Marketing responses to overtourism: A strategic mapping and diagnostic review

Abstract

Overtourism increasingly threatens resident wellbeing and destination sustainability. While existing research essentially prioritizes regulatory or infrastructural solutions, this study reconceptualizes marketing as a behavioral governance system, a coordinated mechanism of communication, technology, and policy that shapes tourist decision making toward sustainable outcomes. Drawing on a narrative review of 72 peer-reviewed studies published between 2017 and 2025, the analysis identifies 10 strategic categories, including demarketing, geographic diversification, digital engagement, brand repositioning, and visitor education. The study introduces two complementary models: (1) a diagnostic map that traces the evolution and distribution of marketing-based overtourism strategies and (2) a behavioral governance framework linking marketing interventions to cognitive and affective mechanisms—such as persuasion, emotional engagement, identity alignment, and norm activation—that influence tourist behavior. Findings show that marketing can produce temporal (when tourists travel), spatial (where they go), and experiential (how they engage) shifts that collectively strengthen destination resilience and sustainability. By consolidating dispersed insights into a unified behavioral perspective, the study clarifies marketing's role as a governance tool. It provides a foundation for more effective, evidence-based approaches to sustainable destination management.