From slow tourism to overtourism, and back gain ? The paradoxes of alternative destinations facing overtourism during pandemic times. A case study in Gökçeada, Turkey

This paper aims to analyse the paradoxical effects of covid-19 pandemic on an alternative touristic destination. The « slow city » movement has been quite successful in Turkey for the last 20 years, and some destinations have tried to implement an alternative tourism model, based on quality of natural landscapes, small size infrastructures, peer-to-peer accomodation, and consumption of local food and products. This movement has been identified as a countermodel in a broader context of fordist development of tourism all over Turkey, particularly in coastal destination.The pandemic conditions of travelling during summer 2021 in Turkey have put forward the « slow city » destinations as « safe zones », due to specific conditions of accomadation and to the reputation of undercrowded spaces, in opposition to coastal fordist spaces. Slow city destinations have been very popular among both national and international visitors, and have experienced one of their most crowded season ever. They had to face new kind of questions such as lack of clear water, environmental pressure on natural sites, cultural conflicts between visitors and locals, and a rapid rise in real estate prices, i.e all the major issues of « overtourism » that most popular destinations had to face before pandemic times.Based on a field work conducted in the island of Gökçeada (Turkey) during 2021 summer, this paper present an interesting counter-example of postcapitalist gateway of tourism geograhy. It will assess the foundations and criteria of slow city destination facing an unexpected influx of tourists, and will show up how new trends in post-pandemic tourism could transform dramatically the local amenities on wich relies the alternative model of tourism. It will question the evolution of the non-growth oriented model of « slow island » in times of overtourism, and will determine if slow city movement could be an interesting model for imagining the « spaces of hope » of post-capitalist tourism