{"id":29794,"date":"2020-02-14T11:22:21","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T10:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/?p=29794"},"modified":"2020-05-22T14:35:35","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T12:35:35","slug":"overtourism-causes-consequences-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/overtourism-causes-consequences-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Overtourism: Causes, Consequences and Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overtourism<\/strong>: one of the words that people use most in recent years.\u00a0In effect, more and more often, tourist destinations suffer from overtourism, tourism overcrowding<\/strong>.\u00a0Places that everyone wants to see because they are \u201cfamous\u201d. Movie scenes shot in locations (such as Lake Braies<\/a>) that now attract hordes of tourists<\/strong> looking for a short trip. Simply, they stop the time for a selfie and then leave for the next famous stage.\u00a0This type of mass tourism causes pollution, the devastation<\/strong> of nature and distress of local populations.\u00a0Let\u2019s see in detail what is<\/strong> overtourism, what are its causes<\/strong>, what are the consequences<\/strong>, and what can be done to avoid it.<\/p>\n

\"overtourism
Overcrowded beach, photo by Aldric RIVAT on Unsplash<\/div><\/div>\n

What is overtourism?<\/h2>\n

Overtourism<\/strong> is a neologism that indicates the overcrowding of tourists on a holiday destination.\u00a0The term was first inserted in the Oxford dictionary in 2018<\/a> and nominated as the year\u2019s word.\u00a0Overtourism, literally \u201ctoo much tourism\u201d<\/strong>, is a complex phenomenon that we should analyze from various points of view.\u00a0In essence, we could sum up the concept in one question. Is this place affected by the presence of more tourists than the place and the inhabitants can support?<\/p>\n

When it comes to natural tourist destinations<\/strong>, tourism must respect flora, fauna, and microclimate.\u00a0When the destination is a city<\/strong>, tourism must primarily respect residents<\/strong>, as well as local culture and archaeological sites<\/strong>. The latter in particular are small microcosms blocked in time that tourism should protect.\u00a0If this doesn\u2019t happen, we talk about overtourism, or unsustainable tourism for the place, for nature, for the people who live there.<\/p>\n

\"crowds
The crowd in Time Square, photo by Jorge Fern\u00e1ndez Salas on Unsplash<\/div><\/div>\n

The Causes of overtourism<\/h2>\n

More than 1.4 billion people are moving around the world every year, and they are growing at an exponential rate. The World Tourism Organisation predicts that by 2030 the international flow of tourists will exceed 2 billion<\/strong>. This very high number of people focus on a few tourist destinations in the world, which suffer from the excessive presence of tourists<\/strong>. The causes of too much tourism are many. From the famous films that make tourist destinations famous to the ease with which you can reach any corner of the world. Also, we can name the cruises that bring large quantities around the seas. We talked about cruises and their environmental impact in this article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"cruises
Photo by Leonardo Yip; on Unsplash<\/div><\/div>\n

Cultural tourism, a new trend<\/h3>\n

A trend of the moment is tourism influenced by mass culture<\/strong>. According to this kind of tourism, people chose the destination based on social media<\/strong>, influencers, television programs and films. Tourism influenced by film and TV series products, also known as film<\/strong> tourism<\/strong>, has in some cases led to real disasters. An example is what is happening in the Pacific Islands<\/a>: in Thailand at Maya Bay<\/strong>, where the film \u201cThe Beach\u201d was shot with Leonardo Di Caprio. Over the years, tourists who wanted to see the film set invaded the small beach. This forced the Thai government to prohibit the entry of tourists to restore the delicate balance of the beautiful bay.<\/p>\n

\"Thailandia,
Photo by Humphrey Muleba on Unsplash<\/div><\/div>\n

The increase in low-cost air flights<\/a> and cruises is certainly one of the causes of Overtourism.<\/p>\n

The numbers<\/a> published by the World Tourism Organisation (Unwto) speak for themselves. Even in Italy<\/strong>, we have examples of how mass tourism damages the nature and residents of cities invaded by travelers. Venice<\/strong>, for example, is visited by about 20 million people a year. A number a little too high for such a delicate city, devastated also by cruise ships causing pollution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Venice,
Photo by Lucie Ho\u0161ov\u00e1 on Unsplash<\/div><\/div>\n

Even Florence<\/a>, Capri and the Cinque Terre National Park<\/a> in Liguria suffer from the excessive number of tourists arriving every year. This influx is leading the administrations of the various Italian municipalities to take steps to limit the number of revenues.<\/p>\n\n\t\t