Overtourism tips

The Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau has formed a business improvement district with nine local hotels to fund its tourism promotion efforts, Skift has learned.

I’m standing at a scrubbed wooden table grating cucumber for tzatziki with a view of a manicured vegetable plot and a soundtrack of bleating goats.

This past summer, Instagram feeds were plastered with videos of tourists in Italy. You’d see a video of the Trevi Fountain with just a few Italian models taking photos – then a more realistic video with swarms of sweaty tourists.

A cruise ship holiday is the height of luxury; a time to sit back and have all your needs and travel yearnings met on one giant vessel.

Japan's iconic Mount Fuji is struggling with overtourism.

Venice plans to experiment with an admission fee of 5 euros ($5.35) for day trippers next year to try to manage the flow of tourists drawn to its historic canals, the city council said on Tuesday.

It’s summer season, which means Greeks are flocking to the islands and beaches for a well-deserved holiday.

Tourism Australia’s new global campaign is, unlike its previous efforts, not focused on showcasing Australian celebrities. It’s instead addressing issues pertaining to overtourism and the country’s Indigenous communities through a film highlighting its attractions.

Yosemite National Park will not have a reservation system for the summer of 2023 and will embark on a process of gathering community input as whether it should to reinstate it in the future. Yosemite put a reservation system in place for two years because of the pandemic and continued it because of park construction projects. But the reservation requirement set off a chain of consequences for local communities, including traffic jams because cars weren’t allowed to drive through the park.

Multiple Colorado counties and towns approved ballot measures on November 8 to shift lodging tax revenue—a key funding source for tourism promotion— toward local community initiatives. The passage of the measures underscore the Skift megatrend that communities are no longer spectators in travel.

Amsterdam is trying to drive away party tourists in order to preserve resident quality of life and attract more mindful visitors. The city aims to reduce the appeal of the De Wallen, which is internationally called as the Red Light District, a major tourist attraction known for brothels, drinking, cannabis coffeeshops and other recreational activities.

It started with a Linkedin post.

The Middle East welcomed 15 percent more international tourists in the first three months of 2023 than it did for the same period in 2019, according to the UN World Tourism Organization’s latest data. 

Scrawled across Barcelona’s opera house, along the city’s renowned La Rambla boulevard, is expletive-laden graffiti urging tourists to “go home”.

Intrepid Travel CEO James Thornton says he doesn’t just want to pay a so-called living wage – he wants to exceed it. That goes for the company’s own employees as well as all the workers involved with its tours and services on five continents.

Amsterdam took a first step toward banning large cruise liners under broader plans to reduce mass tourism and pollution, officials said on Friday.

On Greece’s popular island of Paros, a protest by residents demanding space and free access to its sandy beaches has led to a growing nationwide movement against the expansion of pricey sunbeds rented out by private companies.

On Monday, the UN's cultural organization UNESCO recommended that Venice, Italy, be added to the organization's list of world heritage in danger, AFP reported. 

Last year when Italy’s Cinque Terre decided to limit the amount of tourists that visit each year, overtourism once again came to the forefront of many people’s travel plans. While other popular landmarks and cities also had tourist caps or were exploring crowd-limiting options, iconic Cinque Terre’s cap has gained a lot of attention, and is part of a rising trend.

Without warning, Chef Patrick flicked his wrist and chocolate sauce flew across the table. As I and the other restaurant patrons jumped to cover the tops of our wine glasses, the chef smiled and began to throw together (literally) the night’s dessert on a white canvas, like an Italian Jackson Pollock. He sprinkled coffee cake and sunflower seed crumbs, then gently added lemon curd and cheesecake. For the finale, he slammed fist-sized tiramisu balls down on the table, sending chocolate debris flying across the canvas.

The beautiful waterways of Venice, Dubrovnik's old town and Ko Phi Phi's beaches. These international travel attractions undoubtedly make for unforgettable experiences. But the sheer numbers of visitors arriving have made a significant impact on environments, structures and local communities. While governments and tourist boards are introducing various policies to tackle overtourism, we should consider ways in which we can help as responsible travellers, too.