Europe has long been home to destinations offering a variety of travel experiences – from adventure to beach breaks and historical tours.
This makes it a world museum, attracting visitors from all over the world, and the number of visitors has been growing barring the impact of COVID-19.
We now live in an age where overtourism has engulfed Europe’s most popular cities. Anti-tourism protests have swept Spain over the past few weeks, with activists taking to the streets and spraying tourists with water cannons.
Is this surprising? Maybe for a few because it’s still relatively rare for locals to take to the streets to protest against tourism. Yet academics predict the travel industry will reach this point long before it hits the headlines.
One of the first models to explain this phenomenon was proposed by George Doxey, who in 1975 developed the so-called “Irridex” (or “Irridex”) model. Visitors were welcomed with enthusiasm, but as the number of visitors increased, this mood evolved into indifference and irritation. The final stage – and we are seeing signs of it now – is hostility towards tourists.
This sentiment has become negative as the quality of life of locals continues to deteriorate, such as affordable housing becoming out of reach. The city has responded by subtly limiting visitors, whose numbers have surged since COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were eased, through additional fees and caps on short-term rental facilities.
This approach is more reactive than preemptive. The same goes for cities that once craved tourists, but didn’t know how to limit them when that happened. Barcelona, for example, didn’t appear on the map until it hosted the Summer Olympics in the 1990s. It is now one of the most visited cities in Europe and a major focus of the recent tourism rebound.
Richard Butler, emeritus professor of hospitality and tourism management at the University of Strathclyde, who studies tourism, said: “The main reason is that places that are experiencing overtourism did not take steps to prevent it years ago. situation occurs.
To be sure, mass tourism is not just the fault of authorities, tourists or support services. Driven by affordable travel, it is a force for good by creating jobs, promoting cultural exchange and generating revenue for city councils.
“One thing that people tend to forget in the hustle and bustle of overtourism is that local people are part of it. To some extent, they have always been willing to participate,” he told wealth. “That doesn’t mean they have to go through all the crap, crap [and] The noise disturbance they are experiencing now. But they are not entirely blameless.
Butler believes the sentiments of locals cannot be generalized, as they may vary depending on their exposure to tourists. For example, a souvenir shop owner may have a different perspective on tourism than a resident of a popular neighborhood.
“There are people who hate tourism and want to see it go away, there are people who want to see more tourism, and there are people in the middle who are a little dissatisfied with certain aspects of tourism but think it has value or value. money.
The model he designed, the “Butler Life Cycle,” studies the impact of tourism on a destination at each stage. When tourists find a place, it begins to develop and grow to support many tourists. Eventually, as visitor numbers peaked, it reached a stagnation point. From there, cities will need to chart a path forward that will either lead to a decline in tourism or a renaissance through more investment and attractions.
“What we’re seeing now is not tourists not going because it’s crowded, but locals resenting it because it’s too crowded. You’re pushing past any ‘limit’,” he said.
Does this mean the travel industry needs to stop growing altogether? Not really. In fact, if it stopped, it might be viewed as a “warning” of sorts, Butler said. Instead, more dialogue is needed to find a balance between the type of visitors that residents are happy with and continuing to generate revenue for local businesses and tourism.
“Tourism is a mixed blessing. It does bring in all the money, it does bring disruption,” Butler said.
