersal and destination repositioning. The discussion will ask whether these strategies reduce pressure or move environmental and social costs to places with less capacity to manage them. It will examine housing, infrastructure, public space, ecosystem limits and resident attitudes as evidence of destination health. Growth will be considered as one possible objective rather than an unquestioned measure of success, and alternatives such as stabilisation or managed reduction will be discussed.
Participants will gain diagnostic tools for comparing visitor demand with social and ecological capacity. They will learn to identify relevant scales of analysis, establish locally meaningful thresholds and evaluate how interventions affect different communities over time. The session will also consider governance arrangements that allow policy to change when evidence indicates that a strategy is failing. Delegates will be equipped to use life cycle concepts critically while developing destination policies based on resident wellbeing, environmental limits and the quality rather than the volume of tourism activity. This makes theoretical models useful for practical policy decisions.

How to join

This webinar runs on Zoom. You join it here on Scholardemia, where the meeting opens inside the page with the chat, questions and polls beside it. You do not need a Zoom account or a Zoom link.

  1. RegisterFree, with your Scholardemia account.
  2. Come back on the dayThe room opens at 08:50 on Friday 15 January. We email you reminders with the Join button 24 hours and 1 hour before.
  3. Press JoinSign in with the same account. The meeting opens here, with questions, polls and the group chat beside it.

Use an up-to-date Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox. Allow sound when your browser asks, and use headphones if you can.

Speaker and convenor

Prof. Richard Butler

Presenter

University of Strathclyde

Scholardemia profile

Prof. Eugenia Wickens

Convenor

OTS Academy

United Kingdom

Professor Eugenia Wickens edits the Journal On Tourism & Sustainability (JOTS) and the Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (JTHE), and chairs Scholardemia webinar sessions. Her research covers tourist experience and typologies, tourism routes and rural development, volunteer tourism, and event and cultural tourism. Formerly Reader in Tourism at Buckinghamshire New University, she has helped plan tourism education in Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Serbia, Greece, Ireland and Turkey.

Scholardemia profileORCIDGoogle Scholar

Organised by Scholardemia.

Committee

Organising Committee

Operational leadership and event delivery team.

Prof. Eugenia Wickens

Convenor

OTS Academy

United Kingdom

Professor Eugenia Wickens edits the Journal On Tourism & Sustainability (JOTS) and the Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (JTHE), and chairs Scholardemia webinar sessions. Her research covers tourist experience and typologies, tourism routes and rural development, volunteer tourism, and event and cultural tourism. Formerly Reader in Tourism at Buckinghamshire New University, she has helped plan tourism education in Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Serbia, Greece, Ireland and Turkey.

Scholardemia profileORCIDGoogle Scholar

Scholardemia

Organizer

Event committee

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Next in this series

All 29 sessions
  1. Fri 22 Jan16:00The soul of tourism: Anthropological perspectives on cultivating true destination stewardshipSession 9
  2. Fri 29 Jan14:00Planning for resilient destinations: Integrating cultural heritage, rural tourism and community-led strategiesSession 10
  3. Fri 5 Feb15:00Heritage on the frontline: Community-based tourism, cultural preservation and the geopolitics of sacred sitesSession 11
  4. Fri 12 Feb09:00The economics of well-being: Crafting tourism policies that benefit destinations, residents and the bottom lineSession 12