As the world has gotten more interconnected, people are travelling more than ever. It is much more common now for an average person to have left their country or continent at least once in their life. This can increase awareness of other cultures and expand a person’s worldview. However, travel, specifically tourism, has many downsides that affect major tourist destinations. Many popular travel destinations are being overrun by tourists in their peak seasons, causing overcrowding and damage to the local environment and culture. This problem has created tension in these locations as many locals call for a decrease in tourism.

One of the main issues with overtourism is that it can damage the local environment. Pollution is caused by littering as well as the carbon emissions from both air and car travel. Tourism in natural environments can displace wildlife, kill plant life, and cause erosion. It can even damage historical sites by eroding them slowly over time. There are always tourists without the proper respect for a place and its value, so vandalism is a concern as well.

Another major issue is social: gentrification and destruction of the local culture. Tourism feeds on the simplification of a place and its people. The complex history of a place is condensed into something easily commodified, often misrepresenting a culture or showing only one aspect of it. Tourism can also displace locals by increasing property rates and pushing them out of heavily visited areas. Short-term rentals can bring in more money for a developer than long-term rentals, so many properties are being converted to Airbnbs or other similar rental properties focused on tourists. Beyond the housing issues, tourism often causes a general raise in prices, like at restaurants or bars near destinations. Huge crowds of people make it difficult for locals to live their day-to-day lives without interruption. It is much harder to get to work when you either have to fight through large crowds or go a longer route around a busy area to avoid the tourists. The noise and disturbance are nuisances to the people just trying to live their normal lives.

A great example of the overtourism problem is Venice. The city experiences huge crowds every year, to the point that tourists outnumber residents. This has led to the city feeling more like a commodity than a living place. Every aspect of it feels curated because tourists are the main demographic targeted by the businesses, attractions, and even the infrastructure. It is also not made to deal with the number of people that are in the city on a given day. The streets in Venice are narrow and winding, and it can be difficult to navigate through them. This creates a large amount of congestion.

In tourist destinations across the world, residents are protesting against tourism. Large rallies calling for limits to tourism have occurred across Europe in the past few years, and many countries and cities are implementing new rules aimed at reducing visitors. There are fines for things like wearing swimwear outside of the beach, drinking in public, smoking at the beach, taking selfies in certain locations, and many more. Some places have begun charging tourism fees. In Venice, there is a fee to visit as a day trip. In Barcelona, hotel rooms and rentals have an extra fee for non-residents.

There are debates over whether the goal of lowering tourism will damage economies or make travel more inaccessible for less wealthy people. However, I think that sustainable travel should be a bigger focus, and the needs of the residents of a place should trump the wants of visitors.