Imagine your dream travel destination. What do you see? It probably looks exactly like that one Instagram post or travel picture where the shot and lighting are perfect and there’s not another soul in sight. The locals are all super friendly and excited to have you in their country. You’re able to experience each sight in the perfect setting.
Reality will most likely look quite a bit different. All the most popular sights will be teeming with other tourists. The white sand beaches you envisioned will have barely a foot of space between beach-goers. Wherever you go will have long wait times and you’ll have to fight to get s good picture without tons of other tourists in the shot. You’ll find yourself surrounded by over priced tourist traps. Chances are it’ll smell bad.
Extremely long lines to get into Versailles, France.
These are the realities of overtourism. China has seen an increase in citizens traveling from 10.5 million in 2000 to 165 million in 2018, to destinations all over the world, a trend mirrored in most countries as the middle class (theoretically) grows bigger and bigger. Notre Dame alone had 13 million visitors each year before the fire. Cruise ships unload thousands of tourist onto a destination in a small time frame. And the destinations are paying the price for it. Fragile ecosystems get severely damaged, cities and monuments get inundated with visitors, and it can cause ill effects for the locals that actually live there, like rent hikes.
As preservationists, we should be worried about the effects overtourism has on the very places we want to protect. Ways to protect the sights, like naming it a UNESCO world heritage sight, can actually send more people to it. Venice has gotten so bad the Mayor has applied to UNESCO for it to be put on the ‘in dangers list of heritage sights – something previously considered to be embarrassing for a fully developed country – which the committee ultimately decided not to do. Tourism and exposure to a sight definitely aren’t all bad – they can help the local economy and encourage the conservation and protection of a sight. But in some cases it hurts more than it helps, especially in cases like Machu Picchu in Peru, where travel companies that many visitors use barely give back to the local economy.
To help solve this problem, we have to realize we are Part Of The Problem. I’m in Paris in July, the peak tourist time for the city (even though I’m technically a student). I’ve also been going to the top sights in the city, which will obviously be packed with visitors. Easy ways we can help the situation are by going during the destination’s off season and going to different places besides the top attractions (it’s cheaper too!) and encouraging others to do the same.
As we go into the future of preservation, we’ll have to deal with the balance of preserving places and people’s want to see and appreciate them in person.
This link has a lot of great information on current efforts being put in place.
I personally found it surprising that very important relics at Versailles and the Musee de L’Orangerie were not protected from tourists who could easily touch them. It’s without a doubt that this has caused additional damages.