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25 Important Disadvantages of Tourism

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I am sad to say that there are many disadvantages of tourism. Tourism has the power to do so much good, but equally it also has the power to do so much bad. The key is careful and sufficient tourism planning and management. So what are these disadvantages of tourism, why are they so bad and how can we overcome them? Read on to find out…

The 3 categories of disadvantages of tourism

Natural habitat disruption, resource depletion, climate change, wildlife disturbance, coral reefs damage, seasonal nature of tourism, economic dependence, revenue leakage, unequal distribution of income, opportunity cost, over-reliance on a single industry, environmental costs, cost of living, cultural commodification, cultural displacement, commodification of culture, overcrowding, increased crime, social inequality, change in local lifestyles, loss of local employment, inflation in property prices, sustainable tourism practices, involving local communities, education and awareness, diversification of the economy, government regulations and policies, infrastructure development, long-term planning, adaptable management strategies, the disadvantages of tourism- to conclude, the disadvantages of tourism.

As one delves into the captivating world of globetrotting, it is easy to become enamored with the captivating allure of exploration, adventure, and cross-cultural interactions that define the tourist experience. Tourism, undoubtedly, contributes significantly to the economic prosperity of nations, providing employment , generating foreign exchange, and fostering cross-cultural understanding . Yet, there exists a darker side to this glittering façade, one that, more often than not, escapes the radar of mainstream discourse.

This post will highlight the less celebrated aspects of tourism, focusing on its potential downsides that are, somewhat ironically, entwined with its many benefits. Despite the ubiquity of tourism and its significance in today’s globalised world , it is crucial to address its potential for harm in the name of balance and long-term sustainability .

The downsides of tourism are numerous, encompassing aspects such as the environment, culture, economy, and social fabric of tourist destinations . Through this article we will delve into these impacts, seeking to not merely criticise, but also to inspire a rethinking of our attitudes and practices around tourism. By doing so, we endeavour to shed light on how we might navigate these complex issues and foster a more responsible and sustainable approach to tourism .

The disadvantages of tourism can be broken down into three categories: economic, environmental and social. I have summarised these below for you.

Now lets dig a bit deeper into the disadvantages of tourism outlined above one by one…

Environmental Disadvantages of Tourism

If responsible tourism practises are not employed, tourism can, and does, cause significant harm to the environment. I have outlined some of the most common examples of the environmental disadvantages, also known as environmental impacts of tourism , of tourism below for you.

tourism in Ecuador. Disadvantages of Tourism

Tourism often leads to deforestation and disruption of natural habitats to accommodate tourists , causing a significant loss of biodiversity. This could involve clearing land for accommodations or other facilities, thereby endangering flora and fauna unique to the area.

How can we mitigate or reduce this disadvantage of tourism?

Sustainable tourism practices, including limiting development in sensitive areas, promoting eco-tourism , and educating tourists about responsible travel , can help preserve natural habitats.

Tourism can strain natural resources, particularly water and food supplies, especially in regions where these resources are already scarce. The increased demand can lead to overexploitation, endangering the long-term availability of these resources.

Implementing resource management strategies, promoting the use of renewable resources, and encouraging tourists to respect local resources can help mitigate this issue.

Tourism contributes to various forms of pollution. Air pollution results from transport, noise pollution from increased activity, litter from irresponsible disposal of waste, and other types of pollution, all of which can degrade local environments and disturb wildlife.

Establishing and enforcing environmental regulations, utilising environmental impact surveys , promoting green travel options, and educating tourists about proper waste disposal can help reduce pollution.

High tourist traffic can cause physical damage to natural landscapes. For example, excessive hiking and foot traffic can lead to soil erosion and degradation of historic sites, damaging these irreplaceable resources.

Restricting access to vulnerable areas, creating designated pathways, and educating tourists about the importance of preserving these sites can help reduce erosion.

The carbon footprint from travel, especially air travel, contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, leading to global climate change. Tourism’s contribution to climate change can have far-reaching consequences for ecosystems worldwide.

Promoting low-carbon transportation options , implementing carbon offset programs, and raising awareness about the environmental impacts of travel can help mitigate tourism’s contribution to climate change.

Human interaction can disturb the natural behaviour of wildlife. Some species may become overly dependent on human food sources, while others may react aggressively or retreat from their natural habitat, disrupting the balance of local ecosystems.

Educating tourists about respectful wildlife interaction, enforcing rules about feeding wildlife, and promoting non-intrusive wildlife viewing experiences can help to reduce disturbance.

Activities like snorkelling and diving can unintentionally damage delicate coral reefs . Additionally, increased boat traffic can lead to oil leaks and other pollution, posing a threat to marine life.

Implementing and enforcing marine protected areas, educating tourists about coral-friendly snorkelling and diving practices, and monitoring boat activity can help protect coral reefs.

Economic Disadvantages of Tourism

Unfortunately, there are many economic disadvantages of tourism, also known as negative economic impacts of tourism . I have outlined the most common below.

Jobs in travel and tourism. Disadvantages of Tourism

Tourism tends to be seasonal, often peaking during particular times of the year. This fluctuation can lead to periods of high employment followed by periods of widespread job loss, creating economic instability. This cyclical pattern can be challenging for local communities that heavily depend on tourism, making budgeting and financial stability a strenuous task.

Diversifying tourism offers, promoting off-peak travel and developing other forms of sustainable local industries can help smooth out the seasonal fluctuations of tourism and provide more stable employment.

The increased demand for goods and services during the tourist season often leads to price inflation . This surge in prices can result in an increased cost of living for local residents, making everyday goods and services more expensive and less accessible.

Implementation of policy measures to control inflation and monitoring of prices, especially of essential goods, during the peak season can help ensure that locals are not negatively impacted.

Regions that rely heavily on tourism can become economically vulnerable in the face of downturns in the industry. These downturns can be triggered by numerous factors such as natural disasters, political instability, global pandemics, or even changing travel trends. This economic fragility poses a significant threat to the livelihoods of local communities.

Diversifying the local economy by promoting and developing other industries can help reduce dependence on tourism and build economic resilience.

Often, a substantial proportion of the revenue generated by tourism does not benefit the local economy but ends up in the hands of foreign-owned businesses , such as international hotel chains and airlines. This phenomenon, known as revenue leakage, can undermine the local economic benefits of tourism.

Encouraging and investing in locally owned businesses and promoting local goods and services can help ensure that more of the tourism revenue stays within the local economy.

The economic benefits of tourism are often unevenly distributed within a community, exacerbating income disparities. More affluent regions or populations tend to gain more from tourism, while less affluent regions or marginalised populations gain less, exacerbating economic inequality.

Implementing policies and practices that promote equitable distribution of tourism revenue can help counter this problem. This might include investing in community-based tourism projects and ensuring fair wages for all tourism-related workers.

Investment in tourism-related infrastructure and services can lead to the neglect of other sectors of the local economy, potentially limiting overall economic development. The resources devoted to tourism could be used elsewhere, potentially offering better long-term economic outcomes.

Balanced investment in various sectors of the economy can help ensure broader economic development, reducing the opportunity costs associated with over-investment in tourism.

Over-dependence on tourism can lead to the neglect of other potential industries, limiting the diversification of the local economy. This lack of diversification can leave the local economy vulnerable to shocks in the tourism industry.

Diversifying the local economy by promoting various industries can help ensure economic stability even when tourism experiences downturns.

Tourism often drives environmental degradation and loss of natural resources, which have their own economic costs. These can include the expense of building infrastructure in sensitive areas, cleaning up pollution , and the lost opportunities for alternative uses of the land .

Implementing sustainable tourism practices that prioritise environmental conservation can help to reduce these costs. This includes regulating tourist activities in sensitive areas and investing in sustainable infrastructure.

Increased tourism can raise property prices and the cost of living, making it challenging for local residents to afford their community. As demand for properties increases with tourist influx, locals may be priced out of their own housing market.

Governments can implement regulations and controls on property prices, especially in regions that are experiencing or are at risk of high tourism-driven property inflation. Policies can also be put in place to ensure affordable housing for local residents is protected and preserved.

The commercialisation of local culture and traditions for the tourist market can lead to “ staged authenticity ,” where cultural activities are modified to cater to tourists. This commodification can potentially lead to the loss of cultural heritage and its inherent economic value, damaging the uniqueness that made the location attractive in the first place.

Policies that protect and promote the preservation of cultural heritage can help counter this effect. Additionally, educating tourists about the importance of preserving local culture and promoting authentic cultural exchanges can lead to more respectful and sustainable tourism practices.

Social Disadvantages of Tourism

There are also many social disadvantages of tourism, also known as social impacts of tourism , that need to be considered. I have outlined the major issues that are commonly encountered below.

Cultural erosion. Disadvantages of Tourism

The influx of tourists can lead to displacement of local populations and their cultural identities, resulting in a loss of cultural diversity . This phenomenon often results from the pressure to accommodate tourists and can erode the local way of life.

Respecting and protecting local cultures, promoting responsible tourism , and involving local communities in tourism planning can help mitigate cultural displacement.

The commercialisation of local customs and traditions for the tourist market can lead to the loss of cultural authenticity and exploitation of cultural heritage. Traditional practices may be transformed into spectacles for tourists, sometimes leading to staged and insincere representations.

Promoting cultural understanding and respect among tourists, supporting community-owned tourism initiatives, and setting guidelines for respectful cultural engagement can help preserve cultural authenticity .

An influx of tourists can lead to overcrowding, straining local facilities and infrastructure, and reducing the quality of life for local residents. This can create tension between tourists and local communities and degrade the visitor experience.

Implementing visitor management strategies, promoting off-peak travel, and developing infrastructure in a sustainable way can help manage overcrowding.

Some destinations may experience an increase in crime rates associated with tourism, including theft, drug trafficking, and exploitation. This can disrupt the local social fabric and lead to unsafe conditions for both tourists and locals.

Enforcing laws, ensuring adequate security measures, and educating tourists about safe practices can help curb crime associated with tourism.

Tourism can exacerbate social inequalities if the financial benefits of tourism are not evenly distributed within the community. This can lead to social tension and resentment within the local population .

Ensuring fair wages, promoting local ownership of tourism businesses, and implementing policies that promote the equitable distribution of tourism revenue can help address social inequality.

The presence of tourists can influence the behaviour and attitudes of local people, sometimes encouraging undesirable behaviours such as begging or petty crime. This can disrupt local norms and create social issues.

Promoting responsible tourism, involving local communities in decision-making processes, and ensuring that tourism benefits flow to the community can help reduce negative influences on local lifestyles.

In some cases, tourism can lead to the displacement of traditional industries, causing job loss among local populations. This can destabilise local economies and disrupt social structures.

Encouraging sustainable and inclusive tourism development that complements rather than replaces local industries can help preserve local employment.

An influx of tourists can increase demand for real estate, inflating property prices and potentially making it unaffordable for locals to own property in their own community. Companies such as Airbnb can exasperate this issue. This can lead to social displacement and exacerbate economic inequality.

Implementing policy measures to control property price inflation and ensuring affordable housing for locals can mitigate this impact.

How Can Destinations Balance The Disadvantages of Tourism With The Advantages of Tourism?

Balancing the disadvantages of tourism and advantages of tourism is a delicate task requiring thorough planning, strategic management, and conscious efforts from all stakeholders involved, including tourists, the local community, and the government. Below are some strategies that can help:

disadvantages to tourism

This approach focuses on minimising the disadvantages of tourism while maximising the advantages of tourism. These practices might include limiting the number of tourists allowed in a certain area at any one time, promoting off-peak travel, and supporting eco-tourism initiatives.

By involving local communities in the planning and decision-making processes, destinations can ensure tourism development aligns with local needs and values. This can also help distribute the economic benefits of tourism more evenly, reducing social inequality.

Raising awareness among tourists about the impacts of their behaviour can lead to more respectful and environmentally friendly behaviours. This can be achieved through informational campaigns, signage, and guidelines, all of which can help to reduce some of the disadvantages of tourism.

By promoting other sectors of the economy alongside tourism, destinations can mitigate the risk of over-dependence on tourism and provide alternative employment options for local communities.

Governments can establish regulations and policies to manage the disadvantages of tourism. This might include zoning laws to protect sensitive environments, regulations to prevent exploitation of cultural heritage, and policies to ensure equitable distribution of tourism revenue.

Thoughtful and sustainable infrastructure development can manage the influx of tourists, mitigate environmental impacts, and enhance the quality of life for local residents.

Taking a long-term perspective in tourism development can help balance immediate economic benefits with the need to preserve a destination’s cultural and natural resources for future generations.

Given the unpredictability of tourism demand , adaptable management strategies can help destinations respond to changes and mitigate negative impacts. This might involve regular monitoring of tourism impacts, feedback mechanisms, and flexibility in policy implementation.

By adopting these strategies, destinations can work towards a more balanced and sustainable tourism model that reaps the benefits of tourism while managing the disadvantages of tourism.

As you can see, there are unfortunately many disadvantages of tourism. However, just because these disadvantages of tourism currently exist, doesn’t mean that have to continue. With adequate planning, policies and governance and with sustainability principles and long-term planning at the forefront of our minds, we can limit the disadvantages of tourism significantly.

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Last Updated: January 23, 2024

10 Primary Disadvantages of Tourism [Problems with Tourism]

Are you trying to find out about the main disadvantages of tourism? Read this article to learn about the biggest problems with tourism today, including the negative impact of tourism on the environment.

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Danny Newman

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Want to know about the disadvantages of tourism? In this post, I discuss 10 of them!

Travel is one of the best things in life, right?

Instagram-worthy sunsets, exploring new cultures, trying exotic foods — and tourism’s great for the host destination and its economy too.

Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of wonderful things that come with tourism. It can boost economies, create jobs, generate wealth, and support conservation efforts.

But have you ever stopped to consider the potential disadvantages of tourism?

In this post, I’ll dive into the impact of tourism on the environment, the economy, local communities, and much more.

I’ll also discuss what we can all do to be more responsible travellers.

Let’s get started!

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Here we go, then: Let’s start with the environmental impact of tourism!

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  • The Advantages and Disadvantages of Travelling

The Environmental Impact of Tourism

To begin, let’s start with some negative tourism impacts that can occur to the area’s environment and ecology.

1. Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Let’s face it — almost everything about our modern lifestyle contributes to global warming through greenhouse gas emissions.

Unfortunately, this also includes travelling.

In fact, experts estimate that as much as 5% of the world’s emissions of carbon dioxide are directly related to travel.

The most polluting type of travel, not surprisingly, is flying.

Planes account for 40% of greenhouse emissions within the tourism sector, with cars and taxis making up another 32%.

There’s also an environmental impact from hotel emissions too. Most accommodations still rely on fossil fuel energy sources to run air conditioning, heating, laundry services, pools, and spas.

In addition, companies need transportation and power to build and maintain hotels, clean up waste, and bring in food (and other products) from other regions.

Although some tourism companies are “going green,” many have not yet made the switch to renewable energy resources.

2. Overuse of Water

Sadly, 40% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to clean drinking water, let alone “extra” water for tourists to use in hotels, pools, and spas.

As an example, Las Vegas, Nevada lies in the middle of the desert and receives an average of four inches of rainfall per year.

Meanwhile, its residents (and millions of tourists) use a whopping 489 million gallons of water every single day .

In most places, the high tourist season coincides with the drier or less rainy parts of the year.

This compounds the issue as limited groundwater gets directed to tourist accommodations and attractions, leaving residents and farmers without adequate water.

In drought-stricken areas like Spain, Greece, India, Bali, and Zanzibar, this can spell disaster for the local population, increasing salinity in remaining freshwater and hindering farmers’ abilities to grow crops.

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Now you know the first 2 impacts of tourism on the environment ,  let’s take a look at what’s left on the list!

3. Increased Waste Production

Did you know that one tourist can produce as much as 12kg (26 pounds) of solid waste per day ?

Why does this happen? Your guess is as good as mine. But here’s one theory:

Most people want to relax and take it easy on holiday.

Even if they adopt good habits at home like reusable bottles and shopping bags, chances are they aren’t doing those things on vacation.

Many parts of the world still rely on single-use plastic items, a lot of which ends up in the ocean and on the beaches that tourists visit.

Even in more eco-conscious places like Europe, the trash is out of control during peak season — there’s 40% more marine litter in the Mediterranean during the summer months!

Trash isn’t the only waste product, either.

While on holiday, travellers tend to order (and waste) more food, especially in restaurants and buffet settings.

There’s also the issue of sewage pollution, as well, especially in countries that lack the resources to properly dispose of it.

Sewage runoff that hasn’t been properly treated often ends up in the ocean, lakes, wetlands, and other natural areas, harming the local plant and animal life.

4. Loss of Biodiversity & Ecosystems

The rise of ecotourism is a two-edged sword.

On one hand, it increases awareness of the fragile ecosystems on our planet. On the other, it’s destroying them.

As more travellers seek to get closer to nature, destinations that feature rainforests, coral reefs, wetlands, and alpine forests are more popular than ever before.

Unfortunately, this influx of humans wreaks havoc on the very environments they’re hoping to admire.

To make way for more tourism, local governments may need to mine, pave, drain, develop, or deforest the area.

The results can include soil and sand erosion and the destruction of natural habitats.

Of course, development also leaves less space for the animals and plants that thrive in the area. Worldwide, an estimated 1 million different species are threatened with extinction in the next few decades.

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In the following section, we’ll run through the social problems with tourism.

Potential Social Problems With Tourism

Until now we’ve focused on the environmental impact of tourism, but this isn’t the only potential disadvantage. Let’s switch gears and consider some negative impacts of tourism on society.

5. Displacement of Local Populations

Have you ever stayed at a five-star resort on the beach or pulled into port on an exotic island ?

Chances are that the pristine coastal area wasn’t just sitting there empty. More than likely, local residents had homes and businesses there that got “bought out” to make room for hotels, chain restaurants, and tourist attractions.

This displacement leaves less room for locals, often pushing them into crowded, poorer areas to make way for more tourism.

It can also erode the culture and identity of the destination as major corporate chains replace smaller “mom-and-pop” type businesses.

For locals who choose to work in the tourism sector, their jobs are often menial, low-paying, and seasonal, with little job security or opportunity for upward movement.

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Too much tourism or too much tourist in one place is another tourism impacts our society…

6. Over-tourism

A word that literally means “too much tourism,” over-tourism is exactly what it sounds like — too many tourists descending on one place.

Prime examples include Thailand’s beautiful Maya Bay, the now-famous filming location for The Beach .

The fragile reef ecosystem and island were so destroyed by boat traffic, foot traffic, and plastic trash that the Thai government closed the island to visitors — for four years.

Other places notorious for over-tourism include Barcelona, Venice, Capri, Bali, and Boracay.

In fact, Venice went so far as to ban cruise ships from its historic centre and impose a “tourist fee” for day-trippers.

Why are governments taking such drastic measures against over-tourism?

Aside from the environmental problems that come with too many people in one place, it can also have a damaging effect on the locals’ ability to survive there.

In Barcelona, for example, many homeowners have turned their apartments into Airbnbs and VRBOs, driving rent prices up a shocking 51% in just a decade.

This has forced many residents into the (more affordable) suburbs while adding fuel to the problem of over-tourism in the city centre.

7. Exploitation of Local Cultures

We all love to travel to enjoy different cultures, but in some destinations, there’s a fine line between “enjoyment” and “exploitation.”

As more tourists visit an area, especially for cultural exploration, something called commodification often occurs.

This means taking an original aspect of local culture and commercialising it for mass consumption.

For example, in parts of Canada and the United States, tourists pay money to witness spiritual ceremonies “staged” by Native American communities.

At the same time, they buy themed items (such as totem poles or amulets) that hold deep meaning for the local culture but have been degraded to little more than cheap souvenirs.

In other areas, commercialising culture leads to locals wearing traditional costumes and putting on shows solely to entertain tourists.

For some people, this can be viewed as mocking important traditions.

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Next up: other negative impacts of tourism we must consider!

Other Negative Impacts of Tourism

To round out our discussion, here are a few more potential disadvantages of tourism to consider.

8. Poorly Behaved Tourists

From stealing beach sand and slapping immigration officials to falling off statues after a night of binge drinking, the headlines are full of tourists behaving badly.

For whatever reason, some travellers feel free to act in rude, disrespectful, and even dangerous ways that they would never behave at home.

Even if they don’t get drunk and rowdy, tourists sometimes fail to show honour to the cultures and traditions of the country they’re visiting.

They may break rules or codes of conduct by dressing or gesturing in a way that offends locals. Or they may hold themselves in higher regard than the locals, perhaps even making derogatory racist remarks.

All of these behaviours increase hostility towards tourists and may even widen the socioeconomic gap in the region.

9. Foreign-Owned Businesses

In many areas, the majority of hotels, resorts, restaurants, and attractions are not owned or managed by locals.

Often they’re built and maintained by large foreign corporations and conglomerates.

As a result, most of the money coming into the country is being used for and by visitors, which can lead to significant losses for smaller, locally-owned businesses.

Because these local businesses miss out on opportunities to grow and expand, the country’s economy may suffer.

10. Unequal Growth of Infrastructure

Closely tied to the previous point is the problem of unequal or unfair infrastructure growth.

In many cases, the money coming into a tourist destination goes right back into developing and maintaining only the destination.

While the money goes back into the local tourism industry, other regions that desperately need improvement are neglected.

Rather than putting funds into areas that need more infrastructure — and improving the lives of local citizens — the government may choose to build more resorts and tourist attractions instead.

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Last but not least, here are the 20 ways to minimise the negative impact of tourism.

How to Minimise the Negative Impact of Tourism

Our discussion is starting to sound a bit gloom-and-doom, so how can we put a positive spin on it?

We may not be able to solve all these problems with tourism overnight, but there are some things you can do to minimise your tourism impacts.

Here are 20 simple ways you can become a more responsible and respectful traveller:

1. Educate yourself about the local culture, etiquette and customs before you travel.

2. Stay at and dine in locally-owned establishments rather than corporate-owned chains.

3. Explore destinations that are “off the beaten path” rather than places known for over-tourism.

4. Learn (and try to use) a few words and phrases in the local language.

5. Act respectfully at sites of religious, historical, and cultural significance.

6. Reduce or eliminate your use of plastic and other waste products — reuse and recycle whenever possible.

7. Avoid travelling during peak tourist season.

8. Travel via train, bus, or other public transportation when possible.

9. If you must fly to your destination, choose direct flights to minimise your carbon footprint.

10. If you wish to travel with a tour group, seek out an eco-friendly company that employs locals and uses locally-owned accommodations and attractions.

11. Avoid “tourist trap” destinations and everything that comes with them, such as all-inclusive resorts, mega cruise ships, and commercialised cultural displays.

12. Never take “natural” souvenirs such as rocks, wood, or beach sand — not only does it destroy the environment, but it’s probably illegal.

13. Don’t buy souvenirs made from endangered species (i.e., natural furs, crocodile skins, tortoiseshell, etc).

14. Stay in one destination longer rather than moving around between many different areas.

15. Avoid using platforms like Airbnb or VRBO, especially in overtouristed areas.

16. Bring your reusable water bottle, drinking straw, cutlery, and shopping bags from home to reduce plastic waste.

17. Buy food from local markets and independently-owned restaurants rather than chain grocery stores.

18. Be mindful when you take pictures and always ask permission before you photograph someone.

19. Dress appropriately for the culture you’re visiting — this might mean covering your shoulders, knees, feet, or head.

20. Buy locally-made souvenirs from local vendors rather than those “Made in China” knockoffs.

Battling the Disadvantages of Tourism

Tourism can do wonders for local economies, but there are some definite disadvantages of tourism we can’t ignore either.

Environmental problems, pollution, exploitation, and displacement of locals are just a few of the problems with tourism we’ve discussed today.

We also listed some ways you can be a more responsible traveller and minimise your impact while you travel.

Would you like to take this idea of responsible travel one step further?

Read this article next and learn more about the benefits of eco-friendly travel!

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What's the problem with overtourism?

With visitor numbers around the world increasing towards pre-pandemic levels, the issue of overtourism is once again rearing its head.

When locals in the charming Austrian lakeside village of Hallstatt staged a blockade of the main access tunnel, brandishing placards asking visitors to ‘think of the children’, it highlighted what can happen when places start to feel overrun by tourists. Hallstatt has just 800 residents but has opened its doors to around 10,000 visitors a day — a population increase of over 1,000%. And it’s just one of a growing number of places where residents are up in arms at the influx of travellers.

The term ‘overtourism’ is relatively new, having been coined over a decade ago to highlight the spiralling numbers of visitors taking a toll on cities, landmarks and landscapes. As tourist numbers worldwide return towards pre-pandemic levels, the debate around what constitutes ‘too many’ visitors continues. While many destinations, reliant on the income that tourism brings, are still keen for arrivals, a handful of major cities and sites are now imposing bans, fines, taxes and time-slot systems, and, in some cases, even launching campaigns of discouragement in a bid to curb tourist numbers.

What is overtourism?

In essence, overtourism is too many people in one place at any given time. While there isn’t a definitive figure stipulating the number of visitors allowed, an accumulation of economic, social and environmental factors determine if and how numbers are creeping up.

There are the wide-reaching effects, such as climate change. Coral reefs, like the Great Barrier Reef and Maya Bay, Thailand, made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Beach , are being degraded from visitors snorkelling, diving and touching the corals, as well as tour boats anchoring in the waters. And 2030 transport-related carbon emissions from tourism are expected to grow 25% from 2016 levels, representing an increase from 5% to 5.3% of all man-made emissions, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). More localised issues are affecting locals, too. Renters are being evicted by landlords in favour of turning properties into holiday lets, and house prices are escalating as a result. As visitors and rental properties outnumber local residents, communities are being lost. And, skyrocketing prices, excessive queues, crowded beaches, exorbitant noise levels, damage at historical sites and the ramifications to nature as people overwhelm or stray from official paths are also reasons the positives of tourism can have a negative impact.

Conversely, ‘undertourism’ is a term applied to less-frequented destinations, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. The economic, social and environmental benefits of tourism aren't always passed on to those with plenty of capacity and, while tourist boards are always keen for visitors to visit their lesser-known attractions, it’s a more sustainable and rewarding experience for both residents and visitors.

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What’s the main problem with it?

Overcrowding is an issue for both locals and tourists. It can ruin the experience of sightseeing for those trapped in long queues, unable to visit museums, galleries and sites without advance booking, incurring escalating costs for basics like food, drink and hotels, and faced with the inability to experience the wonder of a place in relative solitude. The absence of any real regulations has seen places take it upon themselves to try and establish some form of crowd control, meaning no cohesion and no real solution.

Justin Francis, co-founder and CEO of Responsible Travel, a tour operator that focuses on more sustainable travel, says “Social media has concentrated tourism in hotspots and exacerbated the problem, and tourist numbers globally are increasing while destinations have a finite capacity. Until local people are properly consulted about what they want and don’t want from tourism, we’ll see more protests.”

A French start up, Murmuration, which monitors the environmental impact of tourism by using satellite data, states that 80% of travellers visit just 10% of the world's tourism destinations, meaning bigger crowds in fewer spots. And, the UNWTO predicts that by 2030, the number of worldwide tourists, which peaked at 1.5 billion in 2019, will reach 1.8 billion,   likely leading to greater pressure on already popular spots and more objection from locals.

Who has been protesting?

Of the 800 residents in the UNESCO-listed village of Hallstatt, around 100 turned out in August to show their displeasure and to push for a cap on daily visitors and a curfew on tour coach arrivals.

Elsewhere, residents in Venice fought long and hard for a ban on cruise ships, with protest flags often draped from windows. In 2021, large cruise ships over 25,000 tonnes were banned from using the main Giudecca Canal, leaving only smaller passenger ferries and freight vessels able to dock.

In France, the Marseille Provence Cruise Club introduced a flow management system for cruise line passengers in 2020, easing congestion around the popular Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde Basilica. A Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) spokesperson said, “Coaches are limited to four per ship during the morning or afternoon at the Basilica to ensure a good visitor experience and safety for residents and local businesses. This is a voluntary arrangement respected by cruise lines.”

While in Orkney, Scotland, residents have been up in arms at the number of cruise ships docking on its shores. At the beginning of 2023, the local council confirmed that 214 cruise ship calls were scheduled for the year, bringing around £15 million in revenue to the islands. Following backlash from locals, the council has since proposed a plan to restrict the number of ships on any day.

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What steps are being taken?  

City taxes have become increasingly popular, with Barcelona increasing its nightly levy in April 2023 — which was originally introduced in 2012 and varies depending on the type of accommodation — and Venice expects to charge day-trippers a €5 fee from 2024.

In Amsterdam this summer, the city council voted to ban cruise ships, while the mayor, Femke Halsema, commissioned a campaign of discouragement, asking young British men who planned to have a 'vacation from morals’ to stay away. In Rome, sitting at popular sites, such as the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, has been restricted by the authorities.

And in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, meanwhile, the Narok County governor has introduced on-the-spot fines for off-roading. He also plans to double nightly park fees in peak season.

What are the forecasts for global tourism?  

During the Covid pandemic, tourism was one of the hardest-hit industries — according to UNWTO, international tourist arrivals dropped 72% in 2020. However, traveller numbers have since been rapidly increasing, with double the number of people venturing abroad in the first three months of 2023 than in the same period in 2022. And, according to the World Travel Tourism Council, the tourism sector is expected to reach £7.5 trillion this year, 95% of its pre-pandemic levels.

While the tourism industry is forecast to represent 11.6% of the global economy by 2033, it’s also predicted that an increasing number of people will show more interest in travelling more sustainably. In a 2022 survey by Booking.com, 64% of the people asked said they would be prepared to stay away from busy tourist sites to avoid adding to congestion.

Are there any solutions?  

There are ways to better manage tourism by promoting more off-season travel, limiting numbers where possible and having greater regulation within the industry. Encouraging more sustainable travel and finding solutions to reduce friction between residents and tourists could also have positive impacts. Promoting alternative, less-visited spots to redirect travellers may also offer some benefits.

Harold Goodwin, emeritus professor at Manchester Metropolitan University, says, “Overtourism is a function of visitor volumes, but also of conflicting behaviours, crowding in inappropriate places and privacy. Social anthropologists talk about frontstage and backstage spaces. Tourists are rarely welcome in backstage spaces. To manage crowds, it’s first necessary to analyse and determine the causes of them.

Francis adds: “However, we must be careful not to just recreate the same problems elsewhere. The most important thing is to form a clear strategy, in consultation with local people about what a place wants or needs from tourism.”

As it stands, overtourism is a seasonal issue for a small number of destinations. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, a range of measures are clearly an option depending on the scale of the problem. For the majority of the world, tourism remains a force for good with many benefits beyond simple economic growth.

Related Topics

  • OVERTOURISM
  • SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

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Tourism; Pros and Cons, Facts and Environmental Impact.

  • by Ahsen Soomro

10 Pros and Cons of Tourism

Table of Contents Show

1. wealth generation, 2. the progression of a country, 3. creation of jobs, 4. unity among different societies, 5. conservation, 6. improves geographical identity worldwide, 7. damage to the environment by tourists, 8. exploitation of local culture, 9. non-compliance of tourists, 10. lack of job security/seasonal only, 11. confined to service jobs, 12. unequal infrastructure growth, 13. foreign business owners, 14. neglecting of other sectors, 5+ fun facts on tourism, environmental damage, invasive organisms, negative impact on wildlife, loss of natural resources, challenging stereotypes, gaining cultural sensitivity, authentic experience of cultures.

Tourism is the department or an organization that facilitates people to allow them to visit or spend vacations at places they like.

Tourism is one of the most important industries in any country. It is a large contributor to the economy of a country as it can provide revenue throughout the year. Tourism helps in keeping the employment rate of countries stable as several job opportunities are created due to the tourism industry.

Sometimes, tourism can be a major source of foreign income for the country. This is like Maldives where 40% of the economy is generated from the Tourism industry.

This transaction doesn’t only facilitate the vacation or relaxation of tourists visiting these regions, but also helps to provide a better livelihood to everyone involved in the tourism sector.

Developed countries like USA and UK have greatly benefitted from medical tourism. Medical tourism involves people travelling to developed countries to get treatments unavailable in their home country. These are usually people from developing countries with sub-standard health care. You can also call them a medical tourist !

However, even with the great number of benefits of tourism, there are several drawbacks to it. These disadvantages are sometimes ignored by the tourism sector of that country as their sole purpose becomes profit. We must consider all aspects of tourism which include environmental responsibilities, profit and sustainability.

Today, we will look at some of the Pros and Cons of Tourism;

Advantages of Tourism

One of the major advantages of Tourism is a constant flow of cash. It is very important not just for the economy of the country as a whole but for all those working in the tourism sectors.

Commercial and private airlines operating from these countries tend to make a ton of revenue as people from around the world fly to a tourist attraction. Hotels and guest homes in the hospitality industry make a constant income as travelers flood hotel lobbies looking for a place to stay. This makes sure hotels make money throughout the year.

These small sectors, that come under the umbrella of tourism help to generate money for the country throughout the year. This cash flow is even more essential for small, developing, and third world nations as for some of them the tourist sector might be the biggest contributor to their local economy.

As wealth influx starts in the country, it helps the government to procure necessary funds for development and progression of the country. The tourism sector gives security and stability to the economy of the nation, preventing it from tanking in times of crisis.

The government also gets necessary funds to carry out large scale infrastructure projects like restaurants, hotels, casinos and theater which may further improve the tourism sector, providing more places for travelers to stay and more activities to indulge in. This will help to generate further cash influx.

Other than that, this wealth can also be used to improve the infrastructure of the country. This includes building roads, rail roads, better hospitals and education centers for natives as well as the tourists.

Tourism has provided various jobs to people who were previously unemployed. The natives gifted with constant stable jobs have greatly improved their livelihood ( there is a possible catch to this, I’ve explained in the cons ).

These jobs include working in areas such as hotels, restaurants, bars, casinos, theatres, zoos, parks, entertainment facilities, and more. Some of those you might remember from your last trip, especially the travel agent who booked your tickets or the tour operator who ensured that your trip went smooth or the captain of your cruise ship in the Caribbean. They work relentlessly, away from their families, to make sure you enjoy your vacations.

This has also led to the overall reduction of unemployment in the country, thus reducing burden on the government.

Did you know? 1 in 10 jobs are supported by Tourism industry across the world!

The unique feature of tourism is that it helps to create unity among people from different countries, cultures, backgrounds, traditions, and ethnicities who are all visiting to have some fun.

It allows people to learn different histories, traditions, cultures, diets, and lifestyles of the nations they are visiting. This helps to create understanding and oneness among people which can have a long-lasting impact socially.

Tourism Fosters Unity among travelers and Society

Cross-cultural connections are developed as the natives interact with the tourists and may lead to further large-scale collaborations as well!

The main star of attraction for tourists visiting a country is its historical sites and landscapes, particularly the landmarks of the country. These landmarks may be in the form of churches, mosques, cathedrals, monuments, buildings, skyscrapers, beaches, amusement parks, and other attractions to say the least.

This means it becomes the government’s utmost priority to conserve these sites, for the tourism industry to be sustainable.

The government carries out regular maintenance of such areas and rules are placed concerned with damaging or vandalism of the property in order to protect these spots. Once these areas become a part of the tourism sector, they are no less than a cash generator for the country.

Tourists often go back home and praise about the vacation that they had. Every person that goes back home brags to at-least 10 more people about the wonderful vacation they had, usually through social media. This allows more people to know more about the country and helps it earn its name and make a place for itself on the map!

Increased recognition leads to further foreign investment and development, followed with increased tourism activity in the area.

Major Cons of Tourism

When it comes to tourism thousands of people may visit, even millions in some spots. This high influx of tourists can lead to immense environmental destruction, especially in destinations where tourists are more prone to visit.

This environmental burden is not solely due to the high influx of tourists, but it is associated with various other factors working together to bring environmental harm.

These factors include increased presence and use of cars, buses, trains, and other vehicles which may raise carbon emissions. A large number of flights at the airport could become a large contributor of air pollution as well.

Tourists can cause a lot of land pollution; as they throw a massive amount of garbage and waste, which is mostly non-biodegradable, leading to a massive number of landfills. All these activities may combine to greatly impact the environment of the region.

Soil erosion, Different kinds of Pollution , habitat loss and destruction as well as forest fires are just some of the environmental effects of tourism.

Environmental Impact of Tourism  Trashy Beaches

If these regions are not conserved and taken care of properly, they will lose their natural essence and subsequently be abandoned by tourists. This can lead to permanent damage of the natural tourist attractions!

Fortunately, we have been observing a rise in demand of sustainable tourism. We’ll be discussing that very soon.

Some countries, seeing the vast amount of tourists coming in their country to observe their unorthodox lifestyle and traditions, begin to commercialize their culture. It can be in the form of souvenirs. Usually, the natives are not offended by this.

However, in some regions this can be considered an outright disgrace and mocking of their culture. This is especially true for the regions where locals consider their culture to be their identity. Commercializing may result in people just wearing costumes and exhibiting traditions just to entertain tourists. Observing that the governments are using their culture as a tool for profiteering can cause them to feel sad and ridiculed by their nation.

Sometimes, tourists do not honor cultures and traditions of countries/regions they visit. They may break certain rules and unspoken codes of conduct to which the locals have very high regard. Tourists get drunk in public and do horrendous acts at times. This creates certain hatred among the locals for the incoming tourists.

Racist remarks by tourists and the socioeconomic gap between the tourists and the natives may further exacerbate the issue. The tourists may consider themselves in much higher regard than the natives. Such thoughts may provoke the tourists to act wildly and unlawfully, and sometimes even end up mocking the nation.

Look at it this way; if you go to a friend’s house, you don’t outright break stuff at his home or start shouting remarks to his/her family. You respectfully meet your friend and have a good time, in good spirits. That’s the way you should treat natives when you’re visiting another country, because you’re visiting their home !

Although we did mention that tourism leads to an increase in the employment rate; sometimes these jobs can be seasonal depending on the region and hence, cannot be a dependable income throughout the year. This is more concerning in countries that have specific durations and seasons of high influx of tourists from around the world. These seasonal jobs, hence, offer minimal job security and employees can be left without a proper pension or insurance.

Although tourism generates jobs for locals, most of these jobs are confined to service industry with minimal wages. These low-wage and minimum-skill workers have little ambition to promotion and getting higher up the chain.

Massive income generated from tourism offers countries to build upon infrastructure of the tourist destination only. Sadly, the countries do not use the revenue generated from this infrastructure to build and develop other regions which require maintenance and development.

The wealth generated from tourism is put back into tourism-related things and regions that desperately need improvement are constantly neglected. The locals who don’t live in tourist-economy regions are neglected which leads to imbalance of infrastructure development.

Sometimes most of the places which are heavily infiltrated by tourists are owned by foreign businesses. This means most of the profits and money coming into the country are being used by foreigners thereby causing significant loss of local businesses.

Local industries miss out on the primary source of income that is required for them to stay afloat and to grow. This can lead to businesses going bankrupt and losing, overall damaging the country’s economy.

Countries see that tourist is the major source of income for them, tend to ignore other various sectors upon which they are built. This leads to nations neglecting these sectors, thus causing a loss of income, jobs, and growth amongst these sectors. The country aims to put all of its resources in one basket which is the tourism industry, will leaving all others behind for them to crumble and diminish.

This over-reliance on a specific sector for the stability of the nations can sometimes cause a massive impact, especially during times of war, political instability, or natural disasters as it will be led to the long term closure of the tourism of those countries due to unrest. This can eventually drain the country down as its only resource which is tourism is no longer function, and it didn’t have any other sector nor did they built any other sector in a way for them to become sustainable in times of economic crisis.

  • Tourism is responsible for 5% of the Global GDP!
  • China stays as the world’s top tourism spender, spending more than 260 Billion Dollars!
  • Global tourism industry being the largest industry contributes more than 7.5 trillion dollars in the world economy.
  • Almost 10% of world’s jobs are sourced from Tourism Industry.
  • Tourists spend the most cash in Dubai. Around 28.5 Billion dollars yearly!
  • Osaka in Japan is emerging as the hottest tourist spot in the world.

Negative Environmental Impacts of Tourism

The government may choose to put the wealth generated from tourism into preservation of the environment. However, tourism still goes on to put sufficient burden on the natural resources of our planet and prompts over-consumption of natural resources in regions with already limited resources.

Once tourism becomes unsustainable, the surrounding environment starts to deteriorate. Tourism has a wide impact on the air quality, vegetation, water supply, wildlife, and the natural ecosystems of the region.

Most of the tourist activities have a negative impact on ecosystems.  These include fishing, hiking, and snorkeling; all of which tend to affect and deplete the local scenery.

To run a tropical golf course for tourists requires water that can feed up to 60,000 locals. There is a trail in the Himalayas known as “the toilet paper trail” which shows how much damage tourism has caused to the environment.

Tourism has Major Environmental Impact in terms of Pollution

Once there is an influx of tourists to a common destination, there is an overuse of transportation systems which heavily contributes to pollution (Mainly air pollution). Tourism accounts for 60% of air travel worldwide, and flying one mile in a plane can produce 53 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Even travelers conscious of hurting the environment also cause a negative impact. Tourists that travel to natural sites located remotely, tend to cause damage to natural ecosystems they come to see.

The increased human presence on many geographical regions can alter the number of native plants in the region and introduce non native species in those areas.

Even species brought in as pets into the country are sometime released into the wild and could bring havoc upon the ecosystem if they turned out to be invasive species.

Hunting is another tourist activity, very damaging to wildlife

Human intervention and presence can disrupt food webs, ecological communities, and harm keystone species in an area. Others take an active approach and hunt foreign animals as a tourist activity. They can also damage the natural habitat of native wildlife by engaging with it. All of these contribute to wildlife endangerment and extinction.

Tourism can shrink the natural resources by causing over-consumption. This is particularly damaging in areas with food and water scarcity.

This may also lead to hatred among the locals for tourists who use up the limited water supply for luxuries. A natural resource like water could be used to fill up Jacuzzis at a 5-star hotel but could much better be used in feeding a child who suffers from dehydration.

Cultural Benefits of Traveling

Traveling Cultural Benefits

When you get to visit another country and observe their culture, you get the opportunity to be exposed to unfamiliar perspectives and traditions and gain a more broad, much informed, and kinder view of the locals and places you encounter.

Perceptions and stereotypes might be replaced by first hand view of the people by the tourists themselves.

People get to see traditions and learn manners of different cultures. Manners and etiquette tourists may not have practiced in their native countries.

Pointing with your index fingers at the indigenous people, showing excessive skin, wearing shoes indoors, and making noises may be considered rude in some places.

So it is important to do a little bit of research on the local customs and traditions before visiting so you can try to avoid being offensive or inappropriate.

It can be a wonderful way to experience the insights of a different culture through the experience of traditions, rituals, festivals, celebrations, and rites. It gives the visitor a chance to understand the cultural heritage of a region much more deeply.

Tourism has its benefits to the economy but the environmental component of tourism shouldn’t be ignored. Think about that the next time you book your tickets. We are also working on reducing your environmental footprint when you travel…Can’t reveal more. Stay tuned!

For now I’d like to leave this picture for you to ponder about Eco-tourism.

Think about sustainable travel and learn the best way to do it.

Ahsen Soomro

My love for nature is not newfound. I have lived on the countryside for over a decade of my life where I realized how human activities impacted the environment. Later during my stint in medical school, I realized that many of our health concerns originate from neglecting our environmental responsibilities and this was just not sustainable in the long run. Raising awareness, not locally but globally, was the mission. This led to the foundation of EnvironmentBuddy!

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What is Tourism and its pros and cons elaborated

Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism: A Comprehensive Overview

Tourism is a crucial part of the global economy, contributing significantly to job creation , economic growth, and cultural exchange. However, tourism also has its disadvantages, including environmental degradation, cultural erosion, and the potential for exploitation. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive overview of the advantages and disadvantages of tourism.

Advantages of Tourism

  • Economic benefits: One of the most significant advantages of tourism is the economic benefits it provides. Tourism generates income for local businesses and creates job opportunities for people in the host community. It also boosts the local economy by increasing the demand for goods and services.
  • Cultural exchange: Tourism can be an excellent way for people to experience different cultures and ways of life. It promotes understanding and tolerance between different groups and can help to break down cultural barriers.
  • Preservation of heritage sites: Tourism can help to preserve heritage sites by providing the necessary funding and resources for their maintenance and restoration. This, in turn, helps to protect the cultural and historical significance of these sites for future generations.
  • Environmental awareness: Tourism can promote environmental awareness by encouraging tourists to adopt sustainable travel practices. This includes reducing their carbon footprint, conserving natural resources, and minimizing waste.

Disadvantages of Tourism

  • Environmental degradation: Tourism can have a negative impact on the environment , including increased pollution, depletion of natural resources, and destruction of wildlife habitats.
  • Cultural erosion: Tourism can lead to the erosion of traditional cultures and ways of life. This is especially true in areas where tourism is the primary source of income, and local communities are forced to adapt to meet the needs of tourists.
  • Exploitation: Tourism can lead to the exploitation of local communities, particularly in developing countries where labor laws are lax, and workers are not protected. This includes low wages, long working hours, and poor working conditions.
  • Overcrowding: Tourism can lead to overcrowding, particularly in popular tourist destinations. This can result in traffic congestion, longer wait times, and increased noise levels.

Tourism has its advantages and disadvantages, and it is essential to strike a balance between the two. The benefits of tourism can be significant, but we must also be aware of its potential negative impacts. By adopting sustainable travel practices and promoting responsible tourism, we can ensure that tourism remains a positive force for economic development, cultural exchange, and environmental preservation.

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Tourism: The Advantages, Disadvantages and How to Properly Travel

Tourism, the advantages, disadvantages and how to improve the practice

The Advantages

For developing countries, the advantages of tourism tend to be primarily monetary. A large scale tourism industry prevents larger, more harmful businesses from working off the land. Small tourist companies that reign on the land stops large capitalistic corporations from polluting the air or gentrifying people’s homes.

The tourism industry encompasses many different travel areas, which allows the majority of a country’s population to be employed . These employment places include hotels, car rental agencies, restaurants, tour companies, souvenir shops, and equipment shops, among others.

Profit earned from tourism can be reinvested into the country for better infrastructure, education, funding conservation efforts and creating more responsible ways of touring. Without tourism, many countries would not have the same level of access to education and infrastructure. Moreover, tourism allows hosts and visitors to share cultures and meet diverse groups of people. Through respectful interactions, a broader view of the world from both parties can be achieved. By reinvesting the money earned back into the country, tourism and its attractions can grow, creating a positive cycle for the country.

The Disadvantages

With the way the tourism industry is currently run, the disadvantages of tourism may greatly outweigh the advantages in a country. The first factor to take into consideration is environmental damage. When a country has a high tourist attraction, the number of people occupying a space increases immensely. As a result, the release of carbon monoxide gases can increase due to plane and car use affecting the country’s environment. Many countries with ancient ruins or natural attractions are also in danger of destruction or erosion with significant foot traffic and human interaction. Additionally, flora and fauna can decrease in areas or change their growth and migration patterns when there is an overflow of humans interact. Foot traffic and continuous touching can also slowly degrade the stability of ancient structures.

One of the advantages breached upon the sharing of cultures. While this is a great interaction of beliefs and customs, it can become destructive to a host country’s culture. One of the ways cultures can be disrespected is through the commercialization of countries’ cultures . When tourism booms, large industries swoop in and sell figures of the cultures’ icons or traditional wear, disrespecting the countries’ indigenous beliefs and can be harmful to the people living there. Moreover, poor behavior from tourists who don’t respect the spoken or unspoken codes of conduct held by indigenous peoples also undermines the sacred beliefs held within the country.

Also, for many countries, tourism is a seasonal occurrence. For people that work in the tourism industry, their jobs are only viable for a certain number of months, and after the season has ended, many are left without income. Many of these jobs also lack the benefits that other sector jobs supply. Tourism workers are often left without insurance or pension. Not to mention, foreign businesses tend to overtake the companies present in these countries, forcing small businesses to shut down. As a result, foreign businesses keep the majority of profits from tourism, while local businesses lose their income. This hurts small businesses and local economies.

As previously stated, the profit gained from tourism is often reinvested into the industry. However, with unequal infrastructure development, the tourism industry can inadvertently sustain itself without aiding a country’s other vital sectors. As such, many countries end up developing tourism hot spots while the rest of the country suffers. In these countries, there are visible socioeconomic gaps between the wealthy and the poor. Focusing mainly on the tourism industry and places of mass attraction leaves disadvantaged communities at risk of financial instability. Moreover, countries solely invested in tourism are vulnerable to quick economic falls as its working sectors are unevenly balanced. If a natural disaster, political unrest or unprecedented pandemic were to strike, the country would lose a massive income, causing an economic recession that some countries may significantly struggle to bounce back from.

Ways to Respectfully Travel

The most important step to being a respectful tourist is to be an educated tourist. Understanding and respecting the culture and the people of the country is vital. By not undermining tourism countries’ culture and beliefs, the people living there will be more welcoming to tourists, and cultures can flourish without fear of commercialization.

Being environmentally conscious is also important to the survival of these countries. Respecting a country’s land and structures preserve the countries’ beauty and keep the land clean and prepped for further development. Many countries are more environmentally strained, so reducing pollution or your carbon footprint in a foreign country can help ease the strain.

Supporting the small and local businesses found in these countries can help keep local communities employed and support the overall economy.  As local businesses grow, more people will have the opportunity to be employed outside of the tourism sector, and the economy will be able to grow within itself.

By learning the advantages and disadvantages of tourism, and how one can improve the practice of traveling, the tourism industry will be able to change for the better and support the countries that host people from all over the world.

– Marlee Ingram Photo: Flickr

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The Disadvantages of Tourism – What Happens When Travel is not Sustainable

This post will highlight some of the common disadvantages of tourism, and the negative impacts it can have on destinations when it is not managed in a sustainable way.

Disadvantages of Tourism

Table of Contents

The problem with tourism

In 2019 (pre-COVID), international tourist arrivals grew to 1.5 billion and the industry generated 1.4 trillion USD dollars of tourism receipts ( UNWTO ). It was the tenth straight year of growth, with arrivals continuing to increase each year. The receipts from tourism were even growing at a faster rate than global GDP! Ten years of rapid growth, and in many destinations, limited restriction or control on that growth has left tourism causing some pretty serious damage to the destinations it occurs in. It is only in recent years that sustainable tourism has really become a serious priority for destinations and operators around the world. In many cases, it has been out of necessity, in an attempt to resolve the issues unsustainable tourism has caused over the years.

Now, I love to travel. And this list is by no means designed to try to make anyone stop travelling (COVID has already done that for us…). But I think it is really important as travellers to be aware of the issues we are contributing to. Either directly or indirectly. The negative impacts of tourism are usually classified into three different areas, economic, social and environmental. In this post, I will share four negative impacts tourism can have in each of these areas. This list is by no means exhaustive, and there are (unfortunately) many other disadvantages of tourism. But the idea of this post is to highlight the problems with unsustainable tourism.

Economic disadvantages of tourism

It might seem hard to believe that there can be economic disadvantages of tourism when it produces so much revenue. But the economic side of tourism is more than just profits. And unsustainable tourism driven by profits only can have dire consequences for the destinations it occurs in.

Over reliance on tourism

Countries can become over-reliant on tourism, with a large portion of their economy and GDP coming from tourism. The situation the world finds itself in now with COVID could not be a better illustrator of the damages of being over-reliant on tourism, a very volatile industry. But even before a global pandemic, this was still an issue. Tourist’s destination preferences change easily, and it doesn’t take much to sway them away from a particular destination. Relying on tourist’s to come back to the same place year after year is risky. Events such as natural disasters, terrorism, health concerns or even just a change in trend can leave countries that were thriving on tourism empty.

disadvantages of tourism neon sign street cambodia

Low quality employment

It’s true that tourism generates employment for many. But often these jobs are low paying and seasonal. With employees completing menial tasks with little room for progression or career advancement. It’s not uncommon for establishments like resorts to hire international staff for senior, managerial roles. Usually from more economically developed countries. This leaves local workers stuck in low-level roles, paid peanuts and not guaranteed year-round work.

Tourism dollars leaking out of local economies

A major economic issue with the tourism industry is that of leakage. You can read about this issue in more detail here. But basically, leakage is when a portion of tourism income does not stay in the destination where the tourists visited. Money ‘leaks’ out to more developed countries. This usually occurs through international companies such as airlines and resorts taking their profits back to their headquartering countries. And the local destination and community do not get the economic benefits of the tourists that have visited.

disadvantages of tourism hotel bed

Favoured over other industries

In countries where tourism is a major industry sector, the government can sometimes focus all their energy and funds on the industry. This is often at the peril of other important industries like education, infrastructure and healthcare. This can result in pristine tourist areas, new infrastructure and funding for the benefit of visitors. But what about the locals who live in the country? They might not enjoy anywhere near the same level of development.

Social disadvantages of tourism

The impacts of tourism on society and culture are often contested and deeply complicated. Tourism is just one of many forces that can impact on and change cultures, like globalisation, technology and the media. But there is no denying that tourism and culture and society are inseparable. And there are some major disadvantages of tourism in this area.

The commodification of culture

This is one of the most complex, morally challenging and difficult parts of tourism. It warrants an entire discussion of its own, but in short, tourism can turn culture into a commodity. When traditional culture becomes an attraction, that people pay to see, this raises complicated ethical issues. Often times the culture that is presented to tourists has been adapted to be more appealing to the visitor. Traditional dances and costumes are amended, ceremonies or rituals are shortened, and handicrafts are often made smaller or lighter to fit in suitcases. Only certain elements of a culture are deemed worthy of presenting to tourists. And usually, there is a whole host of problems behind closed doors that tourists are never exposed to or aware of. The culture of a destination as seen through the tourists’ eyes is not authentic at all.

Erosion of culture

This issue is different to the previous issue in that culture can not only be commodified but in many cases lost altogether as a result of tourism. The ‘demonstration effect’ occurs when locals, particularly in traditional or indigenous cultures, observe the behaviours of visitors, usually Western tourists. Exposing the locals to a completely different way of life can lead to changes in their local culture, particularly from younger members of the community. They can begin to mimic and replicate the cultures of the tourists who visit and move away from the customs and traditions of their own culture.

Monks on street in Luang Prabang Laos

Tourists behaving badly

When people are on holiday they tend to leave their moral compass at home. They are relaxing, want to have a good time, and outside of their usual environment. This can lead to major clashes between tourists and locals, and leave the locals wishing the tourists had never arrived. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, tourists can offend locals and make them uncomfortable in their own homes. Dressing inappropriately, not being aware of culturally unacceptable behaviours and general bad behaviour through the use of alcohol and drugs are just some of the bad behaviours tourists bring to a destination.

Physical damage to built culture and heritage

The Colosseum, Petra, Angkor Wat, the Great Wall of China. Some of the biggest tourist attractions in the world are ancient, historical sites, built centuries ago by different civilisations. These physical representations of ancient cultures are old and fragile. And having thousands, sometimes millions, of tourists tramp through them each year places a lot of strain on the structures and can cause irreparable damage. Not all damage is deliberate on the part of the tourists, but simply having people walk over old stones, touch rock walls and lean on sites can cause irreversible erosion and damage. However many sites are suffering from the deliberate actions of tourists. Littering, graffitiing, taking pieces of the site home with them and climbing on off-limits structures.

Ancient city of Petra in rock

Environmental disadvantages of tourism

The negative impacts of tourism on the environment are often the most publicised and talked about. They are easier for us to physically see and quantify, so it can be easier to talk about them. But the impacts that tourism can have on the environment are very complex and can be both direct and indirect. The environment is a complicated web of ecosystems, and one small action can have rippling effects throughout an entire area or species. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the negative things tourism can do to our environment. But some of the issues listed are a bit easier to quantify, where tourism has a direct impact.

Intense use of resources

Tourists, like all people, use resources such as water and energy. However many popular tourist destinations around the world are already dealing with resource scarcities, and tourism can severely exacerbate the problem. Tourism as an industry is a massive overuser of water. Swimming pools and golf courses require a lot of water, and I can’t think of something more synonymous with a holiday than a swimming pool. Tourists themselves tend to use more water than when they are at home, and doing their laundry can consume a lot of water and energy. Cooling and/or heating large hotels and resort complexes and their swimming pools also require a lot of electricity.

disadvantages of tourism hotel pool over ocean

Physical damage to natural and marine areas

Tourism takes place in some of the most pristine, yet fragile natural areas in the world. Hiking in the rainforest, snorkelling in coral reefs and climbing alpine mountains are just some of the many activities that can physically impact and damage the natural environment. Vegetation can be damaged having tourists continually trampling over the same paths (and often going off the path too). Corals are damaged by boats and anchors, and tourists (accidentally or not) touching and breaking them. This damage has major flow-on effects on the wider ecosystems and can indirectly impact entire ecosystems and species.

Sally snorkelling underwater

Increased waste, pollution and emissions

From rubbish to sewerage, carbon emissions from transport carriers and water pollution – tourism produces a lot of unwanted waste. In many lesser developed countries around the world, tourism has come on quicker than their local infrastructure can handle, and disposing of the increased waste tourists bring has proven troublesome. Sewerage can end up in local rivers and lakes, and rubbish can be burnt or end up in the ocean. And transporting tourists from point A to B, by planes, in particular, releases a ton of carbon emissions into our atmosphere.

Land use and infrastructure development

Tourists need places to stay, airports for planes to land in and ports for boats to depart from. Natural areas are often cleared to make way for this construction, displacing animals and destroying forests or wetlands. A lot of tourism occurs in coastal areas, and building hotels and resorts right along the coastline can have major impacts on the ocean and surrounding reefs due to erosion and sand runoff. The same goes for constructing marinas and ports, where sand mining and dredging can have disastrous consequences for marine ecosystems.

disadvantages of tourism beach front villa with palm trees

The disadvantages of tourism: Conclusion

As I mentioned previously, this list is by no means exhaustive and unfortunately there is a range of other disadvantages of tourism. The problems tourism can cause in destinations around the world are complicated and entangled with other deep societal issues such as development, globalisation and colonialism. The purpose of sharing these negative impacts was to highlight that tourism is not a perfect industry. And as travellers, we should be aware of the damage that we can contribute to when we travel. But it’s not all bad news! Tourism, when managed sustainably, has the opportunity to contribute to positive change for our planet. And there are countless examples of the positive impacts of tourism!

What do you think? Have you experienced some of these disadvantages of tourism first hand? Can you think of any other negative impacts tourism can have on the economy, culture and environment? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

disadvantages of tourism

Sally Rodrick

Sally Rodrick is the voice behind Sally Sees. She has spent 12 months travelling in Mexico and Central America, and has her sights firmly set on South America. Sally helps thousands of readers discover the magic of Latin America. Sharing detailed guides to inspire and equip them with the knowledge they need to plan their own epic adventures in this incredible part of the world.

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The comments.

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M.K.CHETTRI

It’s nice as you have studied and observed tourists and tourism from the very near…..it’s fantastic. but the thing is that, tourism must go strictly and very sincerely with modern technological facilities keeping in mind about our extremely valuable resources security and conservation.

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Thankyou for your comment. I agree, for tourism to be beneficial for all parties involved, and the environment it has to be managed carefully with strict limitations in place to protect resources.

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Thanks for simplifying it for me

My pleasure, I hope it was helpful 🙂

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Hi Sally, I enjoy your travel blogs very much and appreciate the way you approach your travel experiences. They have been particularly helpful as I am planning a road trip to BCS.

Regarding the negative side of travel, it is much like the negative side of modern life in general. Our collective efforts and our individual choices can have an impact, however it is governments and large corporations who cause the most damage and reap the most profits from industry and development, and also have all the power to either continue down a path of environmental and cultural destruction or make crucial policy changes to preserve our world. Unfortunately, preservation isn’t lucrative but exploitation is. That’s why our environmental crisis is worsening, not improving, no matter how many reusable straws people are buying.

While I firmly believe that as individuals and consumers we must make conscious choices and also “vote with our dollars”, I find it frustrating that we as a collective society of caring individuals have fallen for the greatest psychological trick of industry: that it’s up to us, the consumer, to make sure our world doesn’t get destroyed, while governments and industries continue to knowingly create mass scale destruction, pollution, waste and overdevelopment.

This same problem applies to most areas of modern life, not just travel, and frankly it is extremely distressing. As someone who is very conscious of the dangerous effects of modern consumerism, I am often extremely troubled and sometimes paralyzed by it. So for me it becomes important to live with balance in this regard. I will always live consciously, but I need to be careful not to feel the enormous and distressing weight of these problems squarely on my shoulders alone. Ultimately, industry and government need to be held accountable more so than individuals. Plus, not all individuals are on board with these efforts. Many plainly do not care. Those individuals who contribute most to environmental and cultural destruction aren’t the ones who will be reading blogs like this, or refraining from purchasing multiple homes, or living beyond their share of resources. They don’t care and never will. We need our leadership to change and to lead us all into conservation and preservation.

Certainly we as caring citizens of the planet should live consciously but our small efforts are no match for the unbridled and unregulated industries that are the true source of our worlds demise.

I certainly appreciate the message you are putting forth here and everything you point out is absolutely accurate, but I fear the ones who need to hear it the most won’t be the ones this message will reach.

Thank you for being a conscious and caring citizen of the planet and thank you for your lovely and helpful blogs. Best wishes and happy trails.

Hi Marissa,

Thankyou for your insightful comment. I couldn’t have said it better myself and completely share your sentiment on the situation of our planet.

To be perfectly honest, I try not to think too much about what our governments and large corporations are doing to our earth. It often feels to overwhelming to even comprehend, when it is so far out of our control.

You are completely right in saying that they are the ones that are really doing the damage, and the only ones that have the potential for real change. But for that to happen profit must be sacrificed, and planet must come first. There are small hints of this happening in some places around the world, and I think countries with large tourism industry are amongst some of the first to say no to profitable industries that are detrimental to the environment. Finally they can see the long term condition of the environment is more valuable than a quick financial win in a destructive industry. A pristine environment with rich biodiversity will be worth financially more to tourists in the long term, so there is incentive to keep it that way.

That’s why I think travel can be so powerful. Sure, travelling produces emissions and has its own set of challenges for our environment. But as you say, modern living in any context, at home or while travelling, is damaging by its very nature. I believe pros of travel can outweigh the cons if done right.

It’s a very tough line between knowing that really, as individuals, we have very little power to make meaningful change. But if we swing too far in the opposite direction it turns into an attitude of not even bothering at all. Little steps can have little impacts, and whilst it won’t solve the enormous problems our earth is facing – it can’t hurt to do the right thing where and when we can.

Keep exploring our beautiful world, and take on board the issues you can solve. All the best, Sally x

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Sinadi Aanya

This is grate I got a lot of information thank u so much 🙏🏻☺️

I’m so glad it was helpful Sinadi! All the best, Sally

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The Pros and Cons of Tourism

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The tourism industry is one of the most lucrative and essential industries for the global economy since it can provide revenue almost year-round. It allows people to visit and spend time in places they want to go and like. Every year, people from all over the world visit destinations like Paris, Hawaii, Mexico and Japan to experience a new culture through food, sightseeing and adventures. 

Tourism provides thousands of jobs each year and allows people to explore the world at their leisure. It’s excellent for both the people touring an area themselves for happiness and well-being, and it’s great for the country’s population as a whole. 

However, the disadvantages of tourism should be addressed, especially concerning the environment. Tourism industries in some countries often ignore these cons because they want to continue to provide revenue for the peoples’ livelihoods. It’s easy to overlook the negative aspects when tourism has brought enormous wealth to developing countries. 

If developing nations only rely on tourism and dismiss other aspects, like the environment, society and infrastructure development, the cons can quickly outweigh the pros. Fortunately, there are ways to be sustainable in the tourism industry. 

Here are some of the pros and cons of tourism. 

The Pros of Tourism

Tourism has many benefits for people, the economy and the environment. Below are some of the pros of tourism. 

Creates Jobs

One of the most significant benefits of tourism is creating jobs for people who may have previously been unemployed. Tourism accounts for about 10% of employment worldwide , whether directly or indirectly. 

The tourism industry encompasses retailers, restaurant workers, transportation industries, entertainment facilities and hospitality workers. It can even include medical workers as some people travel for cosmetic surgery or medical advice and medications. This leads to the reduction of unemployment in many countries, which reduces the burden on the government.

Develops Countries

As more people get jobs in developing countries, they can further progress. The government can get the funds needed to advance their nation. The tourism industry offers more security and financial stability. Plus, the government can carry out various infrastructure projects to continue its progression by building roads, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment businesses to allow more people to stay, generating more jobs and wealth. 

Conserves the Environment

Some of the primary attractions in countries are the historical sights and beautiful landscapes. Often, the country tries to conserve these sights and attractions to continue to bring in more and more tourists. Governments often carry out regular maintenance on historical sights, and they keep environmental areas protected.  

Encourages Culture-Learning

Finally, tourism encourages the learning of different cultures. It helps to create a sense of unity among people from various cultures and countries. Tourism encourages people of all backgrounds to visit a particular place, so tourist destinations become a melting pot of other cultures. People can begin to understand one another and may even make friends with people from other countries. 

The Cons of Tourism

Unfortunately, there are some cons of tourism that often go unnoticed. Below are a few of those. 

Damages the Environment

Although countries do their best to conserve the environment, including animals, plants and natural scenes, tourists can still be disrespectful. As people flock to one place, waste and pollution accumulate. Sometimes, tours offer animal experiences as well, which put animals through suffering. Further, land is needed to accommodate tourists, so countries will destroy habitats to build hotels and restaurants. 

Puts Pressure on Natural Resources

Another con of the tourism industry is that it puts an immense amount of pressure on natural resources. Anytime someone stays in an area, they inevitably use the area’s natural resources , like water and food. Cities and countries around the world have faced droughts. Additionally, tourism puts stress on the local land use, leading to soil erosion which can cause damage to infrastructure. 

Encourages Dependence on Tourism

It’s not a good thing to be solely dependent on tourism. Regions known for their tourist destinations learned that lesson once COVID-19 spread throughout the world. When people could no longer travel, the tourism industry in countries that depended on it had a more difficult time recovering and getting the necessary resources that locals needed to survive. Without tourists, those countries would receive no more income, which affects the entire country.

Leads to Loss of Cultural Identity

Often, locals in a tourist destination will begin copying the lifestyles of tourists and leave their local and cultural traditions behind. Instead of shops filled with daily necessities for the locals, they are filled with things tourists need, like travel-sized toiletries and souvenirs. Fast-food chains have taken over local cuisine as well. And unfortunately, tourism has led to a growth in prostitution and human trafficking. 

Making Tourism a More Sustainable Industry

Tourism is a necessary part of the economy, but the adverse effects often go unnoticed. Fortunately, there are ways to make it a more sustainable industry. Tourists should support the local economy, avoid single-use plastics, take more eco-friendly modes of transportation and avoid all of the traditional “tourist” excursions. 

The next time you travel, make sustainability a priority.

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Number of tourist arrivals

Somewhere on Earth this year

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The World Counts • Impact through Awareness

The world counts impact through awareness, 45 arrivals every second.

There are over 1.4 billion tourists arriving at their destination every year. That’s 45 arrivals every single second.

Exponential growth of tourism

In 1950 there were 25 million international tourist arrivals, in 1970 the number was 166 million, and by 1990 it had grown to 435 million. From 1990 to 2018 numbers more than tripled reaching 1.442 billion. By 2030, 1.8 billion tourist arrivals are projected.

Negative environmental impacts of tourism

The negative environmental impacts of tourism are substantial. They include the depletion of local natural resources as well as pollution and waste problems. Tourism often puts pressure on natural resources through over-consumption, often in places where resources are already scarce.

Tourism puts enormous stress on local land use, and can lead to soil erosion, increased pollution, natural habitat loss, and more pressure on endangered species. These effects can gradually destroy the environmental resources on which tourism itself depends.

Tourism often leads to overuse of water

An average golf course in a tropical country, for example, uses as much water as 60,000 rural villagers. It also uses 1500 kilos of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides per year.

Tourism and climate change

Tourism contributes to more than 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with transportation accounting for 90 percent of this.

By 2030, a 25% increase in CO2-emissions from tourism compared to 2016 is expected. From 1,597 million tons to 1,998 million tons.

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394,730,543

Tons of waste dumped

Globally, this year

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Square kilometers of land area being degraded

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793,184,608,700

Tons of freshwater used

Worldwide, this year

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8,024,943,431

Tons of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere

The alternative: Eco-tourism

Eco-tourism offers a greener alternative. Eco-tourism is a rapidly growing industry, with potential benefits for both the environment and the economies of the tourist destinations.

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Number of eco-tourist arrivals

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Overtourism: Causes, Consequences and Solutions

disadvantages to tourism

Overtourism : one of the words that people use most in recent years. In effect, more and more often, tourist destinations suffer from overtourism, tourism overcrowding . Places that everyone wants to see because they are “famous”. Movie scenes shot in locations (such as Lake Braies ) that now attract hordes of tourists looking for a short trip. Simply, they stop the time for a selfie and then leave for the next famous stage. This type of mass tourism causes pollution, the devastation of nature and distress of local populations. Let’s see in detail what is overtourism, what are its causes , what are the consequences , and what can be done to avoid it.

overtourism causes overcrowded beach

What is overtourism?

Overtourism is a neologism that indicates the overcrowding of tourists on a holiday destination. The term was first inserted in the Oxford dictionary in 2018 and nominated as the year’s word. Overtourism, literally “too much tourism” , is a complex phenomenon that we should analyze from various points of view. In essence, we could sum up the concept in one question. Is this place affected by the presence of more tourists than the place and the inhabitants can support?

When it comes to natural tourist destinations , tourism must respect flora, fauna, and microclimate. When the destination is a city , tourism must primarily r espect residents , as well as local culture and archaeological sites . The latter in particular are small microcosms blocked in time that tourism should protect. If this doesn’t happen, we talk about overtourism, or unsustainable tourism for the place, for nature, for the people who live there.

crowds in Times Square

The Causes of overtourism

More than 1.4 billion people are moving around the world every year, and they are growing at an exponential rate. The World Tourism Organisation predicts that by 2030 the international flow of tourists will exceed 2 billion . This very high number of people focus on a few tourist destinations in the world, which suffer from the excessive presence of tourists . The causes of too much tourism are many. From the famous films that make tourist destinations famous to the ease with which you can reach any corner of the world. Also, we can name the cruises that bring large quantities around the seas. We talked about cruises and their environmental impact in this article .

cruises cause overtourism

Cultural tourism, a new trend

A trend of the moment is tourism i nfluenced by mass culture . According to this kind of tourism, people chose the destination based on social media , influencers, television programs and films. Tourism influenced by film and TV series products, also known as film tourism , has in some cases led to real disasters. An example is what is happening in the Pacific Islands : in Thailand at Maya Bay , where the film “The Beach” was shot with Leonardo Di Caprio. Over the years, tourists who wanted to see the film set invaded the small beach. This forced the Thai government to prohibit the entry of tourists to restore the delicate balance of the beautiful bay.

Thailandia, Maya Bay

The increase in low-cost air flights and cruises is certainly one of the causes of Overtourism.

The numbers published by the World Tourism Organisation (Unwto) speak for themselves. Even in Italy , we have examples of how mass tourism damages the nature and residents of cities invaded by travelers. Venice , for example, is visited by about 20 million people a year. A number a little too high for such a delicate city, devastated also by cruise ships causing pollution .

Venice, a victim of overtourism

Even Florence , Capri and the Cinque Terre National Park in Liguria suffer from the excessive number of tourists arriving every year. This influx is leading the administrations of the various Italian municipalities to take steps to limit the number of revenues.

overtourism in Venice

Consequences of overtourism

1 destruction of natural ecosystems.

The flora and fauna are usually the first to suffer overtourism in the most popular natural tourist destinations. In some natural destinations, environmental issues led to the destruction of entire ecosystems. Among these problems, we can mention deforestation, exploitation of the soil and pollution . But also, no policy of raising awareness and protecting natural environments. In some cases, this situation has no possibility of redemption, such as, for example, what happens to coral reefs around the world. As global warming and tourists irreparably ruined them, corals are part of a natural system that is becoming extinct.

consequences of overtourism: corals destruction

2. Increase in the amount of waste

Another consequence of mass tourism is the large accumulation of waste that people don’t differentiate. Inevitably, it creates a major environmental problem of disposal and pollution.  Boracay Island , in the Philippines, has been closed to restore the ecosystem after years of uncontrolled tourism. The waste problem is also very important on the island of Bali , which is trying to combat it thanks to the thought of Zero waste Bali.

disadvantages to tourism

3. Escape and malaise of residents

Too much tourism affects mainly the locals. Across Europe, in cities like Barcelona or Venice, the phenomenon of overtourism has unleashed strong tensions from the inhabitants.  Residents complain about the rising of housing prices and rentals. In effect, they inflated them due to the spread of online platforms such as Airbnb. But also, they talked about the disappearance of small shops, replaced by tourist shops, and the inviolability of their cities. The last consequence is the escape of residents from their cities, which have become tourist theatres, thus losing their authenticity.

writing against mass tourism

Solutions to overtourism for destinations

As tourist flows around the world increased, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has dedicated an entire Report to overtourism. Certainly, there is not one single solution, but many small things that we can do during our holidays . The Report thus proposes 11 strategies and 68 measures to combat excessive tourism.

Here are the 11 suggestions that tourist destinations can follow to counter the phenomenon of overtourism.

  • Encourage the dispersion of tourists within the city, and even beyond the territory, suggesting the visit of lesser-known destinations and less touristic areas.
  • Promote tourism in different periods (for example out of season) and at different times from the most popular.
  • Create new and different itineraries and tourist attractions.
  • Review and improve regulations , such as closing some overcrowded areas to traffic.
  • Attract more responsible types of travelers.
  • ensure the benefits of tourism to local communities, for example by increasing the number of inhabitants employed in tourism, and by involving residents in the creation of tourism experiences.
  • Develop and promote experiences in the city or territory that benefit both tourists and residents.
  • Increase the infrastructure and services of the resort.
  • Involve the local community in tourist decisions and choices.
  • Educate travelers and tell them how to be more responsible and respectful of the place.
  • Monitor and measure changes.

Venice against overtourism

And what can we do?

With Ecobnb we promote responsible tourism , avoiding overcrowded famous destinations and promoting the close destinations. Often we don’t know what surrounds us and which beauties we can find without necessarily taking planes that emit huge amounts of CO2. Slow and sustainable tourism offers authentic locations. These places enrich local communities and those who invest in eco-sustainable activities. The real holiday could also be for you the relaxing and unplugging holiday. You could simply recharge the energies in contact with nature. Nonetheless, remember to try and lessen as much as possible for your environmental impact.

reducing the environmental impact

The good news is that each of us can do our part to counteract overtourism and promote sustainable tourism.

Here’s your vademecum

Here are 5 simple ideas , a vademecum, to promote quality tourism, instead of quantity, every time we travel.

  • Avoid air flights and cruises, move by train and public transport whenever you can.
  • Don’t take your decisions following the mass. If everyone goes to the mountains on August 15, why don’t you choose a different date?
  • Organize your holidays in an alternative way, choose authentic and less touristy destinations .
  • Travel out of season : spring and autumn are beautiful and less expensive seasons.
  • Respect the places you visit (here you find 40 tips to travel green ), try to live like a local”, immerse yourself in the culture of the place and make friends with the inhabitants.

Cover image: photo by Elizeu Dias via Unsplash

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The Pros and Cons of Tourism

Tourism is a massive industry everywhere in the world, and there are some remarkable advantages to this in each country.  Sometimes tourism is the main source of foreign income, boosting the economy for the beautiful countries around the world. For tourists themselves, the benefits to happiness and wellbeing are immense!

However, even with these benefits, there are some downsides that may balance the scale when it comes to tourism. The negatives involved can have lasting effects as well – we will have a look at some of these in this article.

It can be very easy to overlook these darker aspects of tourism. Why would you want to look at the negative aspects, when you look at the way tourism has brought vast wealth to many countries that needed it and thrive from it. The thing is though, we need to see the big picture, and in order to do so – we indeed need to consider all angles.

If we ignore the negative effects of tourism and do not deal with them appropriately we will be responsible for them spiraling out towards chaos.

So, without further ado, here are the points we have from both sides of this sword.

Tourists taking a picture

Top 5 Pros of Tourism

There are plenty of upsides to tourism! It is because of these upsides that all countries across the globe embrace the industry. Here are some points that highlight the value that tourism gives and the advantages of a country investing in this industry.

1.   Wealth Generation

One of the most obvious and essential pros for tourism is, of course, the money it brings in. Tourism can easily generate a massive amount of wealth. This positive factor becomes ever more important for all third world countries. Is is especially beneficial for countries that use tourism as their primary source of income.

2. Development of Country

  Along with the wealth brought in, countries can further develop and grow. The money that comes in from tourism provides security and ensures countries that have poor infrastructure or no lucrative exports the opportunity to grow.

Catering to tourists also leads countries to improve their infrastructure – not only with the money, but for the money. This means that poorer countries will be able to generate the means needed to build:

  • Other general infrastructures

This growth is important for the wellbeing of a nation. It allows for plenty of internal growth, thus further improving the tourism sector and creating a positive cycle.

Amsterdam canals

3. Job Creation

Tourism is responsible for generating many different jobs within a country, thus being a hugely positive influence on the economy. One of the other direct benefits of tourism on a country is the undeniable growth in jobs, and the number of business opportunities that open up for the local people.

Hotels, restaurants, bars and entertainment facilities all see an immediate influx in business from tourism. This then leads to them seeking more employees, giving more opportunities to the locals of each country.

4. Encouraging Unity

Tourism is a unique industry that boosts the unity between people of all different colours, backgrounds, and traditions. It also allows people to learn more about each individual country’s history and culture.

So, culturally speaking, tourism helps to build links between different people from all kinds of backgrounds and social standings. This then generates understanding amongst various types of people and can help to encourage lasting economic, political and social relationships.

5. Conservation

One of the biggest pluses of tourism is that it becomes the main reason that countries put money into protecting and preserving local wildlife, and even historic monuments or structures within both rural and urban surroundings.

Once an area or structure becomes part of the tourism sector, it helps to financially support the country it is in because it is bringing in tourists who generate wealth.

Top 8 Cons of Tourism

Let’s move onto the darker side of this industry, so that we can understand the full picture. Although the cons of tourism aren’t always obvious, they can cause serious, long-term damage to a country.

We must not forget that the disadvantages can be solved, and if we address them correctly, we can minimize the effects drastically. Sometimes we can even combat these negative aspects before an issue arises. But in order to do this, we need to be aware of them.

1.   Environmental Damage

When it comes to tourism, we are inviting thousands, and in some cases, millions, of foreigners into countries for a vacation. This can lead to immense environmental damage, especially in destinations that are extremely popular and tourist-heavy.

This does not usually happen because the tourists themselves directly cause the damage, but rather it happens because of the higher number of planes flying and cars driving. This peak in activity leads to higher carbon monoxide production within a country, thus negatively affecting the environment.

This is only one example of how tourism can negatively affect the environment, but there are plenty more examples to look at. For instance, let’s have a look at ancient structures.

A country such as Thailand has many ancient, sacred temples that have become massive tourist hotspots, meaning that hundreds of thousands of people are traveling to this destination every year.

A structure simply cannot see that many people without experiencing immense wear and tear.

2. Exploitation of Culture

With so many tourists coming to enjoy certain famous lifestyles and traditions, we begin to see the commercialization of culture. This is something that can negatively impact the local people of a country, because instead of respecting and admiring the culture from a distance, we impose countless tourists into the traditions.

In this way, we have started turning ancient customs into a product that is sold, which severely undermines sacred cultures.

3. Poor Behavior from Tourists

The more people a country invites within its borders each year, the more the possibility of bringing in tourists who do not honor the local traditions and customs. Sometimes, tourists do not respect local cultures, and will break certain unspoken (or spoken) codes of conduct that are held very highly by the indigenous people of a country.

For example, the customs of not being intoxicated in public or not bearing the shoulders can be made a joke amongst tourists, and can once again undermine the traditional beliefs of the local people.

Rome tourism

4. Loss of Jobs

Although there is a sudden growth in the employment market, which can be amazing, there can be major downfalls. Sometimes the jobs provided are seasonal and therefore not consistent, which leaves some local people only working for a few months a year.

This can also lead to many locals stuck in a dead-end job that offers no room for growth.

5. Lack of Job Security

Continuing on from the point above, seasonal jobs that are generated from tourism, more often than not, don’t come with any benefits or packages. This means that employees can easily be left without a pension and insurance. This is due to the nature of the inconsistent work, and the way that the company does not have a set customer base.

6. Unequal Infrastructure Growth

With the massive income generated from tourism, countries often do not focus on the areas within their borders that do not attract tourists, but nonetheless need to be grown for the locals’ sakes. This means there is wealth that gets redirected to where it is not desperately needed, leading to a huge separation between wealthy and poorer areas.

This can sometimes be starkly apparent in countries where the tourist hotspots are overly developed and the rest of the country is still in urgent need of infrastructure.

Tourists posing for a picture

7. Foreign Business Owners

There are many cases when travel agencies, hotels or restaurants within popular tourist hotspots are owned by foreign businesses. These are usually the companies that are making the money from a country, while the local businesses fall short.

With the foreign businesses taking most of the profit from tourists, it leaves local industries missing out on prime sources of income that are needed to keep them going. This can lead to local businesses closing, thus damaging the country’s economy.

8. Neglect of Other Sectors

A huge disadvantage to tourism in some countries is that when the tourism industry is doing well, the country neglects to build upon its other sectors. The country will pump all of its major resources into building the tourism industry, thus leaving other sectors to diminish.

There is another factor to consider, and this is that when a country is relying on the tourism sector, it will focus on this industry and ensure that it is run correctly. This is great, but on the other hand, this strong foundation can be quickly destroyed.

Sometimes natural disasters or political unrest will completely stop tourism, leaving the country with no resources. This means that countries who focus too much on tourism are more vulnerable to economic and social disaster.

Thailand building

Final Thoughts on Tourism

We now understand the full spectrum of tourism, and can, therefore, see both the undeniable benefits of tourism and the negative truths of it as well.

With tourism comes economic growth, a welcome influx of wealth, social and environmental growth and an abundance of opportunity. However, we cannot turn our cheeks to the disadvantages of tourism because of these positive aspects.

We need to face the negative effects and find solutions, both as individuals and as a whole, so that tourism can be enjoyed without causing harm. When we address these issues, we allow space for answers to be found and ways to grow that will ultimately benefit everyone.

Last updated on October 13th, 2023 at 02:43 pm

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18 Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism

Tourism is the act of traveling for leisure, recreation, or business purposes. It involves the movement of people to destinations outside their usual environment for a certain period of time.

The purpose of this article is to examine the advantages and disadvantages of tourism, with a focus on its economic, cultural, and social effects.

The article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the benefits and drawbacks of tourism, and to encourage readers to consider the impact of their travel on local communities and the environment.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism

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Advantages of Tourism

  • Job creation and income generation : Tourism provides jobs in a variety of industries, such as hotels, restaurants, transportation, and entertainment. Tourist attractions, local businesses and historical sites can lead to increased source of income for local residents and a boost to the overall economy.
  • Increase in foreign exchange : Tourism can also bring in foreign currency, as tourists typically spend money on goods and services while visiting a destination. This can help to stabilize the economy and lead to growth.
  • Development of infrastructure : Tourism can also lead to the infrastructure development, such as roads, airports, and public transportation systems. This can improve the overall hospitality and quality of life for residents and make the destination more attractive to future tourists.
  • Exposure to different cultures : Tourism allows people to experience different cultures and ways of life, which can broaden their perspectives and promote understanding and tolerance.
  • Preservation of heritage sites : Tourism can also help to preserve tourism-related heritage sites, as the income generated by tourism can be used to fund their maintenance and restoration.
  • Cultural exchange : Tourism also provides many countries opportunities for cultural exchange, as tourists and locals interact and share their customs and traditions.
  • Promotion of international understanding : Tourism sector can promote international understanding by bringing people from different cultures together and fostering mutual respect and understanding.
  • Increase in community involvement : Tourism can also increase community involvement, as residents may become more engaged in efforts to attract tourists and improve their destination.
  • Development of tourism industry : Tourism also can lead to the development of the tourism industry, which can create hotels and places to stay, jobs and economic opportunities in a destination.

These are some examples of how tourism accounts can be beneficial and positively impact different aspects of society, however, it’s important to note that not all tourism activities are carried out in a sustainable and responsible way, which can lead to negative consequences.

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  • Damage to natural habitats and wildlife : Tourism can have a negative impact on the environment, as it can lead to the destruction of natural habitats and the displacement of wildlife. Activities such as excessive hiking, off-roading, and building of tourism infrastructure can generate environmental damage to natural resources.
  • Pollution and waste management : Tourism can also lead to an increase in pollution and waste, as large numbers of tourists can generate a significant amount of trash, sewage, and other waste products. This can put a strain on local waste management systems and have negative impacts on the environment and generate natural disasters.
  • Overcrowding of popular destinations : Popular tourist destinations can become overcrowded, which can lead to strain on local resources and the degradation of the natural environment. This can also make it difficult for tourists to fully enjoy their experience as they may feel like they are fighting for space with other visitors.
  • Disruption of local communities : Tourism can disrupt local communities by altering traditional ways of life, and leading to the displacement of residents. This can cause social and cultural changes that may not be beneficial to everyone in the community.
  • Exploitation of local resources and culture : Tourism can also lead to the exploitation of local resources, as well as the commercialization and commodification of local culture. This can lead to the loss of authenticity in tourist destinations and the erosion of traditional ways of life.
  • Loss of authenticity in tourist destinations : Some places can become too commercialized and lose their authenticity, being transformed into tourist traps, this can lead to a loss of charm and interest for the tourists, and local residents might feel like they are living in a theme park.
  • Dependence on tourism industry : A destination can become too dependent on tourism, and if the tourism industry were to decline, it could have a severe economic impact on the community.
  • Widening income gap : Tourism can also lead to a widening income gap, as the benefits of tourism may not be distributed equally among all members of a community. This can lead to an increase in poverty, and social inequality.
  • Inflation : Tourism can also lead to inflation, as the demand for goods and services increases, prices may rise, making it more difficult for residents to afford necessities.

Conclusion of Pros and Cons of Tourism

Tourism can bring many benefits to a destination, including economic growth, cultural exchange, and increased community involvement. However, it can also have negative impacts, such as environmental degradation, disruption of local communities, and exploitation of local resources and culture.

To minimize the negative impacts of tourism and to promote sustainable development, it is important to plan and manage tourism marketing activities in a responsible and sustainable way. This includes measures such as setting limits on the number of tourists, protecting natural habitats and wildlife, and involving local communities in tourism planning.

Overall, tourism can be a valuable tool for economic and social development, but it’s important to consider its potential negative consequences and to strive for sustainable tourism practices. This way, tourists, locals, and the environment can all benefit from tourism activities.

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Pros and Cons of Tourism

Be it Niagara Falls, The Grand Canyon, or the Amazon Rainforest, these places have numerous reasons to attract tourists every year. Tourists love to visit such spots looking for fun, amusement, and even finding peace of mind. Tourism has turned into a thriving industry in many countries. Governments and local communities reap the benefits of tourism in many different ways. But those advantages come with certain risks as well. However, like everything else, there are pros and cons of tourism . You should be taking a closer look at the good and the bad of tourism before you set a vacation schedule alone or with your friends and families.

What are the Pros of Tourism?

In 2021, tourism to Grand Canyon National Park made a significant contribution of $710 million to the local economy, reports National Park Service.

1. Economic Boost

Tourism is a significant contributor to the economy of a country. By attracting tourists, nations can create sustainable revenue streams, generate job opportunities, and boost growth across several sectors. According to a report by NPS, the park welcomed approximately 4.5 million visitors to the Grand Canyon, spending an estimated $710 million in the surrounding gateway regions.

2. Cultural Exchange

Travel can bring people together and provide a unique opportunity to share ideas and experiences. Travelers often have an open mind about different cultures and customs, so they are eager to explore new places. This type of exchange can break down cultural barriers between countries by allowing each party to understand the other's culture better. This exchange of cultural values can be counted as one of the major advantages of tourism.

3. Environmental Conservation

All natural heritages are tourist spots, and people come to admire the view. One of the significant advantages of tourism is that it can help protect and preserve the environment. Local governments can invest the revenue generated by tourism for the betterment of environmentally sensitive regions and areas with fragile ecosystems.

4. Improved Infrastructure is Among the Pros of Tourism

With the influx of tourists, countries can consider upgrading their infrastructure to accommodate visitors' needs. This includes constructing new airports, roads, accommodations, and public facilities such as parks and museums. This positive change can be felt both by the tourists and the inhabitants.

5. Global Recognition

Tourism is an essential part of many countries economies, and it can also provide significant global recognition for the destination. A well-designed tourism strategy that attracts a high volume of international visitors can bring in foreign money, create jobs, and help to develop infrastructure. It also raises awareness about an area, leading to increased interest from the rest of the world.

What are the Cons of Tourism?

Besides the positive changes, tourism also has its share of downsides. Most of the cons of the tourism industry are associated with the misuse of natural resources. Some of the other problems with tourism include:

1. Environmental Damage

Tourism can lead to environmental damage in many ways. For example, it can impact water resources through increased water and wastewater production demand. It can also add to pollution by generating emissions from transportation as visitors travel around the area. Additionally, tourists may increase pressure on local land resources, leading to deforestation and loss of habitats for native species.

2. Displaced Communities

Tourism often brings economic benefits to local communities. Still, when done in a way that does not consider the local community's needs and aspirations, it can cause displacement. Communities may be displaced from their traditional lands or homes, pushing them away from the resources they need for subsistence. This can be particularly detrimental if these resources are already scarce or difficult to access.

3. Cultural Erosion

Cultural Erosion is one of the most dreaded cons of tourism. A tourist destination with a distinct local culture is prone to changes due to the influx of tourists. The more tourism activities are higher the chances of community displacement.

This phenomenon is often compounded by the fact that many tourists come from cultures very different to those of the local community, and their presence can lead to a sudden change in cultural values. This rapid transition can significantly damage a community as its members may no longer feel represented or respected.

4. Economic Dependence

The COVID-19 pandemic best explains how tourism can suddenly burden an economy. As the pandemic wiped out all income for many countries' businesses, many had to rely heavily on government support and bailouts as their primary sources of revenue. This has resulted in rising debts due to emergency aid distributions and other fiscal measures associated with relief during this crisis.

5. Overcrowding

Visiting a particular area can harm the environment and local culture as tourism grows. One of the main disadvantages of tourism is overcrowding, which can strain resources, increase pollution, and damage natural habitats.

Overcrowding can decrease the quality of life for residents, as tourists take up public space and resources. It can also affect the health and safety of visitors who may be exposed to increased levels of crime or air pollution.

Conclusion on the Pros and Cons of Tourism

The pros and cons of tourism are complex if you evaluate them thoroughly. It is easy to see that people benefit from increased access to new cultures, experiences, and destinations.

On the other hand, there are real risks associated with tourist activities like over-tourism and the destruction of natural spaces. Therefore, it's up to individuals to assess these impacts on their own terms. It's up to every citizen to become responsible travelers who understand tourism's positive and negative effects.

Pros and Cons of Tourism

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the cons of tourism.

Tourism frequently exerts excessive strain on natural resources due to overconsumption, particularly in areas with limited resources. It places immense pressure on local land utilization, resulting in soil erosion, heightened pollution levels, loss of natural habitats, and increased jeopardy for endangered species.

What are the pros of tourism?

It fosters job creation, bolsters the local economy, facilitates infrastructure development, preserves the natural environment and cultural heritage, and works towards alleviating poverty and inequality.

What are the social benefits of tourism?

Tourism brings forth numerous social benefits, showcasing its positive impacts on society. These encompass the preservation of local culture and heritage, the fostering of vibrant communities, the provision of essential social services, the promotion of cultural and artistic commerce, the revitalization of customs and art forms, as well as the safeguarding of our precious heritage.

Who does tourism help?

Tourists contribute to the local economy by spending their money, leading to job creation and economic growth. This support is particularly crucial for small businesses, which often struggle to generate substantial profits.

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Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure pp 1–11 Cite as

Overtourism Effects: Positive and Negative Impacts for Sustainable Development

  • Ivana Damnjanović 7  
  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online: 02 October 2020

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Part of the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals book series (ENUNSDG)

Responsible tourism ; Tourism overcrowding ; Tourism-phobia ; Tourist-phobia

Definitions

Tourism today is paradoxically dominated by two opposite aspects: its sustainable character and overtourism. Since its creation by Skift in 2016 (Ali 2016 ), the term “overtourism” has been a buzzword in media and academic circles, although it may only be a new word for a problem discussed over the past three decades.

Overtourism is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon destructive to tourism resources and harmful to destination communities’ well-being through overcrowding and overuse (Center for Responsible Travel 2018 ; International Ecotourism Society 2019 ) as certain locations at times cannot withstand physical, ecological, social, economic, psychological, and/or political pressures of tourism (Peeters et al. 2018 ). Overtourism is predominantly a problem producing deteriorated quality of life of local communities (Responsible Tourism n.d. ; The International Ecotourism Society 2019 ; UNWTO 2018...

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Damnjanović, I. (2020). Overtourism Effects: Positive and Negative Impacts for Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71059-4_112-1

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What Is Ecotourism? Definition, Examples, and Pros and Cons

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Ecotourism Definition and Principles

Pros and cons.

  • Examples of Ecotourism
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Ecotourism is about more than simply visiting natural attractions or natural places; it’s about doing so in a responsible and sustainable manner. The term itself refers to traveling to natural areas with a focus on environmental conservation. The goal is to educate tourists about conservation efforts while offering them the chance to explore nature.

Ecotourism has benefited destinations like Madagascar, Ecuador, Kenya, and Costa Rica, and has helped provide economic growth in some of the world’s most impoverished communities. The global ecotourism market produced $92.2 billion in 2019 and is forecasted to generate $103.8 billion by 2027.

A conservationist by the name of Hector Ceballos-Lascurain is often credited with the first definition of ecotourism in 1987, that is, “tourism that consists in travelling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific object of studying, admiring and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural manifestations (both past and present) found in these areas.”

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of ecotourism since 1990, defines ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education [both in its staff and its guests].”

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) looks at ecotourism as a significant tool for conservation, though it shouldn’t be seen as a fix-all when it comes to conservation challenges:

“There may be some areas that are just not appropriate for ecotourism development and some businesses that just won’t work in the larger tourism market. That is why it is so important to understand the basics of developing and running a successful business, to ensure that your business idea is viable and will be profitable, allowing it to most effectively benefit the surrounding environment and communities.”

Marketing an ecosystem, species, or landscape towards ecotourists helps create value, and that value can help raise funds to protect and conserve those natural resources.

Sustainable ecotourism should be guided by three core principles: conservation, communities, and education.

Conservation

Conservation is arguably the most important component of ecotourism because it should offer long-term, sustainable solutions to enhancing and protecting biodiversity and nature. This is typically achieved through economic incentives paid by tourists seeking a nature-based experience, but can also come from the tourism organizations themselves, research, or direct environmental conservation efforts.

Communities

Ecotourism should increase employment opportunities and empower local communities, helping in the fight against global social issues like poverty and achieving sustainable development.

Interpretation

One of the most overlooked aspects of ecotourism is the education component. Yes, we all want to see these beautiful, natural places, but it also pays to learn about them. Increasing awareness about environmental issues and promoting a greater understanding and appreciation for nature is arguably just as important as conservation.

As one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry, there are bound to be some downsides to ecotourism. Whenever humans interact with animals or even with the environment, it risks the chance of human-wildlife conflict or other negative effects; if done so with respect and responsibility in mind, however, ecotourism can reap enormous benefits to protected areas.

As an industry that relies heavily on the presentation of eco-friendly components to attract customers, ecotourism has the inevitable potential as a vessel for greenwashing. Part of planning a trip rooted in ecotourism is doing research to ensure that an organization is truly providing substantial benefits to the environment rather than exploiting it.

Ecotourism Can Provide Sustainable Income for Local Communities

Sustainably managed ecotourism can support poverty alleviation by providing employment for local communities, which can offer them alternative means of livelihood outside of unsustainable ones (such as poaching).

Research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that communities in regions surrounding conservation areas in Costa Rica had poverty rates that were 16% lower than in areas that weren’t near protected parks. These protected areas didn’t just benefit from conservation funds due to ecotourism, but also helped to reduce poverty as well.

It Protects Natural Ecosystems

Ecotourism offers unique travel experiences focusing on nature and education, with an emphasis on sustainability and highlighting threatened or endangered species. It combines conservation with local communities and sustainable travel , highlighting principles (and operations) that minimize negative impacts and expose visitors to unique ecosystems and natural areas. When managed correctly, ecotourism can benefit both the traveler and the environment, since the money that goes into ecotourism often goes directly towards protecting the natural areas they visit.

Each year, researchers release findings on how tourist presence affects wildlife, sometimes with varying results. A study measuring levels of the stress hormone cortisol in wild habituated Malaysian orangutans found that the animals were not chronically stressed by the presence of ecotourists. The orangutans lived in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, where a local community-managed organization operates while maintaining strict guidelines to protect them.

Ecotourism May Also Hurt Those Same Natural Ecosystems

Somewhat ironically, sometimes ecotourism can hurt ecosystems just as much as it can help. Another study in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution found that ecotourism can alter animal behaviors in ways that put them at risk. If the presence of humans changes the way animals behave, those changes may make them more vulnerable by influencing their reaction to predators or poachers.

It's not just the animals who are at risk. As ecotourism activities become too popular, it can lead to the construction of new infrastructure to accommodate more visitors. Similarly, more crowds mean more pressure on local resources, increased pollution, and a higher chance of damaging the soil and plant quality through erosion. On the social side, these activities may displace Indigenous groups or local communities from their native lands, preventing them from benefiting from the economic opportunities of tourism.

Ecotourism Offers the Opportunity to Experience Nature

Renown conservationist Jane Goodall has a famous quote: “Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved.” It can be difficult to understand something that we haven’t seen with our own eyes, and ecotourism gives travelers the opportunity to gain new experiences in natural areas while learning about the issues they face. 

Ecotourism also educates children about nature, potentially creating new generations of nature lovers that could someday become conservationists themselves. Even adult visitors may learn new ways to improve their ecological footprints .

EXAMPLES OF ECOTOURISM

The East African country has some competitive advantages over its neighbors thanks to its rich natural resources, paired with the fact that it has allocated over 25% of its total area to wildlife national parks and protected areas. Because of this, an estimated 90% of tourists visit to Tanzania seeking out ecotourism activities. Ecotourism, in turn, supports 400,000 jobs and accounts for 17.2% of the national GDP, earning about $1 billion each year as its leading economic sector.

Some of Tanzania’s biggest highlights include the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro , and Zanzibar, though the country still often goes overlooked by American tourists. Visitors can take a walking safari tour in the famous Ngorongoro Conservation area, for example, with fees going to support the local Maasai community.

The country is also known for its chimpanzees , and there are several ecotourism opportunities in Gombe National Park that go directly towards protecting chimpanzee habitats.

Galapagos Islands

It comes as no surprise that the place first made famous by legendary naturalist Charles Darwin would go on to become one of the most sought-after ecotourism destinations on Earth, the Galapagos Islands .

The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Tourism require tour providers to conserve water and energy, recycle waste, source locally produced goods, hire local employees with a fair wage, and offer employees additional training. A total of 97% of the land area on the Galapagos is part of the official national park, and all of its 330 islands have been divided into zones that are either completely free of human impact, protected restoration areas, or reduced impact zones adjacent to tourist-friendly areas.

Local authorities still have to be on their toes, however, since UNESCO lists increased tourism as one of the main threats facing the Galapagos today. The bulk of funding for the conservation and management of the archipelago comes from a combination of governmental institutions and entry fees paid by tourists.

Costa Rica is well-known throughout the world for its emphasis on nature-based tourism, from its numerous animal sanctuaries to its plethora of national parks and reserves. Programs like its “Ecological Blue Flag” program help inform tourists of beaches that have maintained a strict set of eco-friendly criteria.

The country’s forest cover went from 26% in 1983 to over 52% in 2021 thanks to the government’s decision to create more protected areas and promote ecotourism in the country . Now, over a quarter of its total land area is zoned as protected territory.

Costa Rica welcomes 1.7 million travelers per year, and most of them come to experience the country’s vibrant wildlife and diverse ecosystems. Its numerous biological reserves and protected parks hold some of the most extraordinary biodiversity on Earth, so the country takes special care to keep environmental conservation high on its list of priorities. 

New Zealand

In 2019, tourism generated $16.2 billion, or 5.8% of the GDP, in New Zealand. That same year, 8.4% of its citizens were employed in the tourism industry, and tourists generated $3.8 billion in tax revenue.

The country offers a vast number of ecotourism experiences, from animal sanctuaries to natural wildlife on land, sea, and even natural caves. New Zealand’s South Pacific environment, full of sights like glaciers and volcanic landscapes, is actually quite fragile, so the government puts a lot of effort into keeping it safe.

Tongariro National Park, for example, is the oldest national park in the country, and has been named by UNESCO as one of only 28 mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Sites. Its diverse volcanic landscapes and the cultural heritage of the indigenous Maori tribes within the create the perfect combination of community, education, and conservation.

How to Be a Responsible Ecotourist

  • Ensure that the organizations you hire provide financial contributions to benefit conservation and find out where your money is going.
  • Ask about specific steps the organization takes to protect the environment where they operate, such as recycling or promoting sustainable policies.
  • Find out if they include the local community in their activities, such as hiring local guides, giving back, or through initiatives to empower the community.
  • Make sure there are educational elements to the program. Does the organization take steps to respect the destination’s culture as well as its biodiversity?
  • See if your organization is connected to a non-profit or charity like the International Ecotourism Society .
  • Understand that wildlife interactions should be non-invasive and avoid negative impacts on the animals.

Ecotourism activities typically involve visiting and enjoying a natural place without disturbing the landscape or its inhabitants. This might involve going for a hike on a forest trail, mountain biking, surfing, bird watching, camping, or forest bathing . 

Traveling in a way that minimizes carbon emissions, like taking a train or bike instead of flying, may also be part of an ecotourism trip. Because these modes of travel tend to be slower, they may be appreciated as enjoyable and relaxing ecotourism activities.

The Wolf Conservation Center ’s programing in New York State is an example of ecotourism. This non-profit organization is dedicated to the preservation of endangered wolf species. It hosts educational sessions that allow visitors to observe wolves from a safe distance. These programs help to fund the nonprofit organization’s conservation and wildlife rehabilitation efforts.

Stonehouse, Bernard. " Ecotourism ." Environmental Geology: Encyclopedia of Earth Science , 1999, doi:10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_101

" What is Ecotourism? " The International Ecotourism Society .

" Tourism ." International Union for Conservation of Nature .

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1307712111

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033357

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2015.09.010

https://doi.org/10.5897/JHMT2016.0207

" Galapagos Islands ." UNESCO .

" About Costa Rica ." Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington DC .

https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/tourism-satellite-account-2019

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Understanding and overcoming negative impacts of tourism in city destinations: conceptual model and strategic framework

Journal of Tourism Futures

ISSN : 2055-5911

Article publication date: 15 November 2017

Issue publication date: 15 December 2017

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the mechanisms of conflict between residents and tourists and to propose a conceptual model to assess the impact of such conflicts on city tourism and to suggest a framework to develop strategies to deal with such conflicts and mitigate negative impacts.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on desk research a conceptual model was developed which describes the drivers of conflicts between residents and visitors. Building blocks of the model are visitors and their attributes, residents and their attributes, conflict mechanisms and critical encounters between residents and visitors, and indicators of the quality and quantity of tourist facilities. Subsequently the model was used to analyse the situation in Hamburg. For this analysis concentration values were calculated based on supply data of hotels and AirBnB, app-data, and expert consultations.

The study shows that in Hamburg there are two key mechanisms that stimulate conflicts: (1) the number of tourists in relation to the number of residents and its distribution in time and space; (2) the behaviour of visitors measured in the norms that they pose onto themselves and others (indecent behaviour of tourists).

Research limitations/implications

The model that was developed is a conceptual model, not a model with which hypotheses can be tested statistically. Refinement of the model needs further study.

Practical implications

Based on the outcomes of the study concrete strategies were proposed with which Hamburg could manage and control the balance of tourism.

Originality/value

City tourism has been growing in the last decades, in some cases dramatically. As a consequence, conflicts between tourists, tourism suppliers and inhabitants can occur. The rise of the so-called sharing economy has recently added an additional facet to the discussion. The ability to assess and deal with such conflicts is of importance for the way city tourism can develop in the future. This study is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of the mechanism behind and the nature of those conflicts, and the way they can be managed and controlled. Besides it illustrates how data generated by social media (apps) can be used for such purposes.

  • City tourism

Conflict mechanisms

  • Host-guest relations
  • Overtourism
  • Tourism impact studies
  • Visitor management

Postma, A. and Schmuecker, D. (2017), "Understanding and overcoming negative impacts of tourism in city destinations: conceptual model and strategic framework", Journal of Tourism Futures , Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 144-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-04-2017-0022

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Albert Postma Dirk Schmuecker

Published in the Journal of Tourism Futures. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

Tourism is subject to massive growth. Projections made by the World Tourism Organisation anticipate a growth to 1.8 billion international arrivals worldwide till 2030. Based on its World Tourism Monitor, IPK states that city tourism is the fastest growing market segment in tourism ( IPK International, 2016 ). The direct and indirect effects of this increase in visitor numbers seem to cause an increase in annoyance among residents, which could lead to conflicts between tourists, tourism suppliers and inhabitants. The rise of the so-called sharing economy has recently added an additional facet to the discussion. During the past few years various media have reported on incidents, residents protests and the like. However, the humming-up of media may occasionally obscure the difference between actual conflicts perceived in the population and what interested actors in the media make of it. Here, only a careful analysis of the actual situation would help. On the other hand, such conflicts and the discussion about it are neither new nor limited to large cities. Yet, the focus of the discussion has shifted over the last decades: from tourism to developing countries, residents of villages in the Alps which have found themselves into ski-circuses, or greenlanders suffering from the rush of cruise ships. Recently, the discussion has shifted to where a large proportion of tourists go: from and to the European cities. Data from the German Reiseanalyse, an annual survey on holiday travel in Germany ( Schmücker et al. , 2016 ), suggest that in 2014, 31 per cent of the population and 33 per cent of German holiday makers were at home in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. In the cities, holiday travel is more than 80 per cent higher than in the countryside.

Tourism generates income and employment for cities, and thanks to tourism the liveliness and liveability in cities is boosted because many shops, services and facilities would not exist without that additional customer base. However, with an eye on the (social) sustainability of city tourism development, it is important to understand whether and how residents’ annoyance comes about and with which measures residents’ attitude could be kept within the margins of their tolerance level. Postma (2013) studied residents’ experiences with tourism in four tourism destinations. He identified three categories of so called “critical encounters”, four levels of annoyance, four levels on tolerance, and three levels of loyalty towards tourism development. The European Tourism Futures Research Network did a pilot study in Riga, Berlin and Amsterdam to investigate the applicability of Postma’s outcomes in an urban context. When this proved valid, the approach was used by the Dutch Centre of Expertise in Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality (CELTH) in a European study on visitor pressure in the city centres of Copenhagen, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Lisbon. A second phase of this study just started in the Flemish cities of art (Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen), Tallin and Salzburg. In this study residents were consulted to identify critical encounters and the support for various kinds of strategies to deal with it. Finally, NIT and ETFI conducted a study in Hamburg addressing these issues in 2015/2016.

The domain of tourism impact studies

The study presented here is an example of a tourism impact study. The domain of tourism impact studies has evolved since the second world war, echoing the development of tourism, its characteristics and its perception. During the first phase (1960-1970) the emphasis of tourism impact studies was on the positive economic impacts of tourism. Tourism was mainly seen as a means to strengthen economies. In the 1970s and 1980s, the focus gradually shifted to the negative social, cultural and environmental impacts. This reflected the growing concern of industrialisation, sustainability and quality of life. Ultimately in the 1980s and 1990s the interest of tourism impact studies moved to integrating the economic perspective with the social and environmental one. Tourism had continued to grow, had become more diffuse, and had become more interconnected with societies and economies. The divide in tourism impact studies between economic and social and environmental perspectives, and the emphasis on tourism and destinations as two different worlds impacting upon each other (nicely illustrated in binary terminology such as host and guest) gradually moved to a growing interest into the multidimensional relation between tourism and communities; the process by which tourism is shaped by the interactions between, tourism, host environments, economy and societies; and the meaning of tourism for society ( Postma, 2013 ; Pizam, 1978 ; Jafari, 1990, 2005, 2007 ; Butler, 2004 ; Hudson and Lowe, 2004 ; Ateljevic, 2000 ; Crouch, 1999, 2011 ; Williams, 2009 ; Sherlock, 2001 ). This so called cultural turn in tourism impact studies ( Milne and Ateljevic, 2001 ) opened the door to new research areas raising attention on themes and issues that were largely overlooked or marginalised before ( Causevic and Lynch, 2009 ), for instance, “the multiple readings of local residents while working, living, playing or, in other words, consuming and producing their localities through encounter with tourism” ( Ateljevic, 2000 , pp. 381-382).

According to Deery et al. (2012) , tourism impact studies have grown into a massive and mature field of study covering a wide spectrum of economic, social and environmental dimensions. However, Williams asserts that there is still a lack of understanding of the relationship between tourism and destination communities, both because the number of empirical studies, inconclusive or conflicting results of empirical studies, and a contested conceptual basis ( Williams, 2009 ). Postma (2013) confirms that mainstream tourism impact literature does not offer useful theoretical frameworks for tourism impact studies that focus on the tourism community relations.

Sustainable tourism

Although the notion of sustainable development has led to considerable debate since its introduction which in part is due to its vagueness for concrete action, it is incorporated as an important starting point in contemporary policy and planning worldwide. This also applies to tourism, where the basic ideas of sustainable development were gradually translated into the concept of sustainable tourism development. The first ideas were introduced by Krippendorf (1984) , and they were elaborated in the Brundtland report ( World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987 ) and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The ideas presented in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and in Agenda 21 guided the World Conference on Sustainable Tourism in Lanzarote in 1995, where the core principles were established ( France, 1997 ; Martin, 1995 ). In line with sustainable development, sustainable tourism development tries to establish a suitable balance between economic, environmental and social aspects of tourism development to guarantee its long-term sustainability ( World Tourism Organisation, 2004 ). The World Tourism Organisation’s core principles of sustainable tourism development are: to improve the quality of life of the host community; to provide high quality experience for visitors; and to maintain the quality of the environment, on which both the host community and the visitors depend ( Mill and Morrison, 2002 ).

Sustainable development and sustainable tourism development do not aim at prosperity and material gains but primarily at well-being and quality of life ( Postma, 2001, 2003 ; Postma and Schilder, 2007 ; Jackson, 1989 ; Burns, 1999 ). In this view residents should be both the starting point and the checkpoint for tourism policy and planning. As the negative perception of tourism affects the way in which residents perceive their quality of community life ( Kim, 2002 ), the long-term sustainability of tourism might be negatively affected by any impacts from tourism causing irritation, annoyance, or anger among local residents. The threshold level at which enthusiasm and support for tourism turns into irritation could be regarded as an indicator of the edge of sustainable development. Therefore, sustainable tourism development requires both greater efforts to incorporate the input of residents in the planning process both in communities exposed to tourism for the first time and in established destinations experiencing increased volumes of tourists ( Burns and Holden, 1997 ; Harrill, 2004 ), as well as to studying host community attitudes and the antecedents of residents’ reactions ( Zhang et al. , 2006 ). As Haywood (1988) states: “Local governments should be more responsible to the local citizens whose lives and communities may be affected by tourism in all its positive and negative manifestations” (in Burns and Holden, 1997 ).

Thus, understanding current and potential conflicts between residents and tourists is an integral part of the sustainable tourism debate. By definition, sustainable tourism development does have an ecological, economic and social dimension. It may be argued that the inclusion of the needs of the inhabitants stimulates the traditional understanding of a tourism market between buyers and sellers: while consumers look for tourism experiences and providers look for business opportunities, the claims of residents are more extensively focussed on an adequate quality of life ( Postma, 2003 ). The larger the interfaces between these three stakeholder groups, the more conflict-free tourism will be able to develop ( Figure 1 ).

For (city) tourism, it seems advisable to define the concept of sustainability in a broad and comprehensive way. Sustainable tourism thus entails “acceptance by the population”, and the population is clearly a part of the social dimension. The participation of the population and securing/increasing the acceptance of tourism is therefore also one of the objectives for Hamburg’s sustainable tourism development. To develop tourism in a sustainable way, in Hamburg as in other cities, the challenge is to bring the quality of life demands of the inhabitants (social dimension) and the quality-of-opportunity requirements of the providers (economic dimension) as far as possible into line.

The case of Hamburg

The aim of this viewpoint paper is to contribute to the conceptualisation of tourism community relations and to clarify the mechanisms of conflict between residents and tourists and to propose a conceptual model to assess the impact of such conflicts on city tourism and to suggest a framework to develop strategies to deal with such conflicts and mitigate negative impacts. This model was developed for a study in Hamburg that addressed the balanced and sustainable growth of tourism in the city. Hamburg is one of the most popular city destinations in Germany. The city, located in the north of the country, is faced with a gradual increase of visitor numbers, especially during the past few years. Internal papers of Hamburg’s Destination Management Organisation, Hamburg Tourismus ( HHT, 2015 ), show that between 2001 and 2015, the number of overnight stays in Hamburg increased with over 150 per cent, which is more than, for example, Barcelona (+112 per cent), Venice (+120 per cent), Amsterdam (+54 per cent) and Berlin (+153 per cent). Although the negative implications of tourism are not as visible as in some other European cities, critiques are getting louder in selected parts of the city, as shown by a regular resident monitoring implemented by HHT. Strategies to distribute tourism flows in time and space could help to prevent or to counteract. The study, commissioned by HHT, is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms behind and the nature of possible conflicts between tourists, tourism suppliers and residents and the way they can be managed and controlled, for example, by making use of data generated by social media. Based on desk research, a conceptual model was developed which describes the drivers of conflict between residents and visitors. Building blocks of the model are visitors and their attributes, residents and their attributes, conflict mechanisms and areas of conflict between both parties, and indicators of quality and quantity of tourist facilities. Subsequently the model was used to analyse the situation in Hamburg.

Conflict drivers and irritation factors

To develop a better understanding of the mechanism of conflict between tourists, tourism suppliers and residents, desk research was conducted into potential areas of conflict between locals and tourists, which factors would characterize particularly vulnerable residents and particularly disturbing locals, and what would be strategic options to manage and control the (occurrence) of such conflicts.

There is danger that for a focus on only negative aspects in the interaction between tourists and locals would cause bias. Therefore, it should be stressed that – for the destination – tourism is not an end in itself, but primarily an economic and, second, a social potential. Economically, tourism usually has positive effects for the inhabitants, mainly through the money flowing in from the outside, which tourists spend in the city and for the city. This money leads to tourist turnover, which is reflected in income. This income can be in the form of salaries, income from self-employment, company profits, or from the leasing or sale of land, buildings or flats. Indirectly, tourism revenues also contribute to the creation and maintenance of infrastructures and (tourist) offers which can also be used by residents. This applies to most cultural institutions (from the opera to the zoo), but also for public transport offers, gastronomy, etc. Socially, tourism can lead to desirable effects in the destination as well. This includes the (simple) encounter with others (provided they are “encounters on eye”), a general stimulation and a social enrichment and liveliness of the city.

It is especially in the economic dimension, where the dilemma to which involvement with tourism could sometimes lead, becomes clear. If an apartment is rented as a holiday home rather than as a permanent living space, because the landlord will get a higher income (in some cases at lower costs and lower risk), this is undoubtedly disadvantageous for the regular tenants and land-lords of houses undoubtedly advantageous. An assessment of this dilemma is therefore not only possible based on (short-term) economic considerations, but must consider long-term and non-economic aspects. The understanding of such balancing processes and the existence of potentially positive and negative effects of tourism is fundamental to the overall further consideration.

The study of the interaction between tourists and the residents of the destination has already shown a longer academic tradition (see Harrill, 2004 ; Zhang et al. , 2006 ; Andereck et al. , 2005 ; Vargas-Sánchez et al. , 2008 ). However, Postma notes: “A review of the literature concerning residents’ attitude toward tourism revealed an absence of research exploring factors that specifically contribute or cause irritation development, with the exception of Doxey’s (1975) article and the authors who quote him or elaborated and described his model in more detail, such as Murphy (1985) , Fridgen (1991) , Ryan (1991) , Matthieson and Wall (1982) , Wall and Mathieson (2006) , Vanderwerf (2008) and Milligan (1989) . Based on empirical investigations he designed an irritation index, describing four stages in the development of irritation: euphoria, apathy, annoyance, and antagonism. The model of this “irridex” describes the changing attitude of residents ensuing from reciprocal impacts between tourists and residents and varying degrees of compatibility between the residents and outsiders. According to Doxey (1975) irritation differs from person to person: it is affected by various personal characteristics and various characteristics of the tourist destination.

Much literature is devoted to investigating the positive and negative impacts of tourism. Rátz and Puczkó (2002) have summarised these impacts. This overview indicates that irritation might develop along four dimensions: population impacts, transformation of the labour market, changes in community characteristics and community structure, impacts at the individual and family level, and impacts on the natural and cultural resources ( Postma, 2013 , p. 25) lists the socio-cultural impacts of tourism, which is the focus of this study.

Model construction

The results of the desk research were put together in a conceptual framework to conceptualise the complex issue under study, that has largely been unexplored in this way so far. The model helps to identify and visualise possible irritation points on the part of the inhabitants and their (possibly disturbing) interaction with visitors. Just like other models, this conceptual model is a schematic abstraction of reality. It takes individual, relevant aspects into account, while other aspects might be neglected. The intention is not to be complete, but to visualise reality and identify relevant issues. So, the model presented here is abstract and descriptive. It is not a scientific structure or measurement model from which statistical hypotheses can be derived, but rather a “thinking structure” for further investigation.

The overview of positive and negative possible effects of tourism on the social dimension of tourism by Rátz and Puczkó (2002) is a first starting point for the modelling process. A second starting point is the Tourist Destination Model as developed by NIT, which has been evolved throughout many years ( Schmücker, 2011 ). Further starting points for the modelling process were reports and survey results from cities in which there have already been clearly observed annoyances among the local population because of tourism. A particularly prominent example is Barcelona (even a film was recorded), but also cities like Venice, Vienna, Amsterdam or Berlin are not only reported in the local, national and international press.

For the elaboration of a conceptual model, it is first necessary to clarify which content should be taken into account. First, the key actors: tourists and their characteristics, and residents and their characteristics. Second, attributes of the tourist product because their quantity and quality of the tourism opportunity spectrum are the prerequisite for tourists to visit the city at all. This includes both the specific tourist offer (hotel industry, semi-professional, private and sharing offers, MICE offers) as well as the offers which are aimed at both tourists and locals (cultural offers, gastronomy, mobility, etc.).

With these building blocks, the essential conflict mechanisms and concrete fields of conflict can be described, as well as strategic courses of action against the objectives of sustainable tourism development. The model is displayed in Figure 2 .

The model shows the interaction between local residents and tourists, its conditions and consequences. Conditioned by the attributes of both parties, and of conflict mechanisms between the two (sensitivity to) areas of conflict do arise. The model helps to understand how this process works. Based on intensive data collection and data analysis the model was applied in Hamburg to make an analysis of the distribution in time and space of overnight stay accommodation, events and visitor flows, the annoyance tourism caused among local residents, and the strategies that could be taken to manage tourism flows in a sustainable way. In the following sections the components of the model will be described in detail.

Relevant characteristics of tourists

“Adaptivity”: the ability of tourists to adapt to the people in the destination and their habits. “Adaptive” behaviour can be divided into general and specific. General adaptive behaviour is at work in many cultures, for example, general friendliness and restraint. Specific adaptive behaviour can include behaviour accepted by some cultures, but by others (e.g. preparing food in the hotel room or visiting sacred buildings with/without head cover). The larger the cultural distance between the locals and the tourists, the greater their adaptiveness should be to avoid conflicts.

“Tourism culture”: it seems plausible to attribute a greater potential for irritation to tourists with certain behaviours, travel situations or group sizes than others. In particular tourist trips that are mainly aimed at enjoyment in the city. Eye-catching examples can be actions such as bachelor parties, visits to sporting events and the like. In connection with conspicuous behaviour (e.g. shouting, drinking, etc.) the irritation potential increases significantly. This behaviour is often different from home. “[It] can be labelled as a tourist culture, a subset of behavioural patterns and values that tend to emerge only when the visitors are travelling but which, when viewed by local people in receiving areas, project a false and misleading image of the visitors and the societies they represent” ( Postma, 2013 , p. 144). Group size belongs to the same category: it can be assumed that tourists coming in (large) groups, tend to generate irritation easier than individual tourists.

Other demographic, socio-cultural and personal characteristics: of course there are other characteristics of tourists that could cause irritation or annoyance. However, it seems plausible to consider, for example, purely demographic attributes (such as age, gender, household type and size) as background variables rather than primary features in the model. The same applies to other attributes that contribute to the adaptivity, to socio-cultural attributes (nationality, ethnicity, language, attitude to women), to socio-economic attributes (such as income and consumption patterns) and to the regional origin of the visitors. Regardless of the adaptivity, the regional origin can be a relevant driver of irritation. Even if tourists behave in a very friendly and reserved manner, their appearance may be irritating some inhabitants due to specific characteristics (such as skin colour, language/dialect or clothing). Even if there is no objective cause for complaint, strangeness as such can cause irritation.

It is important to emphasise that these background variables are not directly affecting behaviour in a direct way. Stephen Williams (2009 , p. 144) comments: “The behaviour patterns of visitors often divert from their socio-cultural norms and do not accurately represent the host societies from which they originate, with conspicuous increases in levels of expenditure and consumption, or adoption of activities that might be on the margins pf social acceptability at home (e.g. drinking, overeating, gambling, atypical dress codes, nudity, semi nudity)”.

Relevant characteristics of inhabitants

On the part of the inhabitants, a fairly large number of potential attributes can be identified in the literature which could influence their attitude towards the tourists.

demographic characteristics: gender, age, education;

socio-economic characteristics: employment and income situation, housing situation (place of residence, duration of residence, property/rented), personal relationship to the city/district, attitude to economic growth;

socio-psychological and socio-cultural characteristics: orientation (new vs traditional) and lifestyle, origin (born and raised or migrant, born in city or country), personality traits such as self-image and group identity; and

tourism-specific characteristics: knowledge about tourism and its effects, income dependence from tourism, spatial distance to tourist hotspots and actual contacts with tourists, involvement in decisions about tourism development.

Harrill (2004) , Zhang et al. (2006) , Andereck et al. (2005) , Vargas-Sánchez et al. (2008) , Faulkner and Tideswell (1997) .

Investigations into residents’ perceptions of tourism have been approached from several perspectives: the balance between positive and negative perceived impacts (social exchange theory), the shared social representations of tourism with other community members (social representations theory; Moscovici, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1988 ), the speed and intensity of tourism growth, especially in the early phases of tourism development (social disruption theory; England and Albrecht, 1984 ; Kang, Long and Perdue, 1996 ) and increasing investments and associated commodification and destruction of the landscape and idyll (theory of creative destruction ( Mitchell, 1998 )).

“Cultural Distance” as a collective term for the cultural difference between tourists and locals. It can take the form of a lack of adaptivity, appearance in (large) groups, disturbing behaviour on the part of the tourists, and a sensitivity on the part of the local (which has its roots in the factors mentioned above) Altogether, cultural distance can be understood as the socio-cultural difference between locals and tourists. The term goes back to Stephen Williams (2009) : the larger the cultural distance, the greater the potential for conflict.

Spatial and temporal distribution. This refers to the crowding (the sheer number of tourists) or the concentration of tourists in space and/or time. This crowding can lead to irritation irrespective of “cultural distance”: even with the highest degree of “correct behaviour” by highly adaptive individual tourists without further disturbing characteristics, crowding can occur.

Each aspect can potentially cause irritation on its own, but in combination the effects become potentially stronger.

Concrete fields of conflict

The components of the model described in the previous section point at conflicts in a more abstract way (which characteristics and features could lead to conflicts and how does this work in general?). This section will focus on the actual (concrete) conflict fields that can occur. The basis for the collection of these fields of conflict is derived from the illustrated antecedents, yet it is mainly about what has been reported by destinations (especially big cities) and survey results.

The numerous arguments, which are mentioned in the literature, but above all in reports and interviews on areas of conflict, can be divided into possible direct restrictions (those which are perceived at the moment of occurrence) and indirect consequences. Table I shows the concrete fields of conflict that were identified in an overview. The fields of conflict are characterised as “potential”, because it is a structured collection without any further statement as to whether and how far these are relevant to Hamburg. Moreover, it is not an overview of fears by the authors, but about fears of local residents as they experienced in their daily lives (e.g. the authors do not believe that the employment of people with an immigration background is a negative consequence of tourism).

It becomes clear that the number of possible conflict fields is large and their structure heterogeneous and not always clearly assignable. In addition, specific developments do not only impact upon the direct interests of the local residents, but also upon the relations between different tourist actors and economic groups. For example, it is not clear yet how the renting through sharing portals has an impact upon the price development in the hotel industry ( Zervas et al. , 2016 ), and how much “sharing” (as opposed to businesses) there really is in the sharing economy ( O’Neill and Ouyang, 2016 ; European Commission, 2016 ).

In the case of Hamburg, conflicts arose from both temporary or seasonal and permanent sources of conflict. Examples of temporary sources of conflict can be large events, but also groups of cruise passengers who flood the city during daytime in the summer season. In the Hamburg case, there are few very large events in the course of the year which can be conflicting with the interests of the inhabitants, although mitigation and management measures have been taken. But also, a permanent area of conflict can be found in the concrete case, e.g. the misbehaviour of groups of drunken or otherwise intoxicated young males (mostly), entering the red-light district around Reeperbahn.

Strategic approaches

For the residents: to secure and increase the acceptance of tourism.

For tourists and touristic providers: to secure and increase tourist value creation.

Against this background, it is important to ask which measures are appropriate to achieve these goals (see also Figure 1 ).

Although this project is primarily aimed at the equalisation of tourism flows, further strategies and actions are conceivable that mitigate the perceived negative effects of tourism.

improved spatial distribution of visitors (Spreading visitors around the city and beyond);

better time distribution of visitors (time-based rerouting);

regulation (regulation);

incentives through creating itineraries;

improved audience segmentation (visitor segmentation);

making the benefit of the inhabitants clearer (make residents benefit from the visitor economy);

tourist offers with benefits for the inhabitants (create city experiences);

communicating with and involving local stakeholders;

communication approaches towards visitors (communicating with and involving visitors); and

improvement of infrastructure (Improve city infrastructure and facilities).

Each of those strategies is linked to specific actions (CELTH, 2016).

Conclusions and discussion

Currently tourism is on the rise and city tourism has a large share in this increase. The UN World Tourism Organisation anticipates a further growth during the years to come. Emerging economies play a major role in the vast increase of tourism. Driven by an increase of wealth the middle classes in these economies are discovering the world and for example, in Europe it is evident that this is causing a growing level of annoyance among residents of (urban) destinations. Because of the rise of international tourism it is likely that the situation will worsen if visitor flows are not managed properly. This requires a thorough understanding of the forces, the conditions and mechanisms at work. This paper is an attempt to contribute to this understanding by means of a case study in Hamburg and the construction of a model that could help to manage visitor flows and anticipate possible effects of potential measures. Future studies are needed to refine the model.

The model developed in this paper is a conceptual model. It is based upon desk research on and expert interviews in various European cities and a literature review. As a conceptual model, it’s main value lies in sorting and arranging the many possible aspects of visitor pressure occurring in city tourism. It can be (and in the case of Hamburg has been) used as a working structure to assess possible fields of conflict arising from the conflict mechanisms contained in the model. Furthermore, it is intended to help clarify the relation between stakeholders (i. e. the residents, the tourism suppliers and the visitors) and their respective objectives. Being conceptual, however, it is not intended to serve as a structural model delivering graphical representations of hypotheses or structural relationships.

Obviously, in order to assess the situation in a specific destination, the conceptual model is only one basic tool. For concrete applications, two more steps need to be taken, building on the model.

First, the concrete fields of conflict have to be identified. These fields will differ in their importance from city to city and from destination to destination. While in one city, cruise tourists flooding the city centre impose problems, it might be stag parties or beer bikes in another destination and the rise of housing prices because of increasing numbers of Airbnbs in the next. Typically, public discussion about “visitor pressure” or “overtourism” starts with one publicly visible field of conflict. The conceptual model can then help to embed this problem into a larger framework and thus prevent it from being discussed in isolation. In other cases, cities want to assess their current status and vulnerability to unbalanced tourism development. Then, the conceptual model can help to get a more holistic view to the problem.

Second, indicators and metrics have to be applied to the concrete fields of conflict. If, e.g. crowding is identified as a field of conflict, then indicators and measurement for crowding need to be found. These can be visitor counts or usage data from apps and mobile phones. If shared accommodation seems to be the problem, then the number of hosts, listings and overnights at Airbnb and other platforms can be appropriate metrics. A major drawback, however, in the current situation seems to be the lack of comparable metrics. Each city and destination has to rely on its own assessment of “how much is too much”. In terms of overnight stays in hotels, a reasonably well maintained European database exists (TourMIS). Furthermore, some methodological approaches to assess some fields of visitor pressure have been published by McElroy (2006) or Boley et al. (2014) . However, comparable indicators and metrics specific for the field of visitor pressure are not at hand at the moment.

Third, taking action and implementing measures is a logical consequence in cases where the assessment phase has shown problems of visitor pressure. These actions might be in the fields of regulation, visitor management, pricing or communication. The model does not give suggestions as to which actions to take. It can work, however, as a guideline for the strategic objectives of such actions, namely to secure (and possibly increase) the economic value from tourism for the city and its tourism suppliers on the one hand and to secure (and possibly increase) tourism acceptance on the residents’ side on the other hand.

disadvantages to tourism

Quality of life: equal demands on tourism

disadvantages to tourism

Conceptual model of conflict drivers and irritation factors

Potential areas of conflict

Source: Adapted from Postma (2013)

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Acknowledgements

© Albert Postma and Dirk Schmuecker. Published in the Journal of Tourism Futures . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Corresponding author

About the authors.

Albert Postma is a Professor of Applied Sciences at the European Tourism Futures Institute, Stenden University of Applied Sciences, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.

Dirk Schmuecker is the Head of Research at the NIT Institute for Tourism Research in Northern Europe, Kiel, Germany.

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Don’t forget tourism has benefits too

Readers respond to Christopher de Bellaigue’s long read on the future of global tourism

Christopher de Bellaigue’s article ( The end of tourism? , Long read, 18 June) is interesting and insightful, but fails to point out the intrinsic value of travel. Mass tourism, apart from its economic and ecological impacts, has also implied the opportunity to access peoples, cultures and foods that we have hitherto never experienced. To travel is to live, as Hans Christian Andersen once wrote.

The chance to experience and appreciate other cultures, to understand the lives of others unlike oneself, must be seen as a public good in itself. The “end of tourism” will not mean the end of travel for the classes who can afford it, but only means the denying of the opportunity for the vast majority of the world’s people to experience the world in ways that previous generations could not have dreamed of. An end to tourism will not hinder the travel plans of the world’s richest, but will serve to insulate and harden the nativist sentiments of the more disadvantaged. Madhav Tipu Ramachandran Bengaluru, India

Tourism and globalisation is what has brought us the very knowledge and cultural understanding about all the destinations that the author talks about. Without a globally connected and travelling society there would be little awareness of other cultures, little respect for other traditions and much less intercultural exchange.

Travelling and experiencing other cultures first-hand is what makes us more open and accepting of others. It connects us to the rest of the world. Progressive politics, fighting racism and supporting migration all depend on people understanding more of other countries and cultures. Lorenz Kost Düsseldorf, Germany

I was a bit bemused that no mention was made of staying in your own country for a holiday and the impact of Covid-19 on the UK tourism industry. Lockdown has helped many of us to appreciate what we have close at hand, from our own back gardens to wildlife areas on our doorsteps.

There’s much choice for urban, countryside and seaside holidays, and such diverse beauty and culture available right here in the UK. Reopening UK-based tourism will help the economy and people’s wellbeing without impacting on the environment in the way that overseas travel does. Danielle Lowy Manchester

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‘Worry’ as Nepal’s forex reserves soar to record Rs1.84 trillion

‘Worry’ as Nepal’s forex reserves soar to record Rs1.84 trillion

Krishana Prasain

Nepal’s foreign exchange reserves are on a record-breaking streak.

The reserves reached Rs1.84 trillion in mid-February, according to the country’s central bank, and are inching towards the Rs2 trillion mark as investment stalls and import contracts.

The accumulation of reserves, mostly pumped by Nepali migrant workers, may have cheered the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government, but for economists, it’s a worrying sign.

The accumulation of foreign exchange reserves has both advantages and disadvantages, but it is more of a disadvantage for a country like Nepal which is in a low-growth trap.

“There is a direct link between the economic growth rate and foreign exchange reserves,” said Chandramani Adhikari, an economist.

“We have low growth and in such a situation, high foreign exchange reserves mean we are not investing,” he said. “The more foreign exchange reserves increase, the further our growth rate will decline.”

Economists say growth is achieved through capital investment and labour output.

“As we export labour and buy goods from the money the workers send home, we are a consumption-based economy. So, based on the data—the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves and drop in imports—the implication is, we are not spending,” he said. “This shows the economy has slowed down.”

But if a country has a consistent GDP growth rate, it is a good sign that the economy is stable and hence accumulation of reserves boosts the economic growth rates.

The central bank said in its monthly report that the year-on-year remittance inflows increased by a whopping 21.6 percent to Rs839 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

The growth has been attributed to ever-increasing migrant departures to foreign lands in search of better income.

In the first seven months of the fiscal year, more than 400,000 Nepalis left the country on work permit visas, according to the central bank data.

The cost of rising migrant worker departures has started to become real and visible, with industries ranging from restaurants to dairy and retail to footwear, all suffering a drop in customers.

Economists say that as over a million young people leave the country each year for foreign jobs, consumption has curtailed.

“Youngsters were the customers of the restaurants, bars and coffee shops. And these eateries were also primarily reliant on them," Pramod Jaiswal, former president of the Restaurant and Bar Association, who owns Mela Restaurant, told the Post in a recent interview.

Recently, Nepal’s Dairy Development Corporation issued a press statement saying that due to the ongoing economic slowdown, people’s buying capacity has eroded, resulting in a huge pile-up of dairy products in warehouses.

Those involved in Nepal’s once budding footwear sector said that after Covid, Nepal saw a massive youth exodus, and the manufacturers lost their key customers, dampening the growth of the burgeoning industry.

The footwear sector estimates that the average Nepali citizen buys less than two pairs of shoes a year due to the drop in their incomes.

Economist Keshav Acharya said import growth has been gradually declining, which suggests a contraction in consumption, the country’s key economic indicator to fuel growth.

“The government, too, has not been able to spend the capital budget which has affected economic activities,” Acharya said. “No expenditure means fewer jobs.”

As the capacity utilisation of domestic industries is 60 percent, the manufacturing industry is also facing a subdued demand, he said.

“Many businesses, which started laying off workers after the Covid pandemic, are continuing to do so due to low economic activities.”

Most shutters in major market hubs have been closed, the footfall of customers in hotels and restaurants has declined, and even small vegetable vendors are saying that sales have dropped, Acharya said.

Also, in the past two years, problems have been seen in cooperatives due to which depositors could not use their savings, Acharya said. There are problems in microfinance companies as well.

Anarchy is growing in the financial sector as borrowers are openly saying that they won’t repay their bank loans, said Acharya.

Non-performing loans in the banking and financial sector have peaked.

The amount, which should have been injected into the local economy from the banking and financial sector as well as cooperatives and microfinance sector, has withered.

“Even the private sector has not injected money into the economy,” said Acharya. “This also resulted in demand contraction. The private sector confidence has declined. Except in the hydro sector, investment in other areas has dried.”

Rising political instability has had a great impact on the economy.

For instance, Nepal built two international airports to boost tourism income by spending over Rs65 billion, but no international flights go there. Insiders say no one is taking ownership of the project to make the projects financially viable.

Tourism entrepreneurs say successive governments are hiding their shortcomings and as a part of their 'buck-passing' strategy, blame geopolitics for the projects' failure.

According to the Nepal Rastra Bank, the year-on-year imports decreased by 2.3 percent to Rs897.94 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

The export also declined by 7.07 percent to Rs86.83 billion in the review period.

The foreign exchange reserve is used on imports, including paying foreign loans, Acharya said.

The data of the National Statistics Office shows an economic growth of 3.5 percent in the first quarter [mid-August 2023 to mid-October 2023] of the current fiscal year. This suggests Nepal is growing at a sluggish pace due to a contraction in economic activities.

Krishana Prasain Krishana Prasain is a business reporter for The Kathmandu Post covering markets. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2018, she spent 3 years in New Business Age magazine covering business.

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  1. 25 Important Disadvantages Of Tourism

    The disadvantages of tourism. As one delves into the captivating world of globetrotting, it is easy to become enamored with the captivating allure of exploration, adventure, and cross-cultural interactions that define the tourist experience.

  2. 10 Primary Disadvantages of Tourism [Problems with Tourism]

    10. If you wish to travel with a tour group, seek out an eco-friendly company that employs locals and uses locally-owned accommodations and attractions. 11. Avoid "tourist trap" destinations and everything that comes with them, such as all-inclusive resorts, mega cruise ships, and commercialised cultural displays. 12.

  3. Is overtourism a problem?

    And 2030 transport-related carbon emissions from tourism are expected to grow 25% from 2016 levels, representing an increase from 5% to 5.3% of all man-made emissions, according to the United ...

  4. Tourism; 15 Pros and Cons, Facts, Impact

    These disadvantages are sometimes ignored by the tourism sector of that country as their sole purpose becomes profit. We must consider all aspects of tourism which include environmental responsibilities, profit and sustainability. Today, we will look at some of the Pros and Cons of Tourism; Advantages of Tourism 1. Wealth Generation

  5. Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism: An Overview

    Disadvantages of Tourism. Environmental degradation: Tourism can have a negative impact on the environment, including increased pollution, depletion of natural resources, and destruction of wildlife habitats. Cultural erosion: Tourism can lead to the erosion of traditional cultures and ways of life. This is especially true in areas where ...

  6. Tourism: The Advantages, Disadvantages and How to Properly Travel

    The Disadvantages. With the way the tourism industry is currently run, the disadvantages of tourism may greatly outweigh the advantages in a country. The first factor to take into consideration is environmental damage. When a country has a high tourist attraction, the number of people occupying a space increases immensely. As a result, the ...

  7. The Disadvantages of Tourism

    Economic disadvantages of tourism. It might seem hard to believe that there can be economic disadvantages of tourism when it produces so much revenue. But the economic side of tourism is more than just profits. And unsustainable tourism driven by profits only can have dire consequences for the destinations it occurs in.

  8. Full article: Benefits and threats of travel and tourism in a

    Benefits and threats of travel and tourism in a globalized cultural context. When we chose the theme for this special issue: "Benefits and threats of travel and tourism in a globalized context", no one foresaw how current and appropriate this topic would be. Indeed, due to the global nature of our interconnected world, a virus abruptly ...

  9. The Pros and Cons of Tourism

    However, the disadvantages of tourism should be addressed, especially concerning the environment. Tourism industries in some countries often ignore these cons because they want to continue to provide revenue for the peoples' livelihoods. ... Tourism is a necessary part of the economy, but the adverse effects often go unnoticed. Fortunately ...

  10. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism

    The Disadvantages of Tourism. Environmental. Tourism can often cause environmental damage due to risks like erosion, pollution, loss of natural habitats, and forest fires. Even if tourists behave responsibly, the sheer number of them can cause harm. Ancient buildings, monuments, and temples often struggle to cope with increased traffic and ...

  11. Negative Environmental Impacts Of Tourism

    The negative environmental impacts of tourism are substantial. They include the depletion of local natural resources as well as pollution and waste problems. Tourism often puts pressure on natural resources through over-consumption, often in places where resources are already scarce. Tourism puts enormous stress on local land use, and can lead ...

  12. Can overtourism be stopped in its tracks?

    The World Tourism and Travel Council says that of 1.4 billion international tourist trips in 2018, more than 36%, or half a billion, involved a visit to one of the planet's 300 most popular ...

  13. What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism?

    Conclusion. There are both advantages and disadvantages to tourism. On the plus side, tourism can have both a favorable impact on the economy and drawbacks. Because of this, it's crucial to manage tourism operations responsibly and sustainably through careful planning, community involvement, and the implementation of sustainable tourism ...

  14. Overtourism: Causes, Consequences and Solutions

    The Causes of overtourism. More than 1.4 billion people are moving around the world every year, and they are growing at an exponential rate. The World Tourism Organisation predicts that by 2030 the international flow of tourists will exceed 2 billion.This very high number of people focus on a few tourist destinations in the world, which suffer from the excessive presence of tourists.

  15. The Pros and Cons of Tourism

    Here are some points that highlight the value that tourism gives and the advantages of a country investing in this industry. 1. Wealth Generation. One of the most obvious and essential pros for tourism is, of course, the money it brings in. Tourism can easily generate a massive amount of wealth.

  16. 18 Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism

    Widening income gap: Tourism can also lead to a widening income gap, as the benefits of tourism may not be distributed equally among all members of a community. This can lead to an increase in poverty, and social inequality. Inflation: Tourism can also lead to inflation, as the demand for goods and services increases, prices may rise, making it ...

  17. Pros and Cons of Tourism

    One of the significant advantages of tourism is that it can help protect and preserve the environment. Local governments can invest the revenue generated by tourism for the betterment of environmentally sensitive regions and areas with fragile ecosystems. 4. Improved Infrastructure is Among the Pros of Tourism.

  18. Overtourism Effects: Positive and Negative Impacts for ...

    Tourism today is paradoxically dominated by two opposite aspects: its sustainable character and overtourism. Since its creation by Skift in 2016 (Ali 2016), the term "overtourism" has been a buzzword in media and academic circles, although it may only be a new word for a problem discussed over the past three decades.. Overtourism is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon destructive to ...

  19. What Is Ecotourism? Definition, Examples, and Pros and Cons

    The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of ecotourism since 1990, defines ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that ...

  20. Understanding and overcoming negative impacts of tourism in city

    The domain of tourism impact studies has evolved since the second world war, echoing the development of tourism, its characteristics and its perception. During the first phase (1960-1970) the emphasis of tourism impact studies was on the positive economic impacts of tourism. Tourism was mainly seen as a means to strengthen economies.

  21. Advantages And Disadvantages Of Tourism

    What are the advantages and disadvantages of Tourism? Answer: Tourism is a type of industry that relies on the willingness or need for individuals and organisations to visit or move to a certain area. It can often be very beneficial, but it can also have drawbacks. For example, Tourism creates jobs in an area and helps the economy grow.

  22. Don't forget tourism has benefits too

    An end to tourism will not hinder the travel plans of the world's richest, but will serve to insulate and harden the nativist sentiments of the more disadvantaged. Tourism and globalisation is ...

  23. Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism

    Disadvantages of Tourism. 1. Tourists' Negligence of the Environment. When it comes to tourism, thousands or even millions of people may travel somewhere. Particularly in places where tourists are more likely to travel, this high tourist influx has the potential to cause significant environmental damage.

  24. 'Worry' as Nepal's forex reserves soar to record Rs1.84 trillion

    The accumulation of foreign exchange reserves has both advantages and disadvantages, but it is more of a disadvantage for a country like Nepal which is in a low-growth trap. ... For instance, Nepal built two international airports to boost tourism income by spending over Rs65 billion, but no international flights go there. ...

  25. Applied Sciences

    Renewable energies present an opportunity to enhance energy security, reduce dependence on imports, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Natural gas, viewed as a transitional fuel from coal to renewables, lacks reliable environmental sustainability and does not contribute to EU energy independence. Recently, biomethane has been gaining attention as an alternative to natural gas. Obtained from ...