Sustainable tourism and congruence between flows and attractions: a methodological proposal

The sustainability of tourist flows is generally related to the need for human presence not to alter the environment, both immediately, avoiding excessive crowding and consequently rejection reactions of tourists, and in the long term, allowing future generations to benefit from the tourist attractions like the present generation does. However, regardless of the tourism carrying capacity of a place, which is difficult to evaluate and does not necessarily correspond to the number of beds in the reception facilities, a balanced, lasting and profitable development of a tourist region requires a balanced flows distribution, proportional to the level of attractiveness and without a large spread between too crowded and underdeveloped - or completely deserted - areas. The concepts of over and under tourism are therefore linked not only to the tourism carrying capacity, but also to a stable development of economic activities. By preventing overcrowding, these activities will allow even the most marginal areas to make better use of the resources they have never adequately exploited. This paper defines the concept of congruence between flows, attractiveness and structural equipment in a tourist region, proposing through a cartographic analysis of a case study, a method and some new indicators suitable for effectively measuring these quantities and for identifying the particular geographical distribution causes of their intensity. Based on the first statistical results, relating to tourist flows in the summer of 2020, the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic event will also be assessed on the areas previously identified as affected by over- and under-tourism.