Overtourism - a real crisis?
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Presentation on overtourism given at the 12th International Forum on Tourism in Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, 21st June 2018
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Overtourism - a real crisis?
- 1. Dr. James Kennell Department of Marketing, Events and Tourism Business Faculty @jameskennell @jameskennell_gre #overtourism – a real crisis?
- 2. Where does the word ‘overtourism’ come from? "Overtourism represents a potential hazard to popular destinations worldwide, as the dynamic forces that power tourism often inflict unavoidable negative consequences if not managed well. "In some countries, this can lead to a decline in tourism as a sustainable framework is never put into place for coping with the economic, environmental, and sociocultural effects of tourism. The impact on local residents cannot be understated either."
- 5. What is wrong with #overtourism 1. It doesn’t consider the distribution of tourism in a destination 2. It doesn’t consider the timing of tourism in a destination 3. We already know how to understand these issues 4. The ‘Venice Problem’ 5. What about #undertourism?
- 9. We already have the right language 1. Carrying Capacity 2. Overcrowding
- 10. Carrying Capacity • Developed from the 1960s • Attempts to quantify and limit tourism growth • Became very unfashionable in the 1990s • Opportunity to revive this concept now through ‘Smart Tourism’ and big data (Juardo et al 2012 – Eastern Mediterranean)(Kennell 2016)
- 11. Overcrowding
- 13. Cruises and mass tourism • “All modern tourism is mass tourism.” (Butcher 2017: 28) • Some niches are so big, that their moral claims are questionable • Well-planned mass tourism, has more direct benefits and less negative impacts • Mass tourists are not criminals, but they’re also not anthropologists (McKercher 1993)
- 14. So, what is new about #overtourism? Mature destinations in developed countries Now, middle-class and wealthy communities are affected Overtourism describes a crisis in public perceptions of tourism
- 15. #undertourism • What most destinations are struggling with is undertourism – not having enough tourists • Especially in developing countries, attracting tourists is important for economic and social development • Tourism professionals and policy makers want more tourists to visit their destination, not fewer!
- 16. #undertourism and UK seaside towns Around 50 towns on the coast 1974 – 40.5m domestic holidays per year 2017 – 15.8m domestic holidays per year
- 20. What caused this? • Changing social and economic trends • Increased competition • A complete lack of government attention and funding • Service Industry collapse is often invisible • Poor destination management (Kennell 2011)
- 22. Which is the biggest crisis for a tourism destination? #overtourism #undertourism
- 23. 2 problems: 1 solution (DestinationNEXT 2017 Futures Study Update, Destination International)
- 24. Summary • #overtourism is not new, and its not that dangerous • #undertourism is the real danger • There is a crisis in the public perceptions of tourism – but is it just fake news? • Destination Management is the key to solving these problems • What can you do, as tourism scholars?
- 25. Tourists are not criminals and destinations are not their victims Poor destination management should be a criminal offence.
- 26. University of Greenwich is a charity and company limited by guarantee, registered in England (reg. no. 986729). Registered office: Old Royal Naval college, Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS D e p a r t m e n t o f M a r k e t i n g , E v e n t s a n d To u r i s m B u s i n e s s F a c u l t y j . s . k e n n e l l @ G r e e n w i c h . a c . u k @jameskennell @jameskennell_gre
Editor's Notes
- I’m going to discuss the term ‘overtourism’, which has become very fashionable recently The term describes a situation where a destination has too much tourism, and can’t cope – in particular it refers to the quality of life problems this can cause for local residents I don’t like this term, and I’m going to explain why and what I think we can do about it European perspective
- This is Rafat Ali, the founder of Skift, the online travel and tourism news site – he wrote this in February 2016, This was the very first time that the term was used.
- The top image shows how frequently this is being discussed on google – 288,000 hits 4 tweets per hour, every hour, using the hashtag #overtourism Analysis by Reitag showing how the word overtourism is being linked to hundreds of other terms on social media. This looks like a crisis – but is it just fake news?
- The fact that this term has become so popular has created and sustained a real anger within host populations, and this is starting to be directed at tourists themselves
- Overtourism in one place, doesn’t mean your destination is at full capacity – We shouldn’t say whole destinations have an overtourism problem Overtourism at one time, doesn’t mean your destination is at full capacity We don’t need this new term, because we already have lots of ways to understand these issues The ‘Venice Problem’ and what it tells us about tourism academics If you lose tourists, history tells us that causes even bigger problems
- The classic photo of overtourism is La Bouqueria market in Barcelona. It is so busy that the experience is suffering, and locals are angry that they can’t shop and eat there. But – only a short walk away, the Olympic Park that the city is so famous for is almost completely empty – and the city is doing nothing to attract people there.
- This is the same street during the day and at night in Dubrovnik, Croatia. During the day, it is impossible to get past the huge tours and cruise arrivals, but at night, the city is quiet and sociable.
- This is the famous Sunset Strip in Ibiza – Europe’s top music tourism destination in the Summer months, but empty in the Winter Seasonality in tourism gives us a break and lets us recover, physically, emotionally, environmentally
- If we have the language, why has no-one listened? Because we’re boring.
- Carrying capacity was one of the earliest attempts to define the limits of tourism growth, as concerns over the impacts of the tourism industry emerged in academia and policy communities. In contrast to sustainable tourism, which actively seeks to draw links between the local and the global, measurements of carrying capacity concentrate on local factors when evaluating the limits to tourism development or tourism usage of a resource, whether this is a destination, attraction, or any other spatially defined unit of the tourism industry. The United World Tourism Organisation defines carrying capacity as ‘the maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality if visitors’ satisfaction’ (UNWTO 1981: 4). Mathieson & Wall (1982: 184) define it as “the maximum number of people who can use a recreational environment and without an unacceptable decline in the quality of the recreational experience.” Saveriades (2000:147) links the concept of carrying capacity directly to sustainability and tourism in a concise definition: “the sustainability of a specific level of tourist development and use within a specified region.”
- Where we have overcrowding in a particular tourism area, we have a vast experience in the tourism industry for how to deal with it. A lot of this is quite boring, but in involves: Signage Planning Tourist information centres Creating new districts for tourists Attraction and Product development The photos are: Top leff – Greenwich Tourist information centre Top Right – New York tourism signage Bottom Right – Tourism zoning and development in Southern Africa Bottom Left – London 2012 Olympics
- 19th Century Venice was crowded 21st century Venice is crowded Venice will always be crowded. It is one of the very few truly unique tourism destinations, with a product that it is very hard to replicate – even though Las Vegas have tried! We’ve been teaching students about the Venice pass since it was introduced almost twenty years ago Venice has unique planning and development constraints that mean it is almost useless as an example to learn from. The real issue, that really aggravates people, are pictures like this – of cruise ships in Venice. Somehow that seems wrong.
- Stats on
- Decaying and ruined infrastructure Poor quality attarctions Closed businesses Social and Economic problems You are left with destinations that have been completely designed for tourism, and can’t really do anything else
- Nara Dreamland resort and theme park in Japan, opened in 1961, closed in 2006, demolished in 2017. The government had to step in and buy the land because no-one else would and eventually sold it to a developer to demolish it. A huge waste of public money. Tunisia resorts - terrorism attacks on the beach and the capital led to drops in tourism of 20% right away, and a collapse of 90% in the British market.. This eventually decline in the national economy of around 2%. Caribbean – after the 2017 Hurricanes, especially Hurricane Irma, some islands have had their tourism industry completely destroyed, whilst some have been lucky and only lost between 7-18% The big question is – what else can destinations do when they are hit by undertourism? They don’t have the skills, the infrastructure or the knowledge to do anything else. This can take generations to fix.