Green/Sustainable Tourism v Overtourism

Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024

21 May 2024
Protecting the magic of travel – and local economies
Overcrowding at popular tourist destinations leads to clogged streets, pedestrian accidents and challenges for small businesses and makes travel less enjoyable.
Responding to a growing demand for sustainable travel options can support local economies and ensure that tourism dollars benefit local communities.
Expanding tourism offerings to include diverse and lesser-known destinations can help mitigate overcrowding and promote sustainability.
(WEF) Each month tens of millions of global tourists come to Dumbo, Brooklyn – many of them to take photos of themselves at the intersection where the Manhattan Bridge frames the Empire State Building. It’s a view that’s made this one of the most Instagrammed spots in New York City – a feat for a location that wasn’t even mentioned in guidebooks a few years ago.
Dumbo’s success has led to clogged streets, an uptick in pedestrian accidents and challenges for small businesses who struggle to operate amongst the crowds. It’s a problem seen in over-crowded spots around the globe – from the streets of Tenerife to Machu Picchu’s temples to Bali’s holy springs and more. This tourism challenge brings congestion, pollution and even the destruction of historic sites.
As travellers embark on what’s forecast to be the biggest travel season yet, destinations must consider how to improve and protect experiences for travellers and locals. If they do this, it will mean meaningful destination stewardship practices that diversify offerings and embrace authenticity in different communities while tackling overcrowding head-on. That can lead to new business opportunities, tapping new markets and consumers interested in the kaleidoscope of human perspectives they can experience in a country.
…expanding the travel product will require investing in infrastructure to ensure that roads, accommodations, services, activities, food, and beverages can safely accommodate an influx of travellers. This capacity must be prioritized, with the voice and input of local people and public and private partnerships. To this point, locals are critical to a place’s authenticity and the lifeblood of tourism’s evolution.

6 September
Rome May Start Charging Entry to the Trevi Fountain
The world-famous Baroque monument is getting swamped with increasingly ill-behaved tourists, the city says. Their fix: an access fee for non-residents.

2 September
Beautiful Greek Santorini Island, Another European Paradise Lost To Overtourism
(Forbes) Santorini, along with Barcelona, Venice and many other European spots, represents one of the starkest examples of the impact of hoards of visitors.
There’s no avoiding the reality: For 25,000 permanent residents, the once idyllic island of quaint villages and pristine beaches has been ruined by mass tourism.
The mayor of the island, one of the first government officials to speak out publicly about the overtourism crisis, has warned that the island will fail to “save itself” if controls are not immediately instituted.
“Tourism has hijacked Santorini’s wine production as agricultural land becomes exorbitant while visitor numbers continue to climb,” writes Fortune.
“Santorini is expensive, overdeveloped, and crowded because of its notoriety as a port for cruise ships and attraction as a Instagram-worthy destination,” according to National Geographic.
For the mayor, Nikos Zorzos, the millions of visitors are putting pressure on the outdated infrastructure while pricing islanders out of the housing market.
Zorzos says that he has been pushing national officials for years not to allow any more extra beds on the island and has proposed a cap of 8,000 on the number of passengers the gargantuan cruise ships can deliver per day. Right now that number is more than double: 17,000 thousand passengers every day.
“Santorini received 11,000 cruise passengers in a single day on 23 July, yet a 2018 study by the University of the Aegean concluded that the island can at most welcome 8,000 tourists per day sustainably,” reports Rebecca Ann Hughes in a Forbes article on the controls planned by the mayor.
Italy plans tourist tax of up to €25 a night to tackle overcrowding in cities like Florence and Rome
(The Independent UK) The Italian government is considering the €25 (£21) tax – currently between €1 and €5 per night in cities such as Venice – to make tourists “more responsible” and help financially disadvantaged areas fund services like refuse collections.
With almost 60 million international visitors in 2023, some of Italy’s holiday hotspots are plagued with congestion from cruise day trippers and overnight visitors during peak season.

1 September
‘Hawaii of Europe’: Azores seek to avoid pitfalls of mass tourism
(France24) This summer, many towns in Europe protested the arrival of tourists. In Spain, some locals even sprayed water guns to deter visitors. But one gem, dubbed the “Hawaii of Europe”, has taken drastic measures to avoid overtourism. Faial Island, in the heart of Portugal’s Azores archipelago, is a lush tropical landscape, home to a variety of species. For a long time, this volcanic island has remained a secret, but with its growing popularity, authorities are keen to keep it protected from the dangers of mass tourism.

31 August
Influencers hyped the Amalfi Coast for years. Now it’s a ‘theme park.’
In southern Italy, TikTok vs. reality pits a cliffside paradise against endless climbs, bus lines and traffic jams.
(WaPo) The causes of overtourism are complex, but affected destinations can point to at least one overriding factor. Santorini, Greece, has a crush of cruise ships; Dubrovnik, Croatia, attracts rabid “Game of Throne” fans. The Amalfi Coast suffers from overexposure on social media. Search “Amalfi Coast” on TikTok, and you will be bombarded with serene videos of pastel-colored villages wedged into the cliffside like Jenga pieces.

21 August
The ugly legacy of tourism in Bali: thousands of tons of plastic waste wash up on beaches
Bali’s beaches are among the most beautiful in the world. In 2023, more than 5 million people descended on this Indonesia resort. But behind the picture-perfect image is an ugly legacy of overtourism – a yearly haul of 300,000 tons of plastic waste.

13 June
Italian authorities seek to combat over-tourism on Amalfi Coast (video)

21 May
6 years to the Global Goals – here’s how tourism can help get us there
Tourism is a significant economic force that has returned close to pre-pandemic figures, with 1.3 billion international travellers and tourism exports valued at approximately $1.6 trillion in 2023.
The tourism sector must adopt sustainable practices in response to climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
Inclusive governance and community engagement in tourism planning and management are key to ensuring the sector’s support to local identity, rights and well-being.
(WEF) Tourism can help deliver a better future, and with less than six years to go, it must unleash its full power to achieve this.

23 February
What Europe’s Busiest Cities Are Doing To Combat Overtourism In 2024
(Forbes) As worldwide tourist numbers continue to rise, major European destinations are making big moves to get mass tourism and its impact under control.
Tourist taxes are one tool being introduced or extended in the cities that struggle the most with runaway visitor numbers. Charges for overnight stays and cruise ship arrivals are set to become the norm, driving up the cost of international travel.
Following a more than doubling of global tourism numbers between 2000 and 2019, the UN’s World Tourism Organization said this year could set new records for international arrivals worldwide.
Overtourism leads to many issues, from visible problems including overcrowding in the streets and on public transit, to longer-term issues for locals.
In cities such as Amsterdam and Barcelona, the popularity of buy-to-let property and vacation rentals has created housing shortages and driven up rental prices, forcing out long-term residents in some cases.

2023

18 April 2017 – Last update: 13 June 2023
Angkor water crisis
(UNESCO) Angkor, one of the world’s most fascinating collection of monuments and temple ruins, is spread over 400 square kilometres within the UNESCO-protected Angkor archaeological park. It has attracted a growing number of tourists since it opened up less than 25 years ago. More than four million visitors – 2.5 million of them foreign tourists – flocked to this unique medieval settlement last year, putting tremendous strain on the area’s scarce water resources.
The Angkor complex, which harbours 112 villages and forests within its boundaries, and the burgeoning town of Siem Reap, a relatively recent development to cater to the booming tourism industry, are in danger of becoming victims of their own success.
Siem Reap province has a deficit of about 300 million cubic metres of water per year. To compensate for the unbridled development and water shortages, the Siem Reap Water Supply Authority draws about 27,900 cubic metres of groundwater per day for domestic use. Groundwater levels are further impacted by hotels and other businesses, many of whom have sunk thousands of illegal private wells and pumps across the city to meet their water needs.
In Siem Reap, the groundwater is about five metres below the ground surface, and therefore easy to access. This illicit use of water, for which no statistics are available, threatens the stability of the temples and towers of Angkor. The archaeological treasures have been designed to sit on a base of sand, kept in place by a constant supply of groundwater, which rises and falls depending on the season.

19 January
Canada’s Crowded Banff Confronts Its Overtourism Problem
Every year, the startlingly beautiful resort town of Banff in western Canada receives more than four million visitors. In July alone, Banff National Park saw a total of 694,127 independent visitors, the most it had seen for the month since 2013. Parks Canada, the government agency managing national parks, said traffic flaggers were required 24 hours a day in 2022 in response to demand for access to Moraine Lake. The parking lot also remained full for nearly 24 hours a day at the peak of summer.
… Finally, Banff is addressing these problems of overtourism.

2020

1 November
Securing the Lost City of Machu Picchu
In 1983, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site—dubbing it the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu. Twenty-four years later, millions of people around the world cast votes to name Machu Picchu one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
Due to these designations, its unique beauty, and history, thousands of people pass through the small city of Aguas Calientes, Peru, at the foot of the mountain and hike or take the train to Machu Picchu every day. And while they are mostly there to admire and appreciate the UNESCO site, they also pose a security risk.
Threats to the Sanctuary
Machu Picchu faces a variety of threats: excessive tourism, which is especially hard on the fragile site; the generation of solid waste; unsustainable agriculture practices; overgrazing and forest fires; aggravating erosion; landslides; mineral extraction; and the introduction of exotic plants.

2019

9 September
Overtourism still threatens Angkor Wat
(Phnompenh Post) Tourism has taken a heavy toll on the temple complex.
This year, Responsible Travel released a map documenting more than 90 destinations in 60 countries suffering from the strain of overtourism.
Angkor Wat is on that map, and for good reason.
Fewer tourists may have visited Angkor Wat this year than last, but overtourism still threatens its very foundations.
… More than 10 years ago, the World Bank warned that temples such as Bayon were sinking into their foun-dations as nearby hotels drained underground reservoirs.
In her 2013 book Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism, journalist Elizabeth Becker called Cambodia “a model of tourism gone wrong”, arguing that “the splendid sacred spaces [of Angkor] are lost in a scrum of foreigners”.
Two years ago, the Apsara National Authority instituted a limit of 300 people at the top of Phnom Bakheng because the number of sunset-seekers threatened to damage the temple there.
While a good start, this came nowhere close to stemming the tide of overtourism that threatens the entire temple complex.

30 April
Sinking city: how Venice is managing Europe’s worst tourism crisis
Venice’s booming tourism industry is threatening the city’s very survival. But grassroots initiatives are making a difference – and may even help other cities
Paula Hardy
(The Guardian) Friday 15 March was a rare day in Venice: … Young Venetians had skipped school to join the global youth climate strike, holding placards with statements such as “If climate was a bank, you’d save it.” The movement is especially relevant in Venice, since a 50cm rise in sea levels could see the city vanish beneath the waves.
Critical as the climate crisis is, the city faces a more immediate risk: the rising tide of tourists, presently estimated at 25 million a year and projected to reach 38 million by 2025.
Europe, already the world’s largest tourism market, received 713 million international visitors in 2018, an 8% increase on the previous year, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. But, in European cities, the increase is far greater: since 2008, overnight stays have jumped 57%. While tourism provides significant economic benefit – contributing €2bn annually in gross revenue to Venice alone – overtourism is causing cities like Barcelona, Amsterdam, Dubrovnik and others to make international headlines on issues ranging from housing affordability, environmental degradation and the destruction of local life.
In 2016 in Dubrovnik, residents were outraged when the mayor asked them to stay home to avoid the dangerous levels of crowds disembarking from multiple cruise ships. The new mayor, Mato Frankovic, has since capped the number of cruise ships that can dock in the city at two per day, cut souvenir stalls by 80% and cut restaurant seating in public spaces by 30%. But similar issues of overcrowding in Palma de Mallorca, San Sebastián, Prague and Salzburg have brought locals out into the streets in increasingly impassioned protests.
One of the most dramatic was Venice’s 2016 No Grandi Navi (“No Big Ships”) protest, when locals took to the Giudecca Canal in small fishing boats to block the passage of six colossal cruise ships. And, although plans have been announced this year to reroute the largest ships to a new dock in Marghera (still to be built), campaigners still argue for a dock outside the lagoon at the Lido, where heavy cargo ships historically unloaded.

2007

23 June 2007
Green to go
Everyone is getting on the green-travel bandwagon, but which choices truly make a difference?
HANNAH HOAG
(Globe & Mail) Travel guidebooks are asking their readers not to fly, hotels are building compost bins, car-rental companies are adding hybrids to their fleets, ski hills are building wind generators and switching to biodiesel, and airlines are offering customers the chance to buy carbon offsets.
As public concern over global warming grows, travel companies are scrambling to embrace environmentally responsible practices to satisfy the growing number of tourists who are making travel choices weighed on a green scale.
The current green-travel movement evolved out of several trends – ecotourism, sustainable tourism, nature tourism – that emerged well before Kyoto became more than just another travel destination.
Ecotourism and nature tourism are growing at three times the rate of traditional tourism, according to the International Ecotourism Society. The World Travel Organization estimates that ecotourism captures 7 per cent of the international market.
Here are some options to help you stay on the green side of life:
Fly Less
Travel can have an enormous environmental cost. International air travel releases more than 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually – about the same as 158 million cars driving 14,000 kilometres annually. Controversial British writer George Monbiot has said that taking responsibility for climate change means avoiding air travel.
Because takeoff and landing require more fuel than cruising, a series of short-haul flights can cause more damage than a non-stop flight over the same distance. “Basically that means the best option for a shorter-haul flight is an alternate form of transportation,” says Zoë Chafe, a research associate at the Worldwatch Institute and a contributor to WorldChanging, an online publication.
The publishers of Rough Guides and Lonely Planet are asking readers to think twice before they travel. “Fly less, stay longer” has become the Rough Guides mantra. Their guidebooks now offer tips for fighting climate change, such as reducing air travel and opting for night flights.
“We travel by land when our schedule allows it,” Richard Gregory says in an e-mail from Don Khong, an island in the Si Phan Don region of southern Laos. Gregory, 34, and Joanne Minns, 35, have been travelling through Asia and Australia since they left Montreal last summer. The couple recently opted to make a 160-kilometre trip from the Thai border to Siem Reap, Cambodia, by bus. It took six hours. “Travelling by land ends up costing about one-quarter of the price of flying, but you have to have the time,” he writes.
Offset your trip
When travelling by land or water isn’t an option, Chafe recommends offsetting the carbon emissions produced by the flight. Zerofootprint (http://www.zerofootprint.net), Offsetters (http://www.offsetters.ca), My Climate (http://www.myclimate.org) and Atmosfair (http://www.atmosfair.de) are among the many vendors to choose from. Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based not-for-profit program, announced in May that it had teamed up with Air Canada to offer passengers the chance to purchase carbon offsets for their trip when buying tickets online. By their calculations, a flight from Montreal to London generates the equivalent of 3.13 tonnes of carbon dioxide, about the same as driving a 2005 Honda Civic 20,000 kilometres.
Except for 10 per cent covering overhead, “all of the money goes toward a tree-planting initiative near Vancouver,” says Deborah Kaplan, Zerofootprint’s executive director. The program is restoring forest on degraded land. Hundreds of offsets were sold in the first three weeks of the Air Canada program.
Canadians are evidently willing to pay for their travel sins. The Conference Board of Canada reports that seven out of 10 Canadians said they were willing to pay $10 for every $1,000 in airfare on government-approved forms of green energy in Canada.
Still, many travellers aren’t so sure. “I’ve thought about buying them, but I just don’t know enough about them to invest wisely,” Australian Malinda Wink writes in an e-mail from Sanliurfa, Turkey.
The David Suzuki Foundation offers some advice: invest with companies that offer “additionality” – projects that wouldn’t have happened without your money. There is also Gold Standard, a Swiss non-profit foundation that invests in energy-efficiency and renewable-energy carbon-offset projects (but not tree planting) that have been verified by an independent third party.
Ask questions
To confuse matters, many not-so-green businesses are jumping on the bandwagon for economic benefit, duping good-hearted tourists with their murky promises. Separating the green from the green-washed can be a challenge.
There are stories of wilderness ecolodges accessible only by helicopter, tour guides who buzz wildlife with motorboats, and developers who evict indigenous communities to set up sustainable tourism sites. The best way to avoid green washing is to look for tours and lodging certified by a reputable program such as Green Globe 21, Blue Flag International and Costa Rica’s Certification for Sustainable Travel.
Unlike timber products, which have the Forest Stewardship Council to ensure the wood has come from a well-managed forest, the tourism industry lacks a common set of standards. The Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council (http://www.stscouncil.org) could be the beacon in this green fog. Led by the Rainforest Alliance and the International Ecotourism Society, the proposed council will accredit the certification programs, providing a global mark that travellers can trust everywhere in the world.
And a little more than a year ago, the Rainforest Alliance launched Eco-Index Sustainable Tourism (eco-indextourism.org), a database of tourism businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean that have earned a stamp of approval from an ecotourism certification program or reputable environmental group.
Other safe bets are established conservation groups such as WWF-Canada (http://www.wwf.ca) and the Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org) that offer trips to natural areas. Working with the tour company Horizon & Co., WWF-Canada has developed three-to-11-day ecotours to draw attention to some of its conservation programs.
Lisa di Piera, senior manager of major gifts at WWF-Canada, visited the marshes and mangroves of Cuba’s Zapata Wetlands and snorkelled in search of endangered hawksbill turtles on one such trip in April, 2005. “While we didn’t see turtles that day, we were out with one of the professors from the university and got the inside scoop on what was happening there from local professionals,” she says.
When done right, green travel can be good for communities and the planet. As a program leader at Global Routes, a Massachusetts-based non-profit organization that sends high school and college students abroad to do community service, Shanna Brownstein searched carefully for the perfect travel reward for her group at the end of their service.
“We always tried to stay in places that were eco-friendly and tied to the local community,” she says. That search strategy led her to Los Pueblos Mancomunados, an ecotourism project in the Sierra Norte mountain range near Oaxaca, Mexico.
On that trip, Brownstein, now 28 and a graduate student in public administration at Columbia University in New York, and her group hiked from village to village through the tropical forests and slept in sustainable lodges outfitted with composting toilets. Their guides came from the communities and could tell the teenagers about the local flora and environment while they hiked.
“All of the money stayed in the community … and I liked the idea of these communities maintaining their cultural identity and the environment,” Brownstein says.
She was successful because she asked the right questions. Los Pueblos Mancomunados met the key criteria for eco-friendly tourism: it offered environmental protection and community benefits, and it provided the chance to connect with the region and the people.