The doorbell to Martinho de Almada PimentelB次元官网网址檚 house is hard to find, and he likes it that way. ItB次元官网网址檚 a long rope that, when pulled, rings a literal bell on the roof that lets him know someone is outside the mountainside mansion that his great-grandfather built in 1914 as a monument to privacy.
ThereB次元官网网址檚 precious little of that for Pimentel during this summer of B次元官网网址渙vertourism.B次元官网网址�
Travelers idling in standstill traffic outside the sunwashed walls of Casa do Cipreste sometimes spot the bell and pull the string B次元官网网址渂ecause itB次元官网网址檚 funny,B次元官网网址� he says. With the windows open, he can smell the car exhaust and hear the B次元官网网址渢uk-tukB次元官网网址� of outsized scooters named for the sound they make. And he can sense the frustration of 5,000 visitors a day who are forced to queue around the house on the crawl up single-lane switchbacks to Pena Palace, the onetime retreat of King Ferdinand II.
B次元官网网址淣ow IB次元官网网址檓 more isolated than during COVID,B次元官网网址� the soft-spoken Pimentel, who lives alone, said during an interview this month on the veranda. B次元官网网址淣ow I try to (not) go out. What I feel is: angry.B次元官网网址�
This is a story of what it means to be visited in 2024, the first year in which global tourism is expected to set records since the coronavirus pandemic brought much of life on Earth to a halt. Wandering is surging, rather than leveling off, driven by lingering revenge travel, and so-called in part for skyrocketing housing prices.
Anyone paying attention during this summer of B次元官网网址渙vertourismB次元官网网址� is familiar with the escalating consequences around the world: traffic jams in paradise. Reports of hospitality workers living in tents. And B次元官网网址渁nti-tourismB次元官网网址� protests intended to shame visitors as they dine B次元官网网址� or, as in Barcelona in July, douse them with water pistols.
The demonstrations are an example of locals using the power of their numbers and social media to issue destination leaders an ultimatum: Manage this issue better or weB次元官网网址檒l scare away the tourists B次元官网网址� who could spend their $11.1 trillion a year elsewhere. Housing prices, traffic and water management are on all of the checklists.
Cue the violins, you might grouse, for people like Pimentel who are well-off enough to live in places worth visiting. But itB次元官网网址檚 more than a problem for rich people.
B次元官网网址淣ot to be able to get an ambulance or to not be able to get my groceries is a rich people problem?B次元官网网址� said Matthew Bedell, another resident of Sintra, which has no pharmacy or grocery store in the center of the district. B次元官网网址淭hose donB次元官网网址檛 feel like rich people problems to me.B次元官网网址�
What is B次元官网网址榦vertourism,B次元官网网址� anyway?
The phrase itself generally describes the tipping point at which visitors and their cash stop benefitting residents and instead cause harm by degrading historic sites, overwhelming infrastructure and making life markedly more difficult for those who live there.
ItB次元官网网址檚 a hashtag that gives a name to the protests and hostility that youB次元官网网址檝e seen all summer. But look a little deeper and youB次元官网网址檒l find knottier issues for locals and their leaders, none more universal than housing prices driven up by short-term rentals like Airbnb, from Spain to South Africa. Some locales are encouraging B次元官网网址渜uality tourism,B次元官网网址� generally defined as more consideration by visitors toward residents and less drunken behavior, disruptive selfie-taking and other questionable choices.
B次元官网网址淥vertourism is arguably a social phenomenon, too,B次元官网网址� according to an analysis for the World Trade Organization written by Joseph Martin Cheer of Western Sydney University and Marina Novelli of the University of Nottingham. In China and India, for example, they wrote, crowded places are more socially accepted. B次元官网网址淭his suggests that cultural expectations of personal space and expectations of exclusivity differ.B次元官网网址�
The summer of 2023 was defined by the chaos of the journey itself B次元官网网址� , . Yet by the end of the year, signs abounded that the COVID-19 rush of revenge travel was accelerating.
In January, the United NationsB次元官网网址� tourism agency predicted that worldwide tourism would exceed the records set in 2019 by 2%. By the end of March, the agency reported, more than 285 million tourists had travelled internationally, about 20% more than the first quarter of 2023. Europe the most-visited destination. The World Travel & Tourism Council that 142 of 185 countries it analyzed would set records for tourism, set to generate $11.1 trillion globally and account for 330 million jobs.
Aside from the money, thereB次元官网网址檚 been trouble in paradise this year, with Spain playing a starring role in everything from management problems to skyrocketing prices and drunken tourist drama.
Protests erupted across as early as March, when graffiti in Malaga reportedly urged tourists to B次元官网网址済o fB次元官网网址擝次元官网网址擝次元官网网址� home.B次元官网网址� Thousands of protesters demonstrated in SpainB次元官网网址檚 Canary Islands against visitors and construction that was overwhelming water services and jacking up housing prices. In Barcelona, protesters shamed and squirted water at people presumed to be visitors as they dined al fresco in touristy Las Ramblas.
In Japan, where tourist arrivals fueled by the weak yen were expected to set a new record in 2024, Kyoto banned tourists from certain alleys. The government set on people climbing Mount Fuji. And in Fujikawaguchiko, a town that offers some of the best views of the mountainB次元官网网址檚 perfect cone, leaders erected a large black screen in a parking lot to deter tourists from overcrowding the site. by cutting holes in the screen at eye level.
Air travel, meanwhile, , the U.S. government reported in July. UNESCO has warned of potential damage to protected areas. And FodorB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� urged people to reconsider visiting suffering hotspots, including sites in Greece and Vietnam, as well as areas with water management problems in California, India and Thailand.
Not-yet-hot spots looked to capitalize on B次元官网网址渄e-touristingB次元官网网址� drives such as AmsterdamB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淪tay AwayB次元官网网址� campaign aimed at partying young men. . Visits to that country by foreign tourists jumped 25% the first seven months of 2024 over last year.
Tourism is surging and shifting so quickly, in fact, that some experts say the very term B次元官网网址渙vertourismB次元官网网址� is outdated.
Michael OB次元官网网址橰egan, a lecturer on tourism and events at Glasgow Caledonian University, argues that B次元官网网址渙vertourismB次元官网网址� has become a buzzword that doesnB次元官网网址檛 reflect the fact that the experience depends largely on the success or failure of crowd management. ItB次元官网网址檚 true that many of the demonstrations arenB次元官网网址檛 aimed at the tourists themselves, but at the leaders who allow the locals who should benefit to become the ones who pay.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 been backlash against the business models on which modern tourism has been built and the lack of response by politicians,B次元官网网址� he said in an interview. Tourism B次元官网网址渃ame back quicker than we expected,B次元官网网址� he allows, but tourists arenB次元官网网址檛 the problem. B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 a global fight for tourists. We canB次元官网网址檛 ignore that. B次元官网网址� So what happens when we get too many tourists? Destinations need to do more research.B次元官网网址�
Of visitors vs being visited
Virpi Makela can describe exactly what happens in her corner of Sintra.
Incoming guests at Casa do Valle, her hillside bed-and-breakfast near the village center, call Makela in anguish because they cannot figure out how to find her property amid SintraB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渄isorganizedB次元官网网址� traffic rules that seem to change without notice.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 a pillar in the middle of the road that goes up and down and you canB次元官网网址檛 go forward because you ruin your car. So you have to somehow come down but you canB次元官网网址檛 turn around, so you have to back down the road,B次元官网网址� says Makela, a resident of Portugal for 36 years. B次元官网网址淎nd then people get so frustrated they come to our road, which also has a sign that says `authorized vehicles only.B次元官网网址� And they block everything.B次元官网网址�
Nobody disputes the idea that the tourism boom in Portugal needs better management. The predicted in April that the countryB次元官网网址檚 tourism sector will grow this year by 24% over 2019 levels, create 126,000 more jobs since then and account for about 20% of the national economy. driven upward in part by a growing influx of foreign investors and tourists seeking short-term rentals.
To respond, Lisbon announced plans to halve the number of tuk-tuks allowed to ferry tourists though the city and built more parking spaces for them after residents complained that they are blocking traffic.
A 40-minute train ride to the west, SintraB次元官网网址檚 municipality has invested in more parking lots outside town and youth housing at lower prices near the center, the mayorB次元官网网址檚 office said.
More than 3 million people every year visit the mountains and castles of Sintra, long one of PortugalB次元官网网址檚 wealthiest regions for its cool microclimate and scenery. Sintra City Hall also said via email that fewer tickets are now sold to the nearby historic sites. Pena Palace, for example, began this year to permit less than half the 12,000 tickets per day sold there in the past.
ItB次元官网网址檚 not enough, say residents, who have organized into QSintra, an association thatB次元官网网址檚 challenging City Hall to B次元官网网址減ut residents firstB次元官网网址� with better communication, to start. They also want to know the governmentB次元官网网址檚 plan for managing guests at a new hotel being constructed to increase the number of overnight stays, and more limits on the number of cars and visitors allowed.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e not against tourists,B次元官网网址� reads the groupB次元官网网址檚 manifesto. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e against the pandemonium that (local leaders) cannot resolve.B次元官网网址�
