Overtourism: It's not the tourists ? it's local 'lack of management,' says sustainability expert
Crowded beaches. Expensive rent. Tourist sites with wall-to-wall people. When it comes to overtourism, don't blame the travelers, said Randy Durband, CEO of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. Rather, it's "lack of management," he told "Squawk Box Asia" Monday. "I've been in travel and tourism for 40 years, working on committees and trade associations in Europe, North America and Asia," he said. "Governments around the world traditionally just didn't think they had a role in managing."
From marketing to managing
Destination marketing organizations "must change the 'M' in DMO from marketing to management," Durband told CNBC before the interview. He added that this shift has started, but still in its infancy. "This is the great awakening that needs to take place, that government needs to understand ? tourism is a sector that needs management," he said. "There are ways to manipulate, to control, to add capacity ? to tackle the problem." He pointed to several examples of places where this is already being done well. "We see good management of protected areas and national parks," he said. "But so much needs to be done just to create awareness that what needs to be done at the government level."
'Masters' of crowd control
But that isn't true of China, he said. "The Chinese are masters at adding capacity and managing flows," Durband said. He cited the Leshan Giant Buddha as one example.
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"Everyone comes for the Buddha, but the municipal government built an enormous attraction adjacent to it ... that disperses the visitors," he said of the area that now includes developed parkland and a cave full of enormous carved figures. He said Chinese officials also created a control center with video screens that track visitors at various locations. Of the narrow staircases used to access the Buddha: "They know before the staircases are dangerously full," he told CNBC Travel after the interview. "I think that many iconic cultural heritage sites around the world, where over-crowding is an issue, would benefit from supplementary, and ideally preliminary sites to view, that prepare the visitor in such a way that they don't feel compelled to linger at the main attraction," he said. But, he said, all popular sites need technology to "monitor visitor flows."
Managing tourism 'flows'
Managing visitor flows is a strategy that is fast-gaining ground to mitigate overtourism. Rather than curbing tourism levels, the approach is premised on controlling the concentration of visitors ? be it seasonally or within a given day. While tourist strongholds like Walt Disney World have been employing this tactic for years, the concept is now catching on with local governments.
He said that the small French village of Saint Guilhem le D?sert changed the "flow" of travelers after someone in the town died from a heart attack and traffic prevented an ambulance from rendering aid. Residents can drive into the village, Durband said, but visitors are directed to park in a designated area outside of the village on weekends and during the summer, and then bicycle, walk or take an electric shuttle bus to reach the village. The strategy can even work in a city like Barcelona, he said, which receives some 17 million visitors a year. Protestors marched through Barcelona on July 6 demanding that the city reduce the number of tourists who visit.
Demand is not going to go down. Randy Durband CEO of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.
