Articles tagged “overtourism”

For a city that's afraid of becoming a theme park, it's certainly starting to look more like one with turnstiles and fast passes to get in the door. The summer travel season is just starting to heat up.

Long overshadowed by "Old Europe" for tourism, the Balkans are emerging as the center of "New Europe." But you better book now since the travelers' secret is out.

The Airbnb effect has helped transform many neighborhoods around the world, and some before they were fully ready for mass tourism. The company is acknowledging that it knows it has an impact. But let's see if major cities where the real problems exist will get the same treatment as rural villages in Africa.

It took years for overtourism to happen in some destinations and the problem won't be solved overnight or this year. But to start, destinations could begin paying tourism workers more fairly and give locals more access to programs and services that tourism revenue supposedly helps to fund.

We've been talking about overtourism for a while now and it's good to see cities getting more creative when it comes to managing numbers. Visitors are going to keep coming to the likes of Barcelona, Dubrovnik, and Amsterdam, and therefore these places are going to have to get smarter about managing the flow of people, whether they already live there or not.

The park service has dramatically changed its tune during the past year and acknowledged that overtourism is something it must address – all while its leadership has stirred trouble. But the parks have a long road to travel before they can command a reasonable balance of visitors who won't cause a conservation nightmare.

It might be true that London isn't in the same boat as Venice or Prague, but there are plenty of areas finding it difficult to balance the demands of tourists and locals.

Tourism boards are stuck between a rock and a hard place on a lot of issues and particularly with Airbnb. Destination marketers understand that many travelers prefer Airbnb while their hotel partners definitely do not. We'll be watching to see how both sides attempt to bridge the gap in 2018.

You can't really blame people who live in and around a popular city for wanting to enjoy the attractions that make it special. Their taxes give them that right, after all. It needs to be factored into overtourism calculations that locals sometimes outnumber other visitors at tourism attractions.

Overtourism may be worsening in many destinations, but there are real, practical solutions to employ. Among them is using funds for something besides driving visitation.