Circular Tourism for balanced, place-based visitor economies

We want to support cities and regions in redesigning tourism systems so they operate within ecological limits while strengthening local communities and economies. The project applies the Doughnut Economics framework to urban and regional tourism, helping places move from extractive, high-impact visitor models toward circular, place-based visitor economies.

Rather than treating tourism only as a growth sector or a problem to contain, we view it as a system of flows — of people, materials, money, and value — that can be reshaped to reduce environmental pressure, limit leakage, and distribute benefits more fairly across neighbourhoods and nearby regions. It connects overtourism hotspots with undertourism areas, supporting more balanced territorial development.

The project combines systems mapping, material and value flow analysis, and governance diagnostics with the development of a sector-specific Tourism Doughnut, defining what it means for tourism to operate in a “safe and just space.” This is translated into practical indicators and a visual dashboard that cities can use to guide decisions on mobility, housing, food systems, heritage, local businesses, and public space.

Through Living Labs, participating cities and regions co-design and test concrete circular tourism interventions, such as local procurement networks, reuse systems for events and hospitality, community benefit funds linked to visitor spending, and slow-tourism links between cities and surrounding areas. These pilots are tied to funding opportunities and governance structures, ensuring they can move from experimentation to long-term implementation.

We are building a coalition of cities, regions, research partners, and local tourism actors who want to explore how tourism can actively contribute to social foundations, ecological regeneration, and more balanced regional development — and to learn together how to make circular tourism work in practice.