I've been meaning to write about overtourism for months. Turns out, I'm part of the problem too. A deep dive into why our travel habits might need a reset.
A Fascinating read. For me experiences are always better out of season, or in lesser visited places. There is an authenticity that is present when mass tourism is not around.
"As travel writers, we could invite our readers to look beyond the obvious". Thats exactly what I try and do!
1. Ban or severely limit short term rentals in city centers.
2. Cruise ships should not be allowed to dock, leave them at sea :). Or charge passengers fee for going on shore.
3. Cost of flights should include significant carbon/convenience tax to make them more prohibitive.
4. Travel writers and influencers should also show the downside of traveling and focus more on the locals/culture/history rather than the tourists’ experience and comfort.
5. People need to change their mindset and think about slow travel (more time in fewer places), including places closer to home. Don’t fly somewhere unless going for a week or more. Think about long term stays (I’ve lived in 7 countries for 1 month to a year or more each, as a student, volunteer, teacher, and visitor). Beats flying somewhere for a 3-day weekend that you won’t remember a year later.
This is my first time reading your content and I thoroughly enjoyed it, Marloes. This topic is as relevant as ever these days. Anyone who travels in one form or another becomes part of the overt-tourism problem. It's hard because the world has so much beauty out there. You make a really good point that prior generations didn't travel as much as they were ok. My grandparents rarely traveled and this didn't bother them. As you point out, perhaps it's FOMO, or perhaps since travel is so easy now, we can go more places.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this... as a full-time traveler I'm part of this problem as well, but as you say I'm not sure what solutions are.
It's an interesting one. When I first visit a country, we usually hit the top spots (my wife does the itinerary) so we check them off the bucket list, we know they should be safe places and get a sense of the place. When we go back to a place, we try to then find the less touristy spots where we can "live a normal life" away from the crowds.
Social media are clearly hugely responsible for over tourism... so many people travel somewhere to "just get that picture". Like the spot in Bali in from of Gates of Heaven... where the pictures is a huge HS as there is no water to create the reflection but just someone holding a mirror.
A lot can be said for sure. But thank you for bringing it up. There's gotta be a way to do better.
There sure is! I'm glad people start talking about it. Thanks for your comment and sharing your thoughts.
And of course people hit the top spots when visiting a country; when I look at Amsterdam I totally get the queues for the Rijksmuseum or the Anne Frank house.
An awesome read. As a new travel storyteller, I am figuring out clear rules for myself on how to write responsibly. Thank you for sharing your insights.
One thing I religiously follow is to not geotag a place, especially lesser known locations on social media.
Stories of residents getting bothered is getting so normal nowadays.
Totally agree that writers should focus on helping tourists make their own informed decisions, instead of giving them a checklist of things to do. Our stories should help locals with tourism that is beneficial to them than be detrimental and bothersome.
This is a wonderful synthesis on the problem of overtourism and I appreciate the shoutout to Those Who Wander. Without the risk of being too redundant because I think everyone’s already captured more or less what I would say, I would just second the call for more writers to continue the discussion on the problems and proffer their solutions that help alleviate the pressure on many of these places.
I also second the ideas of traveling to places in the off-season and especially the concept of slow travel which ties into my own thoughts and experiences on how mindfulness can be applied to travel and adventure.
Also, I think it’s important to bear in mind that this problem ultimately stems from the density of the human population mixed with growing economic opportunity for large sectors of societies. Social media (and media more generally) can exacerbate overtourism but that isn’t the root cause of this in my estimation. We’ve had a tourist industry marketing “must see” places for far longer. Social media is just the latest iteration. It’s that more of us now have more means to travel.
That said, I don’t fault people with means wanting to see the world. It is part of my thesis that movement and travel is an inherent feature of humanity. I think the solution to alleviating pressure on many of these prized tourist destinations is to show the wider possibilities of wandering—that we don’t necessarily always need to be chasing after what we perceive as the most exotic or famous or remote destinations and that the things we love most about travel might be obtained closer to home than we think.
A lot of good points here. A few thoughts of my own:
1. There's so much of the world out there which is worth seeing. I'm not saying people should be allocated their holiday destinations each year by lottery (though it would be amusing: "Burundi, again?!") but within a country there are so many great places to visit outwith the typical two or three destinations. Italy is a great example. Yes, Veneto has Verona and Venice, but small towns like Oderzo or Portogruaro are worth visiting and you'll be the only tourist, not to mention more obvious choices like Treviso or Vicenza which are great destinations but rarely visited. Eastern Emilia-Romagna? Ferrara over Bologna every time.
1b. Last month it was (the delightful) Utrecht for me over Amsterdam. When I told locals I didn't speak Dutch they still assumed I lived there rather than was a tourist. (I had a flexible amount of time in Rotterdam changing trains. Got some chips for lunch, straight back to the station.)
2. Tourist taxes. Bhutan takes this to an extreme. It works. Bankrupted me though.
3. I visited the Taj Mahal in January. So much better than I expected. Sometimes these headline attractions really are special.
3b. ...but the value of museums has dropped now so much is online. You can arrive in a country fully knowledgeable about whatever you might be interested in. Yes, it's a lesser substitute, but it raises the relative value of tertiary destinations.
I totally agree; Italy is a great example of a country to explore beyond the popular destinations. A lot of villages and towns are utterly charming and the food is even more amazing when it’s the original cuisine. I was amazed by Tuscany again watching the Strade Bianche last Saturday.
Good to read you enjoyed Utrecht; it’s a nice city and has a lot to offer.
Loved this post, thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to provide so many resources for me to visit and research/learn more. I'm a recent immigrant to Portugal (lived here 1 year) and when people back home tell me they're coming to visit Portugal, they always ask, "Where should we go in Lisbon? What are the best restaurants in Porto? What paddleboard tour should we take in Lagos or Benegil to see the caves?"
I don't live in any of those places, so the first thing I tell them is: Skip Lisbon, Porto, and Lagos. There are SO many other beautiful villages and beaches in Portugal that are less crowded and would be grateful for your visit. It's OK to visit those places, of course, but if you stay even 30-45 minutes outside those areas, you'll find more stunning and authentic things to do, places to eat, and memories to make.
Thanks for highlighting this issue and compiling the research.
Overtourism is a huge problem of our times in many places. I became aware of it living in Cambodia and visiting Angkor Wat, and see it now near where I live in Europe - particularly in Venice and Dubrovnik.
I am also part of the problem, being a lover of travel. I wrote about my experiences in Medium.
But there are positive steps I try to take and which we all can.
Travelling off season, choosing lesser known destinations, turning left instead of right, buying local, staying longer and making more contribution to the community.
We saw negatives as well as positives from staying away in the pandemic.
But I like mass tourism. Like this walled resort in Senegal I described a while back. Thanks to the wall, the tourists rarely wander out of the hotel (it’s dangerous), don’t interfere with the locals and don’t spread their questionable values. And the majority of the country remains pristine and fascist-free. https://open.substack.com/pub/nomadicmind/p/the-wall-of-shame-of-cap-skirring?r=31fxoh&utm_medium=ios
Often people notice things only when you tell them. The tourists from your story - I noticed many times how they follow a guide and then all take photo of some architecture detail, because the guide told them. Without him they are unable to think and decide what is interesting. Same way in cap skirring. They stay inside and are told to watch beautiful sunset, so they do. They never notice the wall being bizarre.
Haha, apparently, we do need some guidance sometimes. I remember my dad telling us to look outside while driving through the Alps on our way to the campsite in France.
I am so glad you are another voice addressing this issue. I live in one of those towns that gets slammed in the summer. I leave. I don't rent my place. I lock it up and leave. I see mostly four major challenges, but there are surely many more.
1. Profitability of short term rental vs renting to locals on a monthly basis. We all know who is responsible.
2. Cruise ships, where you eat, sleep, and spend your money on-board and simply add to congestion without spending any money.
3. Cheap flights. It cannot be sustained to have someone fly to Prague to get drunk for the weekend at a price that is lower than going to the local pub. I do not know whether limiting number of flight arrivals, or increasing ticket prices is the answer, maybe both, or tax the hell out of both?
and finally what I perceive to be the most problematic.....
4. Entitlement..... Generally speaking, modern tourists are taking their phones on vacation, which means they are unaware of their surroundings and it is all about them, all the time. backing up, blocking traffic, going into shops to photograph but no buy anything..... It feels a lot like in some cases the numbers of tourists haven't changed, it is just that somehow they take up more room, and not in a good way!
Good to read your thoughts! I'm lucky not to live in the busy centre of Amsterdam, so I don’t have to escape. But it’s sad that people are leaving because of the crowds.
I recognise the challenges you mentioned. Amsterdam plans to ban cruise ships from 2035—ten more years of pollution. And as for those cheap flights, it’s absurd that flying is still cheaper than taking the train. Taxes on kerosene can be a start.
A Fascinating read. For me experiences are always better out of season, or in lesser visited places. There is an authenticity that is present when mass tourism is not around.
"As travel writers, we could invite our readers to look beyond the obvious". Thats exactly what I try and do!
Amen to that, Nicholas
1. Ban or severely limit short term rentals in city centers.
2. Cruise ships should not be allowed to dock, leave them at sea :). Or charge passengers fee for going on shore.
3. Cost of flights should include significant carbon/convenience tax to make them more prohibitive.
4. Travel writers and influencers should also show the downside of traveling and focus more on the locals/culture/history rather than the tourists’ experience and comfort.
5. People need to change their mindset and think about slow travel (more time in fewer places), including places closer to home. Don’t fly somewhere unless going for a week or more. Think about long term stays (I’ve lived in 7 countries for 1 month to a year or more each, as a student, volunteer, teacher, and visitor). Beats flying somewhere for a 3-day weekend that you won’t remember a year later.
Agree with all these but especially #4!!
Thanks, Bruno. Really good and useful points!
This is my first time reading your content and I thoroughly enjoyed it, Marloes. This topic is as relevant as ever these days. Anyone who travels in one form or another becomes part of the overt-tourism problem. It's hard because the world has so much beauty out there. You make a really good point that prior generations didn't travel as much as they were ok. My grandparents rarely traveled and this didn't bother them. As you point out, perhaps it's FOMO, or perhaps since travel is so easy now, we can go more places.
Thanks! I really appreciate that. ☺️ And yes, the world has so much to offer—it’s a challenge for us travellers to find a balance somehow.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this... as a full-time traveler I'm part of this problem as well, but as you say I'm not sure what solutions are.
It's an interesting one. When I first visit a country, we usually hit the top spots (my wife does the itinerary) so we check them off the bucket list, we know they should be safe places and get a sense of the place. When we go back to a place, we try to then find the less touristy spots where we can "live a normal life" away from the crowds.
Social media are clearly hugely responsible for over tourism... so many people travel somewhere to "just get that picture". Like the spot in Bali in from of Gates of Heaven... where the pictures is a huge HS as there is no water to create the reflection but just someone holding a mirror.
A lot can be said for sure. But thank you for bringing it up. There's gotta be a way to do better.
There sure is! I'm glad people start talking about it. Thanks for your comment and sharing your thoughts.
And of course people hit the top spots when visiting a country; when I look at Amsterdam I totally get the queues for the Rijksmuseum or the Anne Frank house.
An awesome read. As a new travel storyteller, I am figuring out clear rules for myself on how to write responsibly. Thank you for sharing your insights.
One thing I religiously follow is to not geotag a place, especially lesser known locations on social media.
Thanks! I think not geotagging a location also helps!
Some tourists just follow the herds.
Currently there is this discussion in Amsterdam about the TikTok queues for shops selling fries. Residents are really bothered by it.
It’s also weird, fries and snacks are much better at classic joints like FEBO.
It makes me think how we as writers can help tourists to make their own choices.
Stories of residents getting bothered is getting so normal nowadays.
Totally agree that writers should focus on helping tourists make their own informed decisions, instead of giving them a checklist of things to do. Our stories should help locals with tourism that is beneficial to them than be detrimental and bothersome.
Great read, thanks for the mention @Marloes! 🙏
This is a wonderful synthesis on the problem of overtourism and I appreciate the shoutout to Those Who Wander. Without the risk of being too redundant because I think everyone’s already captured more or less what I would say, I would just second the call for more writers to continue the discussion on the problems and proffer their solutions that help alleviate the pressure on many of these places.
I also second the ideas of traveling to places in the off-season and especially the concept of slow travel which ties into my own thoughts and experiences on how mindfulness can be applied to travel and adventure.
Also, I think it’s important to bear in mind that this problem ultimately stems from the density of the human population mixed with growing economic opportunity for large sectors of societies. Social media (and media more generally) can exacerbate overtourism but that isn’t the root cause of this in my estimation. We’ve had a tourist industry marketing “must see” places for far longer. Social media is just the latest iteration. It’s that more of us now have more means to travel.
That said, I don’t fault people with means wanting to see the world. It is part of my thesis that movement and travel is an inherent feature of humanity. I think the solution to alleviating pressure on many of these prized tourist destinations is to show the wider possibilities of wandering—that we don’t necessarily always need to be chasing after what we perceive as the most exotic or famous or remote destinations and that the things we love most about travel might be obtained closer to home than we think.
Thank you for compiling this! 😊
Thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive comment and sharing your thoughts. Means a lot!
And I fully agree with the 'show the wider possibilities of wandering' idea, that's something we as travel writers should aim for.
A lot of good points here. A few thoughts of my own:
1. There's so much of the world out there which is worth seeing. I'm not saying people should be allocated their holiday destinations each year by lottery (though it would be amusing: "Burundi, again?!") but within a country there are so many great places to visit outwith the typical two or three destinations. Italy is a great example. Yes, Veneto has Verona and Venice, but small towns like Oderzo or Portogruaro are worth visiting and you'll be the only tourist, not to mention more obvious choices like Treviso or Vicenza which are great destinations but rarely visited. Eastern Emilia-Romagna? Ferrara over Bologna every time.
1b. Last month it was (the delightful) Utrecht for me over Amsterdam. When I told locals I didn't speak Dutch they still assumed I lived there rather than was a tourist. (I had a flexible amount of time in Rotterdam changing trains. Got some chips for lunch, straight back to the station.)
2. Tourist taxes. Bhutan takes this to an extreme. It works. Bankrupted me though.
3. I visited the Taj Mahal in January. So much better than I expected. Sometimes these headline attractions really are special.
3b. ...but the value of museums has dropped now so much is online. You can arrive in a country fully knowledgeable about whatever you might be interested in. Yes, it's a lesser substitute, but it raises the relative value of tertiary destinations.
Hahaha “Burundi, again?!”
Thanks for your honest comment, I appreciate it!
I totally agree; Italy is a great example of a country to explore beyond the popular destinations. A lot of villages and towns are utterly charming and the food is even more amazing when it’s the original cuisine. I was amazed by Tuscany again watching the Strade Bianche last Saturday.
Good to read you enjoyed Utrecht; it’s a nice city and has a lot to offer.
Loved this post, thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to provide so many resources for me to visit and research/learn more. I'm a recent immigrant to Portugal (lived here 1 year) and when people back home tell me they're coming to visit Portugal, they always ask, "Where should we go in Lisbon? What are the best restaurants in Porto? What paddleboard tour should we take in Lagos or Benegil to see the caves?"
I don't live in any of those places, so the first thing I tell them is: Skip Lisbon, Porto, and Lagos. There are SO many other beautiful villages and beaches in Portugal that are less crowded and would be grateful for your visit. It's OK to visit those places, of course, but if you stay even 30-45 minutes outside those areas, you'll find more stunning and authentic things to do, places to eat, and memories to make.
Thank you! It was very interesting to do the research.
It’s great you direct people to the spots they don’t know in Portugal and you inspire them to look beyond the wellknown places.
Thanks for highlighting this issue and compiling the research.
Overtourism is a huge problem of our times in many places. I became aware of it living in Cambodia and visiting Angkor Wat, and see it now near where I live in Europe - particularly in Venice and Dubrovnik.
I am also part of the problem, being a lover of travel. I wrote about my experiences in Medium.
But there are positive steps I try to take and which we all can.
Travelling off season, choosing lesser known destinations, turning left instead of right, buying local, staying longer and making more contribution to the community.
We saw negatives as well as positives from staying away in the pandemic.
Thanks for your comment! I will check your articles about the subject on Medium.
I like this pont of view: "We saw negatives as well as positives from staying away in the pandemic."
Thanks, Marloes!
But I like mass tourism. Like this walled resort in Senegal I described a while back. Thanks to the wall, the tourists rarely wander out of the hotel (it’s dangerous), don’t interfere with the locals and don’t spread their questionable values. And the majority of the country remains pristine and fascist-free. https://open.substack.com/pub/nomadicmind/p/the-wall-of-shame-of-cap-skirring?r=31fxoh&utm_medium=ios
That’s one way to look at it! That wall is bizarre, by the way.
Often people notice things only when you tell them. The tourists from your story - I noticed many times how they follow a guide and then all take photo of some architecture detail, because the guide told them. Without him they are unable to think and decide what is interesting. Same way in cap skirring. They stay inside and are told to watch beautiful sunset, so they do. They never notice the wall being bizarre.
Haha, apparently, we do need some guidance sometimes. I remember my dad telling us to look outside while driving through the Alps on our way to the campsite in France.
I am so glad you are another voice addressing this issue. I live in one of those towns that gets slammed in the summer. I leave. I don't rent my place. I lock it up and leave. I see mostly four major challenges, but there are surely many more.
1. Profitability of short term rental vs renting to locals on a monthly basis. We all know who is responsible.
2. Cruise ships, where you eat, sleep, and spend your money on-board and simply add to congestion without spending any money.
3. Cheap flights. It cannot be sustained to have someone fly to Prague to get drunk for the weekend at a price that is lower than going to the local pub. I do not know whether limiting number of flight arrivals, or increasing ticket prices is the answer, maybe both, or tax the hell out of both?
and finally what I perceive to be the most problematic.....
4. Entitlement..... Generally speaking, modern tourists are taking their phones on vacation, which means they are unaware of their surroundings and it is all about them, all the time. backing up, blocking traffic, going into shops to photograph but no buy anything..... It feels a lot like in some cases the numbers of tourists haven't changed, it is just that somehow they take up more room, and not in a good way!
Good to read your thoughts! I'm lucky not to live in the busy centre of Amsterdam, so I don’t have to escape. But it’s sad that people are leaving because of the crowds.
I recognise the challenges you mentioned. Amsterdam plans to ban cruise ships from 2035—ten more years of pollution. And as for those cheap flights, it’s absurd that flying is still cheaper than taking the train. Taxes on kerosene can be a start.