TOURISM MATTERS | Episode 03: Impacts of Overtourism

Summary

This episode of 'Tourism Matters' explores the issue of overtourism, focusing on its environmental, infrastructural, and community impacts. Environmental planner and lawyer Mark Evidente emphasizes the importance of sustainable tourism through careful planning, managing visitor impacts, and fostering community participation. He highlights strategies such as limiting resource use, improving infrastructure, and respecting local cultures. The discussion underscores the need for government and businesses to collaborate on responsible practices, especially in light of climate change, aiming for a future where tourism benefits local communities while preserving the environment.

Takeaways

• 📈 Over-tourism refers to the negative impacts of excessive tourism on communities, the environment, and infrastructure.
• 🌱 Sustainable tourism requires proactive planning, community involvement, and proper management to mitigate negative effects.
• 🏗️ Infrastructure, such as water, power, and sewage systems, must be adequate to handle the number of tourists to prevent environmental degradation.
• 👥 Community engagement is essential; local communities should benefit from tourism rather than be inconvenienced or marginalized.
• 📉 Carrying capacity is a critical measure that indicates when a destination has reached or surpassed its sustainable tourism limit.
• 🚫 Limiting tourist numbers through permits or fees can help manage over-tourism and reduce environmental impacts.
• 🏛️ Coordination between government, industry, and academia is necessary to develop effective sustainable tourism policies and practices.
• 🔄 Responsible business practices are needed to balance economic growth with environmental protection and community well-being.
• ♻️ Reducing single-use plastics and conserving local resources are practical steps tourists can take to lessen their environmental impact.
• 🏡 Tourism should enhance and respect local cultural identity, providing jobs and supporting the community’s heritage and way of life.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the 'Tourism Matters' program?

The 'Tourism Matters' program explores issues about tourism and emphasizes why tourism is an important part of our lives. It focuses on topics such as tourism policy and governance, education and human resource capacity, and the tourism industry market and enterprise.

What is the concept of 'over-tourism' as discussed in the episode?

'Over-tourism' refers to the negative impacts of tourism, including overcrowding, environmental damage, and social exclusion. It emphasizes the need to manage tourism to reduce its harmful effects on the environment, infrastructure, and local communities.

How is over-tourism related to infrastructure challenges?

Over-tourism can strain infrastructure by overwhelming water, power, and sewage systems. Insufficient infrastructure can lead to problems like excessive water use and unprocessed waste, which negatively impact both the environment and local communities.

What is the significance of carrying capacity in tourism management?

Carrying capacity indicates the maximum number of tourists an area can handle without suffering negative effects. It helps determine whether a destination is reaching or has reached a point of over-tourism, guiding planners to make decisions that prevent excessive impact.

What is a proactive approach to dealing with over-tourism?

A proactive approach involves having a comprehensive plan that includes community engagement, environmental protection, infrastructure planning, and expert input. It requires regular forums for dialogue between communities, decision-makers, and experts to assess tourism’s impact.

How can tourism minimize its environmental impact?

Tourism can minimize its environmental impact by reducing the use of single-use plastics, conserving water, implementing zoning regulations to limit access to sensitive areas, and upgrading infrastructure like sewage and water systems to handle increased tourist numbers.

Why is community engagement crucial in managing over-tourism?

Community engagement ensures that locals benefit from tourism, such as by securing jobs and being consulted on new projects. It also helps ensure that tourism development respects local cultures and traditions, promoting a sense of pride and identity within the community.

What role does the government play in managing over-tourism?

The government plays a key role in promoting responsible tourism practices, creating policies that address environmental challenges like climate change, and working alongside businesses to ensure sustainability. They also set regulations and enforcement mechanisms to manage tourism impact.

How can tourist destinations enforce responsible tourism practices?

Destinations can enforce responsible tourism by limiting the number of tourists through permits, charging fees for access to specific areas, and using these fees to fund environmental management. Such regulations help control the impact of large tourist volumes.

What steps can be taken to improve the quality of life for host communities affected by tourism?

To improve the quality of life for host communities, tourism should generate local jobs, respect local culture, and ensure the community actively benefits from tourism developments. This includes preserving cultural identity and ensuring communities are involved in decision-making processes.

Outlines

00:00

🎥 Introduction to Tourism Matters and Over Tourism

This paragraph introduces 'Tourism Matters,' a program exploring various issues surrounding tourism. The series covers topics like tourism policy, governance, education, and industry challenges, with a focus on over-tourism. It defines over-tourism as the negative impact of excessive tourism, including environmental degradation, overcrowding, and social exclusion. The episode features Mark Evidente, an environmental planner and lawyer, who discusses mitigating these impacts to create more sustainable and inclusive tourism practices.

05:01

🌍 Addressing the Environmental, Infrastructure, and Community Impact of Over Tourism

Mark Evidente explains the multifaceted impact of over-tourism on the environment, infrastructure, and host communities. He highlights how tourism can affect natural areas, strain infrastructure like water and sewage systems, and influence the well-being of local communities. He emphasizes the need for proactive destination management and planning to handle both the number and impact of tourists. Over-tourism isn't just about the quantity of tourists but also their unmanaged impact on the locality.

10:02

🛠️ The Role of Holistic Planning in Sustainable Tourism

This paragraph emphasizes the importance of a holistic plan for sustainable tourism development. Evidente explains that successful tourism planning must involve experts, decision-makers, and local communities. He stresses the role of infrastructure planning, environmental zoning, and community engagement in avoiding over-tourism. The concept of 'carrying capacity' is highlighted as a key indicator to prevent over-tourism, urging localities to avoid responding to tourism demands in an unstructured or 'organic' manner.

Keywords

💡Overtourism

Overtourism refers to the negative effects caused by excessive numbers of tourists in a given destination. It encompasses issues such as overcrowding, pollution, and social exclusion. In the video, it is portrayed as the 'dark side' of tourism, leading to environmental degradation, strain on infrastructure, and disruption of local communities.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability in the context of tourism involves managing resources in a way that meets current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. The video emphasizes the importance of sustainable tourism practices to minimize the negative impacts of overtourism, such as by limiting the use of plastics and ensuring responsible consumption of resources like water.

💡Carrying capacity

Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of visitors that a destination can accommodate without causing environmental degradation, infrastructure strain, or negative social impacts. The video links this concept to overtourism, explaining that understanding and managing carrying capacity is essential for sustainable tourism development.

💡Infrastructure

Infrastructure in tourism refers to the physical systems and structures needed to support tourist activities, such as water supply, sewage systems, roads, and accommodation. The video discusses the pressure that large numbers of tourists can place on infrastructure, particularly when there is insufficient planning or capacity, leading to overdrawn resources and environmental harm.

💡Community involvement

Community involvement is a critical aspect of sustainable tourism, ensuring that local populations benefit from tourism and have a say in how it develops. The video stresses the need for local communities to be included in planning and decision-making processes to avoid negative impacts, such as displacement or lack of economic benefit.

💡Tourism policy

Tourism policy refers to government frameworks and regulations that guide the development and management of tourism. The video highlights the role of the government in creating policies that promote sustainable tourism, such as those that control tourist numbers and ensure responsible environmental practices.

💡Destination management

Destination management involves coordinating all elements of a destination, from its natural and cultural resources to its infrastructure, to ensure a positive experience for both visitors and locals. The video underscores the importance of proper destination management to prevent overtourism and create a balance between economic benefits and environmental and social sustainability.

💡Environmental impact

Environmental impact in the context of tourism refers to the negative effects that tourism activities can have on natural ecosystems, such as pollution, habitat destruction, and overconsumption of resources. The video highlights the need to mitigate these impacts through zoning, reducing waste, and regulating tourist activities to protect sensitive areas.

💡Responsible business practices

Responsible business practices in tourism involve companies adopting sustainable and ethical approaches to their operations. The video calls for collaboration between government and industry to implement practices that benefit the environment and local communities, such as using renewable energy and minimizing waste.

💡Climate change

Climate change is presented in the video as an urgent global challenge that must be addressed by both the tourism industry and governments. The video links tourism to climate change by discussing the need for sustainable practices that reduce carbon emissions, such as aiming for carbon neutrality, and the role tourism can play in exacerbating or mitigating environmental problems.

Highlights

Tourism matters is a program that explores issues about tourism and why tourism is an important part of our lives.

The series focuses on three main topics: tourism policy and governance, tourism education and human resource capacity, and tourism industry market and enterprise.

Overtourism first appeared on social media in 2012, referring to the negative impacts of tourism and host communities' resistance to excessive visitors.

Overtourism highlights the dark side of tourism, including overcrowding, pollution, and social exclusion.

Environmental planner and attorney Mark Evidente explains that overtourism is not just about the number of tourists but also their impact on the environment, infrastructure, and local communities.

A key aspect of overtourism is the lack of planning and poor destination management, which can lead to a strain on local infrastructure and resources.

Overtourism requires a holistic approach to planning that includes not only economic considerations but also environmental and social factors.

Carrying capacity is crucial in determining when a destination reaches the point of overtourism, as it provides indicators for environmental, infrastructural, and community stress.

Mark Evidente emphasizes the need for a proactive plan that involves the community, scientists, engineers, and urban planners in addressing overtourism's impacts.

Tourism strategies can include limiting single-use plastics, reducing water usage, and managing visitor interactions with sensitive cultural or natural sites.

Community engagement in tourism planning is essential to ensure locals benefit from tourism development, including job creation and cultural preservation.

Environmental zoning is crucial to manage where tourists can go and what activities they can do in specific areas to minimize environmental impact.

Infrastructure development must anticipate the arrival of tourists and be designed to handle increasing numbers in a sustainable manner.

There are concrete steps that can be taken to manage overtourism, including introducing permits or fees to limit the number of visitors in specific locations.

Mark Evidente stresses the importance of collaboration between the government, business sector, and community to promote responsible tourism and address environmental challenges, particularly in the face of climate change.

Transcripts

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hi there welcome to tourism matters a

program that explores issues about

tourism and white tourism is an

important part of our lives this brought

to you by you Pai T and T V u P tourism

matters tackle broad topics and are

divided into three series number one

tourism policy and governance with a

specific focus on issue on over tourism

number two tourism education and human

resource capacity and number three

tourism industry market and enterprise

we hope you find the series interesting

educational and fun in this series

leading experts in tourism share their

thoughts on our tourism a term that

first appeared on social media in 2012

to denote the negative impacts of

tourism and the social movements

associated with hostert agonism to too

many guests over tourism has come to

mean the dark side of tourism

overcrowding pollution and social

exclusion in this episode we invited

environmental planner attorney mark

evident a lecturer from the University

of the Philippines to share his thoughts

on how to mitigate against the negative

impacts of tourism and make it more

sustainable and inclusive

I'm mark Richard evidently I'm an

environmental planner and lawyer and

president of to echo incorporated

sustainability consultants when we talk

about over tourism we're not just

talking about the numbers of tourists

we're talking about their impact and

we're talking about the impact on the

environment on infrastructure and on the

community when we talk about the

environment we see the impact of

tourists in terms of how they interfere

with the environment or what they draw

from the environment so for instance if

it's a sensitive area like a forest or

not for a natural park it tourists can

actually enter the area and have very

little impact on it but they can also

enter and have a lot of impact and then

that would be a situation of over to the

same second one would be about the

infrastructure so we can have a lot of

tourists and then there is no sufficient

infrastructure in terms of water power

and sewage and so what happens is that

we draw too much water or they produce

too much sewage that it's not a that

it's not processed by the natural

environment in a proper way and then

there's and then we so there's a need

for infrastructure in that case that

needs to be upgraded and then when you

talk about community of course there's a

host community that's affected by

tourism does the community benefit from

the tourists that enter or are they

inconvenienced or put at a disadvantage

because of tourism so these are the

kinds of things that we have to think

about when we talk about the idea of

over tourism so I said earlier it's not

just about too many tourists but about

their impact and then so there is an

aspect about numbers and impact and the

second aspect is that it is also about

lack of planning and poor destination

management because even if you have a

lot of plans and well-made plans at that

but if there is simply too many tourists

that arrive in a particular area then

you do have over tourism but of course

it's also the situation in which you

don't have plans and you don't have

destination manage

and so any number of tourists really

stretch the ability of the environment

the community and infrastructure to deal

with over tourism okay so yes people

were aware about over tourism but I

think for a long time the understanding

of tourism was mainly from an economic

point of view in terms of what jobs it

would generate or what what income would

be generated for a community or locality

but I think one of the one of the things

that came up with this administration

was that there is a shift towards

looking at tourism and more holistic

sense although the idea of sustainable

tourism has been there at least

officially as a policy statement as

early as 2009 with the enactment of the

tourism map of 2009 but I think over the

last decade this administration has led

the shift towards sustainability of

course this is early in the process of

moving toward sustainability but it's

good to see government leading the

charge and it would be good also to see

more conversations between government

and the academia and other stakeholders

and truly coming up with a good formula

for sustainability for our country

I think being proactive really starts

with having a plan and the plan is not

simply about having or identifying the

infrastructure that needs to be built or

what kinds of designs it needs to look

at we need to have a plan that really

looks at the problem in a holistic way

that it deals with the community it

brings and creates a regular forum for

the community to interact with other

decision-makers and so they can

regularly have a conversation about

whether the community or the locality is

deal is now reaching a point of over

tourism and it's not simply about also

the community and decision-makers you

also need to bring in experts you need

to bring in scientists for example to

measure the impact on the environment

you need to bring in engineers and

architects and urban planners to talk

about and examine whether the

infrastructure needs to be enhanced or

upgraded to deal with tourism

development the two concepts carrying

capacity and over tourism

related in the sense that carrying

capacity provides us an indicator

whether a place has switched the point

of over tourism it's crucial that a

destination needs to have a plan we

cannot deal with to resume on an organic

or in evolutionary way now they can't

just like respond to to the needs

because in one year you'll have hundreds

of thousands of people or maybe even

millions of visitors arrived in a

particular area and a town or a city

cannot simply adapt to that in an

organic fashion there has to be a plan

and the plan starts if we talk about the

different elements of over tourism so

first let's talk about impact so what

kind of strategies can we put in place

so that tourists can reduce their impact

so one simple thing can be like limiting

the use of plastics limiting the use of

disposable single-use plastics and other

items now so that reduces the impact of

waste and trash in the environment also

tourists can learn to use less of water

or use less of other resources in a

particular area so one is impact the

second is the environment in managing

the impact on the environment zoning is

crucial we need to identify areas where

people are allowed in what pivot these

people can can do in a particular area

but as they enter deeper into a

particular environment or a particular

cultural area we need to also find out

or limit the level in which people

interact with that environment because

that would seriously impact on the

natural condition or the cultural

significance of a particular site so in

terms of infrastructure then that needs

to be planned that needs to be

forecasted and and designed ahead of the

tourists arriving so if a particular

locality is seeing so many thousands of

tourists arriving in a particular year

then you need to start upgrading the

number of

hotels the kind of sewage system that

they have the kind of water system that

they have it has to be done in an

organized and rational manner and if we

talk about the community how can we

ensure that the community is properly

engaged in tourism does the community

benefit in a concrete way like our jobs

really generated for the community or

are they simply the background to all

this development that's going on or are

is the community regularly consulted on

new projects that are undertaken by the

local government or by investors so if

we think about over iteration there are

very concrete steps that we can do in

terms of impact environment

infrastructure and community of course

other other localities have gone as far

as limiting the number of people that

enter our particular area by by

introducing permits or in others is

applying fees that only certain people

who pay the fees can enter a particular

area and all these help minimize impact

and a lot of places in which fees are

collected those fees go in turn to go go

and in turn help in managing the

environmental impact in a particular

site so there are a lot of measures that

Canada that the destination can take and

it begins really with planning and it

leads to regulation and enforcement

definitely the government and industry

terms itself you know it should really

work they should work hand-in-hand to

promote responsible business practices I

think if we really think about the two

things that we have that the two urgent

needs in our country that we have one is

the need of course will develop and then

the second is the seriousness of climate

change and other environmental problems

there is really no other choice but for

government and business to work together

in order to come up with responsible

business practices for the community and

for the environment

I think the seriousness of climate

change for instance if we really think

about it we really need to buckle down

and address these problems within the

next five to ten years a lot of

countries are aiming to be zero or

rather carbon neutral by 2040 or 2050

how far are we along that path you know

because there can be no future unless

it's a future that's sustainable to

improve a community's quality of life

one of the things that tourism must do

whether from government or the private

sector is to make sure that a host

community really benefits from tourism

the first thing really is that to make

sure that most of the jobs generated by

tourism really go to locals of the

community right so at least that

produces the possibility or the tendency

of people to migrate from outside the

community and further stress the

infrastructure or the community's own

ability to cope with outsiders okay and

then second is that tourism can find

ways in fact of respecting the local

community's identity so if we're talking

about a particular locality that has a

particular product or a particular

cultural practices then that can in fact

be enhanced and integrated into tourism

activities so at least even the

community starts being more proud about

their identity or more and they start to

cherish their own cultural or social

identity more from these things now so

these are just two quick things that

need to be done and these are things

that I readily implementable now episode

3 clarified that over tourism is that

simply a tourism only problem community

participation respect for and

preservation of local culture planning

managing visitor impacts and observing

physical carrying capacity hold the key

to a more sustainable tourism

development

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