115 Places Rated Tourism—Are the World’S Great Places Still...Great? TRAVELER Introduces a New Way to See How Well Your Destination Is Coping with the 21St Century

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Destination Scorecard Development, pollution, globalization, mass 115 Places Rated tourism—are the world’s great places still...great? TRAVELER introduces a new way to see how well your destination is coping with the 21st century. By Jonathan B. Tourtellot PETER GUTTMAN/CORBIS

orway’s fjords, Tasmania, Vermont, and complex global survey of over 200 specialists in Tuscany look to be in relatively good sustainable tourism and destination quality. We shape. Not so for the Costa del Sol, asked these experts to evaluate 115 of the Phuket, and Key West. In cases like world’s best known places based on six criteria Cape Cod, opinion is divided. that pertain to cultural, environmental, and aes- NThat’s all according to an unusual new sur- thetic integrity (“About the Survey,” page 67). vey, whose results yield what TRAVELER believes The scores that follow, based on a 1-to-100 to be the world’s first Index of Destination scale, reflect their opinions. For each destina- Stewardship. Ever since travel began booming tion, symbols show which factors most influ- Authenticity 21st cen- after World War II, development pressures, enced their judgments. No destination rated 90 tury style: An outboard environmental problems, civil strife, cultural or above (“unspoiled and likely to remain so”), outrigger ferries tour- erosion, and, yes, mass tourism have increas- but none fell into the “catastrophic” under-20 ists across a Tahitian lagoon. Despite a name ingly challenged the integrity of destinations range either. Destinations in the best shape face once synonymous with worldwide. “Unspoiled” is a description you relatively few threats or, significantly, have paradise, Tahiti made a hear less and less. Which great places have learned how to handle them. Those at the low poor score on the stew- remained great by protecting themselves end have lost much, but could perhaps recover. ardship index due to against these trends? Which have failed? We expect that this index will generate a lot overdevelopment. To find out, TRAVELER worked with the of discussion, even a few arguments. That’s fine, National Geographic’s Sustainable Tourism if it gets everyone, especially policymakers, to 60 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER Initiative and a graduate team from Leeds think more about wise stewardship of the places61 Metropolitan University in England to conduct a we love. The future of travel depends on it. Norwegian Fjords Destination Scorecard “This place is wonderful: living traditional culture, wonderful landscape, not Stewardship Index score rank key factors crowded. I am very happy with how this destination is managed. Excellent envi- Tight land-use codes TOPWILD SCORES protect Tuscan land- ronmental quality, local people involved scapes that seem to Norwegian fjords 82 1 in a very smooth way.” —Panelist Eduardo Nycander, Rainforest Expeditions come from an artist’s ;; brush. “A genuine, Cape Breton Island, Canada 78 2 ? cultured atmosphere,” South Island, New Zealand 78 2 adds one panelist, Prof. A.P. Grima, University Torres del Paine, Chile 78 2 of Toronto. Tasmania, Australia 77 3 ? Rocky Mountain parks, Canada 76 4 ? Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom 75 5

Kruger National Park, South Africa 74 6 ;; Kyoto historic district, Japan 74 6 ? Quebec City historic center, Canada 74 6 ;; ? Vermont, USA 74 6 ? Bay of Islands, New Zealand 73 7

Heidelberg, Germany 73 7

Laurentian Highlands, Quebec-Canada 73 7 ;;

Salzburg historic center, Austria 72 8 ;;

Alpine regions, Switzerland 71 9 Charleston, SC, historic center, USA 71 9 ? Colorado Rockies, USA 71 9 ? Dubrovnik, Croatia 71 9

Easter Island, Chile 71 9 ;;

Fez historic center, Morocco 71 9 ;;

Inside Passage, Alaska/Canada 71 9 Maine coast, USA 71 9 ? Northern California coast (Marin-Eureka) 71 9

Ring of Kerry, Ireland 71 9 ;;

Tuscany, Italy 71 9 Vermont “One of the few places where a Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) area, Australia 71 9 ;; ? THE GOOD large percentage of the populace Remote geography helps some high-scoring destinations stay unspoiled. Yellowstone, USA 71 9 ? is committed to conservation/ preservation over injudicious Baden Baden, Germany 70 10 development.” —Panelist Tom Clynes,

Other places have learned how to cope with popularity. SANDRO SANTIOLI; DALLAS AND JOHN HEATON/CORBIS travel author Bavarian Alps, Germany 70 10

t’s no surprise that Norway’s fjords, rated at 82, lead the muscled topography. Even so, subdivisions might have long ago Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles 70 10 ;; top-scoring destinations, thanks to a combination of luck ruined the painterly scenery had Tuscans not adopted some of the Krakow historic center, Poland 70 10 ;; and wise stewardship. Geography dealt the Norwegian world’s toughest land-use and building codes: In scenic zones, local coastline a good hand when it comes to remaining un- regulations limit buildings to two stories, inhibit subdivision, and MIDDLE SCORES Ispoiled. Rugged terrain, cool, wet climate, difficult access, and a govern aesthetics, including which colors you can paint your house. Brittany, France 69 11 ;; short tourist season keep development pressures comparatively Locals chafe under the rules, but let them stand. Shouldn’t people low. (Note how other “cool-fjord coasts” in Chile and New Zealand be allowed to build what they want on their own property, even if Four Corners (Colorado Plateau), USA 69 11 ? also scored well.) It helps, too, to be in a sparsely populated coun- it’s ugly? Answers Alessandro Marangoni, in the region’s economic Loire Valley, France 69 11 ;;

try with one of the world’s best environmental track records development office, “Then it hurts the value of my house.” (OPPOSITE, UPPER) (although even here some experts took points off for excessive Sensitivity to preserving sense of place extends even to such St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands 69 11 ? cruise-ship traffic and threats to native salmon). unobtrusive forms of tourism as farm stays. The government Guanajuato, Gto., Mexico 68 12 More instructive perhaps is ever popular Tuscany, which man- encourages agriturismo to help small farms stay in business, but aged a respectable 71 (“minor difficulties”) despite its attractive wants authenticity: The farmer’s tax breaks and low-interest loans , KATHLEEN BROWN/CORBIS Cotswolds, United Kingdom 67 13 climate, fabulous cultural attractions, and easy access—often a disappear if the family lets its tourism business exceed its farm formula for dismaying overdevelopment. What’s Tuscany’s secret? revenue. The current minister of tourism, Susanna Cenni, even frets History helped: The Industrial Revolution chanced to skip over about Chianti villages that have become too cutesy. She’s seeking Key for environmental conditions GREEN = good rating symbols this Italian region, leaving intact its trademark landscape of hand- ways to revive authentic rural businesses in the area. ;; social/cultural integrity YELLOW = warning

tended fields, vineyards, and olive groves, all draped over a softly If only other destinations had such problems.... (LOWER) condition of historic structures RED = bad rating aesthetics tourism management 62 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER ? outlook Destination Scorecard

Stewardship Index score rank key factors

Mont-St.-Michel, France, MIDDLEWILD SCORES (CONTINUED) rates well for historic preservation, poorly for Galápagos, Ecuador 67 13 ? overcrowding and environmental neglect that San Juan Islands, WA, USA 67 13 filled its bay with silt, Great Barrier Reef, Australia 66 14 ? and moderately well for outlook, as plans move Machu Picchu, Peru 66 14 ahead to restore the bay. Rhine Valley, Germany 66 14 ? Yosemite Valley, USA. 66 14 ? Amsterdam historic center, Netherlands 65 15 ;; British Virgin Islands 65 15 ? Cuzco historic center, Peru 65 15 ;; ? Grand Canyon, USA 65 15 Isle of Wight, United Kingdom 65 15 ? Salvador (Bahia) historic center, Brazil 65 15 ;; Cuzco, Peru Costa Rica 64 16 ? “Great Inca and colonial town, but in serious trouble.... Without real pro- Lake District, United Kingdom 64 16 ? tection and lack of local involvement. Numbers of tourists seem more highly Petra, Jordan 64 16 ? valued than delivery of quality experi- Prague historic center, Czech Republic 64 16 ;; ences.”—Panelist Lieve Coppin, consultant

Bahamian Out Islands 63 17

California wine country, USA 63 17 Cape Cod, U.S.A. 63 17 ? Iguaçu Falls, Argentina/Brazil 63 17 Mid-coast CA (Santa Barbara–Monterey) 63 17 ? Serengeti National Park, Tanzania 63 17 ;; ? Capri, Italy 62 18 Fiji 62 18 ? Hawaii 62 18 ;; ? Pompeii, Italy 62 18 NOT SO BAD Amalfi Coast, Italy 61 19 Mid-scoring destinations remain attractive, but with worrisome degradation. Borobudur, Indonesia 61 19 ? Some places are doing something about it. Some aren’t. Mont-St.-Michel, France 61 19 ? Porto historic center, Portugal 61 19

he many destinations receiving mid-range scores, 55 to problems in the surrounding bay are finally being addressed. If that PHILIP GOULD/CORBIS, SERGIO PESSOLANO St. Lucia 61 19 ? 69, fall into two camps: those with strong positives can- effort succeeds, this score should go up in years to come. Sea of Cortez and its coast, Mexico 61 19 ? celed out by equally strong negatives, and those with lots The Maya ruin of Tikal and its associated tourist town of Flores of notable, but not yet disastrous, negatives. in Guatemala also present two faces, but the area as a whole Tikal/Flores, Guatemala 61 19 TSome of those in the first group are destinations with two received many comments in the not-yet-disastrous vein. While Dead Sea, Israel/Jordan 60 20 ? faces. At Yosemite, for instance, experts noted the park’s divided acknowledging the beauty of Tikal, experts zeroed in on numerous personality: Its gorgeous scenery and backcountry versus traffic problems: underappreciated ecological wonders, poor information Lake Tahoe, USA 60 20 and crowding in Yosemite Valley. The park’s new methods for cop- for visitors, growing danger from deliberate forest burn-off, lack of Great Wall, China 59 21

ing with high visitation there, such as expanded shuttle service tourism benefit for locals, pollution in Flores, inadequate destina- (OPPOSITE UPPER) and fewer parking lots, did receive cautious praise. tion management, and hotels without environmental controls. “It’s Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru 59 21 ;; On Cape Cod, similarly, a national seashore protects the outer not too late to save,” summed up one travel writer. Azure Coast, Turkey 58 22 beaches and much of the peninsula’s forearm, but development, Some destinations were judged against their reputations. Costa including hundreds of vacation homes, has ballooned to occupy Rica’s surprisingly mediocre score, for instance, reflected a widely , GERALD FRENCH/CORBIS Bali, Indonesia 58 22 ;; virtually every unprotected stretch of shoreline and much of an held feeling that poor tourism management and widespread defor- interior that was semiwilderness just 50 years ago. estation does not match the image of an ecotourism leader that For France’s Mont-St.-Michel, raves for historic preservation con- the country likes to project. Key for environmental conditions GREEN = good rating symbols trasted with numerous complaints about high-season hordes, tacky “Not too late to save.” It’s a good summary for all these middle- ;; social/cultural integrity YELLOW = warning souvenir shops, and the like. Many experts noted that environmental zone destinations. (LOWER) condition of historic structures RED = bad rating Yosemite Valley, California aesthetics “Fantastic natural area, plagued by tourism management 64 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER overuse and crowding during summer ? outlook season.”—Panelist Kelly Bricker, University of West Virginia and former tour operator St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. Destination Scorecard “Massive overvisitation by massive cruise ships.” —Andrew Drumm, The Stewardship Index score rank key factors Nature Conservancy Benidorm exemplifies “Hard to differentiate St. Thomas the heavy footprint of MIDDLEWILD SCORES (CONTINUED) from an overcrowded Florida shopping package tourism on Reef and islands of Belize 58 22 ? mall.” —Cary Wolinsky, photographer Spanish islands and coasts. Cheap hotel Corfu (Kerkira), Greece 57 23 sprawl prompted low scores for the Canaries, Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt 57 23 Balearics, Costa Brava, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal 56 24 ;; ? and Costa del Sol. Masai Mara, Kenya 56 24 ;; ? Rajasthan, India 56 24 ;; St. Petersburg historic center, Russia 56 24 ? Barbados 55 25 Crete, Greece 55 25 ? Havana historic center, Cuba 55 25

Ngorongoro crater, Tanzania 55 25 ;;

LOWER SCORES Amboseli, Kenya 54 26 ? Aruba 54 26 ;; Everglades, USA 54 26 ? Hue, Vietnam 53 27

Tahiti 53 27

Angkor, Cambodia 52 28

Canary Islands 52 28 ;;

Outer Banks, NC, USA 52 28

Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe 52 28 ;;

Acropolis, Greece 51 29

Chang Mai, Thailand 51 29 ;; Pyramids, Giza, Egypt 51 29 About the Survey valuating an entire destina- research tool called the Delphi Balearic Islands, Spain 50 30 ;; ? tion requires weighing such technique, whereby panelists Great Smoky Mountains, USA 49 31 Esubtle issues as aesthetic anonymously exchange further appeal and cultural integrity, as comments about the place and Venice, Italy 49 31 ;; well as balancing good points then re-score accordingly. GETTING UGLY against bad. No simplistic The index, then, is a compila- Bethlehem, Israel/Palestine 48 32 ;; ? Loved to death? Or exploited to death? Both could apply to low-scoring numerical measures could do jus- tion of informed judgments and victims of crowding, poor planning, and greed. Still, there’s hope. French Riviera 48 32 tice to the task. The best solu- perceptions about places that tion was to turn to informed may themselves have many Algarve, Portugal 46 33 human judgment. We convened a faces. It should be taken as such. global panel of over 200 experts In low-scoring Key West, for ook at the bottom 11 entries on the index: Every one of and each other than in the country they happen to be visiting. Caribbean Coast, Q.R., Mexico 46 33 ;; in a variety of fields—ecology, example, you can still find an these low-scorers are sun-and-sand shorelines and islands. Different threats place other low-scoring destinations at risk: Costa Brava, Spain 46 33 ? sustainable tourism, geography, eco-friendly conch farm and Behind that lurks an arithmetic reality: The population of excess popularity (the Acropolis and the Great Smokies), political urban and regional planning, plenty of back-street charm; beach-lovers is ever growing, and there’s only so much or civil strife (Bethlehem), poorly planned mass sightseeing Negril, Jamaica 46 33 travel writing and photography, high-scoring Tuscany still must Lseacoast to go around. A rising demand for a finite resource calls encroaching urban development the inappro- (Angkor), ( Pyramids), North coast, Dominican Republic historic preservation, cultural cope with a badly polluted Arno GLENN CAMPBELL/GETTY IMAGES, JOEL W. ROGERS/CORBIS 46 33 for wise stewardship. Unfortunately, bulldozers often come before priate tourism development (Great Smokies again—i.e., anthropology, archaeology—all River and summer overcrowding brains when quick profits beckon. Gatlinburg), even sea-level rise from global warming (Venice). St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 45 34 ? well traveled enough to have a in Florence and Siena. One textbook example is Spain’s Costa del Sol—the overbuilt This Stewardship Index is intended to be a wake-up call. Low good basis for comparing desti- Like the cards that Olympic Key West, FL, USA 43 35 “Costa del Concrete,” which caters to package tours from north- scoring places can learn from high-scorers, and many of the desti- ? nations against each other. judges hold up, our experts’ We asked experts to evaluate scores take into account both ern Europe, and where you can hear more English or German than nations on the facing page have begun to take countermeasures. Phuket area, Thailand 43 35 ;; only those places with which measurable accomplishment and Spanish. As with many uncontrolled seashores, a nonstop line of Often, though, it’s very, very late in the game. Jamaica’s resort North coast, Jamaica 42 36 ? they were familiar, using six cri- the intangibles of style, aesthet- characterless hotels blocks off the coastline. Proving such a tide town of Negril, for instance, has a vigorous reef-restoration pro- teria weighed as appropriate to ics, and culture. And like can be turned, one Majorcan town has now razed a few hotels. gram—now that as much as 90 percent of its reef has died, due Costa del Sol, Spain 41 37 ? each destination: environmental Olympic athletes, each destina- On any attractive shore, if no policies exist to cluster mass- to both local and global factors. and ecological quality; social and tion has a chance to improve its tourism hotels, or preserve traditional towns and open space, Negril may be working on reform, but in many travel paradises cultural integrity; condition of performance. resort sprawl tends to take over. Community leaders in a few such greed and shortsightedness still rule. Unless that attitude changes, Key for environmental conditions GREEN = good rating any historic buildings and archae- symbols ;; social/cultural integrity YELLOW = warning ological sites; aesthetic appeal; Daniel Chang, Elizabeth Parisian,

destinations have begun to recognize the problem, asking how best countless destinations remain golden-egg-laying geese, filing down (OPPOSITE) to handle hordes of tourists who are more interested in sun, rum, the path to the chopping block. condition of historic structures RED = bad rating quality of tourism management; Leeds Metropolitan University, and the outlook for the future. and many others helped with this aesthetics For places where experts dis- study. For a list of panelists and tourism management 66 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER agreed widely, a second round of more of their observations, see 67 ? outlook scoring used a version of a nationalgeographic.com/traveler.