Zsuzsanna Kara (p), Márta Konczos Szombathelyi, Gergely Tamás Kucsera

Zvonimir Kuliš

Objective and topic
The aim of this study is to explore the evolving role of sustainability in the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) programme, to highlight its transformation from a cultural prestige initiative to a model integrating ecological responsibility. Over nearly four decades, ECoC has shifted from an economic and tourism-driven cultural investment into a framework increasingly focused on sustainable urban transformation. Initially, cities leveraged the title for branding and tourism growth, but post-2010 editions have emphasized ecological consciousness and participatory urban development. This research examines these shifting urban paradigms, focusing on Veszprém-Balaton 2023.
Methods and data
The study employs an interdisciplinary approach, combining different methods (literature review, data analysis, case studies) to assess the sustainability impacts of ECoC programmes. Key focus areas include brownfield revitalization, sustainable mobility, urban ecological participation, and cultural resilience. Case studies demonstrate how former industrial sites can be repurposed into sustainable cultural hubs. Prior analyses of cultural-ecological strategy of Pécs 2010, Guimarães 2012 and Essen/Ruhr 2010 highlight both the potential and challenges of integrating sustainability within ECoC projects.
Results and conclusions
Findings indicate that ECoC programmes are increasingly catalysts for sustainable urban transformation. While earlier editions focused on large-scale infrastructure investments, later projects emphasize ecological impact and cultural participation. Veszprém-Balaton 2023 introduced sustainability initiatives such as the ECoC train ticket, electric bike-sharing, and reusable cup-programme, reducing the city’s environmental footprint. The Zero Footprint Zone and community recycling initiatives encouraged citizen participation, while the Barn Programme integrated rural cultural heritage into urban spaces.
From a broader perspective, the shifts in ECoC strategy align with wider European policy trends, including the European Green Deal and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Analysis of recent ECoC projects ‒ such as Esch 2022’s urban green strategies and Tartu 2024’s eco-tourism initiatives ‒ reveals that the programme is increasingly incorporating sustainability indicators into cultural development. However, challenges persist in balancing cultural programming with ecological goals.
Authenticity/Added Value
This study contributes to the discourse on culture-based sustainability by providing a long-term perspective on how ECoC has integrated ecological concerns. By synthesizing historical patterns and contemporary best practices, it offers a framework for sustainable cultural policies, reinforcing the role of cultural events as drivers of ecological urban planning.
Future Research Directions
Further studies could explore the long-term sustainability of ECoC projects, their post-event urban resilience, and the development of standardized sustainability metrics for cultural mega-events, ensuring lasting impact beyond economic and touristic growth.

Zvonimir Kuliš (p), Blanka Šimundić, Vinko Muštra(p)

Jaewon Lim

This paper explores the theory of tourism-led growth, which posits that tourism can serve as a significant driver of economic development, particularly in regions with abundant natural and cultural resources. However, the phenomenon of regional development traps complicates this narrative, as regions may become overly reliant on tourism, leading to economic vulnerabilities and social disparities. A regional development trap refers to a situation where certain regions fail to achieve economic growth and development due to various structural, institutional, or resource-related constraints (Iammarino et al., 2020; Diemer et al., 2022; Rodríguez-Pose et al., 2024). Since excessive specialization in tourism can result in diminishing returns, as the industry is often labor-intensive and experiences limited technological advancement (Deng et al., 2014) tourism can both alleviate and exacerbate these traps, depending on how it is integrated into the broader regional economy. This raises important questions about the sustainability of tourism-led growth and the potential for regions to become trapped in cycles of dependency that hinder broader economic diversification.
While the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH) has been widely studied, particularly at the national level, there remains a significant lack of empirical evidence and theoretical exploration concerning regional dynamics and the potential traps that can arise from an over-reliance on tourism. Addressing this research gap requires a more comprehensive approach that considers regional dynamics, the potential for economic dependency, and the need for disaggregated analyses. In line with this, the aim of this study is to investigate the intricate relationship between regional development traps and tourism specialization.
To achieve this, we calculate the modified regional development trap for NUTS 2 regions and employ tourism specialization measures, thus providing the spatial econometric analysis in exploring the dynamics of tourism specialization and its effects on regional economic performance. Ultimately, this study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how tourism can be both a catalyst for growth and a potential trap, emphasizing the need for balanced, sustainable approaches to regional development that leverage tourism's strengths while addressing its inherent challenges.

Jaewon Lim (p), Karima Kourtit, Peter Nijkmap

Matías Mayor

Many popular tourism destinations across the world suffer from over-tourism. An overdose of tourism activities may degrade the quality of the destinations’ tourism resources, negatively impact the quality of life or historic ambiance, or even cause severe tension between tourists and residents. One of the currently popular tourism demand control measures is de-marketing. In practice, it is often implemented through “re-oriented” and “de-concentrated” de-tourification. Spatial complementarity of tourist services across broadly defined regions that offer a wide variety of attractive tourism products is a key to “de-concentrated” de-tourification. In principle, urban mass tourism destinations may then partner with their neighboring rural (less crowded) communities to re-orient and better control the excessive demand. The adjacent rural areas, offering inter alia green- and eco-tourism, also benefit from the changing demand from nearby urban destinations.
However, two major challenges for such collaboration among neighboring partners should be addressed. First, tourism is a multi-stakeholder industry and conflicts of interest among the stakeholders are common, but not always easy to solve. Second, governance challenges and hurdles may make it even more difficult to develop inter-areal collaborative strategies. For a successful re-orientation and de-concentration collaboration, accessibility to green- and eco-tourism activities through urban tourism destination gateways is essential. Effective liaisons between often disconnected stakeholders are prerequisites for the shared interest and vision for co-growth into sustainable and resilient tourism resource development. This paper investigates the potential conflict of interest among geographically disconnected stakeholders and viable strategies linking those stakeholders. An evidence-based study on the space-time tourism dynamics for the Las Vegas metropolitan area will be presented in the present paper. This study seeks to design a model framework for reconciling diverse space-time conflicts in the wider Las Vegas area. The specified empirical models will test if and how the collaboration among the various stakeholders in the region around the Las Vegas metro can enhance the resilience of the tourism industry and grow together with mutual positive externalities. Also, comparative studies between the Las Vegas metro (with its surrounding neighbors that offer green- and eco-tourism) and other urban tourism destinations of the U.S. lacking such spatial complementarity will highlight the growing importance of space-time conflicts and complementarities in sustainable urban and regional tourism development. The findings of this study provide policy implications for sustainable and resilient tourism development for a set of broadly defined regions linking urban and rural tourism destinations.

David Boto, Roberto Balado, Jose Baños, Matías Mayor (p)

Zsuzsanna Kara

This paper examines the link between tourism specialization and regional growth rates. Based on macroeconomic growth theory, we use a Bartik instrument to correct for the plausible endogeneity of tourism intensity on GDPpc growth rates. Utilizing data for Spanish provinces in the 2002-2018 period, we find that tourism positively affects regional economic growth. Relevant heterogeneity is nonetheless found depending on the degree of tourism development and specialization in the international segment. We also show that tourism specialization increases employment rates and both the private and public capital stock per capita but negatively affects human capital per worker.