This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
How can we mitigate a phenomenon that spoils both the visiting experience of travelers and the quality of life of locals? Some strategies implemented here and there.
Unsurprisingly, theHomo touristus started traveling again. According to UN Tourism (new name of the World Tourism Organization), the number of global international arrivals increased from 960 million in 2022 to 1.3 billion in 2023. And everything indicates that this growth will continue this year. Be careful, overtourism in sight during this high holiday season!
For people who have never set foot in Barcelona or Venice in the middle of summer, overtourism describes a situation where, in a place considered attractive, there are more foreigners than locals per square meter. This has the effect of ruining everyone’s lives, and is not without consequences on the site itself. If the fact is indisputable, let us remember that travelers would not be the only cause… In a report published in 2018, while theOxford English Dictionary made ofovertourism one of its “eight words of the year”, the United Nations agency highlighted that the number one myth regarding tourist congestion is that it is only a matter of the number of visitors. In reality, it is also dependent on “an ability to manage them”.
A matter of flow
Here and there, measures are therefore implemented to manage visitor concentrations. One of them consists of better distributing them in space and time. If Frédéric Dubé, interim general director of the Quebec Tourism Industry Alliance, agrees that the province “is more in a situation of tourist vitality than overtourism”, he nevertheless gives the example of Montreal. “Its “harmonious destination” policy aims for good cohabitation between residents and visitors, and takes the latter away from traditional circuits,” he notes. He also notes that the promotion of winter tourism, an additional strategy for dispersing travelers in Quebec, is successful, among others with Mexicans.
Still in order to limit tourist numbers, parks and sites where control of traffic can be exercised, such as Machu Picchu, in Peru, now establish daily attendance quotas. A proven case of overtourism, Amsterdam shows its originality in encouraging its visitors to explore places other than just its central districts. “It already starts with the names. Thus, the medieval castle of Muiden, located half an hour by car, is now presented as being theAmsterdam Castleand the seaside resort of Zandvoort, theAmsterdam Beach », points out Fabien Weber, tourism researcher at the University of Lucerne, in a recent issue of the Swiss magazine Horizons.
Tourists and nuisances
Overcrowding also means nuisances, such as litter, decibels and damage to sites and equipment. Can taxes and access fees reduce them? The future will show this for Venice, which is testing, before its implementation in 2025, the imposition of visiting fees of five euros on travelers who do not stay there. The measure was launched in April and only concerns certain days, 29 in number, until July 14.
1er Last May, the Magdalen Islands introduced a fee of $30 per person, per stay, payable until October 14. What purpose ? Create a regional park for posterity, but also replenish the coffers of the archipelago, tourist stays entailing expenses, in particular for the export of garbage outside the territory and the maintenance of recreational tourism infrastructures. The archipelago has since taken a step aside by making this contribution optional.
For Marc-Antoine Vachon, holder of the Transat Tourism Chair, taxes and access fees nevertheless send an ambiguous message. “On the one hand, we are welcome, as long as we pay,” he observes; on the other hand, for some, it can mean “I have the right to pollute”. So it’s not a magic solution. And this, although the Magdalen Islands, with their extraordinary power of attraction, can afford to demand these rights, especially since significant flows of tourists exert great pressure on its resources. »
In the Czech Republic, Prague has adopted another path, which results in a natural selection of its visitors. Long considered a cheap destination, the capital mainly attracted party people. Realizing that this reputation was doing them a disservice, hoteliers raised their rates by 19% last year. The strategy may not bring fewer travelers to the popular city, but certainly better quality tourism.
Think outside the box, really?
Furthermore, wandering further and further away in order to arrive before the tourists or even invading residential neighborhoods, these collateral victims of housing rental platforms, is perhaps not the good idea we were hoping for. It only generates greater “touristification” of the world. “Going to a refuge in the Amazon means disturbing the fauna and flora that live there. And it also means risking the transfer of inconveniences to environments that are even less well equipped and structured to deal with them,” says Mr. Vachon.
If, currently, the question of overtourism seems “insoluble” to him, he subscribes to the concept of “using more of what we already have and actively developing certain sites rather than distorting others”. His thinking is similar to that of the French geographer and researcher Rémy Knafou, author of (Really) reinventing tourism. Put an end to the hypocrisies of sustainable tourism (editions du Faubourg, 2023).
In this essay, Mr. Knafou draws the observation that several destinations and places created for tourist purposes cannot be accused of overtourism, since it is in the order of things that they are very popular. Thus, just as we advocate the densification of cities to combat urban sprawl, Mr. Knafou advocates the densification of localities that are already touristy to counter the sprawl of tourists.
For the moment, good remedies for overtourism are rare. “We are monitoring the implementation of solutions, but there are not that many. In fact, they often do not pass the ramp, believes Mr. Vachon. To find them, investments in research and development must be made, and behaviors must change. »
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.