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Europeans fed up with mass tourism
A growing number of Europeans are fed up with mass tourism. Last summer, Spain hosted a record of nearly 22 million holidaymakers. This may be good for the economy, but residents are fed up with the crowds, rising rents and negative environmental impact. Researchers from Wageningen University & Research decided to take a closer look at mass tourism and its social, environmental and economic consequences. Robert Fletcher: “For cities like Barcelona and Amsterdam, we advocate inclusive solutions that promote responsible travel and protect local communities and resources, such as banning elitist forms of transport and making train tickets more accessible.”
Unable to sleep because of noisy Airbnb guests staggering through the street, being unable to book a table at your favourite restaurant: mass tourism is making residents feel like they are losing control of their own city. “Tourism is one of the biggest industries in the world. The rising number of holidaymakers not only has a huge impact on the environment, neighbourhoods are also drastically changing, with only a select group of businesses, hotel chains and property developers making a good profit from it,” says researcher Robert Fletcher. “What is more, short-term rentals, through platforms like Airbnb, are driving up house prices enormously, making it almost impossible for some people to continue living in the city. Residents are protesting against this. Recently, people in Málaga and other places took to the streets en masse. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they became aware of the fact that they can reclaim a piece of urban space.”
Researchers from the Department of Social Sciences are studying mass tourism and its social, environmental and economic impact. Policymakers can then use these insights to reshape the European tourism landscape. “We interview politicians and stakeholders and combine political ecology, the interaction between communities, and insights from conservation and globalisation. We see a shift in people’s thinking. The tourism industry is working on more efficient flight paths and wrestling with issues like the use of biofuels. And since the Covid-19 pandemic, city governments have become a little more sensitive to their residents' arguments. Although municipalities also want tourists to keep coming. Visits to museums, overnight stays at a local hotel: these are nice revenue sources for a city.”
‘Party city’ Amsterdam
The research team is for example zooming in on Amsterdam. The city is internationally known as a party city where anything goes. The expectation is that a growing number of people will want to visit the city. As a result, the municipality has officially announced, without as yet enforcing it, a cap on the number of tourists allowed to visit the city per year, with a maximum of 20 million. “In recent years, Amsterdam has been trying to entice tourists to visit places outside the canal belt, for example by renaming Zandvoort ‘Amsterdam Beach’. An advertising campaign is also under way to showcase a different side of the city: the arts and culture on offer, the special shops, and the many great neighbourhoods. Anything to create a different image.”
Fletcher does place a caveat on such campaigns. “The way so-called quality tourism is promoted leads to a decrease in the number of tourists, which leads to destinations trying to charge more for everything. The risk is that travel will soon only be available for the elite.” Fletcher therefore advocates inclusive, sustainable solutions that promote responsible travel while protecting local communities and resources. “Consider measures such as capping prices and banning elite forms of transport such as private jets and yachts; some countries are already placing limits on these things. And by making rail networks more widespread and train tickets cheaper, sustainability-oriented measures such as banning cheap short flights also become more inclusive.”
Tourists also bear a share of the responsibility, says Fletcher. “You can travel responsibly, for example by taking a train. Or by taking one longer trip instead of flying several times a year for a weekend trip. However, it should still be possible for everyone to have a nice trip.”