Résumé :
The last decades have seen a constant increase in tourism demand. The literature about the economics of tourism traditionally puts forward the link between tourism and growth. Scholars almost find a confirmation of this mechanism, but there are also mixed results. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, it will help to contextualize the overtourism phenomenon in economic terms. Secondly, it will fill the gap in the literature by evaluating the negative tourism impact on citizens’ services. To understand the complex relationship between excessive tourist flows and sustainable development in cultural cities and other attractive areas, we employ a panel dataset of all the Italian municipalities for 10 years, from 2009 to 2019. Indeed, studying the Italian context is extremely relevant for this research question, given the large availability of highly touristic cultural sites where tourism facilities often are provided at the expense of the local population.