Popular attractions attract millions of tourists every year. But that will also be their downfall. In 2024, visitors should stay away from certain places.
Munich – Large crowds, long lines, dirty streets and expensive attractions. This is everyday life in particularly popular travel destinations. Such conditions are annoying for visitors, but they often pose a serious problem for locals.
This phenomenon is known as mass tourism and, in extreme form, overtourism. These terms refer to the negative impact that high visitor numbers have on the local population, natural resources, historical monuments and the environment.
Although local residents benefit economically from the many tourists, they also pay a high price for it. Extreme tourism often displaces local culture. In Mallorca, for example, the infrastructure is almost exclusively designed for visitors from abroad and in some cases more German is spoken there than Spanish. For this reason, locals recently even called for a ban on vacationers swimming there. Additionally, excessive tourism in these places leads to extreme pollution.
These travel destinations are a “no-go”: Which places are better to avoid
Some places are better suited to massive tourism than others. Some cities, such as Venice, suffer extremely from the annual crowds of visitors due to their infrastructure. Like the Austrian portal oe24 citing the travel guide “Fodor's”, there are numerous destinations that are currently suffering from tourism. Government measures are usually of little help. If you don't want to contribute to this problem, you should avoid the following travel destinations:
- Venice, Italy: From 2024, day tourists will have to pay a fee of 5 euros to visit Venice. In addition, the city has now banned large groups of more than 25 people. These measures are intended to eradicate the effects of mass tourism. Venice is not yet one of UNESCO's endangered world heritage sites, but the city still faces major challenges.
- Mount Fuji, Japan: The Mount Fuji volcano in Japan has been attracting increasing numbers of visitors in recent years. This development has a major impact on the environment. To counteract this, a voluntary cooperation fee has already been introduced. However, with little success.
- Athens, Greece: The Greek capital has been struggling with mass tourism for years. In September, the number of visitors to Athens' most famous landmark, the Acropolis, was limited to 20,000 visitors per day. Next year, this system will be introduced for more than 25 other archaeological monuments.
- Halong Bay, Vietnam: The bay in the northeast of the country is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. Although measures such as banning single-use plastic on boats are already in place, Ha Long Bay is suffering from the impact of tourism.
- Koh Samui, Thailand: The island in Southeast Asia is struggling with increasing water shortages. The large number of tourists who travel there every year are also partly to blame for this problem. In order to do something about it, tourism there would have to be better regulated.
- Ganges, India: The Ganges is considered a sacred river but unfortunately faces a plethora of environmental problems. These include pollution from sewage, noise pollution from cruise ships and waste pollution.
Destination alternatives: There is no mass tourism in these places
Even if these places are not initially recommended for tourists, travel lovers don't have to give up straight away. After all, there are a lot of great places in the world that can be enjoyed without big crowds and dirty streets. To find beautiful travel destinations, it is not necessary to travel far or spend a lot of money. These places in Europe are often underestimated, but are worth a visit
- Karpathos, Greece: While most tourists stay on the crowded islands of Mykonos or Santorini, the island of Karpathos offers the opportunity to relax on almost deserted beaches.
- Plymouth, England: The city of Plymouth in southwest England is unknown to many people. There is a lot to discover there in the areas of architecture, art and history. For example, England's oldest gin distillery is located there.
- Bratislava, Slovakia: The capital of Slovakia enchants with magnificent buildings, a picturesque old town, cute streets and stylish cafes.
- Turku, Finland: The city of Turku has long been a rival to the Finnish capital Helsinki. Turku is the country's second largest city, the historic capital and the oldest city in Finland. And with its special charm it almost overshadows the capital. (jus)
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