Tourism Under Pressure: Striking a Balance
By Hugo Hu, University of Toronto
Representing 9% of the world's GDP, tourism plays a crucial role in many local economies and popular destinations. However, as a frenzy of summer travel sparks growing backlash from graffiti to outright protests, it is prime time to reflect and reconsider the relationship that tourists have with their favorite destinations. With once charming sights now grappling with overcrowding and strained infrastructure, local economies are reconsidering whether mass tourism has net benefits despite its economic importance. Despite these concerns leaving policymakers, locals, and the tourism industry considering how to manage the crowds more sustainably for all stakeholders, the drivers of increased tourist volume—social media, cheaper travel, and shifting demographics—are here to stay.
Defining Overtourism
Overtourism occurs when an excessive number of tourists gather at a destination, surpassing its theoretical “carrying capacity,” a limit defined by factors such as available resources, infrastructure, and socio-cultural tolerance. When this threshold is surpassed, additional tourists generate marginal costs that overshadow the benefits to the local community. For locals, this includes economic trade-offs such as a rise in the cost of living, as well as broader disruptions to social and environmental harmony.
Drivers of Overtourism
Several demand factors contribute to overtourism, but it is noteworthy that rising demand itself is expected to exacerbate overtourism nonlinearly, as travelers tend to converge in already well-defined destinations rather than explore more niche offerings. A French startup, Murmation, observed that around 80% of travelers visit just 10% of the world’s tourist destinations through its satellite data. Furthermore, UNWTO predicts that by 2030, the number of worldwide tourists having peaked at 1.5 billion in 2019, will reach 1.8 billion, increasing pressure on these already popular destinations.
As a backdrop, tourism was among one of the hardest hit sectors during COVID-19, with the sector down ~70% as leisure activities halted to a stop amidst lockdown restrictions. Now, as the world rebounds socially and economically, tourism has naturally experienced a rapid resurgence, with visitor volumes rebounding to pre-pandemic levels and more. While this is a resumption to the norm, the pandemic has rendered some areas unprepared for the sudden reemergence of traffic, straining unprepared local resources.
Meanwhile, social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok have only continued to grow in prevalence, creating another dimension to tourist concentration. Specifically, these online communities can quickly create a virality to destinations that draw masses. Data from American Express notes that social media influences around 75% of travelers, with 64% also motivated by places featured in popular media like TV and movies. Hence, social media acts in a way that amplifies demand, often problematically in the form of even greater concentration in a few hotspots, leading to exceeding the carry capacities of these hotspots.
Finally, travel is now more accessible than ever, with two compounding factors in the growing global middle class and the continued falling costs of travel and accommodations. For example, the growth of economic rentals like Airbnb and VRBO has increased the supply of accommodations geared toward short-term visitors. Moreover, in combination with more pronounced middle-class wealth, it is observed that individuals are far more likely to use a higher proportion of their income towards experiences rather than goods, which includes travel and leisure expenditures, especially amongst younger demographics. For example, in the 12-month period ending in August 2024, American consumer spending on experience grew by 32% compared to the same period in 2019, whereas spending on goods only grew by 21%.
Impacts of Overtourism
Beyond the environmental drawbacks of tourists degrading local habitats and ecosystems, the consequences of overtourism are also social and economic. In some of the most overcrowded destinations like Barcelona and Venice, rising demand for accommodations has created serious detriments to local housing markets as owners and investors convert homes into short-term rentals. Consequently, such a profitable market of Airbnbs and Vrbos has only made it more difficult and costly for residents to find affordable housing, directly dealing with higher market prices as well as bidding competition from property investors. This shift, described as “tourist gentrification,” often forces residents to leave their native neighborhoods as their cost of living grows increasingly unsustainable. Meanwhile, daily essentials may also become more expensive, like eating at restaurants, as businesses raise prices to capture the higher demand by visitors. Hence, while tourism can generate immense revenues on paper, it is concentrated in specific beneficiary sectors, whereas the negative effects spill over without compensation for other members of the local community.
Overtourism strains public services and infrastructure like waste management and transportation, while funding can barely keep up with the additional demand, effectively diminishing the quality of life of locals. In cities like Dubrovnik and Amsterdam, local governments have had to increase expenditures on crowd control and the maintenance of public spaces, all at the cost of local taxpayers rather than the private revenues from tourism. As an exemplary “tragedy of the commons,” it is rational for businesses to continue to attract tourists and visitors, even though the net cost to society outweighs private benefits. Hence, in the long term, there is a risk that essential services for locals may become increasingly weakened as businesses place more emphasis on tourists, diminishing the authenticity that drew tourist appeal in the first place.
Tourists also experience firsthand the downsides of overtourism, with excessively long lines and overcrowded venues greatly diminishing their experience. A 2022 survey found that 64% of people would prefer to avoid crowded sites to help reduce congestion. Especially as social media continues to present unrealistic presentations of these destinations without crowding, the reality is likely to create only disappointing experiences for visitors. Hence, it would also be in the tourist’s best interests that relevant actors implement policies to address unsustainable volumes to maintain the cherished value of attractions and popular destinations.
Solutions to Overtourism
Given the harmful impacts that overtourism can have on the locals, stakeholders—such as attractions, businesses, tourism organizations, and governments—must mobilize policies to strike an efficient balance of economic and socio-environmental performance goals. Already, several actors have implemented a series of policies aimed at reconciling the negative externalities that a deluge of tourists brings to local communities.
Adaptive Responses by Businesses
While most businesses aim to maximize revenues regardless of patron, some destinations have adopted tier pricing between tourists and locals, charging a premium for the former. In Japan, for example, this price discrimination idea has been applied to destinations and restaurants, striving to ensure that locals are still able to afford their cultural experiences while at the same time capturing premiums associated with higher maintenance and surge costs associated with tourism. To mitigate backlash, this pricing strategy tends to be framed as a “discount” for locals rather than charging foreigners. Regardless, instances such as English menus displaying higher prices for patrons can spark controversy. Despite the optical risk, tiered pricing at tourist sites can provide additional funding for heritage conservation and support sustainability.
Policy Responses
Governments are critical actors in altering stakeholders’ incentives to help manage the risks of overtourism. An example of an applicable policy is city taxes, which are extra fees added to accommodation costs, generating funds for public services and infrastructure maintenance. This approach ensures a more equitable distribution of the benefits and costs of tourism to locals, shifting the responsibility of paying for the strain of local resources back to visitors as an offset. Moreover, this allows the profits generated by the select tourism industry beneficiaries to be more effectively shared with all the impacted parties. In more extreme cases of regulations, Venice, for example, has banned large cruise ships from entering parts of the city to protect historical areas from overcrowding.
Encouraging Responsible Travel
Increasingly, the concept of “slow travel” has become supported by ecotourism organizations, travel platforms, and vacation influencers. The concept is rooted in the broader “slow movement”, which encourages staying longer in fewer places to allow travelers to build more meaningful connections with their destinations. This revised intentional approach supposedly reduces the environmental footprint associated with constant movement. Meanwhile, research suggests that implementing this philosophy can encourage visitors to be more mindful in engaging with the locals in more mutually beneficial exchanges.
Improving Management and Diversifying Attractions
Cities can also implement policies to redirect crowds to adjacent, lesser-known destinations through promotions and incentives. These “tourist corridors” help to relieve the pressure of previously overcrowded attractions and spread economic prosperity to a broader range of communities. For example, investments in developing nearby attractions can alleviate congestion at popular sites while allowing both to prosper sustainably. Additionally, using tools like data monitoring and satellite tracking, authorities can analyze visitor trends and adjust policies in real-time to prevent overcrowding. Meanwhile, tourists are also able to enjoy unique and authentic experiences outside of hot spots.
The Future of Tourism
Despite instances of local backlash, tourism remains a cornerstone of economic prosperity for many popular destinations around the world. Even in the face of anti-tourism protests, countries like Spain have continued to document record visitor numbers, showing that travel demand is here to stay. Hence, with tourism being a critical resource for many communities, the need to rethink existing approaches is ever more urgent. Specifically, local administrations must implement location-specific solutions and risk mitigation rather than blanket policies.
While overtourism presents complex issues, it also invites innovation. Using data-driven insights to promote alternative destinations, supporting slow travel, and implementing win-win policies for both locals and tourists is key to achieving a balanced stakeholder model. All in all, a more sustainable tourism industry will preserve the character of destinations and ensure long-term prosperity and enjoyment for future generations.
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