Seasonal fluctuations in visitor numbers, commonly known as seasonality, is a typical feature of a large number of tourism destinations worldwide, resulting from both natural causes, notably weather patterns, and institutional causes such as religious, public and school holidays.

Although typically considered an economic challenge, seasonality can also have considerable environmental and socio-cultural impacts arising from the peaks and troughs of visitor flows. It is thus a complex issue, which is further complicated by the fact that the economic impacts are usually associated with the off-peak period whereas the environmental and socio-cultural issues are typically related to the low periods.

Given the relevance and complexity of seasonality in tourism, the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism of Albania and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) jointly organized an International Conference on “Managing Seasonality in Tourism” on 20 October 2014, in Tirana, Albania. Participants shared and discussed experiences and strategies that enable both public authorities and the business community to address the effects of seasonality in a manner that encourages sustainable tourism development and job creation.

A Ministerial Roundtable on “The Role of Governments in addressing Tourism Seasonality” was held within the framework of the conference, focusing in particular on the policies and best practices employed by governments in Central and Southeast Europe on this crucial issue.

Documents

• Programme
• List of Participants
• Juan Jose Garcia
• Andrej Zigon
• Matilda Naco
• Gavin Eccles
• Oliver Fodor
• Martin Placy

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