The problem is not the tourists, but the lack of authorities to manage them

The term hyper tourism entered the life of – mainly more popular – destinations for the sake of well-being. Everyone agrees that the money it brings in, creates jobs, fills them, is welcome tourist accommodation and shops, the flows for the means of transportation increase and the consumption of local products, products, stimulate the income directly or indirectly linked to tourism and of course the national income.

Recently, however, the negative consequences have increased and the reactions have taken the form of an avalanche.

There are endless debates about who and what is to blame for the malfunctions and – to a certain extent – justified – dissatisfaction caused in an area due to the influx of a large tourist population.

The residents revolted. They claim not to stumble upon the hordes of visitors who leave their homes, until they find cheap houses, without airbnb leaving no slop for slop available for locals and skyrocketing rent.

They are concerned about the pressure on the natural environment, the pressure it puts on natural resources, especially in problem areas, water sufficiency for example.

The big awakening that needs to happen, that leaders need to understand is that tourism is a sector that needs management.

“Tourists go home”

After the pandemic, the confusing return of large tourist flows caused strong reactions. This summer, an angry mob decided to fight back.

One of the biggest protests of the season took place in Barcelona in July, with residents wielding water pistols and forcing confused tourists out of restaurants.

Residents held signs reading “Overtourism is killing the city” and “Tourists go home” and told reporters that locals could no longer afford to live there.

A manifesto published by advocacy groups called on the city to reduce airport activity, ban short-term rental properties and stop using public money to promote the city to visitors.

And while destinations around the world feel overwhelmed by large tourist arrivals, anxiety is particularly high in Europe this summer. Spain alone saw more than 53 million visitors in July this year, a 12% increase from 2023.

Greece is among the top “overtourism” countries

In September, the first “Hypertourism Index” launched by the consultancy firm Roland Berger, which analyzed a total of 70 of the world’s most popular tourist destinations to assess their level of exposure to holidaymakers, including Greece (especially Mykonos and Santorini) along with Cyprus. , Croatia, Spain, Italy, France and Portugal, in European destinations that during the summer are more and more affected by overtourism phenomena.

Greece, as revealed in the same study, is one of the leading countries with high “overtourism”, especially in terms of beach tourism during the summer, but also in urban tourism.

For this reason, the international travel agency Evaneos, which specializes in sustainable travel, is removing summer vacation packages for Mykonos and Santorini from its platform for 2025!

Is it their fault?

The opinions presented at the formal and informal discussion tables are endless. The CEO of the World Council on Sustainable Tourism, however, probably overturned the first thought of many of us. In Blame Them, Randy Durband makes another suggestion and shifts the center of gravity of the problem. In two words he says: it is not the fault of the travelers, it is the fault of bad management.

“I have been involved in travel and tourism for 40 years, working on committees and trade associations in Europe, North America and Asia,” he said. “Governments around the world traditionally don’t think they have a governance role,” he said, speaking to CNBC.

From marketing to management

The seasoned professional urges Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) to “replace the term marketing with the term management”.

He added that this transition has already begun, but is still in its infancy.

“This is the big awakening that needs to happen, that the rulers need to understand – tourism is a sector that needs management. There are ways of manipulation, control, capacity building … to solve the problem,” he said specifically.

He also added that there are areas that are handling this issue well. “We see good management of protected areas and national parks,” he said. “But there’s a lot that needs to be done just to establish awareness that it needs to be done at the government level.”

Management of tourist routes

Managing the flow of visitors is a rapidly gaining ground for mitigating overtourism. What it has done is to limit the level of tourism, the method focuses on controlling the concentration of visitors – whether seasonal or within a day.

While tourist strongholds like Walt Disney World have used this tactic for years, now local authorities seem to be working on it as well.

As an example, he cited the small French village of Saint Guilhem le Désert, which changed the “flow” of travelers after a man in the town died of a heart attack because an ambulance could not be taken to hospital on time due to traffic in. the roads.

Residents can drive into the village, Durband said, but visitors are asked to park in a designated area outside the village on weekends and in the summer and ride the rest of the way by bike, foot or local electric bus.

A strategy based on this design could work even in a city like Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ does receives 17 million visitors every year, he said.

He also noted that managing the flow of visitors is more difficult in Barcelona. Unlike other big cities, visitors tend to congregate in the same areas that residents prefer, increasing friction between locals and visitors.

“Everybody wants to go to the same small area in the Old City, so dispersion should be an adequate strategy to do that,” he said. He emphasized, however, that it was “absolutely” possible.

“Demand will not decrease,” he said, referring to the world’s 8 billion population and the growing middle class in the Asia-Pacific region. “Therefore, the capacity should be increased and the methods of managing the dispersal of visitors should be further improved.”

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