Ever since the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, locals have complained that Venice, its former capital, is being overrun by visitors. Having spent decades trying to attract tourists, the city council is now rethinking its approach.
Earlier this year, the city proclaimed that visitors who enter Venice are demanded to pay a fee ranging from 3 to 10 euros in the peak season when the city is very crowded, unless they have booked the ticket into Venice beforehand. This regulation will come into effect in January 2023.
It is not only Venetians who think there are too many tourists. In Amsterdam, locals are fed up with drunk visitors leaving a trail of litter. Some of the protests even attacked tourist buses and left the graffiti saying "tourists go home, refugees welcome." The word "over-tourism" is created to describe the consequences of having too many tourists. Even so, the rise in the number of the tourists is not the real problem. Says Alex Dichter of McKinsey, "People in 99% of countries in the world are crying out for more tourists, not fewer." He explains, "The problem is that these tourists are all traveling to the same places."
This has surprised many in the travel industry. The spread of the Internet was meant to disperse (分散) tourists by making less well-known places easier to find. Analyst at Skift, a travel website, attribute it to the rise of the "bucket list", which featured a "list of things to do before I kick the bucket." And the result is obvious —— tourists are all directed to the same "must see" places.
Local authorities are working on strategies to cope. An extreme reaction is to ban tourists entirely or to limit visitor numbers. A more subtle approach is to make changes to taxes and charges. Tourists staying in the city center pay a higher tax rate than those staying far away. Thordis, Iceland's tourist minister says, another part of the answer is to spread visitors out by making different marketing campaigns or improving tourist attractions for unfavorable seasons.
Venice is currently improving its infrastructures to encourage tourists to visit more than just the main sights. Traditionalists may refuse to build any new infrastructure in beautiful old cities. But more links can benefit locals and visitors alike. One Chinese tourist thought this was a good idea, "I might be able to see more of the history that way."
