"Overtourism" - your thoughts?
 

Prince Harry, on (presumably) one of his final royal road trips, recently told an Edinburgh conference that he was concerned about rising tourism numbers causing destruction of the very things the tourists come to see."
https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cu...rism-1-5095941

Edinburgh was recently named an "overtourism hot spot," along with Barcelona, Rome and other European destinations. But we can see it in other places, too, and I suspect that the trend is going to become more pronounced as people seek out "undiscovered" destinations or events. My own experience includes some of these places and situations; my "poster child" for this is Skagway, Alaska, population around 800 counting dogs, which typically has 10,000 or more daily visitors during the Alaska cruise season. You can do the math.

Will you or would you avoid places due to "overtourism?" Are you mindful of your carbon footprint when choosing flights or whether or not to go on a cruise? Thoughts?

I think that about the Galapagos Islands. The photos of the tourist boats arriving look like Disneyland. That Island group should be off limits to tourism. I realize it's income for Ecuador but that doesn't change my mind. Find something else.

Businesses make money through price or volume. If they need to reduce volume in order to protect the site, they will increase the prices for fewer remaining visitors, and eventually these places will be destinations for select rich people only. I don't like that the poorer people of the world are the ones who will pay the price for overpopulation, global warming, etc., but the reality is that humans will not *voluntarily* give up their pleasures for the greater good, and the unfair result is just inevitable. I hate to be so cynical, but that's my take on human nature.

Yes I do think about these things and yes, I will avoid some places that are over touristed.
I think maybe some places like Venice or the Great Barrier Reef should have a lottery system or something similar to control the number of visitors.

I'm waiting for someone to tally up all the pollutants which are put into the environment by the thousands of ocean-going vessels along with the cruise ships. I'd also like to know exactly how much methane is being "released" by refineries. There is a reason people "flock" to certain places and that reason at least used to be a good one. Now I am less likely to return to certain places because of the many visitors or more likely to visit them in the so-called "off season."

It's already been done Dukey.
Cruises are not environmentally friendly, but then again nor are all those cargo ships loaded up with who knows what sailing the oceans, hitting whales, losing containers and their contents overboard.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/w...ner-spill.html more than a year later the islands are still suffering from unknow substances and microplastcs and buts of toy etc washing up. MSC said it would pay for the clear up. No one has seen a cent yet.

Overtourism is real. It ruins lives, cities, villages and wild places. All so people can take exactly the same photo as some "influencer" or film scene, and stick it on their instagram account. Between cheap flights and Airbnb, which is no longer what it started out as but is now frequently illegal, poorly operated and often unsafe hotels plus the rising wealth of, amongst others, the average Asian citizen, the world is going to be wrecked.
I no longer fly. I wouldn't take a cruise. I have seen what a couple of cruise ships pulling in for the day does to a place and it isn't contribute to the local economy.
My holidays are not as low impact as they could be, but they are a lot lower than many peoples.

Maybe not related, but on the news this morning I watched the clean up of the streets in New Orleans post Mardi Gras. Ugh. I never saw so much trash. People must just assume street cleaners will come, so why not just throw it down.

LOL "Throw me something, Mister!"

I find Harry an ironic spokesperson for this cause.

The water at Port Canaveral was clear. It is an oily brown now. Carnival accidentally dumped tons of grey water recently. We would eat at this one spot at the port. Great views and we could watch all the fishing boats come in and go out. Now a huge ship parks there and the view is blocked. I despise the ship days and won't drive to Cocoa Beach anymore. Same with Key West. The ships bring so many people at once.

I will probably never go to Kyoto again because of over-tourism. I have vacationed to Japan 11 times. My first trip was in November 2001. There were less than 5 million foreign tourists to Japan that year and November was slow because it was soon after 911.

The numbers more than doubled to over 10 million by 2013. That number ~tripled in the next 5 years to 30 million in 2018. Where once there was me there now are me and 5 other people. They were expecting about 40 million this year because of the Olympics but that was before the virus.

But, my over-tourism concern is about my comfort in crowds, about seeing other tourists behaving badly - and how that behavior affects the behavior of the Japanese who deal with them.

I am not an eco-tourist or a cruiser. That is not out of concern for environmental impact It is just not my style.

No, I am not mindful of my carbon footprint when choosing flights. I would choose a 787 over other aircraft types because of comfort, not because they are more fuel efficient.

Questions for you Gardyloo:
If you are concerned about your carbon footprint. I think I saw an option when purchasing a flight where I could purchase a carbon offset. I chose not to. Would you do that?
You asked about choosing flights and I've got what seems to be a logical question. Would you choose not to go to a destination because the carbon footprint is higher than another destination?

Just to show that my selfishness has limits, I will say that don't litter. My peanut shells are going to be on the floor at my seat at a ballpark, though. Stadium staff will clean it up. It is part of the deal. Same if I drop a straw at Mardi Gras then it will likely stay dropped. I am pretty certain that it won't end up in a turtle's nose.

smalltowngal, Freinds from up North were in the first parade where that women was killed. Their float never moved. They had really nice things they made to throw. I think alcohol plays a huge part but would never leave my garbage. Savannah is trying harder this year to eliminate huge amounts of garbage during the St Patrick's parade. Litter has always been a huge pet peeve of mine. Have you ever seen the remains after a Trump rally? Egads.

HARRY, not Prince Harry anymore.

There were over 28 million visitors to Toronto last year. No wonder I can't move in this city. Although I'm not yet a cruiser, it might come to that if health issues start to dominate our lives, however, a huge ship is not in my future.

Yes
, I do think about it. I am just glad that I was able to visit some of them before the massive crowds.

Will you or would you avoid places due to "overtourism?"

Yes, there are several places I won't go to due to overtourism. I felt that way about Iceland when we visited in 2017. Highly unlikely I'll ever go back.

I've always been an off season visitor, but there doesn't really seem to be an off season anymore, which depresses me to no end.

Agree with this 100%.

Lol, Macross.....he is still a prince and still in the royal succession lineup. If Princess Michael (who is not a princess but uses the female version of her husband’s title) can be called princess, Harry can be called a prince.

No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded. Yogi was wise.

>>> I do think about it. I am just glad that I was able to visit some of them before the massive crowds. >>>

That's how I feel. There are many places that I always thought about revisiting but now I probably won't.

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crefloors: >>>>I think that about the Galapagos Islands. The photos of the tourist boats arriving look like Disneyland. That Island group should be off limits to tourism. I realize it's income for Ecuador but that doesn't change my mind. Find something else. >>>

I went to the Galapagos around 15 years ago. At the time it was very strictly regulated. I was on a small boat with just 20 passengers and our guide told us the number and size of the boats were strictly regulated. Even when we stopped at various islands there was maybe one other boat there and they were very strict about where we could walk and swim. Even flashes were not permitted when taking photos of animals. I was very happy with the regulations and thought it was a great move on the part of the Ecuadorian authorities. The islands and surrounding waters were pristeen.

That said, we did encounter some groups where the guides were very lax about enforcing the restrictions. Our guide, who was excellent, used to politely chide them and they usually just shrugged.

I would hate to think the regulations have been relaxed since then or that they were not being enforced. That is so sad. Disneyland! Yikes. Sounds like Taormina where they now have HoHo buses. :-(

Ya think?