[0:12]This is a story about tourism and a world on the move. Tourism has been widely regarded as a benign industry. A win-win for tourist and local people who benefit from the jobs that the industry creates. In 2017, everything changed. Now a group protesting against mass tourism in Spain has threatened further attacks after targeting British holidaymakers.
[0:45]There's been growing unease in Europe as the number of tourists flooding in and later there's going to be a lot of protest. The world's largest cruise ship was involved in its maiden voyage from Barcelona.
[1:03]Over-tourism is the topic that's getting more and more attention all the time.
[1:23]My name is Justin Francis. Much of my life and work has been dedicated to travel. My own travel has led me to enriching experiences and a warm embrace from local people. For the past 17 years I've run a travel business which allows others to have similar experiences. The events of 2017 sent shockwaves through the tourism industry and a new term emerged, "over-tourism." I spoke to Professor Harold Goodwin to understand what it means. I think over-tourism is actually quite easy to understand and the reason the word has has caught on is that people understand immediately what it means. It means a situation where either local people or the tourists feel that the place is just over-visited and that it's changing its character. So for the tourist it loses authenticity and for the local people it just causes irritation and annoyance. That old added of this is your holiday, but this is my home, it rings really true now.
[2:27]I think that campaign hit the nail on the head. We take our holidays in other people's homes. When I was working here in South Africa back in 2000 or 2001, I went with a township operator in the back of a small minibus into into Khayelitsha. And he wanted me to meet an elderly lady who was trying to start a restaurant in her house and it was an amazing experience, you know, one of those privileged times that you remember but I've been invited into her house. We came out and there was a big 50-seater coach parked outside and the tourists were all stood up at the windows shooting with a camera down at us and she turned to me and she said, they think we're animals. And that really went home. I I just thought this is appalling. Yeah. And that is over-tourism. Frustrated and appalled by such treatment, communities across Europe took to the streets and turned against tourism in angry protests. I'm going to try to find out more about what triggered these outbursts, what's changed and why have many local communities had enough of tourism.
[3:52]It's it's a fight, every, every day it's a fight. And we still survive, but I'm not with you know they call us the Pandas of Venice, the few left citizens. There must be a way to contain this, okay? There is a maximum amount of tourists this place can carry so this huge flow we're getting every day, it's just unbearable. Every single day you find a problem, you know, when you have to cross the street, when you have to buy something, when you have to get the public boat. It's kind of destroying the community because everything is catered for tourists. There are more short-let flats than permanent residency for for locals. We don't have enough flat for uh inhabitants, so people moving away because you can not find a place to live here. Losing people, losing habitants means losing the character of the city, you know, now it's becoming Disneyland. All the the the butchers, the bakers, the the pharmacies, the, you know, the dressmakers are all going and being replaced by souvenir shops. We are losing the meaning of the city. Venice is so different from the other part of the world, it's so fragile, it's so weak somehow. There's no indication of of a tour operator educating um the the visitors to, you know, respect the locals, respect the the styles and and the layout of the city, which is very, very unique. As you see the gondola. Yeah, you you should film that, you should film that. Look look look at that. Look the mess. Kayak, Venice, Kayak, they cross in a in a place where all the gondola cross and this is completely crazy.
[6:00]The main effect that I feel this town is losing its identity, which is ironically what the tourists come to buy, but it's it's it's gone, you know, bit by bit.
[6:26]It feels like the infrastructure can't really cope with the amount of people that we have here. Generally, the residents feel that the city is becoming over run by tourism and it's becoming more of a city for the tourists than actually the residents, um, who've been living here for generations. In the neighborhood I'm living here now, uh, over the past seven years has changed massively and it has converted into a tourist neighborhood. And uh I can not sleep. I mean they just forget about their behaviors, right? They come here just to, um, I mean to do everything that they can not do in their, in their home countries. Here they call it turismo de borrachera. Turismo de borrachera is the drunken parties.
[7:19]Local markets in Barcelona have become, in a way, uh, the biggest victims of this tourisification. As they are the core of what is supposed to be authentic culture, they become tourist attractions in their own right. So tourist go, but they basically go to take pictures, they will not actually shop as residents do. They've changed from selling food, fresh food, they've just, uh, uh, gone to, um, selling fruit juice, I mean, just for tourists. So everyone is just changing, shaping their mind to see how they can make business out of tourists. And not, uh, offering a value to local people. Actually, it's a vicious circle, because, of course, the more you develop the industry, the more the massification will affect the tourist experience. You know, because if numbers continue to sustainly grow, probably very soon, uh, Barcelona could die of success. You know, Barcelona as a tourist city, because it's so beautiful that, uh, you know, people will suffocate it. The desperation of residents and the protests which followed brought the world's attention to Europe but it didn't stop there. Around the globe, reports of overcrowding, environmental damage and local tensions emerged and in some unexpected places. Not only were popular cities suffering, but remote fragile locations, such as Gili Trawangan Island in Indonesia were raising their voices as well. Photographer Thomas Egli traveled to this paradise island to document the dramatic changes tourism has caused.
[9:12]Tom, tell me about your your project which is your recent project, which is a which is a very kind of personal one, I think. Yeah, it all started with my parents because, uh, 30 years ago, my parents went to Paradise Island, which real name is Gili Trawangan and it was on their honeymoon. And it's the most beautiful place they've ever been to. It was their paradise, their Paradise Island. Um, so I went there 30 years later to discover what happened to that island because I already knew, um, it changed. Yeah. And when I saw your, when I saw your work, I mean the before and after pictures with the 30-year gap, I mean it's barely recognizable as the same place. Yeah, the it's it's totally different. I mean, it it starts with how my parents went to that island, whereas they just hired a fisherman with a little boat. It wasn't even in a tourist guide, they stood with local people and there was nothing else to do than have a swim in the sea. Yeah.
[10:16]They were like three or four people on the island, whereas 30 years later, there are like 3,000 people coming on the island each day. So it's like over a million in one year. Wow. And all that on a really small island. Now you can snorkel, you can dive and you party a lot, there are a lot of drugs everywhere. Yeah. Um, yeah, but the question is what can tourism cause if if there are no limits? Yes, well let's talk a little bit about the cost because the the growth in numbers that you've described is extraordinary. Um, I'm guessing that must have had some environmental impact. Yeah, definitely. When you come on the island, you wouldn't see it, but as soon as you go in the middle of the island, you would see a huge rubbish pit. You don't really see it on the first place, but it's all hidden there. Yeah. I mean, some people listening to us might say, you know, everybody's entitled to have fun and enjoy themselves. Um, but you know, how do we respond to that that people are entitled to enjoy themselves? Everybody is entitled to enjoy themselves and there there are good things about tourism, but what I think is important that you that you open your mind, you know, you everybody who goes to vacation, you want to burn out all the problems. Yes. You know, you have problems in your everyday life, work, job, family, whatever, and when you go to vacation, it's all no, there is a rubbish pit, but I don't care, I just look at the beach. And I think you have to open yourself also to to that things, even when you're in a vacation. Yes. And you start to do small changes in your behavior. Yes. So it's not about not going somewhere. It's about how you go somewhere. Sadly, this is just one of many examples in what the Wall Street Journal described as a global tourism backlash. Thailand was forced to close the beach made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach to halt environmental damage caused by too many tourists. Local people in Japan increasingly describe the effect on their lives and culture as tourism pollution. Some US national park started buckling under the strain and islanders on the Isle of Skye in Scotland called for help after surges in tourism. I spoke to Elizabeth Becker, author of Overbooked to understand how tourism could have reached this point. What was it that really drove you to want to write a book about tourism? Um, I was the international economics correspondent of the Times, The New York Times. As globalization was exploding around the world, what was not being covered and what seemed to pop up to me all the time was the fact that the tourism industry seemed to be taking advantage of the new open borders, the new economic system, the new technology. And I didn't see that reported. Yes. I mean tourism is the industry that seems to have escaped acknowledgement as an industry or scrutiny as an industry. Um, yes, every everybody thinks that tourism is um a a pastime, it's not an industry. And uh few governments treated it as an industry. It's also that the explosion of the industry was extraordinary. In 1950, there were 25 million tourist arrivals worldwide. This number grew exponentially of the following 70 years and reached 1.3 billion by 2017. It's estimated it will reach 1.7 billion by 2030. Driving this is the exponential growth of global air travel and cruise line passenger numbers. It seems to me that what we're seeing now all over the world is what happens when an industry which has talked about being sustainable but has actually done very little, begins to bump up against the limits of our environment and the physical limits of space. And it's in that sense, I think it's, it's like a rash, it's all over the world. I believe it's a global emergency. If we don't look more strategically at the question of how to manage destinations, we're going to really destroy increasing number of the world's most valuable natural and cultural assets. Doesn't matter if there's a recession, doesn't matter if it looks like of the United States is going to start a war with North Korea, tourism grows and it is, it is shockproof. No longer a harmless pastime, tourism has grown into one of the biggest industries in the world with a far-reaching, potentially destructive impact. Here are some of the key factors influencing this change. 1. CHEAP FLIGHTS The rise of low-cost airlines means that a return flight from the UK to mainland Europe can be as cheap as a couple of pizzas and a glass of beer. Ryanair even have stated their intention to offer free flights, but these super cheap flights are the result of massive tax breaks for the aviation sector. Aviation fuel is exempt from tax. In the UK alone that's estimated at a 9 billion pound subsidy. 2. TRAVEL WRITING The media has tended to heap praise on the same familiar destinations, and journalists often received free holidays when writing their reviews. Far too many travel writers are paid to go to these places by the very people they're supposedly judging. There's always the 10 best, never the 10 worst, so I found too much of travel writing uncritical and corrupt. 3. HONEYPOT SITES We all want to visit the same few places at the same time of year. This concentrates pressure on these honeypot sites. Problems can be created by an extra 100 tourists in a small place or an extra million in a big city. 4. CRUISE LINERS Cruise liners are a source of environmental damage and fly-by tourism, which adds little value to local economies. They're like four times taller than the buildings around them. I mean, have you seen that coming in, I mean, you just see it and see that that doesn't fit here. Literally, it doesn't fit. 5. HOLIDAY APARTMENTS Local people are being pushed out of their own neighborhoods by a huge surge in house and flat rentals for tourists. It causes property price inflation, it squeezes people out. The problem is when the same owner has like 20, 30, 40 apartments on the market. It was so quick, so fast that cities like Barcelona have been crushed by Airbnb. 6. DEMOGRAPHICS Changes in the global population have fueled the explosion in tourist numbers. Every day there are a quarter of a million more people on the planet, and as the world becomes more affluent, more people join the middle classes. China now provides more international tourists than any other country and yet only 6% of the population have a passport. As the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, it looks like the pressure on over-saturated destinations will only increase. Do you think things are going to get worse before they get better in general with with over-tourism, uh, issue? Yes, yes. Uh, I think that's without a question. Um, I read that the Thailand new Minister of Tourism said he really doesn't have any idea how to manage the problem, you know, in a country that's a hotspot for the problem. Um, and that he hasn't been trained and he's he went public saying I I just I have no training for this. I became concerned. I find it difficult to find the right nexus of dialogue right now. That that's what I'm a little bit less uh optimistic about. Where's the Nexus of dialogue that's at the scale that we need it now. So do you think the problem is going to get worse before it gets better?
[18:21]Yes. Yeah, I do think the problem will get worse and unfortunately, I think in many places it will require rebellious tourism if you remember Crippendorf talks about the need for rebellious tourism and rebellious locals. Well, we need a bit of rebellion by both those groups to achieve the change it won't just happen. The interest the tourism interests are extremely wealthy and powerful. Yes. It's as any other power situation where there's a lot of money being made. So I don't want people to beat themselves up, but you are up against some very powerful wealthy interests who don't want this change. Do you think that um in some sense tourism managers are being asleep on the job? Just you're not sure there's ever been any tourism managers. Who is in control of the tourism industry? Who who has control over it?
[19:23]Um, I think that really no one does. Well, it's been a while since I've been thinking to give it up. I love the city, I love the way to live here, I want the way we had to live here, now it's getting worse and worse. We must be somebody who take decision and that that's the problem. We don't have it. I think all the residents have facing this big question mark that no matter how much we love the city, uh, we consider our home, we are probably considering moving out to have a a simpler life, you know, and with with more services and more comfort in the end. I mean, I wanted to come back here and I'm happy to be here, really happy and I'm happy that my daughter is growing here. But I don't know how this is going to end and I don't know if I'm going to be here watching that, honestly. It would be nice if for at least once the locals were a priority and not the tourist. You know, out of respect for the town and its history, but out of respect for people that want to stay here, we do not particularly want to take part in the tourist machine and want to live like Venetians. You know, which is slowly disappearing, we're a bit of a an endangered species, if you like. So I'd like to save the Venetians, really.
[21:18]We travel to see the world's most remarkable places and people. However, it's now clear that our travels are having a significant impact, and that we bear responsibility for this.
