Overtourism and Destination Councils: Hot Topics at September’s International Sustainable Tourism Conference in Chile.
Meeting in Coyhaique, Chile, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council addressed a variety of issues. I moderated a key panel on Visitor Management—notably, overtourism—and the need for stewardship councils to help cope with it. (See David Randle’s report in HuffPost for other issues discussed at the Sept 6-9 conference.)
Overtourism cropped up repeatedly. Here is a sample of recent news reports and commentary on a topic that’s not going away:
Two related pieces in the Guardian, one by Elizabeth Becker and another quoting Xavier Font.
Norie Quintos looks at ways to mitigate overtourism for ATTA’s Adventure Travel News.
Tourism impacts on Venice, on World Heritage sites and (below) on Barcelona:
Documentary: Barcelona and the Trials of 21st Century Overtourism
At Machu Picchu, implementation of a revised protected area management plan ~ after years of neglect.
I myself have written about overtourism in Nat Geo Voices, most recently on Oct 28, 2017, , also citing Florence before the word was entering common use. We have addressed it here on the DSC website as well, including a piece written by Salli Felton of the Travel Foundation.
The new WTTC President tells Skift she will to work on the issue, but TUI Group CEO Downplays Overtourism Threat—Patrick Whyte, Skift – Aug 10, 2017 10:00 am
Destination Stewardship Councils: Background
The tourism industry provides services, but the destination and the people that live there are the ultimate tourism product. In most cases, however, no entity—not even the government—takes care of the destination as a whole. A permanent task force can help destinations cope with tourism impacts and general stewardship. That’s why a council type of arrangement is called for in GSTC’s destination Criterion A2, which reads:
“The destination has an effective organization, department, group, or committee responsible for a coordinated approach to sustainable tourism, with involvement by the private sector and public sector. This group is suited to the size and scale of the destination, and has defined responsibilities, oversight, and implementation capability for the management of environmental, economic, social, and cultural issues. This group’s activities are appropriately funded.”
The only problem: Rather few of these holistic, council-type arrangements exist. The Destination Stewardship Center has begun to compile information on those that do meet at least some of the indicators put forth by GSTC and via National Geographic’s former geotourism program; see About Geotourism Stewardship Councils (PDF).
