Last Updated on October 5, 2023
As travel becomes more and more accessible, overtourism has become a threat. Let’s talk overtourism solutions and how to avoid contributing to overtourism.
Overtourism can lead to issues that impact the people and environments that tourism was meant to benefit. These damaging side effects often overshadow the benefits of tourism. Being aware of overtourism is a great first step to reducing your impact as a tourist. So lets dive into it!
What is Overtourism?
Tourism can be extremely beneficial: it can help build economies, especially for small communities, create jobs, encourage conservation, and encourage the restoration and preservation of historic sites.
For example, in a recent study it was found that in Bangladesh, there are now 944 related jobs for every 100 visitors to the country, or nine jobs for every tourist.
There is a tipping point to tourism’s positive benefits, though. In short, overtourism describes when too many tourists visit a particular destination. It’s the umbrella term that describes the many side effects that mass tourism can create.
The Impact of Mass Tourism
When tourism becomes unsustainable in a place, you start to see negative consequences. These consequences have the potential to impact local life, culture, the land, animals, and more. Before diving into overtourism solutions, it’s important to know what the consequences are:
Overtourism can displace local residents.
In some places, overtourism has resulted in unaffordable rent that pushes local residents out to make space for holiday rentals. This has been the case in Barcelona, Spain, where locals report that an influx of Airbnb rental apartments has caused rent prices to go up as well.
Mass tourism can damage natural environments.
In the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, for example, revenue from tourism has helped protect parks on the islands. But tour operators say that they are worried that popular land-based trips are harming the islands’ beaches and wildlife.
Damage has already been done in other regions of the world. The island of Boracay in the Philippines, for example, was closed to visitors for 6 months in 2018, so that the island could be rehabilitated from damage done by mass tourism.
Mass tourism can endanger protected species.
Mass tourism can end up perpetuating exploitative wildlife tourism by creating a demand for animal encounters, and it can put endangered species at greater risk. For example, in India, the impact that tourism has had on the country’s Bengal tiger population has long been debated.
Overtourism might threaten the local way of life.
There are also the impacts that mass tourism has on local way of life, and cultural practises. For example, the neighborhood of Gion in Kyoto, Japan has struggled to maintain its local way of life because of the exponential growth of tourism in Japan.
Gion is a particularly popular area and home to many of Japan’s geishas, who’ve felt increasingly uncomfortable with being watched and photographed by tourists, without consent. In 2018, Gion’s local resident group voted to ban photography in the community’s private streets and homes, with fines for those who flout the law.
Overtourism can disrupt local neighborhoods and businesses.
Usually tourism will benefit local businesses which in turn can have a positive impact on communities – until it tips over to mass tourism. A prime example is the train street in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The street, which is in what was once a rough part of the city, drew tourists because it is a picturesque narrow street, lined with cafes – and it’s also a train track. Tourists flocked to the spot, popularized by Instagram, which initially brought beneficial business to locals.
But in 2019, the Vietnamese government shut it down to the public because they were concerned it’d become a hazard. The cafes that were benefiting were ordered to close and barriers were set up.
This list definitely isn’t conclusive, it’s just a sample of the ways that tourism can emerge as a threat rather than a benefit to communities and cultures.
What Causes Overtourism?
It might seem very straightforward: overtourism is caused by tourists. Yes, individual tourists are responsible to a degree, but it isn’t actually that simple. Collectively, tourists are influenced to choose travel destinations based on many different factors like traditional advertising, social media, travel influencers, flight prices, and more.
Blaming individual tourists for overtourism doesn’t address these root causes, and these root causes can range depending on where you are in the world. For example, many blame the burst of overtourism in Europe on budget airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet.
Another culprit is cruise ships, which drop tourists at ports for less than 24 hours, which means that those tourists cannot meaningfully contribute their dollars to the local economy, instead, creating inconveniences to residents.
The point is to recognize the forces that help shape our tourism choices. While yes, individual tourists can avoid contributing to overtourism by choosing to visit destinations that haven’t been hit as hard by tourism, it is also important to think about how we can restructure the tourism industry to better control influxes of tourists.
Industry Solutions to Overtourism
We can absolutely work towards solutions for overtourism, but it requires the cooperation of tourists, destinations, and the media together. I’ll dig into what we, as individual tourists can do shortly, but for now, lets look at travel industry solutions:
Limit transportation options.
Limiting transportation options helps to keep destinations from becoming overwhelmed. This can mean regulating, or cutting down the amount of flights or cruise ships that are permitted to arrive on a given day. By limiting entries, destinations can directly control the amount of tourists that enter a region or city at a time.
Introduce a tourist tax.
Many countries around the world, like Bhutan and Spain, have implemented tourist taxes as a solution. The taxes are often added onto hotel bills, or are paid as an exit fee at the airport. Tourist taxes generate budget that can be put towards protecting natural resources and maintain tourism facilities.
Improve marketing and education.
This is an important one! Marketing and education directly influence tourism choices, and so marketing efforts need to shift to embrace a larger scope, and refocus on lesser-traveled regions. This effort needs to be carefully done, of course, so that we don’t end up creating a new travel hotspot that doesn’t have the infrastructure to support an influx of tourism.
Restricting time spent at popular sites.
Another tactic is to restrict the amount of time a tourist can spend at a site so that there is less overcrowding. This is already used at famous sites like Machu Picchu and India’s Taj Mahal. In some cases, the site will cap how many people can enter, resulting in a wait. Others use a ticketing system that assigns ticket buyers a time slot for their visit.
These are just some of the industry solutions that can help to curb the impact of mass tourism in places that are overwhelmed. Because these strategies limit the choices that tourists can make, it has a bottom-up effect, which can make a difference quickly.
What Can Travelers Do About Overtourism?
Of course, individual tourists can also do their part to avoid contributing to overtourism. Here are some solutions that every traveler can think about, that will help reduce their impact:
Avoid mainstream and/or iconic destinations.
It’s tough to skip the landmark spots that have so much global fame, but I promise you, there are plenty of amazing landmarks and regions that haven’t got the attention they deserve. Opt for underrated destinations or go off the beaten track by traveling to countries, cities or regions that are less popular.
Make second city tourism a habit.
Second city tourism means that if you visit a famous city, like Amsterdam, for example, you curb your impact by making a point to visit another Dutch city. If you can’t bear to skip the landmarks, introducing second city tourism to your traveling habit can reduce your impact and also bring attention to lesser known places. You can read more about second city tourism in my blog, What is Second City Tourism?
Highlight lesser known places.
If you are a blogger or influencer – and even if you’re not – you can highlight lesser known places on your social media platforms and by word of mouth. Doing so helps to inspire others to skip the crowded spots.
Travel as slowly as possible.
Slow travel aims for quantity over quality. Rather than ticking off as many destinations as possible in a trip, spend a few extra days at every stop. This way you can properly engage with the communities that you visit, you can explore more of a place rather than just it’s well-trodden highlights, and you can invest more tourism dollars into local businesses.
Travel in smaller groups.
This helps lessen the size of crowds at landmarks and famous sites, and travel in small groups can also help you better connect with the destination. In small groups you are in less of a social bubble, which means more opportunities to connect with what is happening around you.
Make sure people in your photos have given consent.
Taking photos of locals and their cultural traditions can be intrusive, and when it happens en masse it can lead to commodification of cultural practises. If you’d like to take a photo of a local, just ask ahead of time. And if you plan to share that photo widely on social media, you’ll want to get consent for that, too.
Support local as you travel.
Do your best to always support local businesses so that local residents benefit. This means opting for a local cafe rather than Starbucks! By putting your dollars towards local restaurants, cafes, and other businesses, you can help ensure that tourism remains a force for good.
Travel in the off peak, or low season.
Traveling off peak, or in the low season, means you travel to a place at the time of year that it is least busy. For example, Europe tends to be busiest from May to October because that is when the weather is the best. Traveling in the low season puts less of a strain on local communities. By traveling off peak, you can avoid crowds and contribute to businesses when they can benefit most from it (because they aren’t as busy).
Overtourism FAQ
What is overtourism?
Overtourism, also known as mass tourism, is when too many tourists visit a particular destination or tourist attraction. It’s an umbrella term that describes the many side effects that mass tourism can create.
What can I do about overtourism?
To help reduce overtourism, travel in the low season or shoulder season, travel in smaller groups, travel as slowly as possible, and spend money in your destination so that you support the local economy.
What causes overtourism?
Overtourism is caused by a mixture of factors that can include lack of tourism infrastructure, lack of tourism regulation, destination marketing, and seasonality.
Why is overtourism bad?
Overtourism can displace local residents, damage natural environments, endanger protected species, disrupt neighborhoods and businesses, and threaten the local way of life.
Learn More About Overtourism and Other Travel Issues
Much of the change that is needed to reduce overtourism is in the hands of large corporations, governments and local authorities. They have the power to control tourist numbers through strategies like limiting transportation, creating tourist taxes, and shifting their marketing approaches. But as individual tourists, we can take steps to ensure that our travel is as beneficial as possible rather than being harmful.
There are lots of ways that tourists can do travel more responsibly – this is something I’ve discovered in recording my responsible travel podcast, Curious Tourism.
In my conversations with guests on the podcast, I’ve learned about travel-related issues like travel privilege, lack of accessibility in tourism, and the impact of flying on our environment.
Do you have tips or solutions for reducing overtourism? Tell me in the comments!
For more on responsible tourism and how to avoid contributing to overtourism:
- 10 Ways to be a More Responsible Tourist
- What is Second City Tourism?
- The Ultimate Alternative Guide to Amsterdam
Erin has been traveling for over a decade, both solo, and with her partner. She’s now traveled to countries across 6 continents, and has lived in 2 countries abroad. Erin also hosts the travel podcast, Curious Tourism, where she interviews travel industry thought leaders and experts about responsible tourism. Learn more about Erin, and get in touch with her, here.
Wow! What an insightful post! I throughly enjoyed reading it! It was very eye opening and sad at times, but definitely something that needs to be said! It is super sad to read about the effects on small communities due to the influx of tourists!
I have been to many countries in which I try to go to the less popular areas to provide some support to smaller communities!
I love that you provided other ideas how we can support these communities!
This is a lot of really great info – I love the practice of second city tourism. It seems like such a tough (but important) issue to think about how to restructure tourism to be less destructive to habitats and traditional ways of life. You bring up so many things everyone who travels should be thinking about 🙂 Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for sharing! These were well thought out points and it is important to think of the communities in this time!
These are all things I have thought a lot about over the years. I really really support tourist taxes, limiting numbers, and limiting cruise ships in port! We have to start thinking less selfishly in order to preserve these places for the future! Great post!
I really like the idea of second city tourism!
It’s such an issue at the moment. I live in Barcelona and over tourism has caused a lot of problems.
Sooooooooo enjoyed and love your article! I am preparing one about my way to see travelling today and I will mention your article in it for sure! I decided to sell my van and keep only my bicycle in order to keep doing what I enjoy the most, travelling, so… yes! I totally agree with your point. Also, I believe we will all reconsider our way to travel (or hopefully) in the post-coronavirus time! Thanks again for this post!
It’s sad that many places suffer from over-tourism – take Bali for example. Tourist stay in Canggu, Kuta and Ubud making the places overcrowded, expensive and floating in taxi-mafias who makes good money from all the tourists.
Last November, we went to Sidemen in Bali (I had never heard about it), there was literally no people. It was a beautiful place full of green rice fields with a volcano set in the background and local people welcoming you. This place lacked tourists as the restaurants were near empty and you felt like you wanted to support all of them… I wished I could eat dinner five times just to support everyone haha.
Over-tourism is a big problem, however, I still feel like there are many good hidden gems in the world, maybe we are just too eager to go the same places because we don’t search hard enough for something unique?
This is an important post because it is definitely a problem, thank you for creating awareness 🙂
Wow, very informative post. Great tips for reducing overtourism.
I love this post so much! It’s an incredibly important topic and I always try to go to lesser known places (also because it’s more fun).
Great article! The tips are very useful and during this time of crisis, overtourism had been super significantly reduced by all means, which gives the world a break, but this is always good to watch out for when society gets back to normal. There are so many wonderful places to explore that are not overcrowded and some tourism spots in the world that is looking to be thoroughly explored. I think marketing of these already overtourist places is what’s causing a lot of it.
Fabulous article. Venice is another example of overtourism. House prices are unaffordable for many of the locals now and they are leaving the city, huge cruise ships cause a lot of damage to foundations and day tourists spending very little and leaving a mess. So sad.
Thanks for sharing such an important post! Overtourism can cause huge issues and disrupt people’s way of life. I know there’s a growing movement in Venice to ban cruises and the locals are being driven off Santorini because it’s just too expensive now!
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