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Overtourism: A growing global problem

The summer holidays are in full swing-and protests against overtourism have begun in a number of popular European cities. Barcelona, in particular, is at the centre of these mounting concerns about the rapid growth of tourism in cities, especially during peak holiday periods. In fact, there were 30 million overnight visitors in 2017, compared to a resident population of 1,625,137 in Barcelona.

While many tourists want to "live like a local" during their visits, the residents of many tourism-dependent destinations are seeing the unique sense of place that characterised their home towns vanish beneath a wave of souvenir shops, crowds, tour buses and noisy bars. Overtourism is harming the landscape, damaging beaches, and pricing residents out of the housing market. It is a hugely complex issue that is often oversimplified.

It can have an impact in multiple ways. The international cruise(游轮) industry, for example, delivers thousands of passengers daily to destination ports. While comparatively little is returned to communities, cruise activity creates physical and visual pollution.

City residents also bear the cost of tourism growth. As cities transform to offer service to tourists, the global travel supply chain advances. This goes with increasing property speculation(房产投机) and rising costs of living for local communities. Airbnb, for example, has been accused of reducing housing affordability and displacing residents.

In addition, overcrowding and the establishment of typical tourism-focused businesses, such as clubs, bars and souvenir shops, overpower local businesses-and noisy and unmanageable tourist behaviour is common. This weakens the uniqueness of destinations and leads to crowd and waste management pressures.

Clearly, tourism brings jobs, investment and economic benefits to destinations. But overtourism occurs when tourism expansion fails to acknowledge that there are limits. Local government and planning authorities have so far been powerless to deal with the irresistible influence of the global tourism supply chain. This has led to widespread "tourist-phobia"-first described by Manuel Delgado more than a decade ago as a mixture of rejection, mistrust and disrespect for tourists.

Dealing with overtourism must now be a priority. Managing the flow of tourists seems an improbable and unwelcome task. But some cities have taken extreme measures to limit the effects of overtourism, including the introduction of new or revised taxation arrangements, fines linked to new local laws, and "demarketing", whereby destinations focus on attracting fewer, high-spending and low impact tourists, rather than large groups.

Overtourism is a shared responsibility. City administrators and destination managers must acknowledge that there are definite limits to growth. Putting the wellbeing of local residents above the needs of the global tourism supply chain is vital. Primary consideration must be given to ensuring that the level of visitation fits within a destination's capacity. We need to urgently rethink the way cities are evolving to uphold the rights of their residents.