When the Tourism Minister wrote that one of the national tourism objectives was to surpass the two million tourist mark, I shuddered.
Then I thought of Capri. I had gone there dreaming of lemon-scented air, big plate-like moons shining over the gleaming waves. I had imagined walking through charming little streets hewn into the rocks and sipping limoncello while staring at spectacular views. I didn’t really dedicate much thought to my fellow tourists. Or maybe I had a vague vision of Jackie O-type women, capri pants and lots of linen.
Then I actually visited Capri. It’s a bit of an understatement to say that the reality differed from the Capri of my imagination – and of a thousand advertisement brochures. I can’t really comment about beautiful sunsets, spectacular scenery or moonlit nights because all I remember are the crowds, hundreds of people milling about – or rather trying to – the narrow streets of the isle.
At one point it got so bad that I was actually physically carried away by the mass of humanity in the street. I couldn’t wait to get away – to the mainland – or to anywhere else where I could just breathe.
That’s the trouble with too many visitors – they end up crowding the beauty spot or site they came to see and obscuring the very thing which drew them there.
It’s not just me saying this. Doug Lansky is the top tourism writer in the field. He’s written more than 10 books, has a weekly syndicated column in over 40 newspapers, is a widely sought-after speaker on the lecture circuit and is an industry leader on tourism innovation, trends and destination management. In other words, he is the man to go to on tourism. Incidentally, he’s also visited Malta – but more about that in another column.
Lansky gave a keynote speech in Stockholm recently. It was entitled ‘How to fix travel’ and he described the huge disparity between those glossy tourist brochures and the frequently disappointing reality.
One of the photos in his presentation showed how the crowds on a beach in Brazil had been cropped out of the tourism advert. He asked the audience to imagine the streets of Stockholm with double the amount of pedestrians. Lansky showed photographs of never-ending queues of tourists snaking around museums, waiting for admission.
A huge increase in numbers inevitably leads to a decline in diversity and quality control. And then people just stop visiting a place altogether
His conclusion was the logical one – that overcrowding does not make for a great visitor experience. A huge increase in numbers inevitably leads to a decline in diversity and quality control. And then people just stop visiting a place altogether.
Lansky referred to the studies of Prof. Richard W. Butler about tourism carrying capacity and sustainability. He saw that tourism attractions are fragile and need to be carefully managed so that they are not allowed to exceed their capacity limits. After all, who wants to stay at a resort that feels overcrowded and over-commercialised?
The German geographer Walter Christaller had outlined the tourism trajectory in this way, “The typical course of development has the following pattern. Painters search out untouched and unusual places to paint. Step by step the place develops as a so-called artist colony. Soon a cluster of poets follows, kindred to the painters: then cinema people, gourmets, and the jeunesse dorée. The place becomes fashionable and the entrepreneur takes note. The fisherman’s cottage, the shelter-huts become converted into boarding houses and hotels come on the scene.
“Meanwhile the painters have fled and sought out another periphery – periphery as related to space, and metaphorically, as ‘forgotten’ places and landscapes. Only the painters with a commercial inclination who like to do well in business remain; they capitalise on the good name of this former painter’s corner and on the gullibility of tourists. More and more townsmen choose this place, now en vogue and advertised in the newspapers. Subsequently, the gourmets, and all those who seek real recreation, stay away. At last the tourist agencies come with their package rate travelling parties; now, the indulged public avoids such places.
“At the same time, in other places the same cycle occurs again; more and more places come into fashion, change their type, turn into everybody’s tourist haunt.”
As Lansky said, “There is a tipping point at which a place turns from a cool, authentic place to a touristy and overcrowded one.” It’s about time we gave serious thought to whether we’ve reached that tipping point and the repercussions of this tourism-industry-on-steroids that we continue to embrace.
drcbonello@gmail.com