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• CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Mass tourism has troubled Mallorca for decades. Can it change?

As the Spanish island begins to welcome travelers after pandemic lockdowns, some locals are looking for more sustainable paths.

Mallorca’s picturesque Ca los Camps beach lies near a forest sheltering Bronze Age megaliths called talaiots— and far from infamous megaresort areas such as Magaluf. With the current reduction in tourists, “the beauty of Mallorca is now in front of us,” says photographer Pep Bonet, who used infrared imagery to highlight the ethereal quality of the island in its present state.

The first days of June dawned in a Spain hushed by the coronavirus pandemic. By then, more than 27,000 Spaniards had died of COVID-19, and the country was midway through a 10-day mourning period honoring their lives. Flags flickered at half mast. Families, faces covered, grieved beside newly built tombs.

On Mallorca, the largest of Spain ’s Balearic Islands, whitewashed hotels stood empty in the spring sunshine. Since the middle of March, when the archipelago’s airports snapped shut, the nearby beaches had been devoid of tourists. The economic downturn has deepened the pandemic’s toll.

“We have about 200,000 jobs that depend on tourism,” says Rosana Morillo, the director general of tourism in the Balearic Islands. Roughly 25 percent of the islands’ economy comes directly from tourism, Morillo estimates; add the indirect impact, and the number is closer to 35 percent.

The pandemic has meant a devastating loss of income on the archipelago, and for some, ushering back visitors has been a top priority. But visitation cuts both ways in the Balearic Islands, where high-rise resorts cater to crowds looking for sun-splashed beaches and free-flowing drinks. To many locals, tourism is an economic boon that’s become a crushing burden.

Long before overtourism became a pressing concern from Barcelona to Venice , the Balearic Islands were a byword for a travel industry run amok. When tourism researchers refer to out-of-control development that values short-term profit over sustainability, they call it balearización.

Suddenly, amid the pandemic’s heartbreak and loss, islanders got an unexpected glimpse of a different life.

The cove of Sa Calobra is one of the few ways to access the sea from the Serra de Tramuntana, a mountain range designated a UNESCO World Heritage site under the Cultural Landscape category for its centuries-old terraced farming in steep terrain.

Located on the slopes of Puig Major and Morro de Cúber, the reservoir of Cúber—along with the Gorg Blau reservoir—supplies water to the city of Palma de Mallorca and the surrounding area.

An aerial view of Es Llombards, near Mallorca’s south coast, shows a quiet village in an area normally filled with tourists. The slowdown caused by the pandemic “will support a more sustainable island,” says photographer Pep Bonet.

A time of quiet

It was a few weeks after the tourists left Mallorca when Pere Tomas walked out on his apartment terrace and saw the massive dark wings of a cinereous vulture wheeling high above. Tomas, a local guide who leads nature tours , made a note of it. Locked down and out of work, he was tracking resurgent wildlife on an island hushed by the pandemic.

“We could see very rare species that before we had only seen very far in the countryside,” he says. “There was less disturbance everywhere.”

When strict lockdowns lifted in early June, islanders emerged from their homes to find a sun-washed coastline that—seemingly for the first time in memory—was empty of tourists in the high season.

With the drone of sightseeing boats silenced, fishermen reeled nets from gin-clear bays to the sound of wind and waves. On the island’s northern edge, photographer Pep Bonet hiked mountain pathways where, instead of German and English, he heard the shushed consonants of the archipelago’s own Mallorquín dialect.

“Walking the beaches was incredible,” recalls professor Julio Batle, who reveled in pristine sand free of the partying crowds that this Mediterranean island is known for. “Even when I was a kid, there were too many tourists, so it was a new situation,” says Batle, who studies sustainable tourism and economics at the Universitat de les Illes Balears . “It was strange, and beautiful.”

In recent years, cruise ships have swarmed the harbor at Palma de Mallorca, shown here in 1929.

Near Palma de Mallorca, El Arenal beach drew crowds of hard-partying holiday makers in August 2019. These booze-fueled trips are “almost a rite of passage for many Brits and Germans,” says photographer Pep Bonet.

( Discover the dazzling Spanish national park in Catalonia .)

It’s also a stark contrast from the usual scene on Mallorca, where the sheer scale of pre-pandemic tourism was overwhelming. Some 11.8 million visitors flooded Mallorca in 2019, dwarfing the local population of under a million. The cost of living has skyrocketed, a trend aggravated by the conversion of family homes into vacation rentals .

Environmental impacts have been grave. Tourism pushed water usage to the brink. Developments chewed into fragile hillsides, and planes plus vast fleets of rental cars generated air pollution that left some locals in masks long before the pandemic began.

On a hot July day in 2017, planes passed through Mallorca’s Son Sant Joan airport at a record-breaking rate of one every 90 seconds. It’s no surprise the cinereous vultures stayed away.

How tourism devoured the island

An observer, taking in Mallorca’s ivory-colored beaches and turquoise coves, might easily see the island’s double-edged tourism industry as inevitable, the simple arithmetic of sun, sand, and sea. But the scale of tourism here isn’t haphazard: It’s the product of intentional development.

In the 1950s, Spain’s fascist regime saw tourism as a sorely needed source of revenue; the isolated government was hungry for foreign currency. Officials loosened the borders and encouraged beach development.

In Mallorca, hotels ballooned in size, eventually leaving Palma—the island’s capital—fenced in by high-rises built to attract budget travelers in the largest possible numbers. Cruise tourism has followed the same steep growth curve, with some 500 ships carrying 2 million passengers arriving in Palma each year.

But in recent years, many locals have pointed out that if mass tourism was a choice, it’s not too late to choose something else.

The local government seems to agree, expressing interest in a more sustainable model. In 2016, a tourist tax was introduced to raise funds for environmental restoration. Resort towns have cracked down on the tourist misbehavior that most wearies islanders, hoping to trade partiers for families interested in local culture.

Can the future be different?

For now, Mallorca has largely escaped the worst of the virus, with under 2,300 confirmed cases as of July 17. And despite the terrible toll of the pandemic on both lives and livelihoods globally, some residents are wondering if it might also present a chance to remake tourism on a smaller scale that favors meaningful encounters over the masses.

“I ask locals ‘how many of you have had the chance to spend quality time with tourists?’” explains Batle, the researcher. He says that few people he meets have had those authentic, one-on-one interactions. It’s a problem of scale, and one that Batle believes the pandemic could help upend. “The window is open for changes.”

Marine biologists and Cleanwave founder Philipp Baier have created a floating laboratory aboard a classic 1965 yacht, Falcao Uno. Along with citizen scientists, they investigate invasive species and microplastic pollution, a new way to engage Mallorca’s tourists in conservation of the Mediterranean Sea.

Jaume Catany is a farmer working at Circle Carbon Labs, a research and development facility that regenerates soil with waste from agriculture and sequesters carbon through a circular economy model.

A fisherman since the age of 13, Gori Maiol now captains a llaüt (traditional Mallorcan boat) and works with Vincent Colom. They use sustainable fishing practices like casting nets with bigger holes so small fish can escape and tossing small lobsters back into the sea.

“I think the pandemic is going to change all of our lives,” agrees Morillo, the director general of tourism. Nightclubs and boozy beach parties already seem like relics in a world grappling with infection. And it’s clear that the scale of tourism will be sharply reduced for the foreseeable future. Even the most optimistic observers think that just 50 percent of Palma hotels will open by the end of July.

( Related: In Florence, a centuries-old tradition fights for survival .)

As travelers start returning to the islands, Morillo hopes they’ll seek out natural landscapes and local culture, swapping coastal megaresorts for cycling through the mountains, stargazing, and sampling the gastronomy scene.

Or birdwatching. After months of lockdown, naturalist Pere Tomas finally left his apartment to lead a birdwatching tour in early June, guiding a British couple deep into the Albufera wetlands, where they saw endangered red-knobbed coots and a rare squacco heron.

Pandemic or not, thousands of migratory birds will return to these wetlands in the fall. Tourists have come back even sooner; the first planeloads of German vacationers touched down in mid-June. To try to avoid any virus outbreaks, the Balearics made masks mandatory in public places (but not the beach), as of July 13. And after a few recent incidents with drunken tourists, authorities shut down Palma’s main party strip . With clubs and discos closed, there’s an opening to discover a different side of island life.

Even after decades of intense tourism, many locals agree that it is Mallorca’s wildness that retains the power to astonish visitors—at least those willing to go beyond the most densely developed parts of the coast. “They get here and they see that actually there are big open spaces,” says longtime resident Timothy Pennell.

He runs La Serranía retreat in the UNESCO-listed Serra de Tramuntana mountains of northern Mallorca, a steep landscape shaped by thousands of years of small-scale farming. Stone-walled terraces cascade down hillsides knit together by olive groves and fruit orchards.

Speaking from his home in the middle of June, Pennell panned his camera phone across a landscape gone lush with spring. Heat hazed the view, and a mountain breeze stirred the leaves. Sheep grazed in the background.

“It’s quiet,” he said. Many here hope that a little of that quiet will remain.

Related Topics

• CORONAVIRUS
• CULTURAL TOURISM
• ADVENTURE TRAVEL
• OVERTOURISM
• SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

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Six reasons why mass tourism is unsustainable

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." -- Buckminster Fuller

Despite the slow but steady increase in the number of enterprises claiming to be responsible or green, the fact remains that the current system of mass international tourism is utterly unsustainable.

Thanks to the application of the same industrial model developed for cars, houses and consumer goods, international tourism has exploded in size since the 1950s and swept into virtually every nook and cranny of the planet, washing up cash, jobs, golf courses, airports and enormous amounts of real estate.

Claimed by the UN World Tourism Organisation as a stimulant of economic recovery, tourism is, undoubtedly, a force to be reckoned with. It generates more than $2.1tn in annual revenues. In many countries and regions of the world, tourism is now the primary source of foreign exchange, employment and cash.

The to 1.8 billion travelers within the next 17 years, yet many remain in denial that the industry is based on a finite and limited supply of attractions, or accessible places rich in scenic beauty or culture.

The industry resembles a high-speed train, crammed with passengers with cheap tickets, racing toward a cliff edge. So it's worth asking why this challenge generates so little debate in the press and in general business literature.

Ending the unsustainable travel addiction

Clearly the media makes a lot of money from advertising holiday locations around the world, but on a broader level, perhaps providers, customers and regulators have each become so addicted to the promise and pleasures of cheap and frequent travel that the prospect of going without is simply too much to contemplate. Perhaps a form of "willful blindness" has infected us all.

The challenge turns out to be far more complex than just the prospect of run-away volume growth on a finite planet. Many sectors are running themselves into the ground financially as margins dwindle to razor thin. Meanwhile, thanks to congestion or overuse of scarce water and land resources, many destinations are destroying the landscapes and attractions, both natural and cultural, on which they depend.

I have come up with six key reasons why the current tourism model is way past its prime and why more of us need to focus on creating alternatives:

1. Mass industrial tourism is based on the assembly, distribution and consumption of packaged products and, as a consequence, one product is substitutable for another. The commodification of what should be revered as unique is further aggravated by the application of industrial cost cutting strategies of homogenisation, standardisation and automation that further strip out any remaining vestiges of difference, let alone mystique. Tourists "do" places and rarely get the chance to stand in awe and wonder.

2. In most youthful destinations, low barriers of entry and zero regulation encourage rapid growth and speculation. Both local politicians and often not-so-local developers benefit enormously from this growth, but rarely stay put long enough to have to cope with the crises caused by overcapacity and volatile demand.

3. The product is perishable - it's a time-based service - and can't be stocked. So when capacity goes up and demand declines, price discounting is the adaptive tactic of choice.

4. Technological connectivity and price comparison engines have shifted purchasing power to consumers, who have been convinced, by repeated discounting, that cheap travel is now a right - not a privilege. This accelerates the downward pressure on prices and yields.

5. Residents of tourism hotspots, who may have welcomed the first influx of visitors, soon find that cheap travel doesn't reduce their costs. Visitors cause land, food, water, housing and infrastructure prices to increase at a rate closely correlated with the decline in tourism operators' margins. Sadly, more tourism often means less benefit to the host communities.

6. Having fought so hard to be recognised as an industry, the tourism community fragments back into its specific sectors when issues of waste, carbon, water scarcity and other "externalities" are raised. Airlines don't pay taxes on aviation fuel and have fought carbon-related charges for decades.

What's to be done

We need to develop the idea of conscious travel and start to imagine a better alternative. Unfortunately, there is no magic wand or silver bullet; change will need to occur at the grassroots level, one destination at a time.

It will first and foremost require hosts to wake up and see their world differently - not as a resource to be exploited, but as a sacred place to be protected and celebrated for its uniqueness.

Second, it is important they start to view their customers not as mere units of consumption, but as guests seeking to be healed and transformed. Our conscious or mindful alternative is about less volume, congestion, hassle, destruction and harm and about more meaning, purpose, value, peace and fulfillment. In short, not more but better.

Tomorrow, on Guardian Sustainable Business, I will explore how we can start to move in this direction .

Anna Pollock has 40 years experience working as a strategist, analyst and change agent for travel destinations around the world. She is the founder of Conscious Travel .

• Guardian sustainable business
• Green travel

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Mass tourism, biosecurity and sustainability challenges: prospects illustrated by the current COVID-19 pandemic

Journal of Tourism Futures

ISSN : 2055-5911

Article publication date: 23 March 2023

Using COVID-19 pandemic as a more immediate empirical reference, this paper aims to understand the biosecurity risks arising from tourist activities and, through a more prospective analysis, to consider the relevance of public health issues in the context of tourism-sustainability nexuses.

Design/methodology/approach

The text assumes a hybrid format, incorporating elements resulting from empirical research and essayistic viewpoints. The collection of empirical elements was based on documental research in several sources, such as newspapers, international institutions of an intergovernmental nature and the discussion forum of the travel platform TripAdvisor.

By assuming mobility and large agglomerations of people from different origins, mass tourism has fostered multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 and the rapid global spread of contagion chains. The pandemic clearly exemplified the responsibility of tourism in the dispersion of biotic agents with severe ecological, economic, social and public health repercussions. It is, therefore, urgent to rethink the tourism growth trajectory and more effectively consider the biosecurity risks associated with mobility in discussions on tourism and sustainability. At the same time, tourism must be delineated in terms of the great aims of sustainability, and this transversal purpose to which it contributes should be considered an intrinsic condition of its own sectorial sustainability as an economic activity.

Originality/value

The biosecurity challenges posed by mass tourism are a very topical issue, still little considered in sustainability policies and on which there is a marked deficit in scientific research.

• Mass tourism
• COVID-19 pandemic
• Biosecurity
• Sustainability

Sacramento, O. (2023), "Mass tourism, biosecurity and sustainability challenges: prospects illustrated by the current COVID-19 pandemic", Journal of Tourism Futures , Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-07-2022-0173

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Octávio Sacramento

Published in Journal of Tourism Futures . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

Mass tourism produces a very negative ecological and social impact, and although it generates substantial economic benefits, they are generally unevenly distributed ( Chong, 2019 ; Fang et al. , 2021 ). It could have been expected that the COVID-19 pandemic might have constituted a decisive tipping point for a deprioritising of the economy, considering the tourism system as a means to serve society and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that foresee the viability of our common future ( Gössling et al. , 2021 ; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018 ). However, instead of considering the current crisis of the pandemic, together with the climate crisis, as imperative reasons for urgent structural changes in global mass tourism ( Jamal and Budke, 2020 ), it is quite likely – among other possible scenarios of “survival of the fittest” (collapse), “business as unusual” (transition) and “responsible tourism” (transformation) ( Postma et al. , 2020 ; Yeoman et al ., 2022 ) – that there will be a return to “business as usual” (growth) and the old normality of unsustainable tourism as soon as the health crisis is overcome ( Hall et al. , 2020 ; Ioannides and Gyimóthy, 2020 ; Vărzaru et al. , 2021 ). In fact, the dominant concern has been the profound negative economic impact of COVID-19, especially in regard to tourism ( Sharma and Nicolau, 2020 ; Uğur and Akbıyık, 2020 ; United Nations, 2020 ; Yeh, 2021 ), with a constant reiteration of the urgency of resuming stimulating activity, based on a “boosterist”, expansionary and pro-growth motivation ( Higgins-Desbiolles, 2021 ).

With this materialist immediacy, the fact that tourism is falling victim to itself as one of the main causes of the pandemic tends to be relegated to the background, being overlooked that he is suffering the consequences of a health crisis to which it contributed greatly. Something very similar has been happening for many years in the context of the climate crisis, which has also had very profound negative effects in the field of tourism, as the so-called pro-limits critics of tourism have been warning ( Bramwell and Lane, 2011 ; Gössling et al. , 2021 ; Hall et al. , 2020 ; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2021 ). Inspired by these standpoints, I discuss here the role of mass tourism flows in the development of the COVID-19 pandemic and, from there, I try to reflect on the future of tourism's sustainability. The theoretical framework of this analysis integrates several perspectives and contributions, predominantly sociological, that make up the so-called “critical tourism studies”: a set of approaches devoted to socioeconomic and political critique that seek to make tourism a more equitable and sustainable social space ( Ateljevic et al. , 2012 ; Pritchard et al. , 2011 ). Based on this conceptual lens, the analysis is guided by two central objectives: understand how tourism activities and mobility have contributed to generating epidemiological risks – raising enormous challenges in the field of biosecurity ( Chen et al. , 2021 ; Iaquinto, 2020 ; Hall, 2015 ) – and projecting the urgency of give greater visibility to public health issues in discussions about tourism and sustainability.

The article is written in a hybrid format, incorporating both empirical research and essayistic viewpoints through which I seek to develop some prospective reflections on the public health challenges in the context of tourism sustainability. The empirical research was predominantly directed towards the collection of data on mass tourism as a vector of the rapid globalization of COVID-19. To this end, I chose documentary research – mainly secondary data analysis and policy research ( Tight, 2019 ) – as the most appropriate methodological approach to collect data (documentary elements, statistical information, reports and written statements) that would enable sound analytical connections to be made between international tourism and biosecurity threats. Through this documentary research, I access mainly media sources (e.g. newspapers), information associated with large international institutions of an intergovernmental nature (e.g. World Tourism Organization [WTO]) and the discussion forum of the travel platform TripAdvisor. The triangulation of empirical content resulting from these sources enabled the development of sustained inferences about the tourism-pandemic nexus. At the same time, provided a factual basis for problematizing the challenges and conceptualizations around sustainability, seeking to show the relevance of including bio-risks and public health issues more effectively in this discussion. The aim is to point towards a desirable (and urgent) future in which the biosecurity risks associated with tourist mobility are consistently considered as sustainability risks, leading to policies and tourism governance strategies aimed at minimising these risks.

2. Tourism as a powerful contagion vector

In the 21st century, tourism has asserted itself as a strong sector in global expansion, in which more and more countries are investing to diversify or boost their economies, as well as promote rural areas in demographic decline ( Cheer et al. , 2019 ; Croce, 2018 ; Khan, 2020 ). Immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the consequent mobility restrictions, the year 2019 ended with a record of 1,460 billion international tourist arrivals – around 60 times more than in 1950 ( WTO, 2021 ). Tourist mobility in 2019 represented 10.4% of the global gross domestic product (GDP), with a turnover comparable, for example, to that of oil production ( World Travel and Tourism Council [WTTC], 2021 ). The economic performance of world tourism has been celebrated by many, namely by the major international organizations of the sector (e.g. WTO, WTTC), as an unquestionable success and reason to continue to grow, without giving the due attention to the multiple risks arising from tourism and its global expansion.

Some of these risks – for tourists and their respective places of origin and destination – are located in the field of biosecurity and public health, with particular emphasis on the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 ( Chen et al. , 2021 ; Gössling, 2002 ; Hall, 2015 , 2019a ; Hall and Baird, 2013 ; Iaquinto, 2020 ; Melly and Hanrahan, 2021 ; Sabin et al. , 2020 ; Sacramento, 2022 ). As highlighted by Gössling et al. (2021, p. 13) , “tourism is about movement, and transport does act as a vector for the distribution of pathogens at regional and global scales”. Today tourism is, to a large extent, driven by global air transport networks which create conditions conducive to rapid and widespread contagion and epidemiological dispersion processes ( Brockmann, 2018 ; Brockmann and Helbing, 2013 ). Air transport implies large concentrations of people, closed spaces and many health challenges (e.g. air filtration), generating increased risks in terms of transmission of infectious agents ( Grout et al. , 2017 ). It can also facilitate the circulation of infectious arbovirus vectors, such as mosquitoes ( Kraemer et al. , 2015 ; Wilson, 2020 ). Air mobility constitutes a powerful macro-vector for the amplification and acceleration of contagions, not only because of the material conditions of the transport itself but also because of the diversity of itineraries of those who cross at airports and planes ( Brown et al. , 2016 ; Findlater and Bogoch, 2018 ; Tatem et al. , 2012 ).

Tourism and its associated transport networks are the results of socio-material, more-than-human assemblages, in which multiple actors (e.g. humans, non-humans, technology, institutions and natural resources) interact contingently, contributing to the generation of unforeseen vitalities that pose serious risks of biocontamination and can even create epidemic scenarios ( Brito-Henriques, 2020 ; Hall, 2015 ; Lupton, 2021 ). The responsibility of tourism in the geographical dispersion of biotic agents is processed in two ways: (1) directly, through the tourists themselves, with luggage, food, transport and other material elements associated with the trip; (2) indirectly, because tourist activities are associated with industrial food production prone to outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, are responsible for the invasion of wildlife habitats and contribute to the emission of climate-changing pollutants that disrupt ecosystems ( Gössling et al. , 2021 ; Hall, 2019a ; Melly and Hanrahan, 2021 ).

The Ministry of Health and the Directorate-General for Health confirmed this Monday the first cases of infection by Covid-19 in Portugal. One patient was on vacation in northern Italy and another in Valencia [Spain]. Both are hospitalized in Oporto ( Diário de Notícias, 2020a );

On January 31, Italy detected the first two cases of Covid-19 in the country. They were two Chinese tourists from the birthplace of the new coronavirus, Wuhan, who had arrived on the 23rd and visited several Italian cities. That same day, on the remote Spanish island of La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, a German tourist became the first case diagnosed in Spain ( Diário de Notícias, 2020b );

France confirms the first death in Europe from coronavirus. The death of an 80-year-old Chinese tourist in a Paris hospital was the first known fatality from the new virus outside Asia ( The New York Times, 2020 );

There have now been four reported cases of novel coronavirus infection found in Thailand: three Chinese tourists and one Thai ( Bangkok Post, 2020 );

Brazil confirms that a new strain [of SARS-CoV-2] detected in Japan is circulating in the Amazon. The variant arrived in Japan after four Japanese travellers visited the Brazilian Amazon and presented a series of unprecedented mutations ( Público, 2021 ).

By accumulating large numbers of people from different origins in small compacted spaces and infrastructures with shared material elements, international tourism scenarios fostered multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 and boosted the rapid global spread of the infection, as has happened in other infectious disease events. Regardless of its scales, typologies and specific configurations, mass tourism presumes a high density of transit and coexistence of people. The “mobilities are made with the encapsulation of bodies in mobile closed spaces – planes, buses, cruises, etc. – and flows converge and compress as they pass through nodes – airports, hotels, congress centres, museums, etc. – that stimulate interactions and human contact with each other and with different forms of materiality” ( Brito-Henriques, 2020, p. 207 ). It is precisely this intense density of movement that caused the most immediate physical conditions to make tourism a phenomenon inseparable from the instigators that boosted the COVID-19 pandemic.

From January 2020, up until the generalization of travel restrictions, there were several contexts in which tourist mobilities were intrinsically associated with the geographic expansion of contagion chains ( Sacramento, 2022 ). As an example, I address one of these tourist contexts of super-spreading of SARS-CoV-2: the ski resort of Ischgl, in the Alps.

2.1 A paradigmatic tourism scenario of SARS-CoV-2 global dissemination: the Ischgl ski resort

During the 2020 and 2021 ski seasons, there were major outbreaks of COVID-19 in resorts in several countries, especially in the Alpine region (Austria, Switzerland and Italy) and North America. In the USA, the disease outbreaks in the first months of 2021 in around 15 resorts in the state of Colorado are the most noteworthy, particularly in Winter Park, which has recorded more than 100 positive cases of the disease among the respective workers alone ( CPR News, 2021 ). In neighbouring Canada, the Whistler Blackcomb resort, the largest in North America, closed in late March 2021, was linked to 200 of the 877 cases of the “Brazilian variant” (P1) in the province of British Columbia, at the time the largest outbreak of this variant outside Brazil ( The Guardian, 2021 ). Arguably the most problematic situation, however, occurred about a year earlier, in the first months of 2020, in the centre of the European continent, in the Alps, particularly in Ischgl (Paznaun, Austrian Tyrol). As such, this will be the example I give the most attention.

Before the outbreak of Covid-19, in the winter season of 2018–2019, the ski resort of Ischgl, famously known as the “Ibiza of the Alps”, registered 300,414 arrivals of tourists from different origins and 1,409,478 overnight stays ( Tyrol Provincial Government, 2019, p. 28 ). Its association with the Samnaun resort (Ischgl/Samnaun Silvretta Arena) places this ski destination among the 10 largest in Europe and among the 50 largest in the world ( Vanat, 2020 ). These resorts staged the scene of one of the largest global events of super-spreading of SARS-CoV-2. During the “peak” of the high ski season, between the end of February and the beginning of March 2020, it was estimated that more than 6,000 people from about half a hundred of nations may have been infected in Ischgl and transported the virus to their respective countries [1] , quickly dispersing it worldwide. The initial contagion was so massive that, according to a serological study carried out by the Innsbruck University of Medicine, at the end of April 2020 more than 42% of residents in Ischgl already had antibodies to the virus ( Van Laer et al. , 2020 ). Not only because of the number of infections, but also because of the multinationality of the infected and the fact that contagions occurred at an early stage of the pandemic, Ischgl played a very significant role, along with other alpine resorts, to the speed with which COVID-19 took hold in the European continent and its spread worldwide ( Correa-Martínez et al. , 2020 ; Kreidl et al. , 2020 ).

The specific question that remains is what socio-material conditions have fostered the viral outbreak in Ischgl and other ski resorts? There are immediate visible reasons of a structural nature, inherently characteristic to most touristic contexts: the sharp reduction in air travel costs and the unconditional “open doors” positioning of destinations – presented as free territories ready to be consumed –, which led to a spiral of hyper-massification of tourism with the potential to create epidemic scenarios. The photographs that follow ( Plates 1 and 2 ) illustrate the many directions that opened Ischgl to the rest of the world and brought thousands of people to it, who settled there in a compact and active way, living in (almost) “a state of exception” and transforming the resort into a “post-national zone”: “a space of which the traditional nation-state is not in complete control, meshing together, as it does, various kinds of ‘circulating’ populations with different kinds of ‘locals’. […] a space densely and continuously connected to places beyond the nation” ( Inda, 2000, pp. 92–99 ).

Besides the more general and structural conditions related to the wide concentration of people from different geographic origins, common to many other tourist destinations, the set of specific circumstances directly responsible for the massive contagion processes in ski resorts has not yet been unequivocally identified. However, some possibilities are already considered as quite probable, such as (1) the high weekly turnover of thousands of tourists; (2) socially intense après-ski recreational activities, which presuppose close contacts, especially in closed spaces; (3) the long queues and crowds that form on cable cars, lift lines, restaurants, shops and many other facilities; (4) sharing accommodation between groups of resort employees and between groups of tourists, which often result in situations of high concentration of people in the same dwelling; (5) frequent physical contact with a wide variety of shared surfaces (e.g. cable cars, perches, rented equipment, handrails and doors), facilitating possible contagion through fomites; (6) the presence of nasal secretions on gloves resulting from constant cold-induced rhinorrhoea ( Dalton et al ., 2020 ; Felbermayr et al ., 2021 ; Gianfredi et al. , 2021 ; Kreidl et al. , 2020 ).

Our only other comment is that it really is becoming too busy. You used to go out sure you’d not have to wait for lifts and sure the slopes would be safe. Last week (admittedly a holiday week when there was bad weather at times) there were times when the queues built up at bottlenecks and when some slopes were lethal because of the crowding, number of people on slopes they couldn’t handle and general idiocy of groups of young lads skiing recklessly. It’s also now really difficult to find a place to eat or drink for a pit stop - you have to reserve tables for lunch which never used to be the case and is really annoying. The self service restaurants are all far too busy. We’ll not be going back at peak season (LondonFriday, Gurugram-Índia, 01/03/2020).

This resort is huge and caters to the glitzy and well-healed skiers who like the party scene. The huge line-ups for the gondolas (at the base) set the tone for our stay. Everything was busy (the runs, the lifts and the restaurants). We had a mixed bag of skiing largely dependent on weather-which is to be expected. Some of the runs and lifts were closed down due to bad weather which made it challenging to get down to the bottom. Some people got stuck on the Swiss side during a storm and had to take long bus ride back to Ischgl (Sue S., Kingston-Canadá, 26/04/2020).

From these excerpts, a set of rhetorical elements (short, but significant) stand out to characterize Ischgl as a tourist destination and, to a certain extent, to qualify the experience of the tourists themselves. Through brief discursive descriptions – “becoming too busy”, “queues built up at bottlenecks”, “crowding”, “restaurants are all far too busy”, “glitz party scene”, “everything was busy” – the testimonies highlight several situations that describe a routine of crowd compression in the spaces and the constant frenetic atmosphere and partying, whether in large concerts with international bands ( Plate 2 , back) or in the day-to-day life in the various and not very large après ski bars existing in the resort. The result was a social ecology that turned out to be convenient for a pathogenic entity that, to a large extent, subsists and circulates based on what, ontologically, defines the human condition: proximity and interpersonal contact.

The analysis of the Ischgl ski resort case allows us to deduce that the rapid internationalisation and growth of mass tourism tends to exceed the ecological, social and organisational capacities of the receiving contexts in terms of welcoming tourist flows and providing unconstrained and pleasant stays for the visitors. This results in scenarios and challenges of over-tourism which, among many other impacts, generate biosecurity risks of a transnational scale and situations of health unsustainability, potentially responsible for severe public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Biosecurity and public health: questioning tourism (and) sustainability

Around the world, in countries at all development levels, many millions of jobs and businesses are dependent on a strong and thriving tourism sector. Tourism has also been a driving force in protecting natural and cultural heritage, preserving them for future generations to enjoy (in https://www.unwto.org );

Tourism is far more than tourism alone. From infrastructure and communication to food production and transport, tourism’s considerable economic weight gives it the responsibility and the power to play a key role in the sustainable and responsible development of economies and societies. Not only has tourism been a sector of consistently above-average growth for eight straight years, with 1.3 billion international tourist arrivals recorded in 2017, but the sector’s cross-cutting nature and wide global reach make it an effective tool to contribute to all of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (in Fair Observer, 2019 ).

In the boosterism that characterizes the approach of the WTO and other entities and agents, the evaluation of tourism (and its success) is almost always done according to the numbers that reflect its expression as a market force and its influence on economic growth (e.g. GDP, % of total exports), assuming that the continuous expansion of tourist activities automatically assures a factor of well-being, development and sustainability ( Higgins-Desbiolles, 2021 ). However, this assumption is based more on wishful thinking than on real measures, results and concrete situations beyond those that fulfil a merely tokenistic function, as was the case of the proclamation of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, in 2017, by the United Nations (UN). In fact, “the idea of tourism being a responsible and sustainable industry is still a far-to-reach goal, as some of the game-changing and promising attempts quickly face the harsh reality of a highly competitive market” ( Stankov et al. , 2020, p. 708 ).

In general, the sector has shown the little capacity and/or willingness to implement structural changes and adopt procedures to face the great contemporary ecological and social challenges, thus becoming less and less sustainable as it expands economically ( Andria et al. , 2021 ; Hall, 2019b ; Moscardo and Murphy, 2014 ; Scott et al. , 2019 ; Sharpley, 2020 ). The inertia in truly facing the many negative impacts of tourist activity results, in the first place, from the blindness induced by market logics and by the unconditional search for growth. But it also results from the semantic complexity of the notion of “sustainable tourism” and the consequent divergence of understandings between academics, tourist agents and technicians about sustainability and the respective forms of operationalization and evaluation ( Andria et al. , 2021 ; Cernat and Gourdon, 2012 ; Gibson, 2012 ; Sørensen and Grindsted, 2021 ).

the potential for disease spread will only increase further as international tourism expands in terms of the number of tourists that travel, as well as the distance travelled. In addition, the risk of biological invasion is only likely to increase further in the future as a result of climate change […], while the potential lag between invasion, population growth on the new range, and impact on indigenous species and the physical environment, may mean that the effects of the rapid growth in tourism mobility from the late 1960s on, may only now be starting to become obvious in some destinations (p. 89).

As we have seen above, based on the example of the Ischgl ski resort, the responsibility of tourist flows in the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic unequivocally proves the relevance of drawing attention to the fact that tourism induces multiple risks of biosecurity and is responsible for the dispersion of organisms with severe ecological, economic, social and public health repercussions at local and transnational scales ( Hall, 2015 ; Hall and Baird, 2013 ; Kim et al. , 2022 ; Mackay et al. , 2021 ; Melly and Hanrahan, 2021 ; Robinson and McNeill, 2022 ). Given the evident role of tourism in the viral globalization of SARS-CoV-2, it is to be expected that the biosecurity challenges raised by tourist mobilities will gain greater attention and be subject to more consistent and effective policy frameworks at international, national and local levels ( Melly and Hanrahan, 2021 ). To this end, it is essential to consider biosecurity and public health as even more relevant dimensions in the SDG ( Kim et al. , 2022 ), bringing to the forefront of the debate on (tourism) sustainability the biohazards generated by mass tourism and valuing health issues as another important pillar to consider in the conceptualisation of sustainability and in the respective policies. At the same time, it is fundamental to question the relationship between tourism and sustainability, assuming that “with the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need not to return to business-as-usual when the crisis over, rather than an opportunity to reconsider a transformation of the global tourism system more aligned to the SDGs” ( Gössling et al. , 2021, p. 15 ).

Recognizing the responsibility of tourist activities in the production of risks and perverse impacts should lead to a rethinking of the tourism-sustainability nexus. In this sense, it is essential to start by clarifying whether tourism and its sustainability (i.e. future viability, mainly economic, in a given context) are an end in themselves or a means of transversally promoting the sustainable development of societies ( Butler, 1999 ; Postma et al. , 2017 ; Saarinen, 2020 ; Simão and Partidário, 2012 ). Given that tourist activities are, by definition, manifestations densely embedded in the social fabric, they must be viewed clearly as part of a much larger whole and positioned in their proper place, “at the service of local communities and societies. Tourism is not an end in itself; thus sustaining tourism is not the ultimate goal” ( Higgins-Desbiolles, 2021, p. 565 ). Only in this way, through its contributions to face the great contemporary social and ecological challenges can tourism truly assert itself as an agent of sustainability; and this transversal purpose to which it contributes is an intrinsic condition of its own sectorial sustainability as an economic activity ( Postma et al. , 2017 ).

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us these links in their most negative manifestations: tourism played a decisive role in the rapid viral circulation on a global scale, which, in turn, implied a kind of shutdown of tourist activities as a strategy of virus containment. The unsustainability of tourism in terms of biosecurity contributed significantly to a scenario of health crises that, in a reverse effect, ended up severely affecting the economic sustainability of the sector. For all these reasons, the eventual critical reconsideration of the tourism growth trajectory (i.e. more tourism equals more benefits) and its greater convergence with the SDGs could even be considered as one of the few “positive aspects” resulting from the pandemic crisis ( Gössling et al. , 2021 ). However, will the post-COVID in fact constitute the end of over-tourism ( Koh, 2020 ) and the emergence of meta-economic modes of tourism, organized primarily according to the social and natural contexts of which they are a part? If something has indeed been learned over the last two years of the pandemic, an increased concern for sustainability issues and responsible tourism models is quite likely ( Postma and Yeoman, 2021 ). In this sense, and taking into account the four post-COVID-19 scenarios for global tourism in 2025 that Yeoman et al. (2022) outlined, let us hope that will come true the scenario of “responsible tourism”, characterised by “A rethinking of the relationship of tourism with the ecosystem; a sustainable and balanced future; a conscious, well-informed and responsible holiday behaviour; rethinking capitalism” ( Yeoman et al. , 2022, p. 186 ).

4. Conclusion

Tourist mobilities are one of the greatest expressions of the fluidity of the contemporary world system that SARS-CoV-2 took advantage of to quickly reach large distances and spread into a pandemic. Increasingly associated with a broad global structure of air mobility, international tourism has become an influential socio-technical vector in the process of the sudden spread of the virus on a planetary scale ( Iaquinto, 2020 ). This was due to the fact that it provided contexts of epidemiological risk resulting from the formation of large transnational clusters of people who, in a matter of days, covered distances of thousands of kilometres and came into close contact with hundreds of other people between the contexts of origin, transit and tourist destination. The case of the Ischgl ski resort presented here – as an example of the coronavirus super-spreading – is paradigmatic of tourism's ability to mobilize and concentrate large numbers of people from multiple origins in rotation in the same destination, providing social configurations and complex more-than-human assemblages with obvious implications in terms of biosecurity, among many others.

Mass tourism is undoubtedly a relevant phenomenon in the multiplicity of causes of the initial spread of the virus, despite it being portrayed in various discourses as (singularly) one of the main socio-economic “victims” of COVID-19. Prior to suffering the profound and serious impacts of the pandemic, it contributed decisively to this same pandemic. For the future, it is essential to avoid head-in-the-sand behaviour and keep this perspective in mind. If we limit ourselves to looking at COVID-19 as an exogenous manifestation, lingering on the outer limits of the tourist economy with its values and practices, we run a serious risk of perpetuating situations that lead to new epidemiological emergency scenarios and postponing impingent changes ( Sigala, 2020 ). Therefore, an effective (self)criticism of tourist activities is required to assess their social, environmental and biosafety impacts, while seeking to build tourism models that generate economy(ies) at the service of the common good, in which poverty, climate change, biosecurity and health and well-being constitute factors to be considered unconditionally as a priority. Only in this way will it truly be possible the alignment with the SDGs goals and, inherently, the sustainability of tourism itself. If it persists in clinging to the old obsessive spiral of unrelenting growth, tourism will hardly have a future.

A “totem” pole celebrating Ischgl as a multi-national space

Thousands of people at one of the usual concerts organised in the resort of Ischgl before the pandemic

The estimate of the number of people infected in Ischgl is based on data from the Consumer Protection Association (VSV), which is coordinating a class action lawsuit against the Austrian government for negligence in terms of public health responses to the COVID-19 outbreak. The signatures of more than 6,000 tourists from 47 countries who believe they have been infected with the virus in Ischgl have already been gathered ( The Guardian, 2020 ).

Dissemination of pathogens, disease vectors and animal and plant alien species.

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Further reading

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements: to the Centre for Transdisciplinary Development Studies (CETRAD-UTAD), an entity financed by Portuguese national funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., within the scope of the UIDB/04011/2020 project; and to the Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA-IUL), an interuniversity R&D unit funded by Portuguese national funds through FCT, under the UIDB/04038/2020 project.

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From Mass Tourism and Mass Culture to Sustainable Tourism in the Post-covid19 Era: The Case of Mykonos

• Conference paper
• First Online: 22 June 2021
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• Konstantinos Skagias 3 ,
• Labros Vasiliadis 4 ,
• Dimitrios Belias 5 &
• Papademetriou Christos 6  

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One of the key challenges that tourist destinations have to face today is mass tourism and its impact on local culture. Indeed, during the past years, tourist development had relied on mass tourism, which meant that the destinations had to accommodate a significant number of tourists, something that had an impact on the destination’s culture. Such an example is the case of Mykonos. This a case of an island that has constructed its brand name as a high-end cosmopolitan destination by including mass tourist activities on its product offering but also with mass culture activities, such as major dance music events. Nonetheless, the current situation has found Mykonos, like many other destinations, without tourist demand and with the need to reposition its tourist product. In the post-covid19 tourist industry, it seems that sustainable tourism can be the answer on how Mykonos shall develop so as to recover from the current crisis. Therefore, the suggested strategy is to shift from mass tourism and mass culture into sustainable tourism and emphasis high culture. This means that the destination will have to rely on a “less tourists and more income per tourist” model of development while Mykonos can focus on cultural tourism as part of its shift into sustainable tourism.

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Skagias, K., Vasiliadis, L., Belias, D., Christos, P. (2021). From Mass Tourism and Mass Culture to Sustainable Tourism in the Post-covid19 Era: The Case of Mykonos. In: Katsoni, V., van Zyl, C. (eds) Culture and Tourism in a Smart, Globalized, and Sustainable World. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72469-6_23

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The Effects of Mass Tourism (How Overtourism is Destroying 30+ Destinations)

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Mass Tourism was arguably the most significant travel trend of 2017. Its downside, “overtourism”– the point at which the needs of tourism become unsustainable for a given destination– made headlines all across the world.

“Overtourism plagues great destinations,” claimed sustainable travel expert Jonathan Tourtellot in National Geographic . “Mass Tourism is at a tipping point- but we’re all part of the problem,” wrote Martin Kettle in The Guardian .

In an Associated Press piece on “The Curse of Overtourism,” Pan Pylas examined how European destinations such as Barcelona, Dubrovnik, and Venice are struggling to deal with the negative impacts of tourism.

Here, we’ll examine what mass tourism is, why it’s so popular, and how it is negatively impacting local communities in some of the world’s most beloved travel destinations.

THE DEFINITION OF MASS TOURISM

Mass tourism was originally developed in the late 1800s in the UK by Thomas Cook, who pioneered the concept of affordable group travel tours. By establishing relationships between tour operators, transportation companies, and hotels, Cook was able to get deep volume discounts on travel services and pass those savings along to its customers.

• In modern times, the phrase often refers to budget-friendly package tours, cheap flights, all-inclusive resorts, and cruises. In general, it allows vast numbers of travelers to descend on a given destination in a relatively short time, usually during peak season.
• On the positive side, this extreme influx of tourists can help to generate jobs, stimulate the economy, and develop much-needed infrastructure.
• On the downside, many of these jobs are not given to locals, much of the revenue is kept by outside investors, and the overwhelming tourist crowds often keep locals from being able to enjoy the infrastructure benefits.
• It is inarguably the most popular form of tourism. But most responsible travel experts consider it a shallow, exploitative, and unsustainable form of travel , consuming huge amounts of resources while giving little back to the local community.

To understand why, let’s take a look at how overtourism is affecting 30+ different destinations all around the world.

THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF OVERTOURISM

Tourism in Africa Tourism in Asia Tourism in Australia Tourism in Europe Tourism in Central/South America Tourism in North America

TOURISM IN AFRICA

CAIRO/GIZA (Egypt)

The Cairo area is home to some of the oldest, most impressive tourist attractions in the world, from King Tut’s famous burial mask at the Egyptian Museum to the great Pyramids of Giza.

But instead of being a welcoming city that invites travelers to explore the culture and wonder of this ancient capital, mass tourism has largely taken over Cairo and Giza.

As a result, these relatively small sites have been inundated with hordes of camera-wielding tour groups stopping by on day trips from their resorts in Sharm El Sheik.

When I visited Cairo a few years ago, dozens of air-conditioned tour buses swarmed around the Giza plateau, the museum, and tourist hotspots like Khan El Khalili every single day.

They congested the roads around these attractions even more than usual, attracting exploitative cottage industries such as touts, papyrus factory tours, and unethical camel rides. The result has created a massive work and monetary imbalance in the city.

More recently, the tourism industry in and around Cairo has suffered a massive blow. Overblown safety warnings and fears have caused the local economy to crash. As Egyptian tourism starts to recover, Cairo and Giza should take a step back and learn from their past mistakes.

This is their chance to embrace responsible tourism, controlling visitor numbers and encouraging travelers to explore the ancient history and culture of the whole area, not just a few tourist hotspots.   –Mike Huxley of Bemused Backpacker

  MARRAKECH (Morocco)

Just 10 years ago Marrakech was a city of around 500,000 people. Today that number sits above 1.2 million. In 2008, less than 3 million tourists visited the entire country of Morocco. Last year that number was nearly 11 million, and a vast majority of them traveled to/through Marrakech.

This huge surge in the numbers of tourists and residents has done two things to my home city. First, it’s brought many jobs and much-needed income. Second, it’s put a strain on resources and infrastructure in a way that has proven difficult to manage.

Many longtime Marrakech residents felt an initial benefit from this influx of tourism when they were able to sell their properties and get work. But today the cost of basic goods, rents, and more rises while salaries remain relatively stagnant.

Tourists expect Marrakech to be a cheap destination, thanks to the subsidized low-cost carriers that fly into the city daily. This has a trickle-down effect on the economy. People need to earn more money now than they did a few years ago to maintain even a basic standard of life.

A walk through the medina today is met by hundreds, if not thousands of tourists. It’s very difficult now to experience what traditional life is like in Marrakech, primarily because residents are increasingly outnumbered by tourists.

Many visitors don’t see the negative social impacts of tourism, because Marrakech is still “much more exotic” than their home countries. But for Marrakech, tourism has proven both a blessing and a curse. – Amanda Ponzio-Mouttaki of MarocMama

Mauritius is a beautiful island in the Indian Ocean, 1,200 miles off the southeast coast of Africa . There, misty clouds linger around the top of forested mountains. Tropical temperatures allow lazy days at white sandy beaches , or snorkeling in turquoise lagoons amongst colorful fish and corals.

We stayed in Mauritius for more than a month and liked it. But the negative impacts of tourism on the island are readily apparent.

With around 1.3 million residents in 790 square miles, Mauritius is among the countries with the highest population density in the world. More than one million tourists visit Mauritius every year. 

Driving across the island, it feels like one massive, congested town, with the exception of a few sugarcane fields and coastal areas dominated by luxury resorts.

Outside of southern Mauritius, where the last pocket of extended forest remains in the Black Forest National Park, very little natural habitat is left for local wildlife. Unfortunately, this is one of the island’s most heavily promoted regions for day trips, with busloads of tourists visiting every day.

It will take smarter decisions by the government, tour operators, and responsible tourism NGOs to reduce the destructive environmental impacts of tourism in Mauritius’ future.  –Marcelle Heller of The Wild Life

CAPE TOWN (South Africa)

Cape Town has emerged as one on southern Africa’s favorite holiday hotspots. Despite its current problems with drought and crime, the city is still magnificent if you love the beach, ecotourism (including penguins! ) , food, and wine.

One of the major downfalls of overtourism in Cape Town is the pricing increase for property, which is creating a greater divide between rich and poor. Tourists arrive, instantly fall in love with the city, and realize property is relatively cheap.

So they decide to purchase a house or apartment, which drives up prices and makes it almost impossible for locals to afford homes. Even worse are the overseas investors who buy a property just to rent it out on Airbnb.

Other negative effects of tourism include horrendous traffic, an increase in petty theft, and the rise of begging street kids. Word to the wise: Do not come in December or January! You’ll feel suffocated, as holiday-makers descend on the city from Johannesburg and all around the world. – Callan Wienburg of Singapore n Beyond

TOURISM IN ASIA

AGRA/TAJ MAHAL (India)

Close your eyes and think of India . If anything resembling a white marble onion dome comes to mind, you’re not alone. The Taj Mahal , a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the veritable symbol of India, and on many people’s bucket lists.

When visitors make the journey to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal) three things stand out. One, the sublime beauty of the world’s most perfect building. It is truly spectacular, and rarely disappoints. Two, the overwhelming crowds.

The Taj Mahal attracts 7 to 8 million people per year. Unless you arrive by 6 am, just before it opens, you’ll be met with hordes of people. Three, the degradation and disorder of Agra.

You’d think the city that houses one of the world’s top tourist attractions would benefit from the influx of tourism revenue. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Aside from the stringent management and upkeep of the Taj Mahal itself— which includes a pollution-free perimeter zone and a regular mudpack to clean the surface — there are almost no other signs of civic improvement in Agra. The Taj Mahal is worth seeing, no question. But there’s no denying that it is falling victim to pollution.

It’s unfortunate that the lack of marketing innovation by the Indian tourism industry results in most tourists heading straight for the “Golden Triangle” of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. There’s so much more to see and experience in India, far away from the crowds, touts, and other aggravations of this over-touristed route. –Mariellen Ward of Breathedreamgo

BAGAN (Myanmar)

Although mainstream tourism is relatively new in Myanmar, Bagan’s famous Valley of Temples is already suffering growing pains. Over 4,000 pagodas once stood here, but that number has been reduced by half over time by earthquakes, natural erosion, and disrespectful travelers.

One of the most common activities in Bagan is to climb the pagodas at sunrise to watch the hot air balloons glide across the sky, and again in the evening to see the sunset. The experience is extraordinary… if you can find a secluded, secure temple. However, the majority of tourists flock to the five most popular pagodas, where climbing is allowed.

The problem is that some disrespectful tourists aren’t satisfied with the views from the platform area. So they climb up the ancient brick formations to the tip of the pagodas, which often crumble. It’s an insult to the historic importance of the site. Several travelers have lost their lives after plummeting from the top.

As travelers, it is our duty to preserve these sacred cultural heritage sites. Yet repeatedly visitors destroy the places they’re so eager to cross off their bucket list, without giving any thought to future generations. – Lola Méndez of Miss Filatelista

BALI (Indonesia)

Bali used to be a peaceful place where travelers would go to escape the stress of their everyday life. They could enjoy lush nature, bask in the sun on beautifully pristine beaches, and surf some killer waves. Most visitors would spend their time immersing themselves in the ancient traditions and rituals of the local people.

This aspect of Bali is so distant now, it takes a great deal of effort to discover it. Nowadays Bali is mayhem. Due to uncontrolled development, the land that nature ruled has been filled with large chain hotels and shopping malls. Depansar, Bali’s capital, is completely congested with traffic and pollution. What used to be a tropical paradise is being ruined by overtourism.

Most of the beaches are incredibly crowded. The lack of proper garbage disposal and recycling initiatives means that places such as Kuta Beach are enormous dumps where rats party day and night . In order to accommodate the needs of mass tourism , development is slowly but steadily pushing its way through the rest of the island, too.

Visitors who wish to avoid the crowds need to travel to the north of the island and visit the most remote beaches. Renting a motorbike or a car may also be a good idea in order to travel more independently.  –Claudia Tavani of My Adventures Across the World

EL NIDO, PALAWAN (Philippines)

In 2016 Palawan was named the world’s most beautiful island by Condé Nast Traveler. Known as a haven for adventurers looking to experience untouched nature, quiet turquoise waters, and respite from hordes of sun seekers, this promising ecotourism destination has exploded in popularity. Unfortunately El Nido (once a sleepy fishing village) has been bearing the brunt of it, attracting over 200,000 visitors to an area with a population of 36,000.

The problems caused by overtourism here are many. There’s rampant tourism development all over town. There’s not enough local food to feed all the visiting mouths, a problem exacerbated by the mass conversion of farmland into resort construction sites. There’s no waste water management system, meaning sewage from these newly constructed hotels goes straight into that turquoise ocean.

Island-hopping is the main attraction in El Nido’s archipelago, and every travel agency in town basically sells the same day tour. So idyllic lagoons became swamped with beer-swilling sunbathers.

Thankfully, 2017 saw the introduction of daily visitor caps to three of the main hotspots. But as long as overall visitor numbers remain unmanaged, tour operators will simply shift crowds to other islands.

So how can we visit Palawan responsibly? Steer completely clear of El Nido, at least until the powers-that-be have invested in proper infrastructure and resources to cope with tourism volume. There are plenty of beautiful spots all over the large island of Palawan, including some commendable eco-resorts in Coron. -Ellie Cleary of Soul Travel Blog

READ MORE: The Best Things To Do In Coron, Palawan Philippines

HALONG BAY (Vietnam)

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Halong Bay is easily the most famous site in Vietnam. It’s also the most visited, with nearly three million tourists cruising its waters every year. Hundreds of junk boats ply its water each day, against the natural backdrop of dark green rock formations shrouded in mist.

Sadly, overtourism in Halong Bay has resulted in both environmental issues and fatal accidents. The influx of visitors coupled with a lack of safety regulations has created a market saturated with irresponsible tour operators who are more concerned with profits than environmental and safety issues. In 2011, a boat sank there, killing 12 tourists. According to several comments from travelers on Lonely Planet, this isn’t an isolated incident .

We cruised Halong Bay on a mid-range overnight boat trip and it opened my eyes to what poorly managed tourism can do to a place. The beauty of the poetic landscapes is undeniable, but the sheer amount of environmental destruction is enough to put off any traveler with a conscience.

For now, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to visit Halong Bay, at least until the bay is cleaned up and the situation controlled with new safety measures. –Nellie Huang of Wild Junket

MAYA BAY, KOH PHI PHI (Thailand)

If you love to travel, you’ve most likely seen The Beach , the 2000 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Millions of people saw it, and it seems like most of them ended up traveling to Maya Bay Beach on Koh Phi Phi, where most of the film was shot.

Sadly, the place is a paradise no more, thanks to seemingly endless hordes of tourists. If you visit during the middle of the day, you’ll mostly see it packed with long-tail boats and people. Many are rowdy and obnoxiously drunk, leaving a trail of litter in their wake. The only way to see the real beauty of Maya Bay is to find a boat that will bring you there early in the morning, or around sunset.

The bay is located on Koh Phi Phi Leh. You can’t stay there overnight, but you can stay on the nearby (and bigger) island of Koh Phi Phi Don. Another option is taking a Maya Bay Sleep Aboard tour, where you sleep on the boat near this spot and get to spend almost a full day here. –Sonal & Sandro of Drifter Planet

PERHENTIAN ISLANDS (Malaysia)

When we got to Malaysia, my partner Karen couldn’t wait to show me the Perhentian Islands. Having been there previously on a diving trip, she raved about these tropical paradise islands, with their white sand beaches and crystal clear waters.

Unfortunately, what we found once we arrived was more like Paradise Lost. Every day we would notice these weird brown patches floating in the ocean. To this day I’m scared to think what they were. All I know is that everyone avoided them.

What was once an occasional speedboat taxi had now turned into a sea full of them. To make matters worse, they were driven by teens racing each other, making what should have been a leisurely swim into a worrisome nightmare. One day we even had a helicopter land right on the beach, unannounced!

The Perhentian Islands are becoming a victim of their own success. Instead of trying to keep the natural balance of things , there seems to be more and more tourism-related development going on. Unfortunately, if this keeps going, the pristine beauty of these islands will be lost forever. It’s in everyone’s interest to help preserve the Perhentians before it’s too late.  –Paul Farrugia of Globalhelpswap

TOURISM IN AUSTRALIA

ULURU (Australia)

Australia’s most iconic natural attraction, Uluru (or Ayers Rock) is a symbol of the Outback that attracts more than 300,000 visitors every year.Believed to be millions of years old, this beautiful red rock juts imposingly out of the sand in the middle of the Australian desert.

Looming large at 1,142 feet, Uluru is considered a sacred site by the Indigenous Anangu people, the traditional owners of the land, and holds UNSECO World Heritage status for its ancient rock paintings. But mass tourism has caused numerous issues, provoking long-standing debates over whether or not tourists should be allowed to climb it.

Much of the controversy centers around respecting the Aboriginal community’s repeated requests that visitors not climb their sacred site. Tourists have been defecating, urinating, leaving trash, and vandalizing the rock face at the top of Uluru for years. Visitors have also been chipping off stones and defacing culturally significant engravings with name carvings of their own. As a result, a recent decision by local authorities will make Uluru off limits to climbers starting in October 2019.

To avoid the problems associated with overtourism, consider visiting during the wet season (January-March). The days are much hotter, but you’ll find very few tourists in the National Park. Early birds can head out for the base walk (6.5 miles, which takes around 3 hours) while everyone else is sleeping, getting close to the rock in complete silence.  -Megan Jerrard of Mapping Megan

READ MORE: 10 Australian National Parks for your World Bucket List

TOURISM IN CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA 

CARTAGENA (Colombia)

Colombia is a country whose reputation has been unfairly plagued by its past. In recent years, as the political and criminal situation calmed down considerably, new airline routes have opened up. As a result, Colombia is now bringing in quite a bit of tourism, attracting over 2.5 million visitors in 2016.

Cartagena, Colombia’s Caribbean tourism capital, attracts around 14% of those travelers. And while the city doesn’t seem overrun by visitors, the desire to cater to them has led to the gentrification of Getsemaní. Development of this ultra-hip neighborhood is largely  being funded by international companies, who seem hell-bent on tourism profits regardless of the impact on the locals who live there.

Some of the more popular local beaches are so swamped with tourists, they’re too expensive for locals to get out to them. The tourism boom in Cartagena has also led to a staggering problem wherein young local girls are forced into prostitution to cater to foreigners.

If you’re visiting Cartagena, I recommend talking to the friendly locals. Ask them about their favorite places to go and things to do in the area. Support local businesses, and do your best to put money into the local economy rather than spending it to support international corporate interests.  – Megan Starr

READ MORE: Best Attractions in Cartagena, Columbia

EASTER ISLAND (Chile)

Easter Island is best known for the mysterious Moai, gigantic stone statues created by the ancient Rapa Nui civilization. The Rapa Nui people carved the statues (some nearly 30 feet tall and weighing 80 tons), transported them to different sites, and erected them on ceremonial platforms. No one knows their purpose, but the 887 Moai are the tiny island’s main attraction.

Unfortunately, the sheer number of tourists (around 100,000 annually) are changing the nature of tourism on Easter Island. The Moai are very fragile, and tourists who touch the statues cause irreversible damage. Two important archaeological sites were closed to tourists in recent years due to deterioration.

Easter Island once collapsed under a population of 10,000. Now the island’s infrastructure and resources are being stressed by the growing surge of visitors. Available landfill area for non-recyclable waste is extremely limited.

Being a responsible tourist on Easter Island is easy. Just don’t touch the Moai, stick to marked trails, watch where you walk (archaeological sites are everywhere), respect local culture, and leave no waste. To avoid the crowds, travel off-season in winter (June to September) and skip the Tapati Festival in January.  – Ketki Sharangpani of Dotted Globe

MACHU PICCHU/INCA TRAIL (Peru)

One special destination that’s sadly suffering from overtourism is Machu Picchu, and the increasingly popular Inca Trail that leads to it. Strict caps on visitors were put in place by the Peruvian government a few years back– 500 permits per day for the Inca Trail and 2500 per day for Machu Picchu. Yet still the famed site often sees double that number of visitors.

This is obvious in terms of countless irresponsible travelers ruining the natural beauty and mystical appeal with their ubiquitous selfie sticks. But what’s even worse is the area’s sanitation issues.

There’s toilet paper lining the hiking trails, squat toilets overflowing, and now the preservation of this precious site seems to be in danger.

There is good news: In the summer of 2017, the Peruvian government passed a new restriction for Machu Picchu visitors, requiring they enter with an official tour guide in groups of 16 or less.

Additionally, entry grants only a morning visit or an afternoon visit. So if if you want to spend the entire day, you’ll need to pay twice. While inside, visitors will need to stay on marked paths.

Hopefully new laws like these will help to ease the strain on this important UNESCO World Heritage site . –Jessie Festa of Jessie on a Journey

SALAR DE UYUNI (Bolivia)

It’s difficult to imagine how an area sprawling 4,085 square miles could ever feel crowded. But that’s just what’s happening at Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia’s famous salt pan.

Tourism has been a major contributor to the local economy, and even protected the Bolivia against Lithium mining. But the impacts haven’t been all good.

The number of visitors from the Uyuni departure point have far surpassed local infrastructure in recent years, and the city suffers from unmanaged waste.

While few studies have been conducted on the environe impacts of mass tourism, it’s impossible to imagine that hundreds of 4x4s have no impact on the ecosystem.

With more tourists feeding wildlife and treading on the plants and soil surrounding popular attractions, a change is inevitable.

From a human standpoint, increased competition has invited in big name travel companies. The prices of tours are WAY down, and margins for local operators have fallen with it.

The experience can still be incredible if you’re mindful about how you visit. Consider departing from Tupiza rather than Uyuni to support a different community.

Support the local businesses, tip your guides well, tread lightly, and leave the place like you found it so that it can be enjoyed by generations to come. – Taylor of Travel Outlandish

TOURISM IN EUROPE

AMSTERDAM (Netherlands)

Amsterdam is known all around the world as one of Europe’s most lovely cities. However in recent years the combination of drug-focused tourism and cheap budget flights have turned the city’s Centre district into a crowded mass tourism playground.

It finally reached a point in 2017 where overtourism was so bad, the government banned new tourist-oriented shops from opening in the Centre. They also started regulating Airbnb much more strictly, as the housing crisis in Amsterdam reached full bloom.

The rise in tourism has also made it very difficult for local residents in the Centre to find shops to do their errands in.

If you’re looking to contribute to a more sustainable future for Amsterdam, please consider staying outside of the Centre and NOT using an Airbnb.

Similarly, be sure to visit some of the residential neighborhoods, such as De Pijp, which are full of cute independent shops run by young Dutch entrepreneurs who are committed to making Amsterdam the best city in the Netherlands. –Karen Turner of Wanderlustingk

BARCELONA (Spain)

Barcelona has a lot to offer, including stunning Gaudi architecture, a rich tapas and wine culture, and (thanks to the 1992 Olympics) a two-mile stretch of beautiful beach.

The same Olympics that improved local quality of life by installing a municipal sailing center and public housing also put Barcelona on the map for international tourism, which grew to an unsustainable 32 million visitors in 2016.

A large number of these visitors are day-trippers, coming into the city on cruise ships carrying up to 5,000 passengers, all of whom descend on the nearby old town en masse. Barceloneta, once a quaint fisherman’s quarter, has become overcrowded.

AirBnB is forcing out locals, as renting out apartments to tourists is much more lucrative for owners than having long-term tenants. According to real estate portal Idealista, renewal contracts on apartments in 2016 saw an average price hike of over 20%.

Local shops around the Ramblas– some of them over 100 years old– are similarly being replaced by souvenir shops that can afford the rising rental prices for businesses. This gentrification is killing the area’s authenticity.

To avoid these tourism issues, seek out licensed hotels or apartments outside the most crowded areas of Barcelona. You can also visit popular tourist sites during the week, when the visitor numbers tend to be lower. – Edwina Dandler of Traveling German

CINQUE TERRE (Italy)

Up until I was 16 years old, I spent my summer holidays in a small seaside village in Liguria. Some of my grandma’s relatives lived near Cinque Terre, and we visited the area several times.

The five candy-colored villages were a popular day-trip destination, even in the 1980s. It was always hard to park, and the small beaches were packed, but no more so than elsewhere in the region.

In 2014 I returned to Cinque Terre after 15 years away, and I was shocked by what I saw. The quaint villages of my childhood were literally overrun with tourists.

The narrow, historic centre streets were a shuffling mass of bodies, litter was everywhere, and people treated local homes as if they were museums, walking in and posing for pictures.

A friend of mine from Vernazza (one of the five villages) told me that all these tourists are putting a terrible strain on the area.

First of all, these “bucket list” tourists spend little or no money– maybe a couple of euros for water and a focaccia. Tons of rubbish need to be removed daily, and locals are unable to enjoy their villages due to the multitudes of rude, rowdy people crowding them all summer.

My tip? Pretty much every town in Liguria has the same candy-colored houses that make Cinque Terre famous. I always recommend Levanto, a place with amazing nature and outdoor adventure! –Margherita Ragg of The Crowded Planet

DUBROVNIK (Croatia)

The Pearl of the Adriatic has been a popular tourist destination since the days when it was part of Yugoslavia. As if the appeal of the citrus-colored Old Town nestled atop the turquoise sea wasn’t enough, Dubrovnik also has a fascinating, tumultuous history that is very much still rooted in its local culture.

I’ve been lucky to call Dubrovnik home over the past three years. During this time, I’ve watched Game of Thrones and the cruise ship industry turn this small town into one of the trendiest destinations in Europe.

There’s no doubt this tourism boom has significantly boosted the local economy. But unfortunately the sea of mass tourism is pushing Dubrovnik far beyond its carrying capacity.

Just 40,000 people live in Dubrovnik, yet over 2 million people visit during the high season each summer. The Old Town is flooded with hot bodies and selfie sticks.

Cars honk at each other in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The buses are packed with tourists and a few locals (if they’re lucky enough to get on first).

Residents reclaim Dubrovnik in the winter months. The town celebrates local pride with holidays like St. Blaise Day and Badnjak, which are filled with dancing, eating, and singing traditional Croatian songs. This is when the city’s culture truly shines.

Efforts are currently underway to extend the tourist season beyond the summer and limit cruise ships. But living expenses are still increasing due to tourism, and many locals are struggling.

Many people, especially those from the Old Town, feel that Dubrovnik’s original spirit cannot be recovered. –Alexandra Schmidt of The Mindful Mermaid

When I spent time volunteering in the environmental field back in 2012, little did I know that one of the most striking destinations I had ever visited would soon become a victim of mass tourism.

Who knows if its popularity was caused by Game of Thrones , Star Wars , or the endless Instagram postings featuring Iceland ? Or maybe it’s because budget travel companies such as Wow Air sell low-cost flights from many European destinations.

Regardless, the harsh reality is that tourists arrive to find hotels and car rentals are expensive and in increasingly short supply during the high season (from June to August).

In June 2016, the situation was so chaotic that the government planned to restrict Airbnb rentals. Other measures to reduce the number of visitors are planned to be implemented soon.

So if you have Iceland on your bucket list, try to visit during the shoulder seasons (Spring or Fall) instead of Summer. Travelers and locals alike will benefit.

Most people believe everyone should be able to access the places we, as privileged people from first world countries, travel to regularly. But at what cost? Perhaps it’s time to rethink tourism as we know it, or else we’ll all have to live with the unfortunate consequences. -Inma Gregorio of A World To Travel

READ MORE: 10 Incredible Iceland Waterfalls

ISLE OF SKYE (Scotland)  

The Isle of Skye in northwest Scotland boasts numerous natural landmarks. There’s the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing range, the bizarre basalt formation Kilt Rock, Neist Point lighthouse, the Cuillin mountains, and of course the magical Fairy Pools.

Skye is Scotland’s largest island, and the only one that is accessible from the mainland via a bridge. And this is were the trouble starts…

The problem is that word on Skye’s stellar beauty has spread, making it one of Scotland’s most over-popular holiday destinations. While this brings invaluable income to local businesses, it’s proven problematic in terms of infrastructure and environmental impact.

Stories of cars spilling out of the limited parking lots onto the road and blocking locals’ daily commutes are overshadowed by even worse stories about inappropriate behavior by some tourists due to a lack of public toilet facilities.

Accommodations are seriously limited, which has caused the police to limit island visits to those with reservations only.

Responsible tourism to Skye is still possible. Allow yourself to go off the beaten path and support local businesses who give back to the community and act for the environment. Treat the island as if it was your home.

And finally, take a look around: Scotland’s Inner Hebrides offer many incredible islands that are waiting for you to discover them! –Kathi Kamleitner from Watch Me See

READ MORE: Top 10 Things To Do On The Isle of Skye

LISBON (Portugal)

If we compare Lisbon to other European cities, I believe there’s still a chance to save the Portuguese capital from overtourism.

Tourism in Lisbon is a great product: We have great weather and food, killer sunsets, a diverse culture and heritage, and a young population who speaks at least one foreign language fluently.

Tourism was the only industry bringing in a decent income when everything else seemed to be crashing under the economic recession. In fact, we now have tourists visiting all year round– there’s hardly a low season or shoulder season.

The housing crisis has been the biggest issue facing Lisbon. Locals can’t find affordable houses in the center of the city because landlords can make more money by listing their apartments on short-term rental websites (and paying less taxes). Not to mention the historic buildings being refurbished by foreign investment companies into luxury condos and more short-term rental units.

It’s a vicious cycle: Old-age tenants die or get evicted, the owner sells to the highest bidder, and the house becomes a short-term rental. There’s little that’s typical about Alfama or Mouraria these days. The old quarters are being stripped of their cultural identity.

The best way a traveler can stop this is by booking a hotel instead of a short-term rental. – Sandra Henriques Gajjar of Tripper

READ MORE: Things To Do In Portugal For Nature Lovers

PRAGUE (Czech Republic) 

Travel is a good thing, for the most part. Most destinations rely on the economic gains from this $7 trillion a year industry, and there are countless benefits to travelers themselves. But when tourism grows at an unsustainable,  it can be damaging both to locals and their environment. Prague is a perfect example of mass tourism.

For me, Prague was once a fairytale bucket list destination. But now that over tourism has clouded the experience, it no longer seems like such a magical place.

The city is crowded no matter what time year you visit, with people and vendors elbow to elbow on the Charles Bridge. New developments are often under construction, which detracts from the city’s beauty. Prague has also become more expensive, both for tourists and locals alike.

To avoid huge crowds, become a morning person to beat the crowds. Connect with locals via Facebook groups or Couchsurfing, and explore with expats or locals who know the best places to visit.

Prague is still a stunning city, but for now I avoid it and explore less touristy places instead. –Olga Maria of DreamsInHeels

SANTORINI (Greece)

Not all that long ago, Santorini was a small, rocky, relatively unknown Greek Island. But it has risen in recent years to become one of the most iconic places to visit in Greece due largely to its whitewashed villages, blue-domed churches, and incredible sunsets.

But many of the locals who once lived in this Mediterranean paradise have been driven out due to rising property costs. The price for Greeks to ferry to work from neighboring islands is prohibitively high.

The locals who are left are invaded by disrespectful visitors who often destroy their property while trying to get the perfect selfie. And when it comes to the environment, the island’s main roads are littered with trash left by indifferent tourists.

Avoiding the Santorini crowds completely is almost impossible, especially if you hope to view the sunset in iconic spots like Oia. However, the island’s east-facing side affords equally beautiful views, and the gorgeous resorts there are more affordable and just as luxurious.

Take some time on the south side of the island for wine tasting and wandering through villages. Also consider going to Santorini in the off-season, when it’s cheaper and less crowded.

Three times as many hotels will be staying open throughout the winter in order to help encourage better distribution of the influx of tourists. – Eileen Cotter Wright of Pure Wander

READ MORE: The Best Places To Visit in Greece in 40 Fantastic Photos

SVANETI (Georgia)

Situated on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountains and surrounded by 16,000-foot peaks, stunning Svaneti is one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in Georgia.

The mountains, remoteness, and unique indigenous traditions make it an ideal destination for hiking, trekking, wildlife, and cultural tourism. However, negative impacts of tourism can already be seen.

When I first visited Svaneti in 2001, I didn’t see any other tourists for a week. In 2014 there were 14,160 visitors, and by 2016 there were 18,347. Because most tourists go to Mestia (2,700 inhabitants) and hike/drive east towards Ushguli (200 inhabitants) between June-September, it’s getting harder to accommodate them.

New concrete guesthouses are being built randomly, without any permission. But they’re incompatible with the local cultural and architectural heritage and ultimately spoil the picturesque landscape.

Farmland has been reduced to build new accommodations and ski facilities, causing problems with local food supplies. There’s a growing issue with solid waste disposal in villages and along the hiking trails. And the famous Svan hospitality is vanishing: Getting invited to dine with the local family is now very rare.

Svaneti is at risk of losing its traditional Georgian charm. To avoid the crowds , head west of Mestia, where tourism has hardly been developed at all. – Marta Mills of One Planet Blog

VENICE (Italy)

There is a certain aura of magic and mystery about Venice. For decades, visitors have been unable to resist the allure of the city’s romantic canals, singing gondoliers, picturesque bridges and grand architecture. The “City of Bridges” tops the ‘must visit cities in Europe’ lists year after year but for how much longer?

Aside from its risk of sinking and its threat from flooding, Venice is a city under populated and over-crowded.

Mass tourism attributed to the mega-cruise ships is causing irreversible damage not only to the fragile lagoon ecosystem but the city itself. A city that only in-habits under 55,000 residents yet welcomes over 30 million visitors a year.

Venice and its Lagoon have long been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But due to mass-tourism, not only does it risk losing its status, it faces entering the “Endangered” list, a list normally reserved for ruins and sites damaged by war.

Vandalism, crime, destruction of some historical sites and tourist stupidity has already caused tension between residents and visitors.

To add to its woes, cruise ship visitors lack of overnight stays means city tax (that benefits the city) is not being paid, local businesses in the same “tourist” areas are strained and local necessity shops have been closed to only be replaced with souvenir stalls, further pushing locals out of their own city.

Venice is a city that strongly relies on tourism, and while many believe the ban of large ships to Venice would solve the problem, there is so much more that needs to be done to ensure this charming city continues to thrive, and be preserved for generations to come.

To avoid Venice overtourism, visit out-side of the peak seasons (so October-December & February – April) and ensure you’re a responsible tourist! –Samantha & Leonardo of The Wandering Wanderlusters

READ MORE: Le Marche, Italy: A Local’s 7 Favorite Places To Visit

TOURISM IN NORTH AMERICA

DENALI NATIONAL PARK, ALASKA (USA)

Most people wouldn’t think of mass tourism when considering Alaska, the wildest state in the USA . But having been there before the Alaska Highway was paved all the way through in 1992, I can see a major difference.

Before the opening of the highway, Alaska was a great adventure . You were lucky if you could get through the state without getting stuck in the mud somewhere. Now you can just cruise through, perhaps seeing the odd construction site along the way where last winter’s potholes are being repaired.

Denali National Park has been especially impacted by tourism development. Before 1992 there were only a few lodges and cabins along the Nenana River, and a campground with very basic facilities. Today you’ll find luxury resorts, a Good Sam Park, and a boardwalk mall with fast food and ice cream joints.

You have to wait in a line of jostling tourists to enter the park on one of the park’s buses. Photo stops along the park road are precisely timed, and the feeling of being out in the wilderness is lost in the process.

My tip? Skip the bus tours entirely and go wilderness hiking in Denali to experience the park’s true, wild nature. – Monika Fuchs of Travel World Online

READ MORE: Denali National Park: Exploring America’s Last Great Frontier

BANFF, ALBERTA (Canada)

I grew up in a small town near Banff, one of the most frequently visited destinations in Canada. Located in the Canadian Rockies, it’s home to several of Canada’s most famous ski resorts.

Tourism there created a unique set of social problems caused primarily by the fact that, as a town located inside a National Park, Banff had strict boundaries. Therefore it wasn’t able to expand beyond the 4.9 square kilometers allotted to it.

The extreme popularity of the destination and the limits on expansion means that the town’s limited real estate is extremely expensive and almost entirely devoted to high-end tourism.

Nearly everyone who lived there worked in the service industry (as I did). So they couldn’t afford the few apartments available, and were forced to live in small, dingy dormitories provided by their employers. Seasonal hiring/firing made for high turnover, which created a transient community locals were reticent to embrace.

The result was a very strange society of short-term locals and a nearly ubiquitous binge-drinking party culture. Think of a college town where all the students have enough money to get drunk every night and can leave any time they want.

Banff is by no means a terrible town. But overtourism has turned it from a quaint skiing community into a churn-and-burn business more focused on pleasing tourists than providing an affordable quality of life for locals. –Matt Gibson of Xpat Matt

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY (USA)

Manhattan is the most-visited part of NYC, the USA ’s top port of entry, top generator of tourism revenue, and top big-city destination. Tens of millions of people visit every year – a fact that’s regularly emphasized by marketing org NYC & Company.

But how many millions are too many, even in a megacity? Parts of Manhattan have hit their carrying capacity– the point beyond which bigger tourism numbers just aren’t better.

As a native New Yorker, I studiously avoid places like Times Square and Rockefeller Center during heavy travel periods. They’re not pleasant to visit for anyone, whether tourists or locals.

But Manhattan’s problems run deeper. There are vital questions about the degree to which the money tourists spend in Manhattan adds to the local economy.

The gross value may tell one tale, but when factoring the economic impact of tourism, the economic leakage (money benefiting businesses based elsewhere), the hard and soft costs of managing tourism, and the relatively shallow spread of benefits, the economic yield might not make as much economic sense.

Fortunately, NYC is considering alternative tourism strategies. The new “True York City” campaign encourages visitors to explore and engage more deeply with the area.

Perhaps it’s the start of real thinking about the quality of the NYC tourism experience, rather than the quantity. –Ethan Gelber of The Travel Word

MAUI, HAWAII (USA)

Maui has topped “ Best Island in the World ” ratings for years. It’s no surprise, considering its perfect weather, perfect beaches, and perfectly picturesque views. But all this perfection comes at a cost, which is the degradation of my once-perfect vacation destination .

At just 727 square miles, Maui is a small island, yet it sees around 3 million tourists each year. Those visitors drive up local prices, crowd the more popular areas, and make it harder and harder to relax in the land of aloha.

There is also the negative environmental impact of tourism, with several endemic species needing additional protection.

One especially egregious example of the effects of tourism on Maui is Molokini. This tiny, fingernail-shaped atoll just off the coast of Maui is a popular spot for snorkeling. When I first booked a half-day snorkel trip in the early 2000s, it was fantastic.

But when I returned in 2010, there were so many packed catamarans that the snorkeling area was full of swimmers. It’s not much fun to be constantly on the lookout to avoid getting kicked in the face, and it’s likely even less fun for the fish that live there. Or did.

Maui depends on tourism for its economic health, so it’s hard to hate on the island for being so popular. But I’d love it if there was a better balance between the needs of the island’s coffers and the health of its flora and fauna. –Jen Miner of The Vacation Gals

READ MORE: Maui, Hula & Hawaiian Culture

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (USA) 

Located in the northwestern corner of Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park is the gem that started the United States’ National Park system . In the last 10 years, tourism has increased by 40%, with over 4.2 million visiting the park in 2016.

This dramatic increase has caused numerous tourism problems. The first is visitors walking off marked trails, causing environmental damage by killing the vegetation (which leads to erosion issues).

The second problem is with visitors who throw items such as coins and food into the geothermal features, which harm the geothermal algae. Some visitors even walk in the geothermal features, which can lead to death.

Another big issue is human/wildlife encounters. Yellowstone’s animals are learning bad habits that make them think people are food sources. Bears can become aggressive and dangerous when fed.

Poorly informed visitors will involve themselves in an “animal rescue” rather than letting nature take its course (see: the couple who put a baby Bison in the back of their car ).

The best way to avoid the masses is to avoid visiting Yellowstone during the summer. May and October are a great time to take advantage of warmer weather without dealing with major crowds.  –Jennifer Melroy of Made all the Difference

YUCATAN PENINSULA (Mexico)

From Playa del Carmen to Cancun, the uncontrolled surge of tourism to the Yucatan Peninsula has turned much of the region into one massive all-inclusive resort. What once was a series of pristine jungle and marine ecosystems is gradually being destroyed by chaotic urbanization.

Nearly 10 million visitors a year descend upon Quintana Roo (the Mexican state which includes the Yucatan coast), and their piña coladas and suntan lotion are suffocating the ecosystems with plastic bottles and organic waste.

Most locals don’t profit from this rapid rise of tourism revenue: All-inclusive resorts rarely hire indigenous natives, and these resorts rarely give back to the community.

Once a quiet fishing village, Playa Del Carmen has lost all local appeal. It’s become a throbbing beach town dominated by a tourist strip filled with splashy resorts, booming nightclubs, and drugs. Violence and theft has surged in the surrounding communities while police are occupied with patrolling the tourist areas.

If you do head to Playa del Carmen or Cancun, don’t stay at an all-inclusive. Understand that unchecked tourism has had a negative impact, and let that guide your spending. Dine at local restaurants. Shop at locally-owned businesses. Chat to local people.

It’s really the only way to ensure your visit to this mass tourism hotspot has positive benefits. –Mike Jerrard of Waking Up Wild

READ MORE : Riviera Maya: Tulum, Coba Mayan Ruins, Monkeys & More!

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What is overtourism and how can we overcome it? 

The issue of overtourism has become a major concern due to the surge in travel following the pandemic. Image:  Reuters/Manuel Silvestri (ITALY - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)

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• Overtourism has once again become a concern, particularly after the rebound of international travel post-pandemic.
• Communities in popular destinations worldwide have expressed concerns over excess tourism on their doorstep.
• Here we outline the complexities of overtourism and the possible measures that can be taken to address the problem.

The term ‘overtourism’ has re-emerged as tourism recovery has surged around the globe. But already in 2019, angst over excessive tourism growth was so high that the UN World Tourism Organization called for “such growth to be managed responsibly so as to best seize the opportunities tourism can generate for communities around the world”.

This was especially evident in cities like Barcelona, where anti-tourism sentiment built up in response to pent-up frustration about rapid and unyielding tourism growth. Similar local frustration emerged in other famous cities, including Amsterdam , Venice , London , Kyoto and Dubrovnik .

While the pandemic was expected to usher in a new normal where responsible and sustainable travel would emerge, this shift was evidently short-lived, as demand surged in 2022 and 2023 after travel restrictions eased.

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This has been witnessed over the recent Northern Hemisphere summer season, during which popular destinations heaved under the pressure of pent-up post-pandemic demand , with grassroots communities articulating over-tourism concerns.

Concerns over excess tourism have not only been seen in popular cities but also on the islands of Hawaii and Greece , beaches in Spain , national parks in the United States and Africa , and places off the beaten track like Japan ’s less explored regions.

What is overtourism?

The term overtourism was employed by Freya Petersen in 2001, who lamented the excesses of tourism development and governance deficits in the city of Pompei. Her sentiments are increasingly familiar among tourists in other top tourism destinations more than 20 years later.

Overtourism is more than a journalistic device to arouse host community anxiety or demonize tourists through anti-tourism activism. It is also more than simply being a question of management – although poor or lax governance most definitely accentuates the problem.

Governments at all levels must be decisive and firm about policy responses that control the nature of tourist demand and not merely give in to profits that flow from tourist expenditure and investment.

Overtourism is often oversimplified as being a problem of too many tourists. While that may well be an underlying symptom of excess, it fails to acknowledge the myriad factors at play.

In its simplest iteration, overtourism results from tourist demand exceeding the carrying capacity of host communities in a destination. Too often, the tourism supply chain stimulates demand, giving little thought to the capacity of destinations and the ripple effects on the well-being of local communities.

Overtourism is arguably a social phenomenon too. In China and India, two of the most populated countries where space is a premium, crowded places are socially accepted and overtourism concerns are rarely articulated, if at all. This suggests that cultural expectations of personal space and expectations of exclusivity differ.

We also tend not to associate ‘overtourism’ with Africa . But uncontrolled growth in tourist numbers is unsustainable anywhere, whether in an ancient European city or the savannah of a sub-Saharan context.

Overtourism must also have cultural drivers that are intensified when tourists' culture is at odds with that of host communities – this might manifest as breaching of public norms, irritating habits, unacceptable behaviours , place-based displacement and inconsiderate occupation of space.

The issue also comes about when the economic drivers of tourism mean that those who stand to benefit from growth are instead those who pay the price of it, particularly where gentrification and capital accumulation driven from outside results in local resident displacement and marginalization.

Overcoming overtourism excesses

Radical policy measures that break the overtourism cycle are becoming more common. For example, Amsterdam has moved to ban cruise ships by closing the city’s cruise terminal.

Tourism degrowth has long been posited as a remedy to overtourism. While simply cutting back on tourist numbers seems like a logical response, whether the economic trade-offs of fewer tourists will be tolerated is another thing altogether.

The Spanish island of Lanzarote moved to desaturate the island by calling the industry to focus on quality tourism rather than quantity. This shift to quality, or higher yielding, tourists has been mirrored in many other destinations, like Bali , for example.

Dispersing tourists outside hotspots is commonly seen as a means of dealing with too much tourism. However, whether sufficient interest to go off the beaten track can be stimulated might be an immoveable constraint, or simply result in problem shifting .

Demarketing destinations has been applied with varying degrees of success. However, whether it can address the underlying factors in the long run is questioned, particularly as social media influencers and travel writers continue to give attention to touristic hotspots. In France, asking visitors to avoid Mont Saint-Michelle and instead recommending they go elsewhere is evidence of this.

Introducing entry fees and gates to over-tourist places like Venice is another deterrent. This assumes visitors won’t object to paying and that revenues generated are spent on finding solutions rather than getting lost in authorities’ consolidated revenue.

Advocacy and awareness campaigns against overtourism have also been prominent, but whether appeals to tourists asking them to curb irresponsible behaviours have had any impact remains questionable as incidents continue —for example, the Palau Pledge and New Zealand’s Tiaki Promise appeal for more responsible behaviours.

Curtailing the use of the word overtourism is also posited – in the interest of avoiding the rise of moral panics and the swell of anti-tourism social movements, but pretending the phenomenon does not exist, or dwelling on semantics won’t solve the problem .

Solutions to address overtourism

The solutions to dealing adequately with the effects of overtourism are likely to be many and varied and must be tailored to the unique, relevant destination .

The tourism supply chain must also bear its fair share of responsibility. While popular destinations are understandably an easier sell, redirecting tourism beyond popular honeypots like urban heritage sites or overcrowded beaches needs greater impetus to avoid shifting the problem elsewhere.

Local authorities must exercise policy measures that establish capacity limits, then ensure they are upheld, and if not, be held responsible for their inaction .

Meanwhile, tourists themselves should take responsibility for their behaviour and decisions while travelling, as this can make a big difference to the impact on local residents .

Those investing in tourism should support initiatives that elevate local priorities and needs, and not simply exercise a model of maximum extraction for shareholders in the supply chain.

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National tourist offices and destination management organizations must support development that is nuanced and in tune with the local backdrop rather than simply mimicking mass-produced products and experiences.

The way tourist experiences are developed and shaped must be transformed to move away from outright consumerist fantasies to responsible consumption .

The overtourism problem will be solved through a clear-headed, collaborative and case-specific assessment of the many drivers in action. Finally, ignoring historical precedents that have led to the current predicament of overtourism and pinning this on oversimplified prescriptions abandons any chance of more sustainable and equitable tourism futures .

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Mass Tourism: History, Types, Advantages & Disadvantages, Destinations and Its Impacts

Mass tourism is a form of tourism that involves the movement of large numbers of people to popular holiday destinations. It is often associated with package holidays, all-inclusive resorts, and organized tours. Mass tourism aims to provide travellers with a hassle-free vacation experience, where everything from transportation to accommodation and activities is planned and delivered by a single operator.

While mass tourism has been a boon for many destinations, it has also been criticized for its negative impact on local cultures, economies, and environments. The sheer number of tourists can overwhelm local infrastructure and resources, leading to overcrowding, pollution, and strain on natural resources. In addition, mass tourism can also lead to the commodification of local cultures, where traditional practices and customs are adapted to suit the needs and expectations of tourists. This can result in the loss of cultural authenticity and homogenization of local cultures.

Despite its drawbacks, mass tourism remains a popular form of travel for many people. It offers convenience, affordability, and the opportunity to visit popular destinations without worrying about the logistics of planning a trip. However, it is essential to consider the impact of mass tourism on local communities and the environment and to make responsible travel choices whenever possible.

Table of Contents

History of mass tourism.

Mass tourism has a long and exciting history from the 19th century. The growth of leisure travel and its importance resulted from increased spending power, personal mobility, the development of public transport, and internationalization in modern communities.

Mass tourism began in 1851 when Thomas Cook led a mass of tourists to the Great Exhibition in London. A British entrepreneur, Cook is the father of modern tourism. He organized the first package tour , which involved people travelling together on a pre-planned itinerary. Cook’s innovation made travel affordable and accessible to the masses and quickly became popular.

The introduction of paid holidays in the early 20th century further fueled the growth of mass tourism. Workers were given time off from work to travel and explore new destinations. The concept of paid holidays was first introduced in the UK in 1938, and it quickly spread to other parts of the world. This increased the number of people travelling, creating a new market for the tourism industry .

The post-World War II period saw a significant increase in mass tourism. The airline industry’s growth , the development of new destinations, and the introduction of new technologies, such as the jet engine, made travel faster, cheaper, and more comfortable. This led to an explosion in the number of people travelling, creating a new industry that catered explicitly to mass tourism.

In conclusion, mass tourism has a rich and fascinating history that dates back to the 19th century. The growth of leisure travel, the introduction of paid holidays, and the development of new technologies have all contributed to the growth of mass tourism. Today, mass tourism is a significant industry that generates billions of dollars in revenue and employs millions worldwide.

Types of Mass Tourism

Mass tourism refers to the movement of a large number of organized tourists to popular holiday destinations for recreational purposes. It is a phenomenon which is characterized by the use of standardized package products and mass consumption. Here are some types of mass tourism:

• Cultural Tourism : This type of mass tourism involves visiting historical and cultural sites, museums, art galleries, and other places of cultural significance. Cultural tourism is popular among tourists who want to learn about a particular region or country’s history, traditions, and customs.
• Adventure Tourism : This type of mass tourism involves activities such as trekking, hiking, mountaineering, rock climbing, and other outdoor activities. Adventure tourism is popular among tourists seeking excitement and thrill during their holidays.
• Beach Tourism : This type of mass tourism involves visiting coastal areas, beaches, and islands. Beach tourism is popular among tourists who want to relax, sunbathe, swim, and engage in water sports.
• Ecotourism : This type of mass tourism involves visiting natural areas, wildlife reserves, and national parks. Ecotourism is popular among tourists who want to experience nature, observe wildlife, and learn about conservation efforts.
• Medical Tourism : This type of mass tourism involves travelling to another country for medical treatment. Medical tourism is popular among tourists who want to access medical treatments that are not available in their home country or are too expensive.
• Sports Tourism : This type of mass tourism involves travelling to attend or participate in sports events such as football matches, cricket matches, tennis tournaments, and other sporting events.
• Cruise Tourism : This type of mass tourism involves travelling on a cruise ship to visit multiple destinations. Cruise tourism is popular among tourists who want to relax, socialize, and enjoy onboard entertainment while visiting various destinations.

Mass tourism has positive and negative impacts on the environment, economy, and society. It is important to manage mass tourism sustainably and responsibly to minimize its negative effects and maximize its benefits.

Advantages of Mass Tourism

Mass tourism has several advantages, making it an essential part of the tourism industry. Here are some of the benefits of mass tourism:

Boosts Local Economy

Mass tourism can significantly boost the local economy of a tourist destination. It generates much revenue for local businesses, such as hotels , restaurants, and souvenir shops. This, in turn, creates job opportunities for the locals and helps improve their living standards. Mass tourism can also contribute to infrastructure development, such as roads, airports, and public transportation, which can benefit the local community even after the tourists have left.

Increases Cultural Exchange

Mass tourism can increase cultural exchange between tourists and locals. Tourists can learn about the local customs, traditions, and way of life, while locals can learn about the visitors’ culture. This cultural exchange can help to promote understanding and tolerance between different cultures and can also help to preserve the local culture by promoting it to a wider audience.

Provides Affordable Travel Options

Mass tourism provides affordable travel options for people who may not have the means to travel otherwise. The package deals offered by mass tourism companies can be significantly cheaper than individual travel arrangements. This makes travel more accessible to a wider range of people, including those on a budget.

Supports Conservation Efforts

Mass tourism can also support conservation efforts in tourist destinations. The revenue generated by mass tourism can be used to fund conservation projects, such as wildlife conservation and habitat restoration. This can help preserve the destination’s natural beauty and protect it for future generations.

Mass tourism has several advantages, making it an important part of the tourism industry. It can boost the local economy, increase cultural exchange, provide affordable travel options, and support conservation efforts. However, it is important to balance the advantages of mass tourism with its potential negative impacts, such as overcrowding, environmental degradation, and cultural homogenization.

Disadvantages of Mass Tourism

Mass tourism has become increasingly popular in recent years but has drawbacks. Here are some of the disadvantages of mass tourism:

1. Environmental Impact

One of the most significant disadvantages of mass tourism is the environmental impact. Mass tourism can lead to pollution, degradation of natural resources, and damage to ecosystems. The large number of tourists can put a strain on local resources, such as water and energy, and contribute to climate change.

2. Overcrowding

Mass tourism can lead to overcrowding in popular tourist destinations, which can cause inconvenience and discomfort for tourists and locals. Overcrowding can also lead to safety concerns and increase the risk of accidents and incidents.

3. Cultural Impact

Mass tourism can have a negative impact on local cultures and traditions. The influx of tourists can lead to a loss of cultural authenticity and homogenization of local cultures. This can also lead to losing traditional ways of life and displacement of local residents.

4. Economic Impact

While mass tourism can bring economic benefits to a destination, it can also have negative economic impacts. The reliance on tourism can lead to an unstable economy, and the profits from tourism may not benefit local communities. In some cases, tourism can also lead to inflation and increased living costs for locals.

5. Sustainability

Mass tourism is often unsustainable in the long term. The strain on local resources and ecosystems can lead to irreversible damage, and focusing on short-term profits can lead to neglecting long-term sustainability goals.

While mass tourism can bring economic benefits and opportunities for travellers, it is essential to consider its negative impacts on the environment, local communities, and cultures.

Mass Tourism Destinations

Mass tourism has become popular for people to explore new destinations and experience different cultures. The most popular mass tourism destinations include beaches, mountains, national parks, and historical sites. Here are some examples of popular mass tourism destinations:

Beaches are a popular destination for mass tourism. Some popular beaches include Goa in India, Santorini in Greece, and the Harbor Islands in Boston. These destinations offer beautiful beaches, crystal clear waters, and a variety of activities for tourists to enjoy.

Mountains are another popular destination for mass tourism. Central Massachusetts and the Greater Merrimack Valley are popular destinations for tourists who want to experience the beauty of the mountains. These destinations offer breathtaking views, hiking trails, and other outdoor activities.

National Parks

National parks are also popular destinations for mass tourism. Cape Cod National Seashore is a popular destination for tourists who want to explore the area’s natural beauty. The park offers hiking trails, beaches, and other outdoor activities.

Historical Sites

Historical sites are also popular destinations for mass tourism. The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and the North of Boston are popular destinations for tourists who want to explore the history of the area. These destinations offer a glimpse into the past and a chance to learn about different cultures.

Overall, there are many popular mass tourism destinations for tourists to explore. Whether you are looking for a beach vacation, a mountain retreat, or a chance to explore historical sites, there is something for everyone.

Impact on Local Communities

Mass tourism significantly impacts local communities, and the effects can be positive and negative. While tourism can bring economic benefits to a region, it can also negatively impact the local culture, jobs, infrastructure, local businesses, gentrification, and over-tourism.

One of mass tourism’s most significant negative impacts on local communities is the erosion of local culture. As more tourists flock to a destination, the local culture can become homogenized, and the unique traditions and ways of life can be lost. This can lead to a loss of identity for the local community and a decline in cultural heritage.

Another negative impact of mass tourism is the effect on jobs. While tourism can create jobs in the hospitality and service industries, it can also lead to a decline in traditional industries. For example, in some regions, farming and fishing have been replaced by tourism, leading to a loss of traditional jobs and a decline in local economies.

Infrastructure can also be negatively impacted by mass tourism. As more tourists visit an area, the demand for infrastructure such as roads, airports, and hotels increases. This can lead to overcrowding, traffic congestion, and strain on local resources.

Local businesses can also be impacted by mass tourism. While some businesses may benefit from increased tourism, others may struggle to compete with larger international chains. This can lead to a decline in local businesses and a loss of economic diversity in the region.

Gentrification is another issue that can arise from mass tourism. As more tourists visit an area, property prices can rise, leading to the displacement of local residents. This can lead to social and economic inequality, as the local community is pushed out of its own neighbourhood.

Finally, mass tourism is a growing concern in many popular tourist destinations. When the number of tourists visiting a destination exceeds the region’s carrying capacity, it can lead to overcrowding, environmental degradation, and a decline in the quality of life for local residents.

In conclusion, while mass tourism can bring economic benefits to a region, it is essential to consider the impact on local communities. The negative impacts of mass tourism can be significant, and it is crucial to find a balance between economic growth and sustainable tourism practices.

Economic Aspects of Mass Tourism

Mass tourism can have a significant impact on the economy of a destination. It can generate income and create employment opportunities, but it can also put a strain on resources and infrastructure.

One of the main benefits of mass tourism is the income it generates for local economies. Tourists spend money on accommodation, food, transportation, and activities, which can contribute to the local economy. According to a report by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, travel expenditures in Massachusetts in 2018 generated over $24 billion in direct spending, which supported over 150,000 jobs and generated $1.6 billion in state and local taxes.

However, mass tourism can also put a strain on resources and infrastructure. Popular tourist destinations may struggle to accommodate the influx of visitors during peak season, leading to overcrowding and strain on local resources such as water and energy. Additionally, the increased demand for goods and services can drive up prices, making it harder for locals to afford basic necessities.

Another economic aspect of mass tourism is profit. Large tourism companies may benefit from the high volume of tourists by making significant profits. However, smaller local businesses may struggle to compete with larger companies, leading to a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.

Overall, the economic impact of mass tourism is complex and multifaceted. While it can generate income and create employment opportunities, it can also strain resources and infrastructure and concentrate wealth in the hands of a few.

Tourist Behavior and Expectations

Tourist behaviour and expectations play a crucial role in the mass tourism industry. Tourists are individuals who travel to different places for leisure, business, or other purposes. They have certain expectations and requirements from their travel experience, which can influence their behaviour during their stay.

One of the primary expectations of tourists is to have a comfortable and enjoyable experience. They expect high-quality accommodations, transportation, food, and entertainment options. Tourists also expect to be treated with respect and hospitality by the locals and the service providers. They want to feel welcomed and appreciated during their stay.

Another important aspect of tourist behaviour is their spending habits. Tourists tend to spend significant money on their travel, which can boost the local economy. However, they also expect value for their money and are likely to avoid places that are overpriced or do not meet their expectations.

Family tourists are a significant segment of the mass tourism industry. They have unique expectations and requirements, such as child-friendly accommodations, entertainment options, and safety measures. Family tourists also tend to plan their trips well in advance and are likely to choose destinations that offer a variety of activities for all members of the family.

Responsible tourism is another emerging trend in the mass tourism industry. Responsible tourists are conscious of their impact on the environment and the local communities. They expect the destinations and service providers to follow sustainable practices and reduce their carbon footprint. Responsible tourists will likely choose eco-friendly accommodations, participate in local conservation efforts, and support local businesses.

Overall, understanding tourist behaviour and expectations is essential for the success of the mass tourism industry. Service providers and destinations that meet and exceed these expectations will likely attract more visitors and generate higher revenues.

Role of Media and Internet

The role of media and the internet has greatly influenced the rise of mass tourism. With the advent of social media platforms such as Instagram, travellers are constantly exposed to images of exotic destinations and experiences, which can influence their travel decisions. In fact, a study suggests that social media has a significant impact on tourists’ choices of travel components, with most studies focusing on the impact of social media on behavioural intention.

The media has also played a vital role in promoting tourism, especially in countries where tourism is a major source of revenue. The media is often used to showcase a destination’s natural beauty, culture, and attractions, which can attract tourists. For example, television shows such as Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” and Samantha Brown’s “Places to Love” have helped to promote off-the-beaten-path destinations to a wider audience.

The internet has also revolutionized the way people plan and book their travel. Travellers can now easily research and book flights, accommodations, and activities through online travel agencies and booking platforms. This has led to increased independent travel, where travellers can plan their own itineraries and customize their travel experiences.

However, the internet has also brought about challenges for the tourism industry. With the ease of access to information, travellers are now more aware of the negative impacts of tourism, such as overcrowding, environmental degradation, and cultural commodification. This has led to a rise in sustainable and responsible tourism practices, where travellers seek to minimize their impact on the environment and local communities.

Overall, the role of media and the Internet in mass tourism cannot be overstated. While it has brought about challenges, it has also opened up new opportunities for travellers to explore the world and for destinations to promote themselves to a wider audience.

Tour Operators and Travel Agents

Tour operators and travel agents play a significant role in mass tourism. They are intermediaries between the tourists and the service providers, such as hotels, airlines, and transportation companies. Their main function is to package and sell tours to holiday destinations, including flights, accommodation, and other services.

Travel agents are professionals who provide travel-related services to clients. They offer advice on travel destinations, make reservations for flights, hotels, and other services, and provide information on travel insurance, visas, and other travel-related documents. They earn a commission from the service providers for the services they sell.

On the other hand, tour operators specialize in organizing and selling packaged tours to holiday destinations. They create tour packages that include transportation, accommodation, meals, and other services. They work with travel agents to sell their tour packages to clients. Tour operators profit by buying services from service providers at a discounted rate and selling them to clients at a higher price.

Mass tourism has led to the growth of travel agents and tour operators. They have become essential players in the tourism industry, providing clients with a wide range of services. They have also contributed to the growth of the tourism industry by promoting tourism destinations and creating new tourism products.

One of the main advantages of using travel agents and tour operators is convenience. They provide a one-stop shop for all travel-related services, making it easy for clients to plan their holidays. They also offer expert advice on travel destinations and provide assistance in case of any problems during the trip.

However, there are also some disadvantages to using travel agents and tour operators. One of the main disadvantages is the cost. Travel agents and tour operators charge a commission for their services, which can add up to a significant amount. Moreover, some travel agents and tour operators may not provide accurate information or may misrepresent the services they offer.

In conclusion, travel agents and tour operators are essential players in the mass tourism industry. They provide clients with a wide range of services, including packaged tours, flights, accommodation, and other travel-related services. While they offer convenience and expert advice, they also have disadvantages, such as cost and potential misrepresentation of services.

Environmental Concerns

Mass tourism has been associated with a wide range of environmental concerns. One of the most significant environmental concerns is the impact of tourism on the natural environment. The increase in tourist activities has resulted in a higher demand for natural resources, such as water, energy, and land. This has led to the degradation of natural habitats, deforestation, and soil erosion in some areas.

Another environmental concern is the amount of waste generated by mass tourism. Tourists generate significant waste, including plastic bottles, food packaging, and disposable items. This waste often ends up in landfills or littered in the environment, leading to pollution and negative impacts on wildlife.

Sustainable travel is an approach that seeks to minimize the negative impact of tourism on the environment. This includes promoting green tourism practices, such as using renewable energy sources, reducing waste, and conserving natural resources. Sustainable travel also involves educating tourists about the importance of responsible tourism practices and encouraging them to participate in environmentally friendly activities.

Carrying capacity is another important concept in mass tourism. It refers to the maximum number of tourists a destination can accommodate without causing negative impacts on the environment. When the number of tourists exceeds the carrying capacity of a destination, it can lead to overcrowding, pollution, and damage to natural habitats.

Finally, carbon emissions associated with transportation and accommodation significantly contribute to climate change. Mass tourism is responsible for significant carbon emissions contributing to global warming. Sustainable travel practices, such as using public transportation, choosing eco-friendly accommodations, and offsetting carbon emissions, can help reduce the impact of tourism on climate change.

Future of Mass Tourism

Mass tourism has been a significant contributor to the global economy for decades. However, recent events have highlighted the need for a more sustainable and responsible approach to tourism. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant decline in mass tourism, leading to the closure of many businesses and job losses. The future of mass tourism is uncertain, and it will likely require significant changes to adapt to the new reality.

One of the most significant challenges facing mass tourism is sustainability. The industry significantly impacts the environment, and there is a growing awareness of the need to reduce this impact. Governments and tourism organizations increasingly focus on sustainable tourism practices, such as reducing waste, conserving energy, and protecting natural resources. The future of mass tourism will depend on its ability to adapt to these new practices and become more sustainable.

Another challenge facing mass tourism is the changing preferences of travellers. Many people are now looking for more authentic and immersive travel experiences rather than traditional mass tourism offerings. This trend will likely continue, and mass tourism must adapt to meet these changing preferences.

Technology is also likely to play a significant role in the future of mass tourism. Advances in technology are making travel more accessible and convenient, and this trend will likely continue. For example, virtual reality technology is already used to provide immersive travel experiences, which will likely become more widespread.

In conclusion, the future of mass tourism is uncertain, but it is clear that significant changes will be required to adapt to the new reality. Sustainability, changing traveller preferences, and technology will likely be the key drivers of change in the industry. The industry’s challenge will be adapting to these changes while continuing to provide high-quality travel experiences for its customers.

In conclusion, mass tourism is a significant part of the tourism industry, associated with package holidays, popular tourist attractions, and well-known resorts. However, the growth of mass tourism has led to several challenges, including over-tourism, environmental degradation, and cultural homogenization.

The future of mass tourism is uncertain, with several factors influencing its growth and development. The rise of sustainable tourism, technological advancements, and changing consumer preferences will likely impact mass tourism’s future.

Despite the challenges, mass tourism continues to provide economic benefits to many destinations. However, balancing economic benefits with environmental and social sustainability is essential to ensure the industry’s long-term viability.

Overall, the future of mass tourism is complex and multifaceted, with several challenges and opportunities. It is crucial to adopt a holistic approach to tourism development, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental impacts of mass tourism.

The Environmental Impact Of Mass Tourism And How To Help Manage It

Mass tourism is a somewhat recent social phenomenon, with its numbers rising dramatically in current years. This negative side of tourism saw its first growth boost in the 1930s, and nowadays, people making over a billion international trips a year, so this phenomenon still affects certain destinations, making them unsustainable.

The rise of mobile apps such as Airbnb and budget-friendly package tours, artificially low flights fares, all-inclusive resorts, cruises; have made it way easier and financially friendly for a wide variety of social groups to go to famous international locations. As affordable group travel tours are on the rise, over-tourism now affects different destinations worldwide.

How it generates

In older times, touring used to be a trip for a privileged few, however, tourism has now grown to be available to a larger component of the population, which really isn’t bad, however, there’s a downside to this. Even if the industry has added massive revenues to increasingly visited countries, the consistent affluence of hundreds of thousands of tourists has mostly turned unsustainable.

Mass tourism allows vast numbers of travelers to descend on a given destination in a relatively short time, usually during peak season. The positive side of this phenomenon is that the extreme influx of tourists can help to generate jobs, therefore, stimulating the economy and developing much-needed infrastructure.

The bad side of this very popular form of tourism is that many of the jobs generated aren’t precisely given to locals, the majority of these earnings are kept by international investors. The surprisingly high number of traveler crowds often keep the local community from enjoying such infrastructure benefits.

There are many contributing elements to over-tourism, and of course, these will differ according to each different area. As I mentioned earlier, Airbnb could be a significant contributor (but, not necessarily the leading player) as its made hundreds of beds available and accessible in towns and cities globally, this process is made even easier by them because there’s no need of advanced planning or – in many cases – paying taxes.

Additionally, cheap flights have saturated different places, and particularly in recent years, Europe. Lastly, cruise ships not only burn a particularly cheap and polluting type of fuel (which keeps costs low) but also transport thousands of tourists into port cities. Wait… this could sound beneficial, right? Well, not exactly, passengers often spend very little in these ports, however, local historic spots, monuments, shops, and cafes are saturated with people.

For a long time, more has been better to local and national governments, as well as travel boards. A “prosperous” reporting year in the travel industry is normally considered to be one in which numbers have improved substantially. The number is all that matters, there’s no importance whether these numbers are of cruise ship passengers, duty-free shoppers, hotel or resorts guests, backpackers or visitors with luxurious preferences.

The negative impact of mass tourism

Responsible travel experts consider it a shallow, exploitative, and, most importantly, unsustainable form of travel. The main reason for this is that it consumes huge amounts of resources while the local people get very little benefits, this is inarguably hard to deal with and plagues destinations.

It’s important to point out that over-tourism can take many forms; on one side, it could be a million additional vacationers arriving in a capital city, on the other, it could be seen as 20 extra tourists in a small, rural community. In present times, this isn’t simply a large city issue, it has been documented in great wilderness destinations, natural parks, and more.

The travel industry, like many others, focuses almost solely on growth, with little to no space for concern about the consequences. After a long time of uncontrolled expansion, it has crossed a threshold: In numerous destinations all over the globe, tourism now demonstrably creates more troubles than benefits.

This isn’t a new problem, but with visitor numbers steadily rising, local people from popular tourist areas have started attesting. Destinations around the world are taking action to limit the harmful impacts of over-tourism, making it possible to travel responsibly to popular places struggling with over-tourism and contributing positively to the local environment, people, animals, and historical monuments.

What tourism operators can do to avoid it

There are a handful of very easy adjustments you can make and values you can promote to decrease the influence of your customers on the local communities and the vacation spots that they visit, ensuring that it’s available for future travelers too:

• Respectful tourism: The number one rule for any traveler is to be respectful and staying within boundaries while abroad. Avoiding littering, and even going the extra mile by picking up any pieces of trash along the way could help make a difference. Making customers understand the local customs to adhere to.
• Off-season tours: If a place is crowded, the easy suggestion would be visiting somewhere else, the same thing would apply here. However, I understand that it isn’t as easy as it sounds, as some destinations are simply unique and offer once-in-a-lifetime experiences. The solution to this? Visiting when there is less demand, customers will save a few bucks and have a move enjoyable experiences thanks to less crowding.
• Not-so-popular places: It’s as simple as it sounds, while certain areas are saturated with travelers, there are many other places around the planet that need, and want, more tourists. This, combined with positive behaviour from visitors could help the travel industry to have a positive effect on these places, making local communities grow financially because of it.
• Ensure money gets spent locally: Make sure that any of the tours that you partner with ensuring that as much of the cash spent by tourists stay as local as possible. This way, travellers can influence locals positively, and even benefit habitats and animals by supporting well-managed wildlife-based tourism .
• Offer authenticity: Groups with a smaller number of people can significantly avoid over-tourism. It will also give your customers a stronger connection with local communities, their culture, and day-to-day routine. You can easily offer unique ethical adventures to the right audience on the world’s largest travel marketplaces with the right tour operator software .

Tackling this challenge

Over-tourism is negatively affecting many of the most popular countries, cities and regions around the world. Luckily, several websites are imposing rules and limiting the range of tourists to combat overcrowding.

As tour operators, we can lessen these harmful consequences by choosing the right businesses to partner with, promoting off-peak seasons and, in a few words, standing by responsible and respectful tourism to any areas and the local people that reside in it.

Back to you, how does your business help tackle this phenomenon?

Tourism is dead, long live Tourism! Insights from the Travalyst Global Summit, July 30, 2020.

3 surefire ways to improve your tour operator business.

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• In 2023, the Travel & Tourism sector contributed 9.1% to the global GDP; an increase of 23.2% from 2022 and only 4.1% below the 2019 level.
• In 2023, there were 27 million new jobs, representing a 9.1% increase compared to 2022, and only 1.4% below the 2019 level.
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• Open access
• Published: 05 January 2021

The relationship between tourism and economic growth among BRICS countries: a panel cointegration analysis

• Haroon Rasool   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0083-4553 1 ,
• Shafat Maqbool 2 &
• Md. Tarique 1  

Future Business Journal volume  7 , Article number:  1 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Tourism has become the world’s third-largest export industry after fuels and chemicals, and ahead of food and automotive products. From last few years, there has been a great surge in international tourism, culminates to 7% share of World’s total exports in 2016. To this end, the study attempts to examine the relationship between inbound tourism, financial development and economic growth by using the panel data over the period 1995–2015 for five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. The results of panel ARDL cointegration test indicate that tourism, financial development and economic growth are cointegrated in the long run. Further, the Granger causality analysis demonstrates that the causality between inbound tourism and economic growth is bi-directional, thus validates the ‘feedback-hypothesis’ in BRICS countries. The study suggests that BRICS countries should promote favorable tourism policies to push up the economic growth and in turn economic growth will positively contribute to international tourism.

Introduction

World Tourism Day 2015 was celebrated around the theme ‘One Billion Tourists; One Billion Opportunities’ highlighting the transformative potential of one billion tourists. With more than one billion tourists traveling to an international destination every year, tourism has become a leading economic sector, contributing 9.8% of global GDP and represents 7% of the world’s total exports [ 59 ]. According to the World Tourism Organization, the year 2013 saw more than 1.087 billion Foreign Tourist Arrivals and US $1075 billion foreign tourism receipts. The contribution of travel and tourism to gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to reach 10.8% at the end of 2026 [ 61 ]. Representing more than just economic strength, these figures exemplify the vast potential of tourism, to address some of the world´s most pressing challenges, including socio-economic growth and inclusive development.

Developing countries are emerging as the important players, and increasingly aware of their economic potential. Once essentially excluded from the tourism industry, the developing world has now become its major growth area. These countries majorly rely on tourism for their foreign exchange reserves. For the world’s forty poorest countries, tourism is the second-most important source of foreign exchange after oil [ 37 ].

The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries have emerged as a potential bloc in the developing countries which caters the major tourists from developed countries. Tourism becomes major focus at BRICS Xiamen Summit 2017 held in China. These countries have robust growth rate, and are focal destinations for global tourists. During 1990 to 2014, these countries stride from 11% of the world’s GDP to almost 30% [ 17 ]. Among BRICS countries, China is ranked as an important destination followed by Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa [ 60 ].

The importance of inbound tourism has grown exponentially, because of its growing contribution to the economic growth in the long run. It enhances economic growth by augmenting the foreign exchange reserves [ 38 ], stimulating investments in new infrastructure, human capital and increases competition [ 9 ], promoting industrial development [ 34 ], creates jobs and hence to increase income [ 34 ], inbound tourism also generates positive externalities [ 1 , 14 ] and finally, as economy grows, one can argue that growth in GDP could lead to further increase in international tourism [ 11 ].

The tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH) proposed by Balaguer and Cantavella-Jorda [ 3 ], states that expansion of international tourism activities exerts economic growth, hence offering a theoretical and empirical link between inbound tourism and economic growth. Theoretically, the TLGH was directly derived from the export-led growth hypothesis (ELGH) that postulates that economic growth can be generated not only by increasing the amount of labor and capital within the economy, but also by expanding exports.

The ‘new growth theory,’ developed by Balassa [ 4 ], suggests that export expansion can trigger economic growth, because it promotes specialization and raises factors productivity by increasing competition, creating positive externalities by advancing the dispersal of specialized information and abilities. Exports also enhance economic growth by increasing the level of investment. International tourism is considered as a non-standard type of export, as it indicates a source of receipts and consumption in situ. Given the difficulties in measuring tourism activity, the economic literature tends to focus on primary and manufactured product exports, hence neglecting this economic sector. Analogous to the ELGH, the TLGH analyses the possible temporal relationship between tourism and economic growth, both in the short and long run. The question is whether tourism activity leads to economic growth or, alternatively, economic expansion drives tourism growth, or indeed a bi-directional relationship exists between the two variables.

To further substantiate the nexus, the study will investigate the plausible linkages between economic growth and international tourism while considering the relative importance of financial development in the context of BRICS nations. Financial markets are considered a key factor in producing strong economic growth, because they contribute to economic efficiency by diverting financial funds from unproductive to productive uses. The origin of this role of financial development may is traced back to the seminal work of Schumpeter [ 50 ]. In his study, Schumpeter points out that the banking system is the crucial factor for economic growth due to its role in the allocation of savings, the encouragement of innovation, and the funding of productive investments. Early works, such as Goldsmith [ 18 ], McKinnon [ 39 ] and Shaw [ 51 ] put forward considerable evidence that financial development enhances growth performance of countries. The importance of financial development in BRICS economies is reflected by the establishment of the ‘New Development Bank’ aimed at financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in these and other developing countries. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no attempt has been made so far to investigate the long-run relationship Footnote 1 between tourism, financial development and economic growth in case of BRICS countries. Hence, the present study is an attempt to fill the gap in the existing literature.

Review of past studies

From last few decades there has been a surge in the research related to tourism-growth nexus. The importance of growth and development and its determinants has been studied extensively both in developed and developing countries. Extant literature has recognized tourism as an important determinant of economic growth. The importance of tourism has grown exponentially, courtesy to its manifold advantages in form of employment, foreign exchange production household income and government revenues through multiplier effects, improvements in the balance of payments and growth in the number of tourism-promoted government policies [ 21 , 41 , 53 ]. Empirical findings on tourism and economic development have produced mixed finding and sometimes conflicting results despite the common choice of time series techniques as a research methodology. On empirical grounds, four hypotheses have been explored to determine the link between tourism and economic growth [ 12 ]. The first two hypotheses present an account on the unidirectional causality between the two variables, either from tourism to economic growth (Tourism-led economic growth hypothesis-TLGH) or its reserve (economic-driven tourism growth hypothesis-EDTH). The other two hypotheses support the existence of bi-directional hypothesis, (bi-directional causality hypothesis-BC) or that there is no relationship at all (no causality hypothesis-NC), respectively. According to TLEG hypothesis, tourism creates an array of benefits which spillover though multiple routes to promote the economic growth [ 55 ]. In particular, it is believed that tourism (1) increases foreign exchange earnings, which in turn can be used to finance imports [ 38 ], (2) it encourages investment and drives local firms toward greater efficiency due to the increased competition [ 3 , 31 ], (3) it alleviates unemployment, since tourism activities are heavily based on human capital [ 10 ] and (4) it leads to positive economies of scale thus, decreasing production costs for local businesses [ 1 , 14 ]. Other recent studies which find evidence in favor of the TLGH hypothesis include [ 44 , 52 ]. Even though literature is dominated by TLGH, few studies produce a result in support of EDTH [ 40 , 41 , 45 ]. Payne and Mervar [ 45 ] posit that tourism growth of a country is mobilized by the stability of well-designed economic policies, governance structures and investments in both physical and human capital. This positive and vibrant environment creates a series of development activities which proliferate and flourish the tourism. Pertaining to the readily available information, bi-directional causality could also exist between tourism income and economic growth [ 34 , 49 ]. From a policy view, a reciprocal tourism–economic growth relationship implies that government agendas should cater for promoting both areas simultaneously. Finally, there are some studies that do not offer support to any of the aforementioned hypotheses, suggesting that the impact between tourism and economic growth is insignificant [ 25 , 47 , 57 ]. There is a vast literature examining the relationship between tourism and growth as a result, only a selective literature review will be presented here.

Banday and Ismail [ 5 ] used ARDL cointegration model to test the relationship between tourism revenue and economic growth in BRICS countries from the time period of (1995–2013). The study validates the tourism-led growth hypothesis for BRICS countries, which evinces that tourism has positive influence on economic growth.

Savaş et al. [ 54 ] evaluated the tourism-led growth hypothesis in the context of Turkey. The study employed gross domestic product, real exchange rate, real total expenditure and international tourism arrivals to sketch out the causality among variables. The result reveals a unidirectional relationship between tourism and real exchange rate. The findings suggest that tourism is the driving force for economic growth, which in turn helps turkey to culminate its current account deficit.

Dhungel [ 15 ] made an effort to investigate causality between tourism and economic growth, In Nepal for the period of (1974–2012), by using Johansen’s cointegration and Error correction model. The result states that unidirectional causality exists in the long run, while in short run no causality exists between two constructs. The study emphasized that strategies should be devised to attain causality running from tourism to economic growth.

Mallick et al. [ 36 ] analyzed the nexus between economic growth and tourism in 23 Indian states over a period of 14 years (1997–2011). Using panel autoregressive distributed lag model based on three alternative estimators such as mean group estimator, pooled mean group and dynamic fixed effects, Research found that tourism exerts positive influence on economic growth in the long run.

Belloumi [ 8 ] examines the causal relationship between international tourism receipts and economic growth in Tunisia by using annual time series data for the period 1970–2007. The study uses the Johansen’s cointegration methodology to analyze the long-run relationship among the concerned variables. Granger causality based Vector error correction mechanism approach indicates that the revenues generated from tourism have a positive impact on economic growth of Tunisia. Thus, the study supports the hypothesis of tourism-driven economic growth, which is specific to developing countries that base their foreign exchange earnings on the existence of a comparative advantage in certain sectors of the economy.

Tang et al. [ 58 ] explored the dynamic Inter-relationships among tourism, economic growth and energy consumption in India for the period 1971–2012. The study employed Bounds testing approach to cointegration and generalized variance decomposition methods to analyze the relationship. The bounds testing and the Gregory-Hansen test for cointegration with structural breaks consistently reveals that energy consumption, tourism and economic growth in India are cointegrated. The study demonstrated that tourism and economic growth have positive impact on energy consumption, while tourism and economic growth are interrelated; with tourism exert significant influence on economic growth. Consequently, this study validates the tourism-led growth hypothesis in the Indian context.

Kadir and Karim [ 24 ]) examined the causal nexus between tourism and economic growth in Malaysia by applying panel time series approach for the period 1998–2005. By applying Padroni’s panel cointegration test and panel Granger causality test, the result indicated both short and long-run relationship. Further, the panel causality shows unidirectional causality directing from tourism receipts to economic growth. The result provides evidence of the significant contribution of tourism industry to Malaysia’s economic growth, thereby justifying the necessity of public intervention in providing tourism infrastructure and facilities.

Antonakakis et al. [ 2 ] test the linkage between tourism and economic growth in Europe by using a newly introduced spillover index approach. Based on monthly data for 10 European countries over the period 1995–2012, the findings suggested that the tourism–economic growth relationship is not stable over time in terms of both magnitude and direction, indicating that the tourism-led economic growth (TLEG) and the economic-driven tourism growth (EDTG) hypotheses are time-dependent. Thus, the findings of the study suggest that the same country can experience tourism-led economic growth or economic-driven tourism growth at different economic events.

Oh [ 41 ] verifies the contribution of tourism development to economic growth in the Korean economy by applying Engle and Granger two-stage approach and a bivariate Vector Autoregression model. He claimed that economic expansion lures tourists in the short run only, while there is no such long-run stable relationship between international tourism and economic development in Korea.

Empirical studies have pronouncedly focused on the literature that tourism promotes economic growth. To further substantiate the nexus, the study will investigate the plausible linkages between economic growth and international tourism while considering the relative importance of financial development in the context of BRICS nations. The inclusion of financial development in the examination of tourism-growth nexus is a unique feature of this study, which have an influencing role in economic growth as financial development has been theoretically and empirically recognized as source of comparative advantage [ 22 ].

This study employs panel ARDL cointegration approach to verify the existence of long-run association among the variables. Further, study estimated the long-run and short-run coefficients of the ARDL model. Subsequently, Dumitrescu and Hurlin [ 16 ] panel Granger causality test has been employed to check the direction of causality between tourism, financial development and economic growth among BRICS countries.

Database and methodology

Data and variables.

The study is analytical and empirical in nature, which intends to establish the relationship between economic growth and inbound tourism in BRICS countries. For the BRICS countries, limited studies have been conducted depicting the present scenario. Therefore, present study tries to verify the relevance of tourism in economic growth to further enhance the understanding of economic dynamics in BRICS countries. The data used in the study are annual figures for the period stretching from 1995 to 2015, consisting of one endogenous variable (GDP per capita, a proxy for economic growth) and two exogenous variables (international tourism receipts per capita and financial development). The variables employed in the study are based on the economic growth theory, proposed by Balassa [ 4 ], which states that export expansion has a relevant contribution in economic growth. Further, this study incorporates financial development in the model to reduce model misspecification as it is considered to have an influencing role in economic growth both theoretically and empirically [ 22 , 33 ].

The annual data for all the variables have been collected from the World Development Indicators (WDI, 2016) database. The variables used in the study includes gross domestic product per capita (GDP) in constant ($US2010) used as a proxy for economic growth (EG), international tourism receipts per capita (TR) in current US$ as it is widely accepted that the most adequate proxy of inbound tourism in a country is tourism expenditure normally expressed in terms of tourism receipts [ 32 ] and financial development (FD). In line with a recent study on the relationship between financial development and economic growth by Hassan et al. [ 19 ], financial development is surrogated by the ratio of the broad money (M3) to real GDP for all BRICS countries. Here we use the broadest definition of money (M3) as a proportion of GDP– to measure the liquid liabilities of the banking system in the economy. We use M3 as a financial depth indicator, because monetary aggregates, such as M2 or M1, may be a poor proxy in economies with underdeveloped financial systems, because they ‘are more related to the ability of the financial system to provide transaction services than to the ability to channel funds from savers to borrowers’ [ 26 ]. A higher liquidity ratio means higher intensity in the banking system. The assumption here is that the size of the financial sector is positively associated with financial services [ 29 ]. All the variables have been taken into log form.

Unit root test

To verify the long-run relationship between tourism and economic growth through Bounds testing approach, it is necessary to test for stationarity of the variables. The stationarity of all the variables can be assessed by different unit root tests. The study utilizes panel unit root test proposed by Levin et al. [ 35 ] henceforth LLC and Im et al. [ 23 ] henceforth IPS based on traditional augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) test. The LLC allows for heterogeneity of the intercepts across members of the panel under the null hypothesis of presence of unit root, while IPS allows for heterogeneity in intercepts as well as in the slope coefficients [ 48 ].

Panel ARDL approach to Cointegration

After checking the stationarity of the variables the study employs panel ARDL technique for Cointegration developed by Pesaran et al. [ 23 ]. Pesaran et al. [ 23 ] have introduced the pooled mean group (PMG) approach in the panel ARDL framework. According to Pesaran et al. [ 23 ], the homogeneity in the long-run relationship can be attributed to several factors such as arbitration condition, common technologies, or the institutional development which was covered by all groups. The panel ARDL bounds test [ 46 ] is more appropriate by comparing other cointegration techniques, because it is flexible regarding unit root properties of variables. This technique is more suitable when variables are integrated at different orders but not I (2). Haug [ 20 ] has argued that panel ARDL approach to cointegration provides better results for small sample data set such as in our case. The ARDL approach to cointegration estimates both long and short-run parameters and can be applied independently of variable order integration (independent of whether repressors are purely I (0), purely I(1) or combination of both. The ARDL bounds test approach used in this study is specified as follows:

where Δ is the first-difference operator, \(\alpha_{0}\) stands for constant, t is time element, \(\omega_{1} , \omega_{2} \;\;{\text{and}}\;\; \omega_{3}\) represent the short-run parameters of the model, \(\emptyset_{1} , \emptyset_{2} ,and \emptyset_{3}\) are long-run coefficients, while \(V_{it}\) is white noise error term and lastly, it represents country at a particular time period. In the ARDL model, the bounds test is applied to determine whether the variables are cointegrated or not.

This test is based on the joint significance of F -statistic and the χ 2 statistic of the Wald test. The null hypothesis of no cointegration among the variables under study is examined by testing the joint significance of the F -statistic of \(\omega_{1} , \omega_{2} ,\omega_{3}\) .

In case series variables are cointegrated, an error correction mechanism (ECM) can be developed as Eq. ( 2 ), to assess the short-run influence of international tourism and financial development on economic growth.

where ECT is the error correction term, and \(\varPhi\) is its coefficient which shows how fast the variables attain long-term equilibrium if there is any deviation in the short run. The error correction term further confirms the existence of a stable long-run relationship among the variables.

Panel granger causality test

To examine the direction of causality Dumitrescu and Hurlin [ 16 ] test is employed. Instead of pooled causality, Dumitrescu and Hurlin [ 16 ] proposed a causality based on the individual Wald statistic of Granger non-causality averaged across the cross section units. Dumitrescu and Hurlin [ 16 ] assert that traditional test allows for homogeneous analysis across all panel sets, thereby neglecting the specific causality across different units.

This approach allows heterogeneity in coefficients across cross section panels. The two statistics Wbar-statistics and Zbar-statistics provides standardized version of the statistics and is easier to compute. Wbar-statistic, takes an average of the test statistics, while the Zbar-statistic shows a standard (asymptotic) normal distribution.

They proposed an average Wald statistic that tests the null hypothesis of no causality in a panel subgroup against an alternative hypothesis of causality in at least one panel. Following equations will be used to check the direction of causality between the variables.

Estimation, results and Discussion

Descriptive statistics.

Table  1 presents descriptive statistics of variables selected for the period 1995–2015. The variable set includes GDP, FD and TR for all BRICS countries. Brazil tops the list with GDP per capita of 4.18, while India lagging behind all BRICS nations. In the recent economic survey by International Monetary Fund (IMF report 2016), India was ranked 126 for its per capita GDP. India’s GDP per capita went up to $7170 against all other BRICS countries which were placed in the above $10,000 bracket. China has the highest tourism receipts in comparison to other BRICS countries. China is a very popular country for foreign tourists, which ranks third after France and USA. In 2014, China invested $136.8 billion into its tourist infrastructure, a figure second only to the United States ($144.3 billion). Tourism, based on direct, indirect, and induced impact, accounted for near 10% in the GDP of China (WTTC report 2017).

Stationarity results

Primarily, we employed LLC and IPS unit root test to assess the integrated properties of the series. The results of IPS and PP tests are presented in Table  2 . Panel unit root test result evinces that FD and TR are stationary at level, while GDP per capita is integrated variable of order 1. The result exemplifies that GDP per capita, Tourism receipts and Financial Development are integrated at 1(0) and 1(1). Consequently, the panel ARDL approach to cointegration can be applied.

Cointegration test results

In view of the above results with a mixture of order integration, the panel ARDL approach to cointegration is the most appropriate technique to investigate whether there exists a long-run relationship among the variables [ 42 ]. Table  3 illustrates that the estimated value of F-statistics, which is higher than the lower and upper limit of the bound value, when InEG is used as a dependent variable. Hence, we reject the null hypothesis of no cointegration \(H_{0 } : \emptyset_{1} = \emptyset_{2} = \emptyset_{3} = 0\) of Eq. ( 1 ). Therefore, the result asserts that international tourism, financial development and economic growth are significantly cointegrated over the period (1995–2015).

Subsequently, the study investigates the long-run and short-run impact of international tourism and financial development on economic growth. Lag length is selected on the principle of minimum Bayesian information criterion (SBC) value, which is 2 in our case. The long-run coefficients of financial development and tourism receipts with respect to economic growth in Table  4 indicate that tourism growth and financial development exerts positive influence on economic growth in the long run. In other words, an increase in volume of tourism receipts per capita and financial depth spurs economic growth and both the coefficients are statistically significant in case of BRICS nations in the long run. The results are interpreted in detail as below:

The elasticity coefficient of economic growth with respect to tourism shows that 1% rise in international tourism receipts per capita would imply an estimated increase of almost 0.31% domestic real income in the long run, all else remaining the same. Thus, the earnings in the form of foreign exchange from international tourism affect growth performance of BRICS nations positively. This finding of our study is in consonance with the empirical results of Kreishan for Jordan [ 30 ], Balaguer and Cantavella-Jordá [ 3 ] for Spain and Ohlan [ 43 ] for India.

Further our finding lend support to the wide applicability of the new growth theory proposed by Balassa which states that export expansion promote growth performance of nations. Thus, validates TLGH coined by Balaguer and Cantavell-Jorda [ 3 ] which states that inbound tourism acts a long-run economic growth factor. The so called tourism-led growth hypothesis suggests that the development of a country’s tourism industry will eventually lead to higher economic growth and, by extension, further economic development via spillovers and other multiplier effects.

Likewise, financial development as expected is found to be positively associated with economic growth. The coefficient of financial development states that 1% improvement in financial development will push up economic growth by 0.22% in the long run, keeping all other variables constant. The empirical results are consistent with the finding of Hassan et al. [ 19 ] for a panel of South Asian countries. Well-regulated and properly functioning financial development enhances domestic production through savings, borrowings & investment activities and boosts economic growth. Further, it promotes economic growth by increasing efficiency [ 7 ]. Levine [ 33 ] believes that financial intermediaries enhance economic efficiency, and ultimately growth, by helping allocation of capital to its best use. Modern growth theory identifies two specific channels through which the financial sector might affect long-run growth; through its impact on capital accumulation and through its impact on the rate of technological progress. The sub-prime crisis which depressed the economic growth worldwide in 2007 further substantiates the growth-financial development nexus.

In the third and final step of the bounds testing procedure, we estimate short-run dynamics of variables by estimating an error correction model associated with long-run estimates. The empirical finding indicates that the coefficient of error correction term (ECT) with one period lag is negative as well as statistically significant. This finding further substantiates the earlier cointegration results between tourism, financial development and economic growth, and indicates the speed of adjustment from the short-run toward long-run equilibrium path. The coefficient of ECT reveals that the short-run divergences in economic growth from long-run equilibrium are adjusted by 43% every year following a short-run shock.

The short-run parameters in Table  5 demonstrates that tourism and financial development acts as an engine of economic growth in the short run as well. The coefficient of both tourism receipts per capita and financial development with one period lag is also found to be progressive and significant in the short run. These results highlight the role of earnings from international tourism and financial stability as an important driving force of economic growth in BRICS nations in the short run as well.

Further, a comparison between short-run and long-run elasticity coefficients evince that long-run responsiveness of economic growth with respect to tourism and financial development is higher than that of short run. It exemplifies that over time higher international tourism receipts and well-regulated financial system in BRICS nations give more boost to economic growth.

Analysis of causality

At this stage, we investigate the causality between tourism, financial development and economic growth presented in Table  6 . The result shows bi-directional causal relationship between tourism and economic growth, thereby validates ‘feedback hypothesis’ and consequently supported both the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH) and its reciprocal, the economic-driven tourism growth hypothesis (EDTH). The bi-directional causality between inbound tourism and GDP, which directs the level of economic activity and tourism growth, mutually influences each other in that a high volume of tourism growth leads to a high level of economic development and reverse also holds true. These results replicate the findings of Banday and Ismail [ 5 ] in the context of BRICS countries, Yazdi et al. [ 27 ] for Iran and Kim et al. [ 28 ] for Taiwan. One of the channels through which tourism spurs economic growth is through the use of receipts earned in the form of foreign currency. Thus, growth in foreign earnings may allow the import of technologically advances goods that will favor economic growth and vice versa. Thus, results demonstrate that international tourism promotes growth and in turn economic expansion is necessary for tourism development in case of BRICS countries. With respect to policy context, this finding suggests that the BRICS nations should focus on economic policies to promote tourism as a potential source of economic growth which in turn will further promote tourism growth.

Similarly, in case of economic growth and financial development, the findings demonstrate the presence of bi-directional causality between two constructs. The findings validate thus both ‘demand following’ and supply leading’ hypothesis. The findings suggests that indeed financial development plays a crucial role in promoting economic activity and thus generating economic growth for these countries and reverse also holds. Our findings are in line with Pradhan [ 48 ] in case of BRICS countries and Hassan et al. [ 19 ] for low and middle-income countries. This suggests that finance development can be used as a policy variable to foster economic growth in the five BRICS countries and vice versa. The study emphasizes that the current economic policies should recognize the finance-growth nexus in BRICS in order to maintain sustainable economic development in the economy. The empirical results in this paper are in line with expectations, confirming that the emerging economies of the BRICS are benefiting from their finance sectors.

Finally, two-sided causal relationship is found between tourism receipts and financial development. That is, tourism might contribute to financial development and, in return, financial development may positively contribute to tourism. This means that financial depth and tourism in BRICS have a reinforcing interaction. The positive impact of tourism on financial development can be attributed to the fact that inflows of foreign exchange via international tourism not only increases income levels but also leads to rise in official reserves of central banks. This in turn enables central banks to adapt expansionary monetary policy. The positive contribution of financial sector to tourism is further characterized by supply leading hypothesis. Further, better financial and market conditions will attract tourism entrepreneurship, because firms will be able to use more capital instead of being forced to use leveraging [ 13 ]. Hence, any shocks in money supply could adversely affect tourism industry in these countries. Song and Lin [ 56 ] found that global financial crisis had a negative impact on both inbound and outbound tourism in Asia. This result is in consistent with Başarir and Çakir [ 6 ] for Turkey and four European countries.

Stability tests

In addition, to test the stability of parameters estimated and any structural break in the model CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests are employed. Figs.  1 and 2 show blue line does not transcend red lines in both the tests, thus provides strong evidence that our estimated model is fit and valid policy implications can be drawn from the results.

Plot of CUSUM

Plot of CUSUMQ

Summary and concluding remarks

A rigorous study of the relationship between tourism and economic growth, through the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH) perspective has remained a debatable issue in the economic growth literature. This study aims to empirically investigate the relationship between inbound tourism, financial development and economic growth in BRICS countries by utilizing the panel data over the period 1995–2015. The study employs the panel ARDL approach to cointegration and Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel Granger causality test to detect the direction of causation.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study which explored the relationship between economic growth and tourism while considering the relative importance of financial development in the context of BRICS nations. The empirical results of ARDL model posits that in BRICS countries inbound tourism, financial development and economic growth are significantly cointegrated, i.e., variables have stable long-run relationship. This methodology has allowed obtaining elasticities of economic growth with respect to tourism and financial development both in the long run and short run. The result reveals that international tourism growth and financial development positively affects economic growth both in the long run and short run. The coefficient of tourism indicates that with a 1% rise in tourism receipts per capita, GDP per capita of BRICS economies will go up by 0.31% in the long run. This finding lends support to TLGH coined by Balaguer and Cantavell-Jorda [ 3 ] which states that inbound tourism acts a long-run economic growth factor. The so called tourism-led growth hypothesis suggests that the development of a country’s tourism industry will eventually lead to higher economic growth and, by extension, further economic development via spillovers and other multiplier effects.

Likewise, 1% improvement in financial development, on average, will increase economic growth in BRICS countries by 0.22% in the long run. The result seems logical as modern growth theory identifies two channels through which the financial sector might affect long-run growth: first, through its impact on capital accumulation and secondly, through its impact on the rate of technological progress. The sub-prime crisis which hit the economic growth Worldwide in 2007 further substantiates the growth-financial development nexus.

The negative and statistically significant coefficient of lagged error correction term (ECT) further substantiates the long-run equilibrium relationship among variables. The negative coefficient of ECT also shows the speed of adjustment toward long-run equilibrium is 43% per annum if there is any short-run deviation. The estimates of parameters are found to be stable by applying CUSUM and CUSUMQ for the time period under consideration. Therefore, inbound tourism earnings and financial institutions can be used as a channel to increase economic growth in BRICS economies.

Further, Granger causality test result indicates the bi-directional causation in all cases. Hence, the causal relationship between international tourism and economic growth is bi-directional. And, consequently this empirical finding lends support to both the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH) and its reciprocal, the economic-driven tourism growth hypothesis (EDTH). This means that tourism is not only an engine for economic growth, but the economic outcome on itself can play an important role in providing growth potential to tourism sector.

The Granger causality findings provide useful information to governments to examine their economic policy, to adjust priorities regarding economic investment, and boost their economic growth with the given limited resources. Thus, it is suggested that more resources should be allocated to tourism industry and tourism-related industries if the tourism-led growth hypothesis holds true. On the other side, if economic-driven tourism growth is supported then more resources should be diverted to leading industries rather than the travel and tourism sector, and the tourism industry will in turn benefit from the resulting overall economic growth. And, when bi-directional causality is detected, a balanced allocation of economic resources for the travel and tourism sector and other industries is important and necessary. The policy implication is that resource allocation supporting both the tourism and tourism-related industries could benefit both tourism development and economic growth.

To sum up, the major finding of this study lends support to wide applicability of the tourism-led growth hypothesis in case of BRICS countries. Thus, in the Policy context, significant impact of tourism on BRICS economy rationalizes the need of encouraging tourism. Tourism can spur economic prosperity in these countries and for this reason; policymakers should give serious consideration toward encouraging tourism industry or inbound tourism. BRICS countries should focus more on tourism infrastructure, such as, convenient transportation, alluring destinations, suitable tax incentives, viable hostels and proper security arrangements to attract the potential tourists. Most of these countries are devoid of rich facilities and popular tourist incentives, to get promoted as important destination and in the long-run promotes economic growth. Further, they need a staunch support from all sections of authorities, non-government organizations (NGOs), and private and allied industries, in the endeavor to attain sustainable growth in tourism. Both state and non-state actors must recognize this growing industry and its positive implication on economy.

For future research, we suggest that researchers should consider the nonlinear factor in the dynamic relationship of tourism and economic growth in case of BRICS countries. Further one can go for comparative study to examine the TLGH in BRICS countries.

Availability of data and materials

Data used in the study can be provided by the corresponding author on request.

There are no fixed definitions of short, medium and long run and generally in macroeconomics, short run can be viewed as 1 to 2 or 3 years, medium up to 5 years and long run from 5 years to 20 or 25 years.

Abbreviations

autoregressive distributed lag model

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South-Africa

United Nations World Tourism Organization

World Travel & Tourism Council

gross domestic product

world development indicators

tourism-led growth hypothesis

export-led growth hypothesis

economic-driven tourism hypothesis

augmented Dickey–Fuller test

error correction model

error correction term

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Rasool, H., Maqbool, S. & Tarique, M. The relationship between tourism and economic growth among BRICS countries: a panel cointegration analysis. Futur Bus J 7 , 1 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-020-00048-3

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• Economic growth
• Inbound tourism
• Financial development
• Cointegration
• Panel granger causality

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UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

Secretary-general’s policy brief on tourism and covid-19, share this content.

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Tourism and COVID-19 – unprecedented economic impacts

The Policy Brief provides an overview of the socio-economic impacts from the pandemic on tourism, including on the millions of livelihoods it sustains. It highlights the role tourism plays in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, including its relationship with environmental goals and culture. The Brief calls on the urgency of mitigating the impacts on livelihoods, especially for women, youth and informal workers.

The crisis is an opportunity to rethink how tourism interacts with our societies, other economic sectors and our natural resources and ecosystems; to measure and manage it better; to ensure a fair distribution of its benefits and to advance the transition towards a carbon neutral and resilient tourism economy.

The brief provides recommendations in five priority areas to cushion the massive impacts on lives and economies and to rebuild a tourism with people at the center. It features examples of governments support to the sector, calls for a reopening that gives priority to the health and safety of the workers, travelers and host communities and provides a roadmap to transform tourism.

• Tourism is one of the world’s major economic sectors. It is the third-largest export category (after fuels and chemicals) and in 2019 accounted for 7% of global trade .
• For some countries, it can represent over 20% of their GDP and, overall, it is the third largest export sector of the global economy.
• Tourism is one of the sectors most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, impacting economies, livelihoods, public services and opportunities on all continents. All parts of its vast value-chain have been affected. 
• Export revenues from tourism could fall by $910 billion to $1.2 trillion in 2020. This will have a wider impact and could reduce global GDP by 1.5% to 2.8% .
• Tourism supports one in 10 jobs and provides livelihoods for many millions more in both developing and developed economies.
• In some Small Island Developing States (SIDS), tourism has accounted for as much as 80% of exports, while it also represents important shares of national economies in both developed and developing countries.

100 to 120 MILLON

direct tourism jobs at risk

Massive Impact on Livelihoods

• As many as 100 million direct tourism jobs are at risk , in addition to sectors associated with tourism such as labour-intensive accommodation and food services industries that provide employment for 144 million workers worldwide. Small businesses (which shoulder 80% of global tourism) are particularly vulnerable.
• Women, who make up 54% of the tourism workforce, youth and workers in the informal economy are among the most at-risk categories.
• No nation will be unaffected. Destinations most reliant on tourism for jobs and economic growth are likely to be hit hardest: SIDS, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and African countries. In Africa, the sector represented 10% of all exports in 2019.  

US$ 910 Billon to US$ 1.2 Trillon

in export from tourism - international visitors' spending

Preserving the Planet -- Mitigating Impacts on Nature and Culture

• The sudden fall in tourism cuts off funding for biodiversity conservation . Some 7% of world tourism relates to wildlife , a segment growing by 3% annually.
• This places jobs at risk and has already led to a rise in poaching, looting and in consumption of bushmeat , partly due to the decreased presence of tourists and staff.
• The impact on biodiversity and ecosystems is particularly critical in SIDS and LDCs. In many African destinations, wildlife accounts for up to 80% of visits, and in many SIDS, tourism revenues enable marine conservation efforts.
• Several examples of community involvement in nature tourism show how communities, including indigenous peoples, have been able to protect their cultural and natural heritage while creating wealth and improve their wellbeing. The impact of COVID-19 on tourism places further pressure on heritage conservation as well as on the cultural and social fabric of communities , particularly for indigenous people and ethnic groups.
• For instance, many intangible cultural heritage practices such as traditional festivals and gatherings have been halted or postponed , and with the closure of markets for handicrafts, products and other goods , indigenous women’s revenues have been particularly impacted.
• 90% of countries have closed World Heritage Sites, with immense socio-economic consequences for communities reliant on tourism. Further, 90% of museums closed and 13% may never reopen.

1.5% to 2.8 of global GDP

Five priorities for tourism’s restart.

The COVID-19 crisis is a watershed moment to align the effort of sustaining livelihoods dependent on tourism to the SDGs and ensuring a more resilient, inclusive, carbon neutral, and resource efficient future.

A roadmap to transform tourism needs to address five priority areas:

• Mitigate socio-economic impacts on livelihoods , particularly women’s employment and economic security.
• Boost competitiveness and build resilience , including through economic diversification, with promotion of domestic and regional tourism where possible, and facilitation of conducive business environment for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
• Advance innovation and digital transformation of tourism , including promotion of innovation and investment in digital skills, particularly for workers temporarily without jobs and for job seekers.
• Foster sustainability and green growth to shift towards a resilient, competitive, resource efficient and carbon-neutral tourism sector. Green investments for recovery could target protected areas, renewable energy, smart buildings and the circular economy, among other opportunities.
• Coordination and partnerships to restart and transform sector towards achieving SDGs , ensuring tourism’s restart and recovery puts people first and work together to ease and lift travel restrictions in a responsible and coordinated manner.

a lifelive for

SIDS, LDCs and many AFRICAN COUNTRIES

tourism represents over 30% of exports for the majority of SIDS and 80% for some

Moving Ahead Together

• As countries gradually lift travel restrictions and tourism slowly restarts in many parts of the world, health must continue to be a priority and coordinated heath protocols that protect workers, communities and travellers, while supporting companies and workers, must be firmly in place.
• Only through collective action and international cooperation will we be able to transform tourism, advance its contribution to the 2030 Agenda and its shift towards an inclusive and carbon neutral sector that harnesses innovation and digitalization, embraces local values and communities and creates decent job opportunities for all, leaving no one behind. We are stronger together.

RESOURCES FOR CONSEVATION

of natural and cultural heritage

Related links

• Policy Brief: Tourism and COVID-19
• The Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism
• António Guterres - Video

10 Economic impacts of tourism + explanations + examples

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

There are many economic impacts of tourism, and it is important that we understand what they are and how we can maximise the positive economic impacts of tourism and minimise the negative economic impacts of tourism.

Many argue that the tourism industry is the largest industry in the world. While its actual value is difficult to accurately determine, the economic potential of the tourism industry is indisputable. In fact, it is because of the positive economic impacts that most destinations embark on their tourism journey.

There is, however, more than meets the eye in most cases. The positive economic impacts of tourism are often not as significant as anticipated. Furthermore, tourism activity tends to bring with it unwanted and often unexpected negative economic impacts of tourism.

In this article I will discuss the importance of understanding the economic impacts of tourism and what the economic impacts of tourism might be. A range of positive and negative impacts are discussed and case studies are provided.

At the end of the post I have provided some additional reading on the economic impacts of tourism for tourism stakeholders , students and those who are interested in learning more.

 Foreign exchange earnings

Contribution to government revenues, employment generation, contribution to local economies, development of the private sector, infrastructure cost, increase in prices, economic dependence of the local community on tourism, foreign ownership and management, economic impacts of tourism: conclusion, further reading on the economic impacts of tourism, the economic impacts of tourism: why governments invest.

Tourism brings with it huge economic potential for a destination that wishes to develop their tourism industry. Employment, currency exchange, imports and taxes are just a few of the ways that tourism can bring money into a destination.

In recent years, tourism numbers have increased globally at exponential rates, as shown in the World Tourism Organisation data below.

There are a number of reasons for this growth including improvements in technology, increases in disposable income, the growth of budget airlines and consumer desires to travel further, to new destinations and more often.

Here are a few facts about the economic importance of the tourism industry globally:

• The tourism economy represents 5 percent of world GDP
• Tourism contributes to 6-7 percent of total employment
• International tourism ranks fourth (after fuels, chemicals and automotive products) in global exports
• The tourism industry is valued at US$1trillion a year
• Tourism accounts for 30 percent of the world’s exports of commercial services
• Tourism accounts for 6 percent of total exports
• 1.4billion international tourists were recorded in 2018 (UNWTO)
• In over 150 countries, tourism is one of five top export earners
• Tourism is the main source of foreign exchange for one-third of developing countries and one-half of less economically developed countries (LEDCs)

There is a wealth of data about the economic value of tourism worldwide, with lots of handy graphs and charts in the United Nations Economic Impact Report .

In short, tourism is an example of an economic policy pursued by governments because:

•      it brings in foreign exchange
•      it generates employment
•      it creates economic activity

Building and developing a tourism industry, however, involves a lot of initial and ongoing expenditure. The airport may need expanding. The beaches need to be regularly cleaned. New roads may need to be built. All of this takes money, which is usually a financial outlay required by the Government.

For governments, decisions have to be made regarding their expenditure. They must ask questions such as:

How much money should be spent on the provision of social services such as health, education, housing?

How much should be spent on building new tourism facilities or maintaining existing ones?

If financial investment and resources are provided for tourism, the issue of opportunity costs arises.

By opportunity costs, I mean that by spending money on tourism, money will not be spent somewhere else. Think of it like this- we all have a specified amount of money and when it runs out, it runs out. If we decide to buy the new shoes instead of going out for dinner than we might look great, but have nowhere to go…!

In tourism, this means that the money and resources that are used for one purpose may not then be available to be used for other purposes. Some destinations have been known to spend more money on tourism than on providing education or healthcare for the people who live there, for example.

This can be said for other stakeholders of the tourism industry too.

There are a number of independent, franchised or multinational investors who play an important role in the industry. They may own hotels, roads or land amongst other aspects that are important players in the overall success of the tourism industry. Many businesses and individuals will take out loans to help fund their initial ventures.

So investing in tourism is big business, that much is clear. What what are the positive and negative impacts of this?

Positive economic impacts of tourism

So what are the positive economic impacts of tourism? As I explained, most destinations choose to invest their time and money into tourism because of the positive economic impacts that they hope to achieve. There are a range of possible positive economic impacts. I will explain the most common economic benefits of tourism below.

One of the biggest benefits of tourism is the ability to make money through foreign exchange earnings.

Tourism expenditures generate income to the host economy. The money that the country makes from tourism can then be reinvested in the economy. How a destination manages their finances differs around the world; some destinations may spend this money on growing their tourism industry further, some may spend this money on public services such as education or healthcare and some destinations suffer extreme corruption so nobody really knows where the money ends up!

Some currencies are worth more than others and so some countries will target tourists from particular areas. I remember when I visited Goa and somebody helped to carry my luggage at the airport. I wanted to give them a small tip and handed them some Rupees only to be told that the young man would prefer a British Pound!

Currencies that are strong are generally the most desirable currencies. This typically includes the British Pound, American, Australian and Singapore Dollar and the Euro .

Tourism is one of the top five export categories for as many as 83% of countries and is a main source of foreign exchange earnings for at least 38% of countries.

Tourism can help to raise money that it then invested elsewhere by the Government. There are two main ways that this money is accumulated.

Direct contributions are generated by taxes on incomes from tourism employment and tourism businesses and things such as departure taxes.

Taxes differ considerably between destinations. I will never forget the first time that I was asked to pay a departure tax (I had never heard of it before then), because I was on my way home from a six month backpacking trip and I was almost out of money!

Japan is known for its high departure taxes. Here is a video by a travel blogger explaining how it works.

According to the World Tourism Organisation, the direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP in 2018 was $2,750.7billion (3.2% of GDP). This is forecast to rise by 3.6% to $2,849.2billion in 2019.

Indirect contributions come from goods and services supplied to tourists which are not directly related to the tourism industry.

Take food, for example. A tourist may buy food at a local supermarket. The supermarket is not directly associated with tourism, but if it wasn’t for tourism its revenues wouldn’t be as high because the tourists would not shop there.

There is also the income that is generated through induced contributions . This accounts for money spent by the people who are employed in the tourism industry. This might include costs for housing, food, clothing and leisure Activities amongst others. This will all contribute to an increase in economic activity in the area where tourism is being developed.

The rapid expansion of international tourism has led to significant employment creation. From hotel managers to theme park operatives to cleaners, tourism creates many employment opportunities. Tourism supports some 7% of the world’s workers.

There are two types of employment in the tourism industry: direct and indirect.

Direct employment includes jobs that are immediately associated with the tourism industry. This might include hotel staff, restaurant staff or taxi drivers, to name a few.

Indirect employment includes jobs which are not technically based in the tourism industry, but are related to the tourism industry. Take a fisherman, for example. He does not have any contact of dealings with tourists. BUT he does sell his fish to the hotel which serves tourists. So he is indirectly employed by the tourism industry, because without the tourists he would not be supplying the fish to the hotel.

It is because of these indirect relationships, that it is very difficult to accurately measure the economic value of tourism.

It is also difficult to say how many people are employed, directly and indirectly, within the tourism industry.

Furthermore, many informal employments may not be officially accounted for. Think tut tut driver in Cambodia or street seller in The Gambia – these people are not likely to be registered by the state and therefore their earnings are not declared.

It is for this reason that some suggest that the actual economic benefits of tourism may be as high as double that of the recorded figures!

All of the money raised, whether through formal or informal means, has the potential to contribute to the local economy.

If sustainable tourism is demonstrated, money will be directed to areas that will benefit the local community most.

There may be pro-poor tourism initiatives (tourism which is intended to help the poor) or volunteer tourism projects.

The government may reinvest money towards public services and money earned by tourism employees will be spent in the local community. This is known as the multiplier effect.

The multiplier effect relates to spending in one place creating economic benefits elsewhere. Tourism can do wonders for a destination in areas that may seem to be completely unrelated to tourism, but which are actually connected somewhere in the economic system.

Let me give you an example.

A tourist buys an omelet and a glass of orange juice for their breakfast in the restaurant of their hotel. This simple transaction actually has a significant multiplier effect. Below I have listed just a few of the effects of the tourist buying this breakfast.

The waiter is paid a salary- he spends his salary on schooling for his kids- the school has more money to spend on equipment- the standard of education at the school increases- the kids graduate with better qualifications- as adults, they secure better paying jobs- they can then spend more money in the local community…

The restaurant purchases eggs from a local farmer- the farmer uses that money to buy some more chickens- the chicken breeder uses that money to improve the standards of their cages, meaning that the chickens are healthier, live longer and lay more eggs- they can now sell the chickens for a higher price- the increased money made means that they can hire an extra employee- the employee spends his income in the local community…

The restaurant purchase the oranges from a local supplier- the supplier uses this money to pay the lorry driver who transports the oranges- the lorry driver pays road tax- the Government uses said road tax income to fix pot holes in the road- the improved roads make journeys quicker for the local community…

So as you can see, that breakfast that the tourist probably gave not another thought to after taking his last mouthful of egg, actually had the potential to have a significant economic impact on the local community!

The private sector has continuously developed within the tourism industry and owning a business within the private sector can be extremely profitable; making this a positive economic impact of tourism.

Whilst many businesses that you will come across are multinational, internationally-owned organisations (which contribute towards economic leakage ).

Many are also owned by the local community. This is the case even more so in recent years due to the rise in the popularity of the sharing economy and the likes of Airbnb and Uber, which encourage the growth of businesses within the local community.

Every destination is different with regards to how they manage the development of the private sector in tourism.

Some destinations do not allow multinational organisations for fear that they will steal business and thus profits away from local people. I have seen this myself in Italy when I was in search of a Starbucks mug for my collection , only to find that Italy has not allowed the company to open up any shops in their country because they are very proud of their individually-owned coffee shops.

Negative economic impacts of tourism

Unfortunately, the tourism industry doesn’t always smell of roses and there are also several negative economic impacts of tourism.

There are many hidden costs to tourism, which can have unfavourable economic effects on the host community.

Whilst such negative impacts are well documented in the tourism literature, many tourists are unaware of the negative effects that their actions may cause. Likewise, many destinations who are inexperienced or uneducated in tourism and economics may not be aware of the problems that can occur if tourism is not management properly.

Below, I will outline the most prominent negative economic impacts of tourism.

Economic leakage in tourism is one of the major negative economic impacts of tourism. This is when money spent does not remain in the country but ends up elsewhere; therefore limiting the economic benefits of tourism to the host destination.

The biggest culprits of economic leakage are multinational and internationally-owned corporations, all-inclusive holidays and enclave tourism.

I have written a detailed post on the concept of economic leakage in tourism, you can take a look here- Economic leakage in tourism explained .

Another one of the negative economic impacts of tourism is the cost of infrastructure. Tourism development can cost the local government and local taxpayers a great deal of money.

Tourism may require the government to improve the airport, roads and other infrastructure, which are costly. The development of the third runway at London Heathrow, for example, is estimated to cost £18.6billion!

Money spent in these areas may reduce government money needed in other critical areas such as education and health, as I outlined previously in my discussion on opportunity costs.

One of the most obvious economic impacts of tourism is that the very presence of tourism increases prices in the local area.

Have you ever tried to buy a can of Coke in the supermarket in your hotel? Or the bar on the beachfront? Walk five minutes down the road and try buying that same can in a local shop- I promise you, in the majority of cases you will see a BIG difference In cost! (For more travel hacks like this subscribe to my newsletter – I send out lots of tips, tricks and coupons!)

Increasing demand for basic services and goods from tourists will often cause price hikes that negatively impact local residents whose income does not increase proportionately.

Tourism development and the related rise in real estate demand may dramatically increase building costs and land values. This often means that local people will be forced to move away from the area that tourism is located, known as gentrification.

Taking measures to ensure that tourism is managed sustainably can help to mitigate this negative economic impact of tourism. Techniques such as employing only local people, limiting the number of all-inclusive hotels and encouraging the purchasing of local products and services can all help.

Another one of the major economic impacts of tourism is dependency. Many countries run the risk of becoming too dependant on tourism. The country sees $ signs and places all of its efforts in tourism. Whilst this can work out well, it is also risky business!

If for some reason tourism begins to lack in a destination, then it is important that the destination has alternative methods of making money. If they don’t, then they run the risk of being in severe financial difficulty if there is a decline in their tourism industry.

In The Gambia, for instance, 30% of the workforce depends directly or indirectly on tourism. In small island developing states, percentages can range from 83% in the Maldives to 21% in the Seychelles and 34% in Jamaica.

There are a number of reasons that tourism could decline in a destination.

The Gambia has experienced this just recently when they had a double hit on their tourism industry. The first hit was due to political instability in the country, which has put many tourists off visiting, and the second was when airline Monarch went bust, as they had a large market share in flights to The Gambia.

Other issues that could result in a decline in tourism includes economic recession, natural disasters and changing tourism patterns. Over-reliance on tourism carries risks to tourism-dependent economies, which can have devastating consequences.

The last of the negative economic impacts of tourism that I will discuss is that of foreign ownership and management.

As enterprise in the developed world becomes increasingly expensive, many businesses choose to go abroad. Whilst this may save the business money, it is usually not so beneficial for the economy of the host destination.

Foreign companies often bring with them their own staff, thus limiting the economic impact of increased employment. They will usually also export a large proportion of their income to the country where they are based. You can read more on this in my post on economic leakage in tourism .

As I have demonstrated in this post, tourism is a significant economic driver the world over. However, not all economic impacts of tourism are positive. In order to ensure that the economic impacts of tourism are maximised, careful management of the tourism industry is required.

If you enjoyed this article on the economic impacts of tourism I am sure that you will love these too-

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Why tourism in Venice is doing more harm than good and what we can do about it

The current state of tourism is hurting venice.

The ever-increasing offering of low-cost travel transportation, housing, and planning has helped the tourism industry to boom in the past decades.

The year 2019 alone counted over 1.5 billion international arrivals.

However, most major stakeholders of the tourism industry focus on profit, not on sustainability.

Today, tourism hotspots are affected by mass tourism – when visitors arrive in masses of tens of thousands of people – and the industry in the most popular destination has turned into a problem, rather than a resource. Venice is one of them, and it is suffering a lot.

Venice residents dropped from 175.000 in 1951 to 50.000 in 2022. Why?

Data shows that the population in Venice has been constantly decreasing for several decades.

Several factors can explain why this is happening:

• An increased cost of living
• Higher cost of housing
• A decrease in quality of life (traditional shops replaced by low-quality souvenir shops, constant, for example)
• Lack of spaces for the youth
• Lack of rewarding job opportunities

All of the above can be linked directly to the impact caused by the dramatic increase in mass tourism in Venice.

Indeed, some local entrepreneurs and several foreign investors exploit this situation to target tourists and generate great profits. Meanwhile, authentic activities and shops have and are being strangled by: ever-increasing rents, a constantly decreasing market size of the local population, and the competition of tourist traps seducing tourists with their cheap mass-produced products or frozen food.

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Venice is a beautiful and unique city that must and can only be preserved by locals, who are the only people with the knowledge (and love) necessary to do so.

This is why one of the biggest threats to the survival of Venice is the disappearance of its citizens.

Without citizens, Venice loses the mastery and the know-how that keeps and kept Venice alive for thousands of years.

Alas, however, younger generations are forced to move out of the historical centre because they can not find rewarding jobs and unaffordable housing, having to give up on their dream of living in their city.

Currenlty, the Venice I.V. (“indice di vecchiaia” or “age index”, which represents the ratio between people over 64 and children under 15) is well above 2,80.

In other words, there are almost 3 people over 64 for every child under 15.

This, coupled with a 35% decrease in the population aged 20 to 34 between 2001 and 2011 (just 10 years!), does not leave much hope for the city.

To give Venice a chance of survival, strong measures must be taken to repopulate the city.

The above trend represents the number of locals and the number of tourists in Venice since 1950.

One of the reasons behind the constant increase of tourism arrivals is the decrease of international transportation.

Since 2015, Venice counts up to 30 million stays every year. And that in a city of fewer than 8 km 2 (or 3 square miles)!

This increase, however, has also been coupled with a decrease in the average length of the stat of tourists and a shift of touristic behaviour that is harming deeply Venetian inhabitants and local businesses.

These changes in tourism and the daily saturation of tourists within the city has led to an invasion of mass-produced souvenir shops and tourist traps, that are putting many local enterprises and artisans’ shops out of business by causing an increase in the cost of living and renting.

The consequences of this are a decrease in life quality and opportunities for the locals, as well as a worsened experience for responsible and caring visitors.

Related: You don’t want to be that tourist, watch out for these common tourist traps in Venice

Why are we speaking of a decrease in quality of life for the inhabitants as well as a decrease in quality of the stay for visitors?

Until the early 2000s, most visitors would come and stay in Venetian hotels for a few nights, taking a few days for exploring the city as a whole, visiting Venice beyond the landmarks, discovering the local life and culture.

In recent years, along with a yearly staggering increase in the number of the visitors, the way of visiting the city has changed: many tourists now come to Venice as a day/hour trip, as part of a cruise, for example, dramatically modifying social, logistic, economic and touristic aspects of the city.

Related: Good or bad? The truth about cruise ships in Venice

A vivid effect of this shift towards day-trips is that the only walkways used by dozens/hundred of thousands are the main streets connecting Piazzale Roma and the Train Station (the arrivals area) with the Rialto Bridge and Saint Mark’s square.

For 11 months a year, Venice assists to an almost daily gigantic human wave arriving in the city and trying to quickly move to and back from the two most known Venetian landmarks, resulting in a total jam.

To make things worse, Venice cannot provide picnic or resting areas because of its small size and its morphology,  resulting in visitors sitting down for resting and eating on bridges, narrow alleys, house doors and shop windows blocking even further the already jammed city.

Even though they are not perceived as such, alleys and bridges in Venice are the equivalent to streets and crossroads in other cities. Blocking them is a guarantee for Venetians to get angry at you.

Related: You asked, We answered: 19 things you might not know about Venice, Italy

Another effect of this approach to visiting the city is the impossibility for day-trippers themselves to take the time to appreciate the city and to understand what is genuine and worth their money, and what is absolutely not.

Foreign investors and investment funds have decided to take advantage of this situation by purchasing shops on the busiest paths to display their cheap/very cheap merchandise, luring in the passing tourists and selling mass-produced plastic goods which, at best, are of no value. At worst, they have been found to be toxic.

One more problem is that Italy has a high unemployment rate but no minimum wage, and these businesses, in particular, exploit the situation even further: employees struggle to live even in Mestre (which has much lower rents), while the company they work for is destroying local and family businesses and artisans’ shops.

Unlock a discount at the best local businesses in Venice

The investment race for selling 99cents souvenirs has led to a spike in the price of shops and rents that forced many genuine local activities, which were not aiming at masses, to try and move to less visited and therefore less expensive areas.

Because of the day-trip approach and the ever-decreasing local population, however, those less-visited areas struggle to have enough customers, leading an ever-increasing number of local activities to close and never to open again.

Related: Interactive Local Map Of Venice, Italy

This lack of opportunities and the negative outlook for young Venetians is leading more and more people to leave the city, well knowing that they will never be able to come back unless the current situation changes.

Are the negative effects of mass tourism in Venice really that bad?

The situation we just described could seem to be a bit too gloomy to you, maybe a result of a pessimistic approach.

The considerations we made, however, are perfectly in line with UNESCO’s last report about the current situation of “Venice and its Lagoon”, which lead the institution to consider putting Venice on the UNESCO World Heritage in Danger list in 2017.

Related: Venice to be or not to be a UNESCO World heritage site, that is the question

Is there any chance for Venice?

We are convinced there is still hope for Venice, of course!

Our strong determination and optimism make us believe it is possible to change this very negative trend and to improve the life of the Venetians, the health of the city, and the quality of the stay of the visitors… but we don’t trust the authorities for making this change happen.

We believe that Venice can prosper again, but only thanks to the people like you and us.

We believe that YOU can make a difference! Travel Responsively, please.

Book an authentic experience in Venice

Here's how you can start making a positive impact in venice.

• Unlock your discount at our partner selected authentic local shops, bars & restaurants. You’ll help us build a better future for Venice and the Venetians
• Book an authentic experience or walk with a local
• Eat, Shop, Drink local: Visit and Support our certified local businesses
• Experience Venice like a Venetian: See our interactive map of Venice and our tips
• Hire Venetians to help you with your needs and services in Venice

Make sure to check out the resources below to make the best out of your stay in Venice, while making a positive impact on the local community.

We count on you!

YOU CAN SUPPORT VENICE AND THE VENETIANS BY TRAVELING RESPONSIBLY

I'm visiting Venice. Why should I follow your recommendations?

The way you visit Venice has an impact both on the quality of your experience and on Venice itself.   Chilling, exploring , shopping , eating and drinking where the locals do, can make a huge impact both on the memories you bring home and on the local economy and community.

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At the Top of the Golden Gate Bridge, Governor Newsom Announces Tourism Spending Hit an All-Time High in California

Published: May 05, 2024

California remains the #1 state for tourism

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW : New data released today shows that California continues to have the largest market share of tourism in the nation, with travel spending in the state reaching an all-time record high of $150.4 billion last year.

SAN FRANCISCO – Governor Gavin Newsom and Visit California CEO Caroline Beteta today announced that travel spending in the state reached an all-time high of $150.4 billion last year, surpassing the record $144.9 billion spent in 2019. This comes after the state retained its title as the  world’s 5th largest economy  and had a  population increase , both of which are directly tied to California’s nation-leading tourism and entertainment industries.

VIDEO: Gov. Newsom makes announcement at the top of the Golden Gate Bridge

WHAT GOVERNOR NEWSOM SAID : “From our world-renowned coastline, to the world’s tallest trees, to our iconic cities and theme parks, California is the nation’s coming attraction. Visitors from all over the world are coming here to experience the wonder of the Golden State, boosting our economy and creating good-paying jobs for years to come.”

BY THE NUMBERS : The Economic Impact of Travel in California, prepared by Dean Runyan Associates and released by Visit California, detailed spending that is 3.8% higher than 2019 and 5.6% higher than 2022.  Spending exceeded 2019 levels in a majority of counties.

WHAT VISIT CALIFORNIA CEO BETETA SAID : “California tourism is back where it belongs – setting records and providing for the workers, business owners and all Californians who depend on the travel industry as a cornerstone of our state’s economy. The industry has once again proved its ability to recover from any challenge, whether it be economic or environmental. California continues to be the largest, most diverse and most resilient tourism economy in the United States.”

WHAT THIS MEANS : California has the largest market share of tourism in the nation. The new travel-spending record generated $12.7 billion in state and local tax revenue by visitors in 2023, marking a 3% increase over 2019. Tourism created 64,900 new jobs in 2023, bringing total industry employment to 1,155,000.

California remains the  5th largest economy in the world  for the seventh consecutive year, with a nominal GDP of nearly $3.9 trillion in 2023 and a growth rate of 6.1% since the year prior, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. California’s per capita GDP is the second largest among large economies.

In addition to visiting the state, more people are moving to California. Earlier this week, Governor Newsom  announced  the state’s population is increasing for the first time since the pandemic.

The Golden State, which has the most equitable tax system in the  entire country , is #1 in the nation for new  business starts , #1 for access to venture capital  funding , and the #1 state for tourism  spending ,  manufacturing ,  high-tech , and  agriculture .

Watch CBS News

Here's how tourism is boosting Sacramento's economy

By James Taylor, CBS13 Photojournalist

May 7, 2024 / 10:44 PM PDT / CBS Sacramento

SACRAMENTO — New numbers show California hit an all-time high in tourism revenue last year at more than $150 billion.

From rock concerts to food festivals, tourists attending Sacramento events are providing a big boost to the local economy.

"The impacts that tourism brings to this region is over $4 billion," Visit Sacramento CEO Mike Testa said.

Testa said people have always come from out of town to see the state capitol and the city's gold rush history, but today there's more variety of events.

"Now we have conventions, history, music, food, so many things that give people a reason to come to Sacramento," Testa said.

He said a focus on bringing in more food and music fans is working.

"In 2023, Visit Sacramento generated 332,000 hotel room nights. That's the most we've generated in our 97-year history," Testa said.

Placer County is also diversifying its tourism base by focusing on hosting sports tournaments.

"Between volleyball, basketball, even pickleball, every weekend, we have some sort of tournament happening here," said Kim Summers, CEO of Placer Valley Tourism. "We even do quadball, which is a spin on the quidditch game in Harry Potter books."

Large tournaments can draw more than 5,000 people a day and bring competitors from out of state.

"Just last weekend, we hosted the BMX nationals and so you saw people coming from across the country," Summers said.

Besides creating local jobs, money generated from tourist dollars also goes toward things like modernizing the convention center.

"Tourism isn't about the tourists. It's about benefiting the residents by bringing in dollars from the outside," Testa said.

Sacramento and Placer both say they could host even larger events if more tourism infrastructure was added.

"Part of our problem, candidly, is a lack of hotel rooms," Testa said.

"For us, we just don't have enough facilities," Summers said. "If we had more facilities to put these events, we could host more."

Sacramento's Aftershock rock festival brings in 160,000 people each year , and the GoldenSky country music festival that takes place one week later is adding an additional day this year due to growing demand.

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