Report: Managing overtourism an increasing feature of global travel

AP reports from London that Venice is planning to divert massive cruise liners and that Barcelona has cracked down on apartment rentals.

Both are at the forefront of efforts to come to grips with “overtourism,” a phenomenon that is disrupting communities, imperiling cherished buildings and harming the experience of travelers and local residents alike.

Tourism-phobia has become increasingly prevalent, especially in European destinations where visitors crowd the same places at the same time.

The backlash has even given rise to extreme slogans such as “Tourists go home” and “Tourists are terrorists.”

“This is a wake-up call,” Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization, told tourism ministers and industry executives last week at the World Travel Market held in London.

The resentment could rise as tourism soars . The UNWTO forecasts 1.8 billion trips by 2030, up from 1.2 billion in 2016. Add in the 5 billion domestic trips now, and that’s a lot of tourists. Cheap airfare is helping to fuel the growth, along with massive growth in international travel from countries like China.

Yet many destinations rely on tourism as a primary source of jobs and prosperity. Tourism accounts for around 10 percent of the world’s annual GDP, bringing hard currency into many countries that greatly need it, like Greece.

Yet, tourism can also harm the quality of life for residents, with packed beaches, locals priced out of housing and congested streets in the narrow byways of European cities dating back to medieval times. Longer term problems include environmental damage and the long-term sustainability of cities as viable places to live and work.

For all these reasons, managing tourism is a major topic of debate in the industry and a central theme at the World Travel Market.

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