overtourism : the situation when too many people visit a place on vacation, so that the place is spoiled and life is made difficult for the people who live there.
— from the Cambridge Dictionary
Humans face a few existential threats as we approach the first quarter of the 21st century, including war, oppressive governments, destruction of the environment, global spread of disease, civil unrest, artificial intelligence…
The list goes on.
I’m not sure if the list should include “overtourism”?
A new tourist fee in Bali… increased hotel taxes in Amsterdam and Paris… stricter rules on public drinking in Milan and Majorca. Ahead of the summer travel season, leaders in many tourist spots have adopted measures to tame the tourist crowds — or at least extract more revenue from them.
Unfortunately, money can’t buy peace and quiet when the tourists arrive.
In 2018, the Oxford English Dictionary made “overtourism,” one of its words of the year. It’s defined as an excessive number of visitors heading to famous or scenic locations, damaging the environment and having a detrimental impact on the lives of local residents.
But of course, these are the “supply side” efforts to addressing a worsening global problem. Tourists could also take measures to
As mentioned yesterday in Part One, the inspiration for the title of this editorial series came from an article by travel writer Rachel Dixon, posted in The Guardian last month:
Be a better tourist! 28 ways to have a fantastic holiday – without infuriating the locals…
I also mentioned that I’m posting this series from Juneau, Alaska, where my family — my three children and nine grandchildren — have assembled, on the occasion of Celebration 2024, a biennial gathering of Alaskan Native dance groups sponsored by the Sealaska Heritage Foundation. My daughter Lily and her kids live here in Juneau; my son Kahlil and his family came up from Santa Fe; my daughter Ursala and her family are here from Pagosa Springs.
About 1,600 dancers are expected to participate in Celebration this year.
Sealaska Heritage Foundation is funded by Sealaska Corporation, a for-profit corporation that manages some of the shared assets owned by its 26,000 Tlingit Indian shareholders. Those assets include about 360,000 acres of spruce and hemlock forest, as well as fishing and mining operations.
Although tourists visiting Juneau are welcome to purchase tickets to attended the Celebration performances, this Alaskan Native folk life festival primarily serves as a way to preserve certain indigenous cultural values.
The Juneau tourist economy offers many other activities during the summer cruise ship season. Shopping, for example.
Then, maybe a bus tour to the Mendenhall Glacier.
And more shopping… mainly for items I think are made in China or southeast Asia.
Then take a helicopter flight over the Ice Fields.
And then, still more shopping…
Let’s consider a few of the 28 ways to be a better tourist while having a fantastic holiday, suggested by writer Rachel Dixon in The Guardian:
Think experience first
Ask not: ‘Where do I want to go?’ but ‘What do I need from this holiday?’… This approach could lead you to alternative cities to the overcrowded tourism hotspots…
So we ought to ask what we need from a vacation, that we can’t find in our hometown.
Peace and quiet? That doesn’t seem to be the primary need of global tourists, to judge by the places they choose to visit.
Maybe we’re looking for a “shared experience”?
Part of the ‘shared experience’ these days is ‘overtourism’. Fortunately, there are ways to combat the crisis. From the supply side, communities and their marketing departments can take various steps to discourage visits.
The island of Bali now charges international travelers $10 per person for a Bali Tourism Tax. You can pay the tax online on the official Bali Tourism Website… lovebali.baliprov.go.id/
You are also able to pay the tax upon arrival at airports and harbors. However, the government “strongly suggests you pay already online before you arrive.”
Considering the total cost to get to Bali and pay for lodging there, I seriously doubt this $10 fee will help discourage overtourism.
Milan, Italy, hopes to minimize disruptive nightlife in its busy Porta Venezia area by prohibiting the sale of takeaway drinks and food at certain hours. The temporary ban means late night revelers are no longer able to purchase takeaway drinks or food from shops, stalls, and bars with outside seating.
Would this discourage me from visiting Milan? Probably not.
Here in Juneau, a new agreement between the city government and major cruise lines seeks to cap the daily number of cruise ship passengers arriving in Juneau starting in 2026. The agreement, finalized this month, seeks a daily limit of 16,000 cruise passengers Sundays through Fridays and 12,000 on Saturdays.
Currently, passenger numbers are averaging around 20,000 per day… about two-thirds of Juneau’s resident population of 32,000.
Cruise passengers numbers increased rapidly after two pandemic-stunted years, hitting a record last year of more than 1.6 million visitors prowling the Juneau streets. The result: overtourism, and tension between the businesses that rely on tourism and the local residents who are fed up with increased bus traffic, crowded hiking trails, and constant noise from helicopters and float planes.
Cruise seasons also have gotten longer, with the first boat of 2024 arriving in early April and the last set to arrive in late October.
Juneau was able to negotiate these limits because the municipal government owns the waterfront docks used by the cruise ships.
A town like Pagosa Springs cannot easily impose this type of daily limitations on the tourist industry.
So what options do we have?