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How to Manage Overtourism: Identifying Problems and Solutions

How to Manage Overtourism: Identifying Problems and Solutions

April 6, 2023 | OTAK Team

For today’s traveler it’s a common, if not inescapable sight—crowds of people seemingly everywhere. This includes places where, in the past, this may not have been the case. Significant growth in tourism across the globe in recent decades has given rise to ‘overtourism’ or simply put, too many visitors in one place at one time.

The trend of overtourism has brought the practice of visitor use management (more commonly found within outdoor recreation areas) into focus for a wider variety of locations. In this piece, we’ll explore the meaning of overtourism, the problems it can create, and solutions for managing its impact that balance site preservation with quality visitor experiences.

Read on or skip ahead:

  • What is Overtourism?
  • Problems of Overtourism
  • Overtourism Solutions
  • Examples of Overtourism

What is Overtourism?

Overtourism is the impact of tourism on a destination or location that excessively impacts quality of life for local communities, habitats and/or the overall quality of visitor experiences in a negative way.

It’s important to note that overtourism is relative to capacity and specifics of each location. Local infrastructure, facilities, community and ecology are all among the details that determine where overtourism is a problem and help define the needed solutions. 

Problems of Overtourism

With the exploding popularity of destinations across the globe, it follows that overtourism bears a huge impact on those spaces.

Overtourism, especially by those who may not be familiar with visiting national parks and historical sites, brings certain pressures on systems of visitor use management that wouldn’t otherwise be there. That unfamiliarity can create conflict when it comes to guidelines of where they’re visiting, which is all the more reason why visitor use management is becoming increasingly important to preserve spaces and protect people.

The Social Media Impact on Overtourism

In many ways the information age has been a boon to tourism. The ability to find and travel to locations across the globe has increased dramatically. At the same time, for many destinations, heightened visibility now often comes with a cost.

With the rise of social media, scenic locations have been exposed to overtourism through the viral popularity that can come with sharing a destination on these platforms. The visual nature – Instagram in particular – makes the travel industry ripe for social media and the way “influencer” dynamics can quickly drive people to action in pursuit of likes and followers.

Whether it be through general awareness or attempts to replicate perceived success over social media, these platforms’ impact on overtourism – both for well-known and new locations alike – is already apparent and growing.

Overtourism Solutions

When addressing overtourism challenges, a delicate balance found in visitor use management comes into play. Does one use an unobtrusive and indirect approach? Or does one need a more intrusive and direct intervention method when thresholds are broken? The answer is: it depends.

Many issues are specific to the parks and geographies, but can also be understood as a regional system. Consider the questions behind how local use is dispersed – Where are visitors going? What are they doing in light of crowding and increased use of natural spaces?

These questions have not only local implications, but also regional and international impacts when applied to other historic sites where tourism abounds. Professionals in Visitor Use Management need to have a high-level understanding of the system and ask themselves practical questions about how people actually behave, whether they be at a National Park or at the Eiffel Tower.

3 Types of Overtourism Examples

As discussed, a quickly growing travel environment has made the issue of overtourism relevant to an increasing number of locations. Growing accessibility to reach destinations more quickly and at further distances, coupled with rising interest a broader array of destinations, has lead to a trend that’s sure to continue.

There are some primary examples of overtourism where the impact is already abundantly clear and, in many cases, where solutions have already begun to be put in place.

Iconic Destinations

Some of the places experiencing the most acute impacts of overtourism are naturally those that have already traditionally been popular tourism destinations. Many of these locations are also very old, which can leave them particularly vulnerable since their infrastructure often isn’t designed to handle modern visitor use capacities.

  • Venice, Italy
  • Machu Picchu, Peru
  • Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Santorini, Greece

Encouraging travel during non-peak seasons and limiting the amount of visitors allowed to certain areas of a given destination are just a couple of the strategies being used to help combat the negative impacts of overtourism.

Historic Sites, Museums and Public Attractions

While the impacts of overtourism can be clearly seen in its effect on natural landscapes, the same challenges are felt at other types of popular public attractions. This is especially relevant for museums and historic sites that have sensitive, often fragile, aspects of their value. Visitor flow at these public sites now often being optimized using the elements of a visitor use management framework.

Overtourism at US National Parks

View of crowded parking from Acadia Visitor Use Study
Otak Project: Acadia National Park Transportation and Visitor Capacities Study

The US National Park System (NPS) has largely been a victim of its own success. A concerted effort over the years to grow interest in natural landscapes as well as growing popularity with outdoor recreation activities has taken its toll on the parks experience and natural resources.

While still fairly new in practice, the visitor use management framework has quickly become prevalent in the National Park System as well as other public land recreation areas. The framework’s principles of establishing desired conditions, identifying indicators, and setting thresholds and triggers are now being used to address overcrowding on trails and parking. They also protect the valuable natural resources that make these destinations the irreplaceable scenes they are.

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