Emotional geography of tourism resistance: Claiming the right to the city in overtourism destinations

Despite advances in resident–tourism discourse and overtourism research, it remains unclear how place-based emotions and perceptions of injustice become collectively articulated and connected to resistance. Drawing on emotional geography and the right to the city, this study challenges the assumption that resistance is a direct response to tourism pressures. Using a netnographic approach, social media content related to overtourism in Spain and Italy was analysed. The findings show that perceived injustice, emotional disruption, collective meaning-making, and resistance are relationally interconnected within digital publics and articulated through claims over urban space. Highlighting the socio-political significance of digital publics, the study redirects overtourism scholarship from explaining where resistance occurs to explaining how resistance is collectively articulated through interconnected socio-emotional processes. The findings also offer practical insights for governing resident–tourism relations.