Combatting Over-tourism
Over-tourism is when a destination becomes threatened by an immense influx of tourists. Some examples of cities vulnerable to over-tourism are Venice in Italy, Kuta in Bali, and Boracay in the Philippines. Over-tourism in Boracay was so terrible that in 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte infamously called the island a “cesspool” and demanded a six-month closure to rehabilitate it.
While the pandemic has provided some respite for cities struggling with over-tourism, there is a responsibility for travellers to firstly acknowledge that over-tourism is a huge environmental threat, and secondly help to combat over-tourism.
Some ways we can do this are:
- Travel in the off-season
- Avoid the popular “Instagrammable” destinations
- Travel off the beaten path
- Campaign for stricter laws to protect vulnerable destinations (such as Venice which recently banned cruise ships from entering the canals.)
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