Overtourism isn't news

Correct, no news in this article. But I do not see a deep dive.

Does the next tourist attraction is arising around LA these days? The masses of tourists which want to visit the sad burned rests of the houses of celebs. "And this lonely chimney is the rest of the villa of star XY ... . See in our app how the house looked before. We stop for five minutes so that you can do selfies and pile up some ash or a burned brick to sell on eBay".

Overtourism seems for some places like the eleventh plague of Egypt: "may so many tourists come that there is no more housing to live for the local people, not enough food to eat, not enough water to drink, not enough space and freedom for the people living at this place". But compared to plague number eight (the locusts) the swarm of tourists might never disappear again. Over-dramatic? Sure.

And the final thought of the article might never happen in almost all travelers' mind:
"Whether you’re a travel company or destination or even a traveler when making decisions, ask yourself: How does this make things better for the local people who live here?”.

ask yourself: How does this make things better for the local people
who live here?

I am supposed to be so presumptuous that I can judge the needs of individuals in cultures and economies that i know nothing about?

No, ask yourself am I behaving and conducting myself in a manner consistent with common courtsey and a respect for law? Then trust that the locals have a better understanding of their needs than you will ever have, and have enacted laws to support their needs in a democratic process.

I spent most of my life in one of the larger US tourist cities. I can not imagine how I would feel if some guy from Hungary started posting on line what I and my fellow citizens needed regarding tourism and housing and ...... San Antonio isn't Gyor, that guy wouldn't know where to begin and have any chance of being correct.

Respecting other cultures might begin with accepting that they can take care of themselves better than strangers can.

Mr. E your last post is spot on. It seems the only time you hear about "overtourism" is from writers. Any village, city, region or tourist site can nip "overtourism" in the bud if they wanted to do so. Just make visitors feel so unwelcomed they stop coming.

The real facts are that the local economies need tourism to survive. Local governments and the people in the affected areas will remedy their own problems.

During covid "the sky was falling" said the writers. "Local people are suffering". "Local economies are bad".

Today, "the sky is falling again", "business is too good", say the writers. This "overtourism" thing is bad. "Local people are suffering".

Writers...always finding a dark cloud on a sunshiny day. I guess they have to write about something.

Just make visitors feel so unwelcomed they stop coming.

Hawaiians are definitely trying this tack. Let’s see how it pans out for them. Aloha!

A news relating to this topic:
Nice Mayor calls for ban on large cruise ships to combat overtourism and pollution

"“The cruises that pollute and dump their ‘low-cost clientele’ who consume nothing, but leave their waste behind have no place with us,” Estrosi declared. Already known for his criticism of the cruise industry, the mayor simply said “Nice no longer wants ‘low-cost cruises,” to stop in its port."

Link to article

Go, Hawaii, Go!!

And you go too, Nice. That's hilarious. Essentially calling out cruise ships for pooping on their city and leaving without even a head nod.

The proposed ban targets the contemporary segment of the industry with large ships carrying 4,000 or more passengers ....
Estrosi contends the size restriction would eliminate about 70 percent of the cruise ship passengers scheduled to land in Nice.

A spokesperson for the trade group Cruise Lines International Association however responded with surprise noting “No large cruise ships are scheduled to call at the Port of Nice in 2025.”

Interesting. No idea, but something doenst smell right.

I seem to recall that Venice never reopened their cruise ship terminal after it closed for Covid. We were there a couple years ago and one of the big cruise companies was starting their tour at our hotel and then bussing passengers to Trieste to board the ship. Has that changed or are cruise ships still not allowed to dock?

The picture in the story doesn't fit as cruise ships are unable to dock at Nice anyway- they have to anchor off and tender ashore.

As noted the number of calls has been in decline because tendering is not popular with either cruise lines or passengers, and such calls often have to be cancelled (at any tender port) when weather conditions are too rough for tendering.

If you read the whole article this is typical Nimbyism as the Mayor is quite happy for the ships to go up the coast to Cannes (another tender port). How does he propose to stop people who land off the ships at Cannes coming to Nice on the train, bus or cruise ship excursion?

What is actually proposed is a ban on ships of over 900pax and 190 metres long. No idea what is magic about 900 passengers (as opposed to 1,000. There is no linear measurement where ships of x length can take y number passengers- that is a complex measurement.

It would also be interesting to know the size and passenger capacity of the ferries from Nice which serve various Corsican ports.

If you want to dictate how I come to your city (any city), I'm not going to come to your city at all. Especially (Nice) when you allow an airport to exist within your city with all it's low cost flights but want to dictate whether or not I arrive by cruise.

John, the larger ships have to dock elsewhere. That, as I understand it, is a permanent change but happy to be corrected if in error!
From last year:
https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice-cruising-changes.htm

Note that Trieste is just one of the remote ports; others are Ravenna, Chioggia, etc.

This topic has comedic potential.

What is actually proposed is a ban on ships of over 900pax and 190 metres long. No idea what is magic about 900 passengers (as opposed to 1,000. There is no linear measurement where ships of x length can take y number passengers- that is a complex measurement.

See it from the destination's view. If they decide that their infrastructure (not port only) can carry max. +900 cruise passengers per day, then the decision is done. Passengers of larger cruise ships seem tendentially more unattractive because cruising on larger ships is often cheaper (economies of scale).

Top destinations have so much demand that they just can sort out the most unattractive visitors. Banning large cruise ships is a very simple and effective strategy to do so.

Security and rescue capacities can be other important reasons. See new rules for cruise ships in Norway coastal areas.

See it from the destination's view. If they decide that ......

Exactly .... when discussing Western Democratic States. I think it is best for outsiders to stay out of politics of societies and cultures that they are not part of. Outsiders may have good intentions, but outsiders have no concept of the forces at work in a distant cultures that they are not part of. Tourists should find the rules, read the rules, follow the rules, be as curitious and as polite as one would be as a guest in anyone's home. And one should have enough respect for other societies and cultures to understand thay dont need outsiders taking care of them like they are too ignorant or uneducated to take care of themselves.

Mr. E: Thank you for the common sense perspective. Yes, we should spend a little time researching customs and courtesies, for example saying "Bon Jour" when going into a French shop.

Another prominent example: Mona Lisa in Louvre. "A higher entrance fee for non-EU visitors, a dedicated room for the Mona Lisa, and a grand new entrance..."

When tourism numbers overshoot every planned user number of infrastructure:
https://www.euronews.com/culture/2025/01/28/paris-louvre-museum-higher-entrance-fee-for-non-eu-visitors-in-2026-macron-announces

I was just thinking that no countries in South America complain about over tourism, maybe it’s time to shift continents for a little while.

Markk

Thanks for the link. This is a reasonable answer to a problem. Increase the entrance fees. Not only for Non-EU, but all around.

Seems like 10 years is a bit long to make this happen if things are crumbling now. If I was a French citizen I would question the price tag for what is being described as additions. The rebuild of Notre Dame only took 5 years.

Has that changed or are cruise ships still not allowed to dock?

To my knowledge it hasn't changed, but interestingly enough, tourism in Venice was still up 9% last year, no matter what political posturing the city did by banning ships and charging an entrance fee.

I read a free article in the New York Times on the weekend questioning if any of the changes anywhere have made a difference. I tried to post it but I couldn't share it as a free article for anyone else.

I would say make it free for the French, but I think the EU prohibits that, so use dynamic pricing for non EU. The more that come the higher the price. It only matters if the French are happy with the results.

I suspect that the people that saw what you did, but did so 15 years before you did are saying the same thing relative to your travel dates.

Also, the numbers are apparently out for 2024. There are a number of way of measuring tourism so this isn’t the end all final analysis, but In 2024 there were 747.3 million international tourist arrivals in Europe.

The news articles on the subject like to call it a significant increase over 2023!!! (which had 708.38 million international tourist arrivals) cause that sells more advertising than to say that for the first time, and then only barely, pre- COVID numbers were exceeded (In 2019 there were 742.4 million international tourist arrivals in Europe).

So what about all of the OVER TOURISM!!!! Sounds like its no worse than 6 years ago .... in general .... in specific there have been shifts and tourism has increased disproportionately in places like Spain, is still down in other places (where those with wide interests and smaller budgets are looking) and pretty much the same as 6 years ago in a lot of places.

Jubilee year in Italy? I suspect it will have very little impact on an American traveling to Germany this year.

There's nothing new about a tourist tax, if you've stayed in an American hotel you'll likely see a long list of taxes fees and charges added to your bill. Because tourists can't vote locally so no politician will lose their job. Plus you know, those airports and mass transits and convention centers aren't going to build themselves, they need you to give till it hurts.