08 Sep Scratching the surface…

The summer of 2017 a new term – Overtourism – burst into discussions about tourism. While the issues of overtourism have been around for some time, the folks at Skift named it and featured it in their 2017 megatrends. People in some of the most popular destinations, frustrated with the negative impacts of tourism, reached their tipping point, and a tourist backlash began.

There is no question that overtourism is a problem.

But overtourism is a symptom of a bigger challenge – sustainable destination management – and addressing overtourism alone is just putting a bandaid on a gaping wound.

For years we have talked about “Destination Management” as though destinations had actual managers that directed what happens in their locations. Often the thinking goes “Overtourism must be the failure of this destination manager”. Its time we recognized that it just isn’t that simple.

Destinations are complex systems. No one is “in charge” of everything. Sustainable tourism is a complicated, complex activity. Achieving positive results from tourism requires collaboration and teamwork. Its time to stop looking for simple answers and “silver bullets” and get down to the hard work of building a sustainable tourism system.