Abstract
For years second home tourism has been an issue of discussion between tourist experts, real estate agents and politicians in both Mediterranean countries and Alpine destinations, however it has not raised much concern in academic circles. The aim of this paper is to analyze the second home phenomenon in order to acquire a better understanding of the overall situation and give an insight into the aspects and needs for policy planning. For this purpose South Tyrol has been taken as a case study, and a comprehensive overview of the situation has been determined through both quantitative and qualitative investigation on opinions and attitudes of second home owners, local residents, politicians, real estate agents. The outcome of this paper is a holistic picture of the phenomenon, which examines the positive and negative impacts and shows the need for public regulation through land use planning.