Depopulated destinations… since when?

Tourism is struggling to recover.

Usually overcrowded tourism destinations in this season normally swinging into high gears remain largely deserted, and in everybody’s eyes still reverberate the images of empty beaches, streets, squares.

The true is some of these destinations, although devoured by flocks of tourists, were depopulated far before the Covid19 crisis.

Like any industry, or I’d better say like any human activity, tourism will always impact the destination. Tourism causes emissions, smog, pollution, waste. This short list relates only a slice of the its impact, and does not fleshes out more extreme situations, i.e. overtourism.

Overtourism can be defined as tourism where the maximum capacity of a tourist destination is quantitatively exceeded by the number of arrivals. Simply put, there are too many tourists. The impact of overtourism transcends the elementary list mentioned above, and it leads to a complete reversal of tourism's purposes. If, as it is well known, tourism can contribute to preserving and promoting an artistic, naturalistic, cultural asset, overtourism obtains the opposite effect to the extent of representing a real threat to goods, ecosystems, sacredness and traditions. Overtourism – contrary to well managed tourism - does not facilitate the meeting between people but rather causes the collapse of social systems, with roads, offices, services invaded by a human flow that they are unable to sustain.  

Overtourism obviously has a huge social impact on the host communities, most of which develop a strong sense of alienation towards tourists. Or worse: residents abandon the area affected by overtourism thus turning cities, villages, neighbourhoods into open-air museums. Emptied by their residents, who are the custodians of the rhythm of life, of the speech, of the traditions, of the way of inhabiting a landscape, the destinations look completely distorted. They lose their uniqueness and authenticity, which paradoxically are what tourists search for.

I spent 6 wonderful years living in Venice, and therefore it’s the case study that immediately pops up to my mind. Venice is challenged as a city by the so called Venexodus. It has now one fifth of the residents compared to the past, and the few who remain fight against an increasing number of disservices. Bakeries are replaced by Venetian mask shops, house prices are now prohibitive, a pervasive network of tourist rentals mines the possibility to build normal neighbour relations. With residents, services, utilities and jobs disappear. Overtourism is making the city sink into a slow agony as alarmingly as its delicate and unstable lagoon ecosystem.

The less a city works as such, the more its inhabitants have very few options. If all revolves about tourism, it there is no really economic differentiation, it is hard to believe that a critical mass of citizens will be really motivated to change the tourism system. And it’s a merry-go-round, just not merry at all.

Overtourism affects as well the counterpart: the quality of the tourist experience of those who frequent an overcrowded destination or suffer from a chronic overtourism cannot be but disappointing. If the aim of tourism is to enjoy a landscape, a piece of art, a cultural context, to live an interesting and stimulating experience away from stress, or to recreate yourself through sport, well, this goal cannot but fail in an overcrowded city, in a museum where you can hardly catch a glimpse of a masterpiece.

Sport tourism is not an exception. The less satisfied with their tourism experience are statistically skiers and snow boarders, who are compelled to endlessly wait at the ski lift.

But they are not the only category concerned. Runners, hikers, alpinists, MTBykers, surfers… name a sport, same old-same old: whenever there are too many fellow-practitioners around, the experience is far less enjoyable. Not to mention the impact on treks. The Himalayan treks are a lesson to be learnt – and avoided.

So this is the chance: now or never, for each and every destination on its own, and as an industry.  

Tourism has temporary gone cold turkey, and it can be reset far more easily now than when it will be throttling up on huge, unmanageable, numbers, again.