Just as I want to move on to other matters in my articles it seems I keep hearing about (and experiencing) more to do with global over-tourism. I have made the point that this is a growing issue, and we have looked at how it is affecting many countries, particularly the world’s travel hot spots. What made me realise that I should write more about this came from a personal experience I had when I was away last week attending and hosting an incentive trip in Turkey. When in Cappadocia there must have been 150 odd balloons with 24 people in a balloon for a season, which is a huge amount of money being generated in a region where there are limited other attractions! This experience, and a couple of other recently read articles, encouraged me to write this one which begs the question “can we, as individuals, minimise the impact of over-tourism on travel?”.
Tourism relocation is one answer
This Cappadocia balloon example clearly illustrates to me that overtourism in some areas can be beneficial to other areas that ordinarily would not get the same sort of traffic. This relocation of tourism to other less visited areas is being seen as one of the most concrete solutions, as is illustrated in a Skift piece that I read on their Global Forum, recently held in La Vegas. According to the article, “A key theme was overtourism. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky mentioned that cities have a visitor capacity limit, and the solution is to spread tourism to less-visited destinations”. I think the holy grail for overtourism is the redistribution of travel,” Chesky said. “That will require us in the travel industry to inspire travel to more long-tail destination. Just one example cited was Airbnb’s recent collaboration with France’s national government to promote tourism outside Paris during the Olympics”. The article then goes on to say, “What’s interesting is that he’s making these comments while European politicians clamp down on the growth of short-term rentals. The deputy mayors of Amsterdam, Venice and Rome have each said they plan to introduce tougher regulations on short-term rental hosts as part of their efforts to combat over-tourism”.
Clearly, over-tourism is of great concern at a government level and top officials will be clamping down on those encouraging more tourism to certain areas, but it got me thinking that after all the travel and tourism industries had to endure in the pandemic, the solution is not to discourage tourism but to find positive ways in which to solve the issue and still boost the industry.
How can we all help?
Firstly, yes, definitely relocation of where you wish to travel is a great idea and this is something that we as a travel industry can encourage by offering good competitive alternatives to the normally favoured hot spots. In South Africa, for example, there are so many amazing off-the-beaten-track, lesser-known travel experiences other than Cape Town and the popular game lodges. We just need to broaden our horizons to experience so much more. I encourage you to do some research before travelling to try to avoid destinations with over-tourism issues. Remember that, as I have pointed out in previous articles, it is damaging – so in places with housing issues for example rather than look for good hotels to stay in – it is usually a safer bet anyway!
Another very positive way to combat over-tourism is to go in off-peak seasons, as this alleviates overcrowding and is also often highly advantageous to you as a traveller. You may find with a little research that the weather is better at certain times of the year than in the holiday season (Cape Town just after the December holidays is a classic example) and of course, you can save a fortune on lower airfares, accommodations and even restaurant prices etc.
Keep the Wanderlust alive!
It is ironic that in a few short years, we have gone from pandemic to pandemonium in tourist hot spots all over the world, but let’s not simply resign ourselves to dampening an industry that had to endure so much to come back from the abyss. Working together we can rather expand our horizons and make sure in every corner of the globe we are boosting travel and tourism and keeping the wanderlust alive. Take it from me – many hot spots are highly overrated anyway, as there is just so much more to experience in this incredible world of ours! Bon Voyage!
LIDIA FOLLI
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER