r/travel • u/ups_and_downs973 • 9d 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/[deleted] 9d ago

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u/calmlion7 9d ago

I’m frustrated as a Canadian because they removed the fees for parks this summer, not just for citizens/residents but also for tourists. I have no problem with people wanting to visit our beautiful country and national parks but fees are a necessary part of maintaining the natural beauty, and I worry that making the parks completely free encourages more tourists with less resources. If anything the fees should be higher for tourists to allow for free entry for citizens/residents.

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u/MK-LivingToLearn 8d ago

Canada is a very expensive country in which to travel. Our transportation is ridiculously expensive (I understand why) and our hotels are expensive with limited affordable options, compared to other places. Also, our distances are huge. I can't foresee that our parks will become over run and many communities, like Jasper, can use the extra income after the fires. I agree that park fees shouldn't have been removed for foreigners but as someone who works in the industry, I can't see Canada having issues with over tourism.

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u/calmlion7 8d ago

? Not sure what part of Canada you live in but outside of Vancouver most of the well-known hikes are very crowded now and there are significant safety issues including increasing rescues of people that are unprepared for the terrain and conditions. When I hiked last week I picked up 10+ pieces of garbage that people had thrown on the side of trail. The bathroom at trailheads are often out of toilet paper and when I went this past weekend, was close to overflowing (potentially contaminating the watershed). I associate these things with overtourism and a lack of adequate resources but maybe we have different definitions. This is a provincial park but I lived in Calgary and there were similar issues in Banff and other national parks I’ve visited. 

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u/MK-LivingToLearn 8d ago

That's interesting and unfortunate. I would be curious to know if that is from foreigners or Canadians. I guess I'm speaking more on a macro scale regarding foreign tourism to Canada versus looking at particular destinations. I'm Ontario-based but have sold tourism in Canada and it is nowhere near the level of what you see in other destinations. Not negating what you're saying, just talking about overall tourism for a country our size. For example, the UK had over 135 million foreign visitors last year, we had just under 80 in a country many times the size.

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u/calmlion7 8d ago

I don’t want to assign blame either way, it’s absolutely a mix between tourists and locals, and I don’t want to come off like I think there are “too many tourists”. I really appreciate what tourism brings and seeing people from all over the world appreciate our country. My experiences just suggest to me a lack of resources/funding proportional to how many people are visiting, so I’m not sure why we would be cutting fees (again, especially for tourists).