Overtourism: Tourists Go Home!

By Julia@travelthefourcorners
Posted on July 16, 2024
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The Rambla is the most overcrowded street in Barcelona, Spain. This photo was taken in July 5, 2016. It is worse today.iStock.com/venakr

How much would you pay for a selfie in front of an erupting Icelandic volcano? Do you enjoy navigating through crowded Roman passageways in Europe? What would you do if a resident squirted water from a toy gun at you while you relaxed in a Barcelona cafe? Unfortunately, we live in the Age of Overtourism, and these are questions we must ask ourselves when deciding where to travel. Overcrowded tourist hotspots, annoyed locals, and rising tourist taxes make travel to popular overseas destinations less desirable.

This post is a roundup of destinations where tourists are increasingly unwelcome. But don’t despair—you can read the news links to find out where tourists are welcome and to pick up a few survival tips for avoiding crowds if you must see the most iconic sites.

Welcome to the Age of Overtourism

Everyone I know is going to or returning from someplace far away—Portugal, Iceland, Italy, France, Morocco, Japan, etc. Adventurous travelers, mostly travel writers seeking places with a hint of mystery left, are exploring new territory.

Bloggers and influencers who popularized Southeast Asia’s jungles and cities a few years ago by visiting Thailand and the communist states of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos are now venturing to the lesser-traveled Oman, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Montenegro, Colombia, and Rwanda.

There has always been a demand for travel content beyond typical tourist spots among seekers of authentic, off-the-beaten-path destinations.

Fortunately, there’s still intrigue left in the world. However, Saudi Arabia’s (and a few like Myanmar’s) human rights violations keep some from finding it. Red tourism is a thing in China, but organized tours and hordes of backpackers to the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and Laos’ Luang Prabang threaten their status due to environmental concerns.

Others are “slow traveling,” venturing deeper into the outskirts of city life to experience the essence of the place. The footloose and fancy-free are applying for extended visas to work as digital nomads in lesser-known countries still desperate to attract tourists.

Sadly, the famous cities on our bucket lists are becoming notorious for suffocating crowds. The worldwide Covid epidemic curtailed travel for several years. Though by 2022, planes and cruise ships were filling up with tourists eager to make up lost time.

Even the eponymous travel guide publisher Rick Steves advises readers to time their visits carefully, visit alternative sites, and explore outer neighborhoods. He has posted How to Avoid Lines and Crowds in Europe.

The Natives are Restless

Meanwhile, residents in Italy, Mexico, and Spain struggle to afford soaring rents and high housing prices in their hometowns. Just look at the growing housing shortage in Barcelona, where thousands of once-affordable apartments have become short-term Airbnb rentals.

In July, nearly 3,000 protestors marched in Barcelona against the rapid growth of hotels and an uptick in cruises. Barricade tape was strung in front of hotel entrances and sidewalk cafes. A handful of protestors shot tourists with plastic water guns. The news headlines went ballistic.

Local Concessions

Similar to other European cities, Barcelona has tried to appease local opposition by reducing tourism’s impact. The government has added stiff tourist fees to hotel bills, earmarking the monies to fund school heat pumps and solar panels, as well as city cleaning services, safety, and public transport. Venice has an entry fee to visit between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm. See Summer travel: Visitors face higher taxes (TTR Weekly.com: July 10, 2024)

No View For You

Some towns and popular sites block views to deter floods of selfie-shooting tourists inspired by social media influencers. They come, shoot, and often leave without contributing much to the local economy. Locals in the Japanese town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi prefecture complain the tourists are “blocking pavements and stopping traffic to get the perfect shot.” They have erected a large, black screen to impede what has become a sought-after view of Mt. Fuji.

Last year, the small Austrian town of Hallstatt put up two ugly wooden fences to block the view of its lake, which selfie-takers find so desirable. Thousands of social media-inspired tourists have descended on this UNESCO World Heritage site, believing it to be the inspiration for the kingdom of Arendelle in Disney’s animated Frozen.

The fences came down after a backlash on social media, but the locals are fighting to reclaim their town (population under 1,000), which reportedly swells to 10,000 visitors a day,

Travel Industry Responsibilities

I am struggling to wrap up my Travelogue series about my Balkans trip with my husband in late 2022. Amidst all the news headlines about the surge in visitors to Croatia in 2024, I am at a loss for words about the country’s most popular and crowded seaport town, Dubrovnik. Earlier, I wrote about the surprising crowds in Plitvice Lakes National Park and noted that Zadar is “refreshingly free of suffocating crowds.” However, Dubrovnik is regularly in the news because of record numbers of cruise ships, airline arrivals, drunken nightclubbers, and hen and stag party revelers filling its otherwise charming Roman passageways.

Naturally, I want to tell the world about the beauty and historical significance of the Old Town of Dubrovnik, but so much has already been written. How can I extol its virtues in good conscience without exacerbating the problem?

Travel writers like Lebawit Lily Girma (Tourism Lens) focus on sustainable tourism. Authors Pico Iyer and Don George tell engaging human interest stories. But when people hear about the places they write about, they want to visit them.

What's To Be Done?

I want to travel. You want to travel. What’s to be done?

Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent at The Independent, suggests considering “6 destinations that desperately want you to pay them a visit: Albania, Cuba, Florida, Morocco, Northern Ireland and Saudi Arabia.

Kate Leahy wrote in National Geographic Traveller (UK) that tourism can be better managed by “promoting more off-season travel, limiting numbers where possible, and having greater regulation within the industry.” She suggests supporting sustainable travel, reducing friction between residents and tourists, and “redirecting travelers to less-visited spots.”

I am going to pick places off the beaten track. If we didn’t have a six-month-old puppy, we’d plan a trip to Bulgaria, Albania, or Romania.

What about you?