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An often voiced complaint on here as well as with most people I've talked to is how major attractions have just blown up with crowds in the last 10 years while lesser known attractions still remain underutilized and under the radar. Tourism, especially outdoor recreation, has really exploded over the last 10 years. National parks across the West had hours long lines to get into the park over the 4th of July. Also this thread: overtourism killing spontaneous travel explored how the top destinations in Europe were nearly always overcrowded.
The increase in tourism is a good thing, it's good people are out and about exploring new things, being out in nature, and expanding their horizons, but everyone crowding to the same place diminishes the enjoyment for both the tourist and the nearby locals.
There's a number of reasons for this overcrowding but to me the main reasons are:
1. Media constantly displaying "best of" attractions. Garden of the Gods is in every calendar book of Colorado. The Tetons are in all the Netflix shows about mountains and nature. The Eiffel tower is printed on everything France...
2. A travel the world mentality vs a travel local mentality. How many wine connoisseurs are there in the US who have seen the vineyards of France, Italy, and Spain, but have never been to the Columbia river valley or the vineyards of New York? If someones going half way around the world, it makes sense to make sure you see the best of whats there as it's difficult to come back, but how many top rated tourist sites does one need to see when they haven't even seen the much closer by local version? Even when it comes to culture, there's so much cultural variation on the continent of North America that one could spend years travelling to places that all speak different languages and have completely different customs.
So, to combat this I try to review the lesser known local attractions near me and add items like hiking trails that aren't there currently on Google Maps. I also try to encourage those around me to consider more local alternatives when they bring up the topic of where they'd would like to visit in conversation.
Basic and ongoing education. Students at school learn the names of a couple dozen countries, the locations of half of them, and the rest are never mentioned by the media except for terrorist activity. The profit-centric news industry decides what people know and don't know, and fear, which sells, does not foster tourism.
Wanna go to Ethiopia? Kyrgyzstan? Ukraine? Paraguay? Sri Lanka? Jordan? Nope, afraid to.
I love to read travel articles and get ideas for places that are a bit off the beaten path, particularly in Europe. That is how we ended up in several places, including Poland, which is now probably my favorite place to venture to.
I think more articles and websites spotlighting these places could drive down traffic to other places (while obviously driving more traffic to others)
Free birth control and family planning? Today's niche locales are tomorrow's overcrowded messes. Cancun in 1972 was a fishing village. It's only going to get worse.
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"“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”"
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Location: Great Britain
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cebuan
And who, in what is otherwise "the free world", should 'only allow" this?
Dictators would quickly set the world right, if we would let them.
You now have to make reservations for the Louvre, and there are only so many available per day. Whilst charging as become the norm in relation to other tourist hotspots.
You now have to make reservations for the Louvre, and there are only so many available per day. Whilst charging as become the norm in relation to other tourist hotspots.
So your remedy is already in place. "Sell tickets and only allow so many tickets to be sold per day," I think the airlines are doing something like that, too. There is a finite number of airplanes, just like the finite number of Mona Lisa's.
Status:
"“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”"
(set 3 days ago)
Location: Great Britain
27,180 posts, read 13,461,836 times
Reputation: 19487
Quote:
Originally Posted by cebuan
So your remedy is already in place. "Sell tickets and only allow so many tickets to be sold per day," I think the airlines are doing something like that, too. There is a finite number of airplanes, just like the finite number of Mona Lisa's.
There is only so many people who can be admitted to certain popular tourist venues, and that's in relation to both safety and preserving the experience.
Certain important rural locations may also have to be protected.
There is only so many people who can be admitted to certain popular tourist venues, and that's in relation to both safety and preserving the experience.
Certain important rural locations may also have to be protected.
I wish there were more of this. Many attractions limit attendance to preserve the environment and protect the native critters. My cruise ship was able to make a "water landing" at Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica because there were only 70 of us- otherwise, you have to wait at the entrance till people leave because they control the number in the park at any time. I'm taking the same cruise line to Molokai next month- they're the only cruise line allowed to come into Molokai because the ship is small and nimble and the small number of passengers won't overwhelm the local population. In March I'm going to the Galapagos- also strictly controlled.
I love Europe but now I avoid most of the "Must-sees". Too crowded, too many lines. There are plenty of other places to enjoy- smaller museums, many cities in Eastern Europe.
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