Is over tourism choking the worlds’ favourite cities and destinations?
Over tourism isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon, but if you’re an avid traveller, whether that’s by solo travel, by way of being a digital nomad or just going for fun, then you’re already familiar with the concept of over tourism.
Ferries bringing in masses of people to small islands like Santorini and Venice, popular cities in Italy like Rome and towns on the Amalfi coast being swamped in summer — friction in Lisbon over more tourism and a changing city. Anecdotally, just being out and about in the Christmas period in London in 2023, and although this time of year is always busy, I saw some of the biggest crowds I’d ever seen during said period, with friends remarking the same. You may have heard the stories and are aware of the general problem but are we nearing a breaking point?
Tourism is back
First off, tourism is great, it’s the lifeblood of several countries around the world, keeps their economy going, keeps people in jobs and exposes nations culture and history to the world. Travel is great, it’s enriching, eye-opening and one of the most culturally rewarding things you can do as an individual or in a group, sometimes unintentionally. But as levels of tourism have rebounded since the pandemic, we’ve almost seen a level of overcompensation — in the last few years the crowds have returned to the most popular destinations and then some — Paris, Dubai, Bangkok and Tokyo to name a few.
The problem however, is that this level of tourism simply isn’t sustainable, it hurts local environments, it can drastically change a locality in terms of shops, appearance and infrastructure (to placate tourists) and of course overcrowd a city in the high season, bringing their money but also potential bad behaviour. This in turn bring friction with the locals as well as potential conflict, you’d just have to look at Amsterdam trying to implement bans on rowdy young British men visiting the city and perpetuating its reputation as a party city. This has also been reflected in some cities in Spain banning football shirts in bars and on pub crawls to dissuade football hooliganism and unwanted aggression. This isn’t only happening in popular European hotspots either, with Kyoto in Japan recently banning tourists from parts of Geisha districts due to reported bad behaviour, namely against local performers.
“Less travelled towns in places like Portugal may prefer to stay that way — hidden”
This seemingly increasing unhinged behaviour is a topic in itself, from anti-social behaviour at music gigs and festivals, to defacing cultural and historical landmarks, like a British tourist did at the Colosseum, and unfortunately he wasn’t the only one doing it. Interestingly, for all the travel guides and travel vlogs that dominate YouTube and Instagram, there definitely seems to be desire for travellers to find places off the beaten path, less touristy places as the main spots continue to be overrun. Though with that being said, hidden gems and less travelled towns in places like Portugal may well prefer to stay that way — hidden.
Solutions and localities taking action
It’s an interesting and complex conundrum, popular destinations can’t just ditch tourism, it would be devastating to local economies and hurt national income on a larger scale. But at the same time places like Lisbon that have seen an explosion in tourism in recent years due to social media and word of mouth may increasingly feel the burden of having to accommodate masses of people in summer for example. London, New York City and Paris have the capacity and infrastructure to deal with timed swells of modern tourism, but as you know, not every city has the same capacity to deal with crowds to the similar levels of efficiency.
From the more extreme outright banning of tourists from certain cultural or delicate locations to limiting tourism to a town or city, we are definitely seeing more active measures being taken by cities to curtail bad, unruly behaviour. And as locals face rises in the cost of living, changing demographics and changing cities, the next logical step may be limits on tourism for certain periods of the year, though how viable and realistic that is to implement is another question. Let’s go back to Spain with Sevilla, in the Andalusia region of the country, with the city planning to limit visitors to important cultural sites like the famous Plaza de España, aiming to charge tourists a fee in hopes of also limiting footfall. Meanwhile, popular islands in Spain including Ibiza and Majorca have already implemented tourism ceilings to limit visits during the year.
The crux of the issue is that no town or city wants less money, tourism is great and the rewards of being a hotspot are manifold, but at the same time you have to deal with the annual swell of people flocking to them and potential issues that come with that. As things like travel influencers/content and low-cost airlines have proliferated in last several years, it’s easier than ever to spread the word about a town or city in the digital age and bring a swell of new visitors. Managing this reality and navigating the delicate balance of necessary tourism and equilibrium with the locality/locals is just one of many challenges the modern city will have to face.
