Overtourism: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

von Harold Goodwin, Director of Responsible Tourism in the Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University

The meaning of the word is clear without definiti­ Harold Goodwin (haroldgoodwin.info), on, tourists and residents use the word because it so Leiter Responsible Tourism im Institu­ eloquently conveys what they feel. The first acade­ te of Place Management at Manchester mic usage appears to be in 2008 in the Integrated Metropolitan University, ist einer der weltweit Coastal Zone Management literature where there is führenden Wissenschaftler, die sich mit verant­ a conceptual echo of overfishing. (ii) wortungsvollem Tourismus auseinandersetzen. Er ist unter anderem Director of the Responsib­ Butler’s Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) (iii) re­ le Tourism Partnership, Gründungspräsident des cognised that destinations are discovered and then Internationalen Zentrums für Responsible Tou­ developed, and that, as tourism peaks, consolida­ rism (2002) und Berater des World Travel Mar­ tion and stagnation ensue unless managed well. ket (WTM) in London, Kapstadt, Dubai und Sao There is an extensive literature on carrying ca­ Paulo für diesen Bereich. Neben vielen weiteren pacity in protected areas management and in the Funktionen ist er Mitglied der IUCN’s World nineteen-nineties Boissevain; Tyler, Guerrier, & Commission on Protected Areas. Exklusiv für Robertson, and Bosselman, Peterson, & McCarthy TourismusWissen-quarterly hat Goodwin, der were writing about coping with mass tourism pri­ bereits mehrfach in TourismusWissen - quarterly marily in cities (iv). The word overtourism has en­ veröffentlichten Arbeiten zitiert wurde, diese tered the Oxford English Dictionary having been Arbeit erstellt, die wir selbstverständlich in der shortlisted for its 2018 Word of the Year. In tou­ englischen Originalfassung belassen. rism, it was, and is, the word of the year. Euphe­ misms like „coping with success” will not crush it. Overtourism is here to stay. Overtourism describes destinations where hosts or guests, locals or visitors, feel that there are too Causes many visitors and that the quality of life in the area or the quality of the experience has deteriorated Overtourism is the antithesis of Responsible Tou­ unacceptably. It is the opposite of responsible tou­ rism; it is the consequence of paying little more rism which is about using tourism to make better than lip service to sustainability and assuming that places to live in and better places to visit. Often there are no limits to growth. It was in 1972 that the both visitors and guests experience the deterioration landmark Club of Rome report was published on concurrently and rebel against it. (i) The Limits to Growth. (v)

First used on twitter as #overtourism back in August Work by Turner in 2008 (vi) comparing their fo­ 2012 the word is widely used, from the perspective recasts with what happened in the next thirty years of hosts and guests, as it conveys their sense that found that they were remarkably accurate. In 2005 the quality of the residents’ life or the visitor expe­ Hirsch published on the Social Limits to Growth. rience has declined; often both occur concurrently. (vii)

110 | Tourismus Wissen – quarterly April 2019

seite_110_goodwin.indd 110 19.04.2019 09:56:36 Overtourism Goodwin

Overtourism is but one example of what happens 6. Seasonality bunches tourism and concentrates when more and more seek to consume a common numbers – but then there is a quieter season which resource, particularly when that resource is a fini­ suits some destinations and individual businesses. te common property resource, many honeypot des­ Extending the season is seen as desirable for some tinations are just that. Only so many people can businesses but not for all, for businesses and com­ be packed into Venice or the Ramblas in Barcelona, munities alike there is no respite. there are limits to growth. There are multiple causes of overtourism. 7. Tourism industry businesses and trade associ­ ations assert the economic importance of tourism 1. There is a high propensity to consume travel, and point to the large numbers employed in the in­ to experience other peoples’ places, amongst the dustry. However, tourism and hospitality jobs are emerging middle classes – overtourism is not only a often relatively low paid and seen as temporary, ca­ European phenomenon. It extends to Asia and many sual, insecure and without prospects. developing countries. 8. Honeypots are difficult to demarket. Tourists are 2. The low cost of travel – the rise of the budget motivated to travel to see the sights and to collect airlines and cheap coach travel have all made it ea­ the selfie. The destination marketers rewarded for sier for people to pay the price their success in securing arrivals of the journey. Where holiday use the honeypot attractions to time and holiday pay are cons­ achieve their targets. traints, more people are taking city breaks, often multiple short Overtourism is the 9. Transport is larger in scale than haul flights each year. Flights it was ten years ago. Aircraft, coa­ are very frequently cheaper opposite of responsible ches, trains and cruise liners de­ than rail because aircraft fuel tourism which is about posit more passengers with each is untaxed and the polluter is using tourism to make arrival, and they arrive more often. not paying for the environmen­ better places to live It is very difficult for destinations tal impacts of greenhouse gas in and better places to impede these flows; national emissions. authorities with different priorities to visit. manage the facilities, they are in­ 3. Disintermediation and P2P dependent of control by the local platforms are creating problems authority or national park. There is in the housing market, forcing usually more opportunity to cont­ up rents, displacing those on rol cars through local congestion low incomes and creating disturbance in residential charging and parking restrictions. neighbourhoods. Airbnb and similar portals have made it easier to find affordable accommodation Destinations are common, public goods; they are enabling more people to travel. Often that accom­ victims of Hardin‘s Tragedy of the Commons. (viii) modation is in more residential neighbourhoods; The consumption of public goods is non-rival; so­ they are in much closer proximity to residents. meone else enjoying the good does not prevent me using it too. The arrival of 15 coaches carrying tou­ 4. The public realm is free – tourists do not pay for rists at the top of La Rambla does not preclude my their trophy photo in Trafalgar Square or St Marks, being there too, but it may ruin or degrade my ex­ maintenance and repair costs have to be met by perience. local taxpayers. The second characteristic of a public good is that it 5. Ironically, efforts to disperse tourism pressure, is non-excludable unless a local authority decides to distribution strategies, initiatives to spread tourists gate the public realm space charge for admission as to less-visited residential neighbourhoods increase has been trialled in Venice. tourism impacts adjacent to peoples’ homes. Crow­ ding, queuing and congestion impact residents. The visitors and tour companies are free riders; Many European cities are experiencing alien binge they can use the resource or sell it as part of an drinking and hen and stag parties. itinerary for free. Piazza San Marco is not infini­

April 2019 Tourismus Wissen – quarterly | 111

seite_110_goodwin.indd 111 19.04.2019 09:56:36 Overtourism Goodwin

te, it has a finite carrying capacity, in larger num­ As with Responsible Tourism, the issues arising bers tourists „deplete the resource”. As Davidson from overtourism vary from place to place. None of and Maitland put it “views are spoilt, picturesque the issues is new, most of the negative impacts were village streets become crowded with people and listed in Mathieson and Wall back in 1982. (xiii) tour buses, peace-and-quiet becomes noise and bustle.” Back in 2005, Archer, Cooper and Ruhanen could credibly express the opinion that the question of Symptoms whether tourism was a “blessing or blight” was “now essentially academic, given the value of tou­ Overtourism is simple in a fundamental sense. It rism as the world‘s largest industry…”.(xiv) This describes a situation where residents or guests, was the prevailing view amongst destination mana­ locals or tourists feel that the character of the ex­ gers and academics until those “rebellious tourists perience of the place and the place itself has been and rebellious locals” (xv). degraded by too many tourists. Doxey’s irridex (x) described the different stages of the hosts‘ at­ The case for addressing the challenge of ensuring titude to visitors moving from euphoria, through that tourism is sustainable emerged in the late nine­ apathy and annoyance to antagonism. This is ob­ teen eighties (xvi) and there have been many con­ viously an oversimplification. Different people in ferences, reports, policy documents and academic different parts of places and with different forms papers – but little action. As with Responsible Tou­ of engagement with tourism experience the im­ rism, the issues vary from place to place and it is pacts of tourism differently and move through the important to focus on what matters locally and can stages at different paces. The irridex did not pro­ be addressed locally. vide sufficient means of understanding the views of the residents as a whole. Relatively few des­ For example, in Barcelona overtourism is to a signi­ tinations regularly survey residents to ascertain ficant extent a consequence of the ease of arriving in their views. the city by plane, sea, rail or road. The city authori­ ties are not able to manage arrivals through the port, Tourists, too, will have different perspectives on airport or railway station. All of these points of entry whether or not a place is suffering from overtou­ are managed for growth by organisations over which rism. Nationality and cultural backgrounds are sig­ the city has no control and very little influence. Bar­ nificant influential factors in determining perceived celona is better able to manage arrivals by road once crowding. (xi) In general, people’s tolerance of the traffic arrives within the city boundary through crowding is specific to the context. We expect mar­ parking and route management. As in other city des­ kets to buzz and be busy. Some beaches are enjoyed tinations, Barcelona’s management of tourism in the because the crowds on them are part of the experi­ city is limited by the presence to the southwest of ence, others are abandoned because they are spo­ L‘Hospitalet de Llobregat, a major densely popula­ iled when a tipping point is reached, and a lively ted city which functions as an urban extension of beach becomes overcrowded and then, overtouris­ Barcelona but with a separate administration. ted. But tipping points vary from place to place and between individuals. Tourism is what we make it, Barcelona and Venice do not inevitably have to be dominated by tourism, There is also a ratchet effect: our concept of over­ victims of mass tourism. Increasingly, residents are tourism, like crowding, is relative. If we have no raising the issues and it is moving up the political memory of standing with a small group in Old agenda in the city governments. What can be done Town Square in Prague to watch the Astronomical to manage tourism so that it does not overwhelm Clock on a winter night, we do not miss that expe­ the cities – Venice, Barcelona, Paris, London, New rience. The crowds, common today, are accepted York City, Prague, Berlin, Rome – where the sheer as the norm, the tourists become the experience. In mass of tourism is beginning to be seen as a prob­ Barcelona, Barceloneta, La Rambla and other ho­ lem. In rural areas, there are similar pressures with neypots are increasingly described as “no-go zones trampling and litter, congestion and pressure on for residents” (xii) – places with a thin veneer of housing availability for residents caused by holiday local culture, tourist places devoid of any authenti­ letting, second home ownership and inward migra­ city other than that of the tourists. tion by retirees.

112 | Tourismus Wissen – quarterly April 2019

seite_110_goodwin.indd 112 19.04.2019 09:56:36 Overtourism Goodwin

Treatment quired to provide local powers. New business mo­ dels, for example, Airbnb and Uber, often emerge There is little that a destination can do to deter tra­ rapidly benefitting from an unregulated and lightly vel by increasing taxation on air travel, however, regulated environment. Government has to evolve they can think carefully about the incentives they and implement a regulatory response, and that ta­ may give to budget carriers. Tourism is a social ac­ kes time. Regulatory lag is a significant challenge tivity which can be managed in the destination but in addressing overtourism. Generally, the local go­ generally is not. Effective management requires vernment has not seen the problem coming. The­ objectives and agency. re are two dimensions to the problem: the local govern­ment department or agency may not regard The dominant objective is international arrivals managing tourism as its responsibility or it may not because national governments have a major inte­ have the powers and resources to do so. rest in foreign currency earnings and because it is easier to count these at immigration. This is the There are many examples of management inter­ wrong metric for sustainability. Businesses at the ventions which are being tried in places experien­ destination level are generally as interested in do­ cing, or preparing for the challenge of overtourism. mestic tourists as international ones. There is a directory developing on the Responsible Tourism Partnership website; more detail and links From a local economy perspective length of stay, can be found there; further contributions are wel­ bed occupancy and yield are the metrics that mat­ come. (xix) ter most. For residents attracting tourists who “fit in” matters. Sin­ The links and references for the ce 2004, Barcelona has sought to management interventions listed make tourist activities more sus­ here are on responsibletourism­ tainable, to increase the positive partnership.org/solutions/. impacts of tourism in the city We can make tourism and to integrate visitors fostering better and counter Effective management requires coexistence, Barcelona aspires reliable shared information about to treat visitors as temporary re­ overtourism but tourism, its scale and impacts. sidents. The city is working to there are limits Only with good data is it possible ensure that there are no tourist to growth. to identify benefits and costs and ghettos and that tourism contri­ develop management strategies butes to the improvement of the to ensure that it is sustainable. quality of life and social cohesion Barcelona surveys its residents in Barcelona. (xvii) regularly to determine their views about tourism and other problems In many places, there is confusion about the ro­ in the city and it publishes monthly forecasts of vo­ les of DMOs. The same acronym is used for both lumes of visitor numbers for each day, enabling Destination Management Organisations and Des­ locals to avoid the most heavily congested days in tination Marketing Organisations with bodies the city. composed primarily of private sector representa­ tives spending private sector and public money on Supply-side Initiatives destination promotion. In Barcelona, the manage­ ment of tourism is now unequivocally the respon­ » Regulating licensed and unlicensed accommoda­ sibility of the city council. It is significant that tion and using planning and building regulations the “objectives and strategic lines” of Turisme de to restrict the supply of accommodation. Regu­ Barcelona, the public-private partnership organi­ lating the new disintermediated marketing and sation which markets the city include public po­ supply channels. licy objectives. (xviii) » Distributing tourism more evenly, spatially and temporally to reduce ghettos and hotspots The effective management of tourism in destina­ » Increasing the supply of public transport and re­ tions can only be dealt with by local authorities, routing it to reduce overcrowding and congestion although changes in national legislation may be re­ and open new areas for tourism.

April 2019 Tourismus Wissen – quarterly | 113

seite_110_goodwin.indd 113 19.04.2019 09:56:36 Overtourism Goodwin

» Matching supply and demand and reducing (vi) Turner, G. M. (2008). A comparison of The Limits to queuing by using timed ticketing and dynamic Growth with 30 years of reality. Global environmental pricing. change, 18(3), 397-411 » Arrivals in Dubrovnik have been capped by res­ (vii) Hirsch, F. (2005). Social limits to growth. Routledge. tricting cruise arrivals to two per day. (viii) Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science 162, 1243–8: 1244 Demand-side Initiatives (ix) Davidson, R, andMaitland R (1997) . Tourism destina­ tions. Hodder & Stoughton, 99 » Demarketing to deter particular market segments (x) Doxey, G.V., 1975, September. A causation theory of or reduce demand pressure. visitor-resident irritants: Methodology and research inferen­ » Use marketing to change the destination image ces. In Travel and tourism research associations sixth annual and attract more compatible market segments. conference proceedings (pp. 195-98). » Use marketing and regulation to change tourist (xi) Pons, Frank & Laroche, Michel, 2007. „Cross-cultural behaviour. differences in crowd assessment,“ Journal of Business Rese­ » Tourist taxes arch, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 269-276, March. (xii) See for example https://www.theguardian.com/travel/ Managing activity in the destination 2018/aug/30/why-tourism-is-killing-barcelona-overtou­ rism-photo-essay » Using municipal regulation to ensure that pave­ (xiii) Mathieson, A. and Wall, G., 1982. Tourism, economic, ments are kept clear and to control parking. physical and social impacts. Longman.(xiv) Archer, B., Co­ » Banning segways, paddling in the fountain or ea­ oper, C. and Ruhanen, L., 2005. The positive and negative ting picnics on church steps. impacts of tourism. Global tourism, 3, pp.79-102. » Using planning regulations to control the locati­ (xv)Krippendorf J (1987) The Holiday Makers Butterworth on of shops and the retail offer. Heinemann: 107 (xvi) Sarfaraz Hashemkhani Zolfani, Maedeh Sedaghat, Tourism is a social phenomenon although it has Reza Maknoon & Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas (2015) some serious environmental impacts. Tourism is Sustainable tourism: a comprehensive literature review on what we make it: hosts and guests, the industry and frameworks and applications, Economic Research-Eko­ government, we can make it different. We can make nomska Istraživanja, 28:1, 1-30 it better and counter overtourism but there are limits (xvii) Goodwin H (2018)Managing Tourism in Barcelona, to growth. g 2nd Edition, Responsible Tourism Partnership Working Pa­ per 1 Notes (xviii) ibid (xix) https://responsibletourismpartnership.org/solutions/ (i) Goodwin H (2017) The Challenge of Overtourism Re­ sponsible Tourism Partnership Working Paper 4 https://ha­ roldgoodwin.info/pubs/RTP‘WP4Overtourism01‘2017.pdf (ii) An, N. T., Phung, N. K., & Chau, T. B. (2008). Integra­ ted coastal zone management in Vietnam: pattern and per­ spectives. Journal of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, 23. (iii) Butler, R. (2006). The tourism area life cycle: Appli­ cations and modifications, Vol. 1. Clevedon: Channel View Publications and Butler, R. W. (2006). The tourism area life cycle: Conceptual and theoretical issues (Vol. 2). Clevedon, UK: Channel View Publications (iv) For the references see Goodwin H (2017) (v) Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. W. (1972). The limits to growth. New York, 102,27. It can be download here http://www.donellameadows.org/wp-con­ tent/userfiles/Limits-to-Growth-digitalscan-version.pdf and Meadows, D., Randers, J., & Meadows, D. (2004). Limits to growth: The 30-year update.Chelsea Green Publishing.

114 | Tourismus Wissen – quarterly April 2019

seite_110_goodwin.indd 114 19.04.2019 09:56:36