To be visited during the summer of “overtourism” in 2024 means traffic jams, water problems and high housing prices. It's the first year in which tourism is expected to beat records set before the pandemic. Despite well-publicized protests and some drunken tourist behavior, residents and analysts don't necessarily blame the travelers.
Tourists queue to visit the interior of the 19th century Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal , Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. Martinho de Almada Pimentel poses for a photo in his mountainside mansion,Casa do Cipreste, that his great-grandfather built in 1914 in Sintra, Portugal , Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. A person dressed as movie character Captain Jack Sparrow steers a tuk-tuk with tourists past Martinho de Almada Pimentel’s mountainside mansion Casa do Cipreste, in Sintra, Portugal , Friday, Aug. 9, 2024.
The demonstrations are an example of locals using the power of their numbers and social media to issue destination leaders an ultimatum: Manage this issue better or we’ll scare away the tourists — who could spend their $11.1 trillion a year elsewhere. Housing prices, traffic and water management are on all of the checklists.
It’s a hashtag that gives a name to the protests and hostility that you’ve seen all summer. But look a little deeper and you’ll find knottier issues for locals and their leaders, none more universal than housing prices driven up by short-term rentals like Airbnb, from Spain to South Africa. Some locales are encouraging “quality tourism,” generally defined as more consideration by visitors toward residents and less drunken behavior, disruptive selfie-taking and other questionable choices.
In Japan, where tourist arrivals fueled by the weak yen were expected to set a new record in 2024, Kyoto banned tourists from certain alleys. The government seton people climbing Mt. Fuji. And in Fujikawaguchiko, a town that offers some of the best views of the mountain’s perfect cone, leaders erected a large black screen in a parking lot to deter tourists from overcrowding the site.
“There’s been backlash against the business models on which modern tourism has been built and the lack of response by politicians,” he said in an interview. Tourism “came back quicker than we expected,” he allows, but tourists aren’t the problem. “There’s a global fight for tourists. We can’t ignore that. ... So what happens when we get too many tourists? Destinations need to do more research.”Virpi Makela can describe exactly what happens in her corner of Sintra.
A 40-minute train ride to the west, Sintra’s municipality has invested in more parking lots outside town and youth housing at lower prices near the center, the mayor’s office said.
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