The purpose of this paper is to define a framework for urban tourism development, providing a rationale for tourism planners pursuing a competitive, sustainable and inclusive tourism destination model for urban settings.
A conceptual framework is proposed, discussed and exemplified in a specific geographical context.
The soft urban tourism development framework adopts a place-based approach to tourism destination building and suggests an integration method grounded in tourism urbanicity.
The proposed tourism development model is based on theoretical premises. Empirical research should test the potential and pitfalls of this approach.
The proposed framework is a cognitive tool for strategy making in those cities that either need to radically re-envision city tourism or are attempting to build an urban tourism destination from scratch.
The paper contributes to the urban agenda in tourism studies. It proposes a framework emphasising the urban character of tourism and exploiting the multifunctionality of urban contexts for competitive niche tourism development.
