Living in destinations: ISTO explores the role of residents in shaping more sustainable and participatory tourism in Europe.

During the ISTO European Forum held in Strasbourg on 26 March 2026, a round table brought together researchers and practitioners to reflect on a key question for the social sustainability of tourism: how can residents be placed at the heart of tourism destinations?

Europe is both the world’s leading tourism destination and one of the main regions from which international travellers originate. In this context, tourism never takes place in neutral spaces: it is embedded in inhabited territories, shaped by local communities who are simultaneously residents, hosts and stakeholders in the evolution of their destinations.
This was the central theme of the round table “Living in the destination: citizen participation, living culture and community-based tourism in Europe”, moderated by Coralie Marti, Vice-President of the International Social Tourism Organisation (ISTO) and coordinator of ISTO’s international working group on community-based and fair tourism.

Understanding the relationship between residents and tourism

The round table opened with a keynote contribution from Marine Loisy, anthropologist and lecturer in sociology at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers in Paris. Her research focuses on the links between tourism, hospitality professions, territorial attractiveness and heritage-making processes. Drawing on research conducted in France and Indonesia, she examines how public policies and tourism practices transform territories and shape relationships between visitors and residents.
Her presentation provided valuable insights into the different ways local populations perceive and engage with tourism. While some major European destinations have experienced citizen movements denouncing the impacts of overtourism, such as Venice and Barcelona, Paris presents a different situation, notably characterised by the absence of a structured movement rejecting tourism. Nevertheless, other forms of resident involvement have developed, particularly through initiatives that encourage encounters between visitors and local communities. This introduction provided the foundations for a discussion not only on the tensions linked to tourism development, but also on the many citizen-led initiatives seeking to reinvent the ways in which territories welcome visitors and share their living culture.

European initiatives placing communities at the centre of tourism

The discussion then brought together three practitioners involved in community-based tourism and citizen participation initiatives in different European contexts:

• Daniela Campora, Vice-President of the Associazione Italiana Turismo Responsabile (AITR) and member of ISTO’s European Coordination Committee. She is also President of Il Volo della Rondine Natural Holidays, a tourism operator committed to developing responsible tourism in Cilento National Park.

• Chloé Gautier, Director of Le Spot International Hostel, co-founder of the Greeters movement in Nantes and board member of Les Hérons, a participatory hospitality community promoting citizen engagement through the discovery and sharing of local territories.

• Aethnic, represented by Jesús Martín, co-founder and co-director of this organisation, which has been working for more than twenty years on sustainable tourism and social innovation projects in Catalonia.

Through these different experiences, the discussion explored several key dimensions of community-based tourism: creating more balanced relationships between visitors and residents, valuing living cultures, and identifying the conditions needed for communities to genuinely participate in shaping tourism models.

Moving beyond acceptance: making tourism a shared project

The discussions also addressed the current transformations taking place within the tourism sector. In many European territories, challenges related to overtourism, housing pressure and changing lifestyles call for moving beyond a limited approach focused solely on the “acceptability” of tourism.

The initiatives presented demonstrate that alternative pathways exist: projects led by associations, cooperatives, social and solidarity economy organisations or citizen collectives that consider residents not merely as beneficiaries of tourism, but as actors capable of contributing to its direction and development.

A reflection at the heart of ISTO’s mission

This round table reflects ISTO’s commitment to tourism models that combine accessibility, social justice and sustainable development. Through its work on the social sustainability of tourism, the international organisation advocates for the full recognition of residents’ roles in tourism policies and strategies.

The session created a space for dialogue between diverse experiences and highlighted a fundamental principle: a tourism destination is not simply a place to visit; it is above all a place where people live, create, share knowledge and build relationships with visitors.