Seasonality and second-home tourism in North Macedonia: Dojran case

Seasonal lake destinations often develop unevenly: short summer peaks encourage rapid construction, while many buildings remain empty or weakly used for much of the year. This paper explores this issue through the case of Dojran, North Macedonia, focusing on the relationship between seasonality, second-home tourism and tourism-driven real-estate expansion. It develops a model for assessing whether new residential construction follows demographic needs or is mainly shaped by tourism-related demand. The findings reveal a clear mismatch between housing growth and population trends, indicating that the recent construction boom has contributed to market oversupply, high vacancy rates and “cold beds”. The results also suggest possible gentrification effects and uneven local development. The paper contributes theoretically by connecting seasonality and second-home tourism with housing-market imbalance through a measurable indicator. In practical terms, it provides a useful diagnostic tool for sustainable tourism planning in small seasonal destinations.