Preventing Overtourism in a Post-Pandemic World
It seems odd to talk about overtourism while the world is still in the grips of the coronavirus, borders remain shut down, or are re-closing. Countries are rightly keeping borders shut and clamping down on public gatherings, bars, and the like during the pandemic. But once there is a vaccine and the pandemic starts to diminish, hopefully sooner rather than later, governments are going to desperately need income from tourism to help revive their economies. And once of the best ways to get tourists back will be return to actively marketing themselves to tourists as the place to go. And the countries who follow that route might, ironically, become the next focal points for overtourism in the future.
Tourism is a huge business and it has been decimated, literally, by Covid-19. According to the UN, in 2019 tourism generated “7 per cent of global trade [and] employed one in every ten people globally.” They have projected a loss, across the globe, of roughly one trillion dollars. McKinsey put the global tourism industry at roughly 9 trillion dollars, which means there is a roughly 11 percent drop.
While travelers and governments understandably decry overtourism, government still want and need tourism. A sustainable level of tourism, but there is a reason governments sponsor tourism campaigns and actively encourage tourists to visit. They run ads, create travel incentives in terms of visas or things like stop-over trips. Like a company, countries market themselves to tourists.
After the Great Recession and the Financial Crash of 2008, many countries were broke. Iceland had been bankrupted and its solution to the problem was to turn to tourism and make Iceland the next It destination. And it worked. But fast-forward ten years and Iceland is the poster child for overtourism. Iceland became the victim of its own successful strategy. Portugal is another country where a tourism helped fuel the economy into a boom following the government’s financial crisis in the early aughts. Portugal was also considered in danger of overtourism in 2019.
It’s completely understandable for countries to market themselves to tourists as soon as they can, especially given the economic damage caused by the pandemic. People still need jobs, and countries still need money to support their people – and, just like right after the financial crisis, that need is especially acute right now.
There are some countries that won’t want many tourists even after travel is considered safe again, for fear that a significant influx of people into their country will cause another wave of infections. But that is not necessarily a luxury all countries can afford. Like with everything, it’s going to have to be a calculation and weighing the options to determine the best course of action for each individual location. But the places who end up courting tourists the most and quickly as the pandemic ends are likely to become overtouristed in a few years, causing the same crowding, damage, and frustrations as before the pandemic.
The overtourism and related damage, is not inevitable, if countries begin to plan ahead now, rather than later. Once is to continue to limit the number of tourists at sites, particularly the most popular and easily damaged ones. One major contributor to damaging tourism is the cruise ship industry. Cruises are both highly susceptible to health outbreaks like Covid-19, so limiting cruise ship traffic would have positive public health impact and well as creating a healthier level of tourism.
Planning now for either limiting tourist numbers through ticketing and the like or developing sustainable infrastructure to handle the increased levels of tourism is going to be particularly critical for natural sites. It is highly likely that for the foreseeable future, a major focus for tourists will be visiting outdoor locations and natural locations. These areas, particularly those with already delicate ecosystems, could easily be irrevocably damaged by an uncontrolled influx of tourists. Careful planning now can prevent significant damage in the future.
It will take years for travel to return to pre-pandemic levels, but those levels were unsustainably high. That level of tourism caused damage to natural and physical wonders around the world and decreased the quality of life for many of the locals living in high-trafficked areas. And packed tourist locations are a health risk, not just now, but could remain so for many years. If countries take the time now, when tourism is at a low-ebb, to plan out and lay the foundations for a more sustainable tourism in the future, then they will hopefully be able to reap the economic rewards of tourism without creating even more problems down the road. Right now is an opportunity to create a better, more sustainable tourism industry which will benefit everyone – the governments, the workers, and the tourists themselves.
