Exploring residents’ current perceptions of overtourism in Lisbon through Doxey’s Irritation Index : a qualitative approach

Tourism in Lisbon has rapidly risen up since the last decade, with Lisbon experiencing record-breaking numbers of visitors each year. While this growth benefits the economy, it also leads to overtourism, causing challenges for local residents and affecting their quality of life. It causes challenges such as housing affordability issues, pressure on public infrastructure and loss of cultural identity. Researching residents’ perceptions is important because they provide early signals of rising irritation, resistance, and possible loss of destination legitimacy if these concerns are ignored. The aim of this research is to position current perceptions of overtourism within the stages of Doxey’s Irritation Index while simultaneously identifying the stage of residents based on their individual narratives at a specific point in time. By exploring these perceptions, the study seeks to provide residents’ point of view of overtourism's impacts by using semi-structured interviews to acquire qualitative data of local residents in Lisbon. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 local residents of Lisbon between April and August 2025. The interviews were analyzed using directed content analysis. Doxey’s Irritation Index was used as a guide for coding, while inductive coding allowed new themes to emerge directly from the residents’ accounts. The research captures residents' perceptions that reside mostly in central districts of Lisbon and the city’s two municipalities, Amadora and Sintra. The group consisted of younger residents between the ages of 21 and 35. The findings show that the perceptions of overtourism position the residents of Lisbon between Apathy and Annoyance stages of Doxey’s Irritation Index. Participants spoke about rising frustration with housing affordability caused by the growth of short-term rentals like Airbnbs, difficulties with daily mobility on overcrowded public transport, and the erosion of cultural identity in historic neighborhoods. While some positive effects of tourism were recognized, such as job opportunities and urban improvements, these were mostly outweighed by the described negative pressures. This research contributes to tourism studies by showing how Doxey’s Irritation Index can be applied to individual-level qualitative research, not only community-level surveys. Practically, the findings highlight the need for stricter regulation of short-term rentals, better investment in public transport, and policies that involve residents more directly in tourism management. The study is limited by its small sample size and focus on a younger demographic, meaning the results cannot represent the full population of Lisbon. However, it provides an important step in understanding how overtourism is currently experienced by residents and offers directions for future research on other groups and districts.