Tourists on the steps of the Sacré Coeur (Basilica of Sacred Heart) in Montmartre, Paris.
Tourism is such a positive concept to most of us. For tourists it implies travel, holiday and leisure and for those of us in the industry, it means an income and the opportunity to create jobs and develop local economies. But can it go too far?
International tourism reached 97% of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2024 and expectations are for it to fully recover this year. Global employment (directly and indirectly) in the travel and tourism sector in 2023 ensured 330 million jobs, almost catching up to the pre-COVID-19 levels and the prediction is for an estimated 348 million jobs worldwide in 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The total contribution of travel and tourism to global GDP was 9.9 trillion USD (9.1%) in 2023. Although still 4% lower than in 2019, this figure is predicted to reach an estimated 11.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
In South Africa, 8,48 million international tourists were recorded in 2023. An increase of 48.9% on 2022, but still 17,1% below the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Tourism’s contribution to GDP was 3.5% in 2022 – the direct contribution to GDP was larger than three industries: construction, agriculture and utilities (electricity, gas & water supply). Tourism crucially contributes 4.7% to employment in South Africa and research shows that for every 30 new tourists to a destination one new job is created.
What can be negative about this?
Have you saved up for that once in a lifetime trip? Can you hardly find a gondola to explore the romantic waterways of Venice? Is it impossible to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty without a million strangers in front of your lens? Can you hardly put one foot in front of the other while climbing the Great Wall of China? Is your tourism experience the joy you expected it to be or are you constantly fighting the crowds to get a decent view or a spot at a streetside café? These are just the most obvious issues for tourists in an overcrowded space, but traffic can be a nightmare, parking impossible to find and perhaps basic services such as electricity, plumbing and safety can’t keep up with the influx of visitors either.
Overtourism isn’t always a joy for the tourist, but the local community who benefits from the income provided by the tourism experiences and hospitality should be smiling all the way, shouldn’t they? Not necessarily. While the economies of tourism destinations depend on tourists, it is not all about the profits for hotels, restaurants and hot spots. The general infrastructure has to be maintained and those who live in the area (whether they are involved with the tourism economy or not) have to be able to enjoy a certain level of privacy and security – something that can be endangered by overtourism.
So, what is overtourism really? According to responsibletravel.com: “In short, overtourism occurs when there are too many visitors to a particular destination. ‘Too many’ is a subjective term, of course, but it is defined in each destination by residents, hosts, business owners and tourists. When rent prices push out local tenants to make way for holiday rentals, that is overtourism. When narrow roads become jammed with tourist vehicles, that is overtourism. When wildlife is scared away, when tourists cannot view landmarks because of the crowds, when fragile environments become degraded – these are all signs of overtourism.”
It is quite a dilemma. It is hard not to identify opportunities for growth and development within your tourism offering, especially if your community is desperate for jobs and a way to create an income. It is hard not to find reasons why more visitors will be positive for your tourism-driven economy. When we compile tourism statistics, we like to see growth, more arrivals, more jobs created, bigger visitor expenditure and a bigger percentage contribution to the GDP. While our infrastructure still holds, it is difficult for us not to try and sell our destination a little harder and add a few more bookings. Covid also brought a sense of desperation and we are still trying to compensate for the major financial struggles in tourism that prevailed far longer than the lockdown.
Overtourism also has an impact on the environment and over-consumption can lead to the depletion of local natural resources as well as pollution and waste problems. According to theworldcounts.com, “Tourism contributes to more than 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with transportation accounting for 90 percent of this. By 2030, a 25% increase in CO2-emissions from tourism compared to 2016 is expected.”
Can it be that we have ignored overtourism because of the income and jobs the industry generates? It would be shortsighted to not be aware of the dangers of overtourism as it can affect the sustainability of the whole industry. What are the solutions?
In some ways, I think some of the current tourism trends already support a natural correction to overtourism. Travellers today enjoy exclusivity and personalised experiences. They are more open to explore the unfamiliar and unique and perhaps the opportunity is for tourism to grow, but not within the already overcrowded hot spots. Tourism experiences are not all about visiting the Louvre, going up Table Mountain or taking a picture of the Big Ben from the London Eye. Sometimes it is the culinary art of San Sebastián, the remoteness of the Namib, the wine of the Cape Winelands or the whales giving birth along the Cape South Coast. While the famous experiences might be what initially entice people to come, the charm and survival of any experience dies when it is overcrowded. Tourism as an industry should focus on unexplored areas as well, invest in proper tourist services there and then encourage visitors to get to know the locals and experience the culture and traditions that haven’t been touristified. Imagine the magnificent room for tourism development in the unexplored regions of South Africa!
Naturally, we want to tick off the big sites and experience the popular and famous places on earth, but perhaps we can just do it at a different time. With many of us working remotely and having more flexible hours, perhaps travel is not limited to the few weeks of summer holiday. Visit the must-sees outside of peak season and it will be more affordable and with fewer fellow tourists, probably a more pleasant experience. Promoting the traditional off-season should perhaps be more of a priority for the tourism industry.
Regardless of whether you have a gelato stand or a guesthouse, or whether you are the local doctor, everyone in a tourism community relies on tourism and needs it to be a sustainable business. It’s hard to resist the charm of growth, but perhaps there is another way to look at it. Rather than just growing volume, why not grow value? Perhaps by limiting the number of visitors, we can create more exclusive and expensive experiences? Perhaps tourists are willing to pay more when they know that they will not stand in line or be part of an overcrowded experience?
And even when it is not about price, it is about reputation. We need good occupation rates, but we also need word of mouth and return visitors because of an enjoyable experience. We need to be responsible with tourism to have something tourists want to come back to and to keep our communities a place where locals would like to live and contribute.
Featured image:
Sources:
https://www.unwto.org/un-tourism-world-tourism-barometer-data
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268465/number-of-travel-and-tourism-jobs-worldwide/
https://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/what-is-overtourism
https://www.gov.za/news/speeches/minister-patricia-de-lille-tourism-dept-budget-vote-202425-16-jul-2024#:~:text=From%20January%20to%20December%202023,rest%20of%20the%20African%20continent.