LIST OF PANELS

Urban centers receive a large part of world tourist flow and their importance as focal points of tourism continues to grow (Page, 1995; Hall & Page, 2003). In countries with a long urban history, tourism use and viewing tend to concentrate on the historical spaces of these cities (Ashworth & Tunbridge, 1990; Valenzuela & Hidalgo, 2010).

Tourism is repeatedly cited as a factor of stress, although its actual impact is not adequately calibrated. The deployment of tourism on urban space is characterized by its spatial selectivity. Many of the problems associated with tourism are linked to these areas of concentration where we can find a series of processes related to tourism (Haley, Snaith & Miller, 2003; Füller & Michel, 2014). These problems could be labeled as gentrification, expansion of commercial franchises, homogenization and banalization of public space, social rejection to the presence of certain types of businesses and visitors, saturation of infrastructures and public space, theming... and others that may indicate that the tourism carrying capacity is being overwhelmed (Ashworth & Page, 2011).

Taking into account both traditional and innovative perspectives such as the controversy approach and the relational theory (Jóhannesson, Ren & van der Duim, 2015), we are interested on discourse, practices and public policies that are being designed to diminish the negative effects of tourism saturation, favor the development of tourism in other parts of urban space, and provide instruments for improving the decision making process (Russo & Richards, 2016). The background is a reflection on tourism policy, so far an ill developed field in the area of public policy analysis (Bramwell & Sharman, 1999;  Kerr, 2003; Church, 2004; Pforr, 2006; Bramwell & Meyer, 2007; Dredge, & Jenkins, 2007; Hall, 2010).

The aim of this panel is (1) to explore the dynamics of urban tourism policies in an effort to gain a more systematic understanding of the arena and (2) to expand the network of scholars who study urban tourism policy in order to further understanding of comparative public policy.

We call for papers that address this discussion in the theoretical and empirical level on different perspectives and dimensions of urban tourism policies:

(1) the new discourses that are influencing the processes of agenda setting, participation of stakeholders or policy formulation;

(2) new tourism policy designs focused on specific issues such as gentrification, expansion of commercial franchises, homogenization and banalization of public space, social rejection to the presence of certain types of businesses and visitors, saturation of infrastructures and public space, among other examples that are relevant and that allow comparisons between cities, and

(3) cases of implementation of urban tourism policies that can be considered innovative (on a bottom-up approach or a top-down perspective), especially for its pattern of intervention, the instruments that are being used, agenda that shapes tourism policies and the articulation and involvement of various stakeholders.

Papers addressing theoretical, methodological, and practical matters in these areas are welcome.