Journal of Rural Research

Journal of Rural Research

Erosive Governance, Fragile Geographies, Rural Tourism, Spatial Rent, Carrying-Capacity Breakdown, Digital Overexposure.

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Colin Michael Hall 1
Zabih-Allah Torabi 2
Marzie Alipour 2
1 School of Management and Marketing, Massey Business School, Te Kura Whai Pakihi, Massey University, Private Bag 102904, North Shore, Auckland 0745, New Zealand
2 Department of Geography and Rural Planning, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
10.22059/jrur.2026.416928.2124
Abstract
development, yet in ecologically fragile, peri-metropolitan settings it often produces the opposite. Existing scholarship examines the symptoms separately—overtourism, rural gentrification and digital tourism—leaving the political economy and governance mechanisms that connect them under-theorised. Drawing on a grounded theory study of mountain villages in Iran's Alborz region, this article asks why tourism became a vector of unsustainability. Following a constructivist grounded theory approach, the analysis draws on in-depth interviews with 72 residents, local officials and civil-society actors, coded through initial, focused and theoretical stages. It identifies three interrelated mechanisms: the institutional imposition of tourism space before places are prepared; the conversion of this fragmented context into spatial rent through selective, negotiable enforcement of law; and digitally accelerated overexposure that triggers ecological, infrastructural and managerial breakdown. Theorised as erosive governance in fragile geographies, this recursive process actively exhausts the capacities sustainability requires—showing that fragile destinations depend less on visitor numbers than on being governed before they are exposed.
Keywords
Erosive Governance
Fragile Geographies
Rural Tourism
Spatial Rent
Carrying-Capacity Breakdown
Digital Overexposure
Subjects
  1. Bi, G., & Yang, Q. (2023). The spatial production of rural settlements as rural homestays in the context of rural revitalization: Evidence from a rural tourism experiment in a Chinese village. Land Use Policy, 128, 106600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106600
  2. Bichler, B. F., & Lösch, M. (2019). Collaborative governance in tourism: Empirical insights into a community-oriented destination. Sustainability, 11(23), 6673. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11236673
  3. Boy, J. D., & Uitermark, J. (2017). Reassembling the city through Instagram. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(4), 612–624. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12185
  4. Butler, R. W. (1996). The concept of carrying capacity for tourism destinations: Dead or merely buried?. Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, 2(3–4), 283–293. https://doi.org/10.1002/pth.6070020309
  5. Butler, R. W. (2020). Tourism carrying capacity research: A perspective article. Tourism Review, 75(1), 207–211. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-05-2019-0194
  6. Cao, L. (2024). From online to onsite: Wanghong economy as the new engine driving China’s urban development. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 56 (4), 1061–1076. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X231224142
  7. Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing grounded theory. (2nd ed.). Sage.
  8. Chen, P., Zhang, M., & Wang, Y. (2024). Beyond displacement: The co-existence of newcomers and local residents in the process of rural tourism gentrification in China. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 32(1), 8–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2022.2112201
  9. Gao, J., & Wu, B. (2017). Revitalizing traditional villages through rural tourism: A case study of Yuanjia Village, Shaanxi Province, China. Tourism Management, 63, 223–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.04.003
  10. Gössling, S., Peeters, P., Hall, C. M., Ceron, J.-P., Dubois, G., Lehmann, L. V., & Scott, D. (2012). Tourism and water use: Supply, demand, and security. An international review. Tourism Management, 33(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.015
  11. Kan, K. (2021). Creating land markets for rural revitalization: Land transfer, property rights and gentrification in China. Journal of Rural Studies, 81, 68–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.08.006
  12. Keyim, P. (2018). Tourism collaborative governance and rural community development in Finland: The case of Vuonislahti. Journal of Travel Research, 57(4), 483–494. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287517701858
  13. Koens, K., Postma, A., & Papp, B. (2018). Is overtourism overused? Understanding the impact of tourism in a city context. Sustainability, 10(12), 4384. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124384
  14. Lazic, S., & Della Lucia, M. (2024). A holistic and pluralistic perspective for justice through tourism: A regenerative approach. Tourism Geographies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2024.2372114
  15. Ma, J., & Wu, Z. (2026). Platformized tourism circuits and urban space: Xiaohongshu, Wanghong places, and Dongshankou’s transformation. Journal of Travel Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875251408445
  16. McCool, S. F. (1994). Planning for sustainable nature dependent tourism development: The Limits of Acceptable Change system. Tourism Recreation Research, 19(2), 51–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.1994.11014708
  17. McCool, S. F., & Lime, D. W. (2001). Tourism carrying capacity: Tempting fantasy or useful reality? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 9(5), 372–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669580108667409
  18. Mihalič, T. (2020). Conceptualising overtourism: A sustainability approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 84, 103025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.103025
  19. Molin, L. U., Selvaag, S. K., & Aas, Ø. (2025). How Instagram shapes visitors’ relation to wild places. Tourism Geographies, 27(8), 1664–1679. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2582644
  20. O’Reilly, A. M. (1986). Tourism carrying capacity: Concept and issues. Tourism Management, 7(4), 254–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(86)90035-X
  21. Risager, B. S. (2022). Rent gap governance: State-led gentrification in the Danish ‘ghetto’. City, 26(2–3), 199–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2022.2042638
  22. Ristiawan, R., Huijbens, E. H., & Peters, K. (2024). Apprehending land value through tourism in Indonesia: Commodification of rural landscapes through geoparks. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 115(1), 170–186. https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12597
  23. Siegel, L. A., Tussyadiah, I. P., & Scarles, C. (2023). Exploring behaviors of social media-induced tourists and the use of behavioral interventions as salient destination response strategy. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 27, 100765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2023.100765
  24. Slater, T. (2017). Planetary rent gaps. Antipode, 49(S1), 114–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12185
  25. Smith, N. (1979). Toward a theory of gentrification: A back to the city movement by capital, not people. Journal of the American Planning Association, 45(4), 538–548. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944367908977002
  26. Smith, S. P. (2021). Landscapes for “likes”: Capitalizing on travel with Instagram. Social Semiotics, 31(4), 604–624. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2019.1664579
  27. Stankey, G. H., Cole, D. N., Lucas, R. C., Petersen, M. E., & Frissell, S. S. (1985). The Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) system for wilderness planning (General Technical Report INT-176). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
  28. Wachsmuth, D., & Weisler, A. (2018). Airbnb and the rent gap: Gentrification through the sharing economy. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 50(6), 1147–1170. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X18778038
  29. Wall, G. (2020). From carrying capacity to overtourism: A perspective article. Tourism Review, 75(1), 212–215. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-08-2019-0356
  30. Wang, H., Zhang, B., & Qiu, H. (2022). How a hierarchical governance structure influences cultural heritage destination sustainability: A context of red tourism in China. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 50, 421–432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2022.02.002
  31. Yang, X. S., Xiang, L., & Xu, H. (2025). “Only good for taking photos?”: Understanding the production and evolution of Wanghong tourism destinations in the digital era. Tourist Studies, 25(3), 324–343. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687976251372709
  32. Yüksel, F., Bramwell, B., & Yüksel, A. (2005). Centralized and decentralized tourism governance in Turkey. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(4), 859–886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2004.09.006
  33. Zhang, Y., Hanna, P., & Vanclay, F. (2026). The social and environmental impacts on local residents from tourist accommodation near protected areas. Environmental Management, 76, 83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-026-02385-5
  34.  
Journal of Rural Research
Volume 17, Issue 1
Spring 2026
Pages 1-20

  • Receive Date 15 January 2026
  • Revise Date 25 February 2026
  • Accept Date 01 April 2026