Destinations known | How tourist attractions and destinations across the world are protecting against overtourism post-Covid
- Striking the correct balance between making tourists feel welcome and protecting the sensitivities of locals is the holy grail for many tourist hotspots
- In Kyoto, a new app predicts which places will be busiest; Indonesia’s Komodo National Park is hiking ticket prices; and Mallorca is putting a cap on hotel beds
Just as surely as tourism returns post-Covid (or “post-Covid restrictions”, we should say), so overtourism will follow – at least at some of the usual hotspots.
Of course, what constitutes overtourism depends on who you are. For many of those who make a living from tourism, the more visitors the merrier, whereas for those who experience only disruption, the first nosy, noisy, Airbnb-booking, selfie-taking arrival in the neighbourhood is already one too many.
Striking the correct balance between making coffer-boosting visitors feel welcome and protecting the rights and sensitivities of local folk, flora and fauna is the holy grail for places as diverse as Kyoto, Komodo and Kowloon.
According to a recent article in The Guardian newspaper, shopkeepers in Gion, a popular neighbourhood in Japan’s Kyoto, are greeting the return of tourists with both optimism and trepidation.
Japan dropped Covid-19 entry restrictions for foreigners on October 11 and those tourism-related businesses that survived the Great Pause are welcoming their return but are scrabbling to replace the staff that had to be let go during the pandemic.