The writing is on the wall for ‘over-tourism’
With ‘over-tourism’ the buzz word for the times we live in, the Spanish city of Valencia – which welcomed a record number of visitors in 2017 – has now decided to change the rules when it comes to its holiday rental market. The plan now afoot would ensure that Airbnb and similar rental companies would not be allowed to rent properties that have sea views or a vista that looks out over other picturesque parts of Valencia.
Those would be reserved for residents only. So, essentially, holiday rentals would be restricted to ground or first floor accommodation throughout the city. Nor will any new rentals be permitted at all in the historic centre and all landlords will, from now on, be required to have a proper licence. (Some 70% of the holiday rentals in Valencia do not currently have the appropriate paperwork.)
This is the latest in what may seem like a war against tourists but which is, actually, simply a city’s battle to preserve the essence of itself for the people who call it home. In Mallorca, the city of Palma has recently banned tourist rentals throughout the city, something that will come into force this July.
We’ve seen this creeping problem for the past few years – Barcelona, Venice, Dubrovnik have all had their problems, exacerbated because those cities are also cruise-ship destinations, with the passengers swelling the tourist hordes at the height of summer and yet not actually contributing much to the economy of the city in question.
The passengers who swarm all over those cities during the day inevitably dine on the ship at night and also sleep there, so there is little or no plus side for local restaurants and hotels.
Travel and tourism actually make up just over 10% of the world’s GDP, with one in every 10 jobs related to the tourism industry, so it is not that surprising, therefore, that over-tourism is becoming the problem that it is. Nor is it just a European issue. Bermuda, for example, has put new controls in place so that there is a limit to the number of cruise ships permitted into the country on a daily basis.
But tourism is important, you may well say, in terms of the economy of a city or country. And, yes, that is correct, of course. But it’s a fine balance nonetheless, and when the quality of life of the locals begins to be adversely affected then it is definitely time to do something about it. Last year in Venice, a city I know very well, I saw, for the first time in over 20 years of visiting, anti-tourist graffiti on a wall near the law courts at the foot of the Rialto Bridge.
For a population of 55,000 that is invaded by more than 20 million tourists a year, you can hardly blame the graffiti guys.
The problem, however, with ongoing over-tourism is that, not only are the locals fed up with it all, but what attracted people to the destination in the first place is invariably lost. The authenticity of the place is chipped away at, until you begin to wonder what it actually has to offer at all. And that is such a terrible pity.
Even in normally tourism-happy Ibiza, they are calling a halt to proceedings, and a rally there last month demonstrated the outrage that the locals feel over what is happening to Ibiza Town. The privatisation of the beaches, the skyrocketing property prices, the rise in crime and the problem with noise pollution are all contributing to that sense of outrage. As one of the speakers at the rally said: ‘We don’t reject tourism but we do reject tourism which is unlimited, disrespectful and excessive.’
And that, in my book, is fair enough.
Cheap air travel has, of course, helped to spiral such over-tourism out of control in some locations. And yet what are we to do? Nobody wants to return to the days when you paid a fortune for a ticket from Dublin to London, and nor would we want to go back to the time when travel was elitist and only possible for those who had both time and money. Essentially, it’s about respect.
We are not going to stop people visiting the likes of Ibiza or Barcelona or Venice. But it’s how we behave when we get there that speaks volumes.
So let’s be more courteous to the locals, let’s respect their traditions and their heritage, and let’s go along with whatever tourist restrictions that they deem necessary.
And let’s remember too, that this isn’t our home. It’s a beautiful place that belongs to others. So let’s acknowledge that we are only passing through. And that we are beyond lucky to be doing just that.