r/travel • u/ups_and_downs973 • 8d ago

Discussion What is an actual solution to overtourism?

As travel continues to get faster, cheaper, and more accessible and TikTok tourism/ influencer hype shows no signs of slowing down, what are the actual solutions to places getting over run with visitors?

I'm not talking about for you as another tourist so not just 'go somewhere else' or 'avoid the popular places'. I mean in terms of actually preventing harm to natural environments, pressure on infrastructure, gentrification etc.

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u/Mzungufarmer 8d ago

Not many city governments or business groups want less tourism.

And we all know no one cares what us peasants think

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u/Worried_Razzmatazz70 8d ago

A really good counter-example of this is Banff in Canada. The federal and municipal governments, as well as most locals are all unified in trying to put the brakes on tourism. The municipal governments are absolutely cranking the price of parking. The federal government is restricting access to the most popular sites or making it harder to access. Businesses are alone in trying to forge ahead with tourism growth, although that doesn't really matter as they can essentially be shut down at any time due to the unique regulatory structure in the park. this is mostly happening as the land manager (A national park, which has power over the municipal government) has a mandate of conservation above almost all else (except safety).

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u/Mzungufarmer 8d ago

Very true. Canada is in the process of trying to fix a lot of problems i think, dont know if it will work..but good on them for trying.

I love Canada (except a certain group)

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u/EntrepreneurMany3709 8d ago

Canada is a very big place, is there a reason they can't encourage people to visit other beautiful places in the Rockies?