Scroll down for posts that have been tagged with “Carrying capacity & mass tourism & overtourism”.
According to the Biology Dictionary: “[C]arrying capacity relates the number of organisms which can survive to the resources within an ecosystem. Ecosystems cannot exceed their carrying capacity [for long].” Some travel & tourism stakeholders refer to a destination’s sustainable capacity to receive visitors as its ‘carrying capacity’.
Mass tourism is characterised by large concentrations of tourists at the same place at the same time. The travel & tourism industry facilitates mass tourism through organised group tours, package deals, shore visits by cruise ship passengers, and similar practices.
Overtourism is the perception, especially among residents, of too much tourism at a destination or simply too many visitors to a place. Environmental carrying capacities notwithstanding, overtourism is subjective. There need not be industrial-scale mass tourism for a host community to feel the effects of overtourism. Mass tourism is often the cause of overtourism in ‘normal’ neighbourhoods, but not in destinations or attractions that have been planned and purpose-built to receive large numbers of tourists, and whose resident populations welcome the economic opportunities mass tourism brings.
“The phenomenon of ‘overtourism’, about which there are always lots of complaints, is a symptom of an unhealthy dependence on tourism for jobs and economic activity. We know that, yet this dependence is why little gets done to solve the problem. It is politically and economically difficult to solve because the withdrawal symptoms are rough.” _ David Gillbanks in “As we sit out COVID-19, let’s think about a fair & fail-safe treatment or vaccine for overtourism”.
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Three critics — a settler colonialism critic, an illegal immigration critic, and a mass tourism critic — walk into a bar … Is this the set-up for a joke or a real possibility? What shared concerns might they discuss, and where might their perspectives diverge? It’s a “Good Tourism” Insight Bites question. Your correspondent put the question to the travel & tourism stakeholders in […]
Read More Three critics walk into a bar …
If one assumes that mass tourism is unavoidable without an authoritarian crackdown on mobility, what should be done about it? Kevin Phun suggests that in every challenge lies an opportunity, and proposes how we might manage mass tourism for sustainable, equitable, and progressive outcomes. In less than two hours’ time (as I write this), I will […]
Read More Can we manage mass tourism for sustainable, equitable, and progressive outcomes?![Professor Valeria Minghetti: "[B]e curious. Never stop asking yourself questions. Curiosity and the desire to find solutions is what makes a difference ..."](https://www.goodtourismblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Professor-Valeria-Minghetti-1024x768.jpg "Prof Valeria Minghetti on peer review, overtourism, regenerative tourism, and how to succeed 3")
“Never stop asking yourself questions. Curiosity and the desire to find solutions is what makes a difference,” according to Valeria Minghetti. Such an attitude will take youngsters a long way in travel & tourism, she reckons. And it must be redoubled at the very highest levels of academia and industry. Saverio F Bertolucci interviewed Prof Minghetti […]
Read More Prof Valeria Minghetti on peer review, overtourism, regenerative tourism, and how to succeed
Are Venice’s new day-tripper rules having the desired effect? Or are they unreasonably restricting Italians’ freedom of movement? This is Dominic Standish’s second “Good Tourism” Insight at the invitation of Tourism’s Horizon, a “GT” Insight Partner. [You too can write a “GT” Insight. Your organisation can also become a “GT” Partner.] Bookings and fees Since April 25, […]
Read More Venice ‘bookable’: Italians lose freedom of movement
Emil Kukalj reckons ideology is only useful if it is actionable and leads to net positive results. Saverio F Bertolucci interviewed Mr Kukalj for a Tourism’s Horizon Interview. For this “Good Tourism” Insight, Mr Bertolucci reflects. [The full transcript is on Substack.] Who is Emil Kukalj? I was delighted to discuss research and development with an established figure […]
Read More Emil Kukalj on balanced tourism, overtourism, ideology, pragmatism, and possibility![Professor Dimitrios Buhalis on the ‘democratisation of tourism’ vs ‘overtourism’ ... “[T]here is no such thing as overtourism!”](https://www.goodtourismblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Professor-Dimitrios-Buhalis-1024x768.jpg "Prof Dimitrios Buhalis on 'overtourism' and the 'democratisation of tourism' 6")
There’s always a tension between rights and responsibilities; the promise of freedom for oneself and the potential to infringe upon others. This is playing out in debates about travel & tourism, and about what ‘progress’ looks like. For Dimitrios Buhalis, pragmatic problem-solving is key to achieving win-win outcomes … for the billions who won’t be denied […]
Read More Prof Dimitrios Buhalis on ‘overtourism’ and the ‘democratisation of tourism’