March has the perfect weather for a mid-day stroll in Key West, Florida: a
sunny 75°F. In the past, however, when a local resident stepped out of her
front door during peak cruise ship season, the air held the acrid smell of
burning toxic diesel fuel. And, with oversized cruise ships in port, the
historic district’s streets would be clogged with tourists.
From this small island to the canals of Venice,
Italy to
Amsterdam’s red-light district, destinations around the world have struggled
with the impact of tourism over the past several years. This was driven by the
accessibility and affordability of flights, and further fueled by technology and
social
media.
Yet the industry’s accelerated growth outpaced capacity management and caused
conflict between travelers’ expectations and behaviors and local social norms.
Early last year, as the coronavirus
pandemic swept across
the globe, the tourism industry essentially shut down. Destinations previously
overwhelmed with travelers found themselves without any tourism at all. And
while the pandemic has been catastrophic for the industry in many ways — the
World Travel & Tourism Council projests 174 million
jobs
may be lost as a result — it has also given many destinations the time needed to
reassess goals and strategies for dealing with
overtourism
once people begin traveling more freely again.
The mass tourism model, which prized number of tourists as a measurement of
success, took off several decades ago; but this model is clearly outdated,
according to Doug Lansky — a travel journalist and advisor who spoke on
"The Future of Destinations: From Overtourism to Sustainable
Tourism,”
hosted by PhocusWire on January 13. He argued that revenue per visitor and
quality of visitor are both far better metrics for destinations.
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The majority of Key West’s 25,000 residents would agree with Lansky. The
grassroots Key West Committee for Safer, Cleaner
Ships movement was established last spring
in response to COVID-19 and the need to keep local residents safe from
passengers who may be carrying the virus.
But the community’s concern with large cruise ships — up to three per day with
up to 10,000 total passengers — extended beyond health concerns: Cruise ships
delivered half of all visitors to Key West, but brought in only 8 percent of all
tourist spending. The average passenger spent only $32 per person in comparison
to $550 per overnight visitor. In addition to crowding locals out of the
historic downtown area while ships were in port, large ships stirred up silt and
degraded the coral reef.
As Arlo Haskell, treasurer of the committee, explained: “The cruise ships
have a huge impact on the quality of life for residents and on the quality of
experience for overnight visitors.”
In November, Key West residents voted on and passed initiatives to limit cruise
ship passengers to 1,500 people per day, prohibit cruise ships that carry more
than 1,300 passengers, and prioritize cruise lines with the best environmental
and health records.
“We have a $1 billion-a-year tourist economy and we’re certainly pro-tourism,
but we felt like we needed to focus on tourism that made sense for Key West,”
Haskell said.
While Gothenburg, Sweden hasn’t historically been overwhelmed with
overcrowding like Key West has, destination representatives recognize that
developing a sustainable tourism model means focusing on far more than visitor
numbers. Developed in April 2019, its Next to Gothenburg
campaign disperses travelers
across a wider geographical area, promotes activities beyond the city center,
and makes the region appealing year-round. It is designed to encourage
visitation in the wider regional area, encourage more domestic travel, and get
visitors to stay longer — all of which are likely to be even more relevant in a
post-COVID-19 era of travel.
“What we do is to spread out the visits throughout the whole year, to not be
dependent on only one or two seasons for business. We want to show Gothenburg
and its surroundings in all the seasons, as they all have different characters
and things to offer,” said Petra Gamerdinger, public relations manager for
Göteborg & Co — the city’s destination management
organization (DMO) and municipal company working in close partnership with the
tourism industry.
Beyond limiting travelers like in Key West and dispersing them like in
Gothenburg, mitigating
overtourism
also requires making sure the kind of traveler a destination attracts is aligned
with a destination’s goals. Amsterdam, which became a poster child for
overtourism, has been trying to fix this problem over the last couple of years.
In December 2018, city officials removed the “I amsterdam”
sign
because it was overwhelmed by selfie-takers; and in March 2019, the city banned
guided
tours
in the red-light district.
During its pandemic pause, officials made additional decisions likely to change
Amsterdam’s future as a tourist destination. To curb the flow of low-budget
tourists, the city’s mayor has proposed restricting the sale of marijuana
products
only to those who are Dutch nationals and residents of the Netherlands.
Additionally, the red-light district is
moving
out of the city center due to tourists’ undesirable behavior. According to
Dennis Boutkan, a Dutch Labour Party representative, “This is about a reset
of Amsterdam as a visitor city. Tourists are welcome to enjoy the beauty and
freedom of the city, but not at any cost.”
In developing new tourism strategies, destinations are increasingly prioritizing
quality over quantity, dispersing travelers across larger geographic areas, and
clearly defining the kind of travelers they want to attract. By addressing
overtourism in this way, they also place locals’ wellbeing at the forefront. And
this only make sense: A destination where local residents can walk through their
neighborhood without being overwhelmed by visitors, priced out by inflation, or
disgusted by traveler behavior is a place where locals enjoy living and are
happy to welcome travelers back as a meaningful part of the community’s
ecosystem. Or, as noted by Lansky, “If it doesn’t work for the locals, it
doesn’t work for the visitors.”
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JoAnna Haugen is a writer, speaker and solutions advocate who has worked in the travel and tourism industry for her entire career. She is also the founder of Rooted — a solutions platform at the intersection of sustainable tourism, social impact and storytelling. A returned US Peace Corps volunteer, international election observer and intrepid traveler, JoAnna helps tourism professionals decolonize travel and support sustainability using strategic communication skills.
Published Feb 16, 2021 7am EST / 4am PST / 12pm GMT / 1pm CET