Despite certain restrictions for foreign citizens, international second home demand in the Croatian littoral increased even before Croatia joined the EU (1st July 2013). This was followed by the full opening of the real estate market to EU citizens, which led to an even greater increase in demand for foreign second home ownership in the Croatian littoral. The above-mentioned increase was influenced by the following factors: a) the strong tourism development in Croatia in the first two decades of the 21st century, b) favourable real estate prices compared to the more developed EU countries, c) the country's image as safe for investment, d) commercial and entrepreneurial reasons, due to the rapid increase in real estate prices, e) improvement of traffic accessibility by building motorways and introducing more flights, f) Croatia's accession to the Schengen area (1st January 2023), and g) the introduction of the euro (1st January 2023). The COVID 19 pandemic (2020-2023) also had the effect of increasing international second home demand, as second homes were often perceived as safe havens that enabled both remote working and vacations in an intimate, private setting.

The three main objectives of the research are: a) to determine the spatial distribution of foreign-owned second homes, b) to identify the structure of foreign owners in relation to the country of residence and c) to examine the connection between the number of foreign-owned second homes and the number of rental properties in private accommodation. The study area is the Croatian littoral, the hot spot area of international second home demand, which includes the Croatian coast, islands, and the immediate hinterland which together with the coast form an inseparable functional unit. Statistical analyses were carried out at the level of 141 local self-government units (LAU 2) whose territory extends to the coastline, as well as those whose administrative seat is located less than 10 kilometres by road from the nearest coastal settlement. The research used tourism statistics data from the Croatian Tourist Board's e-Visitor platform for all years since its introduction, i.e. for the period from 2016 to 2024.

In many regions of the world, and undoubtedly among them in Mediterranean countries, the dynamics of tourism are laying bare many tensions of a social, economic, cultural and spatial-territorial nature. Many cities are affected by heavy dynamics in which tourism-related transformations are intertwined according to recurring but contextually determined logics with dynamics of gentrification and replacement of resident populations; at the same time, in both coastal and mountainous areas, the tourism models of the past, rapidly obsolescing, leave behind a legacy of abandonment and underuse of buildings and parts of settlements.

In particular, in many coastal areas of the Mediterranean, and therefore also in our country, different models of tourist use have followed one another over the decades, and have become intertwined with the peculiar economic and social dynamics of each context, such as the more or less accentuated tourist specialisation of the labour market, the temporal forms and models of heritage use (e.g. that of second homes), the new residential and work models of metropolitan populations, and so on.

Starting from this problematic background, the paper questions the peculiar relations that can be read at a spatial level between overtourism and abandonment, which sometimes affect different territories, but which in many cases affect, on the contrary, the same contexts. In particular, the paper critically discusses some cases of abandonment or underuse of buildings, structures and tourist complexes in coastal areas, where in other respects the dynamics of tourist flows lead to congestion, overuse of existing infrastructures and services, and expulsion of the resident population, starting from some contexts of the Ligurian and Tuscan coastline with a long tradition of tourism, which has therefore gone through different phases and patterns.

The research carried out in these contexts shows the difficulties associated with the passive adherence to a development model based on a sector that is undoubtedly important, but with low added value and based on the depletion of environmental and territorial resources, and the importance of initiating a critical, contextual and argued reflection as a basis for imagining different development policies.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the spatial distribution of domestic tourism in Ireland has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. It is understood that the tourism sector suffered during the pandemic. However, the behaviour of domestic tourists may have changed due to the restrictions on outbound flights and a general fear of engaging in what was considered a risky activity (ie flying). To better understand the changing geography of domestic tourism this paper analyses the share of domestic tourism that each country had pre-pandemic (2019) and post-pandemic (2022). The paper also utilises a resilience index for the years 2020 to 2022 for counties in Ireland to understand how individual counties absorbed and rebounded from the crisis. The research shows that the impact of the pandemic on domestic tourism was not homogenous across Ireland with some counties being able to better absorb and rebound stronger from the negative impacts of COVID-19.

This paper provides an understanding of the changing preferences of domestic tourism in response to a crisis which is important to understand as the ongoing climate crisis could see an increase in domestic tourism in Ireland. The increasing volatility of summers in Southern Europe (ie increasing heatwaves) may mean that more Irish people decide to holiday at home instead of the traditional foreign holiday to a Southern European destination. Also, prior to COVID-19 there was the emergence of ‘flight shame’ in some parts of Europe where people were travelling by train or bus instead of flying due to the shame felt by flying as it is seen as contributing to climate change. If the ‘flight shame’ phenomenon was to impact Irish tourists, they may choose to holiday within the country instead of flying abroad.

Climate change will inevitably impact the geography of tourism in Europe in the coming decades. Among the most frequently cited threats in the literature are the reduction in snowfall in mountain regions and the loss of beaches due to increased coastal erosion. Several studies suggest that these changes are likely to alter the attractiveness of destinations and lead to shifts in seasonality. While climate change poses a threat to traditional destinations such as the Mediterranean and the Alps, it also presents an opportunity for higher-latitude regions. This has created the illusion that climate change might reduce inequalities in the spatial distribution of tourists by opening up new opportunities for currently marginal tourism regions.

One aspect that has been relatively overlooked in research on the effects of climate change on tourism is the risk posed by the intensification of extreme events. Wildfires are one such hazard that climate change is expected to exacerbate. Southern European countries such as Portugal, Spain, and Greece are among the most wildfire-prone areas globally. At the same time, these countries’ economies are heavily dependent on tourism, with wildfires often coinciding with the peak tourist season.

This paper explores this issue, focusing specifically on the threat in Portugal. In the first part, we analyze the current and future risks of wildfires to tourism in Portugal by combining spatial modeling of environmental conditioning factors with an assessment of the exposure of tourism assets and infrastructure to wildfire hazards. In the second part, we discuss the implications of this risk for tourism policy, particularly regarding inequalities in the distribution of tourism within Portugal. By showing that regions with high structural susceptibility to wildfires and significant vulnerability of tourism assets to this risk often overlap with the country’s demographically and economically marginalized regions, we underscore the risk that wildfires, intensified by climate change, could further hinder efforts to achieve a more balanced and equitable tourism development in Portugal. In short, wildfires, aggravated by climate change, may undermine various policy measures currently being implemented in Portugal to address regional inequalities in tourism.