The rise of low-cost airlines, short-term home rentals and cruise ships is partly responsible for overtourism, said Lionel Saul, a visiting lecturer at EHL Hotel Business School in the US.
However, social media, influencers, movies and TV shows also play an important role, as they bring many people to the same place, emphasizes Tatyana Tsukanova, a travel expert in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“They just come in, take a nice selfie, post it on social media… and leave,” she told CNBC .
Crowds of people at the Trevi Fountain
The United Nations estimates that the world's population will reach 8.5 billion by 2030. It is expected that there will be an additional 50 million international tourist arrivals each year - mainly from Asia - between now and 2030.
Residents of the small Austrian village of Hallstatt – said to be the inspiration for Disney's blockbuster "Frozen" series – have built a wall at the popular scenic spot after it appeared in a South Korean TV drama.
“They could face about 1 million tourists a year for… while there were only 800 residents. But the wall did not last long, after a backlash online, the authorities removed it,” Tsukanova said.
Other popular destinations are limiting daily visitor numbers (Machu Picchu in Peru, the Acropolis in Athens, Borobudur in Indonesia, beaches in Sardinia) and restricting large cruise ships (Venice, Bora Bora).
But there is one city that goes even further: Amsterdam.
According to the Guardian , this is a "pioneer city in the fight against overtourism" when it "cracked down" on buses, tourist shops, opened new hotels and Airbnb-style rentals in the famous red-light district in the city center.
Tourists crowd the 9th century Borubudur temple, Indonesia
The Dutch capital launched an "anti-tourism" campaign in April, asking visitors - specifically young British male tourists - to "stay away" if they come to the city because of drug or partying concerns.
Some cities are targeting tourists’ wallets with fines for bad behavior. Venice fines visitors for consuming drinks or food on land, swimming in the canals, and strolling around in swimsuits. Starting next year, the city will test a new tactic: charging day-trippers a $5 fee.
Ivan Saprov, founder of US-based travel technology company Voyagu, said the new tourism taxes will start in Valencia, Spain; Manchester, England; Thailand and Iceland. Bali will also tax visitors 150,000 rupiah ($10) starting in February 2024...
However, sustainability-related fees are not a “hard pill to swallow” for tourists, Saprov stressed. “After talking to our customers, we were surprised by the positive feedback. Almost 40% of them agreed and supported it because the revenue generated can be used to improve facilities and services that are enjoyable for both tourists and locals,” he said.
Many tourists support Bhutan's $200-per-day sustainability fee, which will be introduced in 2022. However, Tsukanova says that according to a survey, fines and fees are unlikely to prevent overtourism.
Villagers in Hallstatt, Austria, put up signs saying "tourists out"
The key to overcoming overtourism lies in “tourist flows and managing flows,” Zurab Pololikashvili, secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, told CNBC. To tackle overcrowding without sacrificing the dollars tourists bring in, some countries are luring visitors to less-visited areas.
Indonesia introduced “10 New Balis” in 2016 – later reduced to “5 New Balis” – to introduce tourists to other beautiful places in the country. Meanwhile, Japanese tourism officials are pushing tourists to visit the country’s rural areas, where half of the urban areas are at risk of disappearing by 2040 due to population decline.
Darrell Wade, co-founder of Intrepid Travel, says tourism needs to evolve and regenerate. One of the problems with tourism today is that it is the opposite of regeneration. It is extractive – and that cannot go on much longer.
“You don't just come, take pictures, see the sights and leave,” he stressed.
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