THE ROADS LESS TRAVELLED
Top world destinations are overrun. Take these suggestions for roads not taken
DURING a trip to the Czech Republic this year, Bret Love desperately wanted to escape the crowds at Prague Castle but couldn’t. He was stuck in a Vltava River of humanity.
“There were thousands and thousands and thousands of people jostling for space,” said the Green Global Travel co-founder. “You start to feel like cattle being herded.”
No matter what you call it – overtourism, overbooked or a foreign invasion – it’s the same squeeze: a handful of destinations across the world are under siege by too many tourists. The stampede is having a deleterious effect on the culture, environment and spirit of these places. Locals are getting pushed out. Foundations are crumbling. Tourists are complaining about other tourists.
The issue is not the industry but the hordes of people who descend on one place during the same time period (often summer). Destinations that are ill-equipped for the masses can’t keep up with the demand, and everyone suffers for it.
We singled out 10 spots buckling under the weight of too many feet and provided alternatives that are similar in all but one category: They could use more – not fewer – tourists.
OVERBOOKED: VENICE
As if sinking weren’t enough, the Italian city of canals and masquerade balls is drowning in tourists.
More than 30 million people visit annually, swamping the population of 50 000.
Several years ago, Unesco warned Venetian officials that the city could end up on its endangered list of heritage sites if they did not curb their enthusiasm for tourists – an estimated 60 000 a day during peak season. Officials responded with a raft of initiatives, such as relocating the cruise ship port to the mainland and banning new hotels in the historical city centre.
The city is also promoting Detourism, a movement that urges visitors to avoid beaten-to-a-pulp routes and to behave like a local.
The Italian city, 120km west of Venice, is the setting of two Shakespeare plays. Bard fans can practise their lines beneath Juliet’s balcony while relationship-seekers can give her statue a hopeful tap instead of swiping right.
The Unesco World Heritage site comes with old-world charms, such as a piazza populated by statues of Greek gods and a performing arts venue inhabiting a Roman amphitheatre. The destination is known for its Eu-protected variety of rice. Follow the grain along La Strada del Riso Vialone Nano Veronese IGP (the Rice Route). For a wilder ride than a gondola, go rafting down the Adige River.
OVERBOOKED: BARCELONA
The capital of Catalonia is the most-visited city in Spain, drawing 32 million people, more than 30 times its population. In addition to land travellers, nearly 3 million passengers
arrive by cruise ship annually. Mayor Ada Colau won the election on her proposals to control unchecked tourism. Measures include fining Airbnb.com for renting unlicensed properties and slowing the proliferation of hotel rooms.
OVERLOOKED: SEVILLE
Seville is the cultural and business centre of the Andalusian region, plus a great place to take flamenco for a spin. The city goes big with the world’s largest Gothic church, the Seville Cathedral, which brings guests closer to the heavens on a rooftop walk. Play I-spy Mudejar around town: Look for vibrant glazed tiles with nature themes, rounded arches and carved wood ceilings.
OVERBOOKED: REYKJAVIK
The number of international air travellers has rocketed; visits between 2016 and last year grew by 25%, to 2.2 million. Americans are the largest contingent, outnumbering the Icelandic population of 350 000. Most tourists congregate in Reykjavik and the south-west region, clogging the capital and the Golden Circle, the driving loop fizzing with geothermal features. The deluge has caused a shortage of hotel rooms. Airbnb has helped fill the vacuum, but the shift has stressed the limited supply of units and caused rents to spike.
OVERLOOKED: BAFFIN ISLAND
Baffin Island, in the way-north Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the fifth-largest isle in the world. The landmass in the North Atlantic Ocean shares several characteristics with the Scandinavian country, such as fjords, the midnight sun, the northern lights and the Arctic Circle. Visitors can soak up the northern culture at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, which specialises in Inuit art and artefacts, and during the Toonik Tyme Festival, a springtime celebration of tribal traditions including igloobuilding and dog sledding. At Auyuittuq National Park, you can ski, hike on glaciers and ice fields, and climb Mount Thor, which has the world’s longest vertical drop.
OVERBOOKED: CAMINO DE SANTIAGO
The Way of Saint James comprises a spider’s web of routes that take weeks to complete by foot, bike or horseback. However, more than half of the pilgrims follow the French Way, a 800km journey that starts in Saint-jean-pied-de-port in the French Pyrenees and ends at Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Galicia, Spain. According to the Pilgrims’ Welcome Office in Santiago de Compostela, more than 300 000 people completed the pilgrimage last year.
OVERLOOKED: ST. CUTHBERT’S WAY
The 100.5km trek following the life trajectory of Saint Cuthbert, the venerated patron saint of Northern England. The sojourn starts in the Scottish Borders town of Melrose and ends on Holy Island. The route takes four to six days to complete. For the final leg across the Pilgrims Path sands or the island causeway, check the tide charts in advance or you will be praying for a miracle.
OVERLOOKED: AMSTERDAM
Tourists outnumber residents by double-digit millions. To reclaim the Dutch capital, officials have executed several laws, such as doubling the tax on hotel rooms and banning shortterm Airbnb rentals and souvenir shops in the historical centre. To lure visitors out of the choked centre, the tourism organisation responsible for the City Card expanded benefits to include day trips outside the city.
OVERLOOKED: LJUBLJANA
Tulips, bikes and waterways define Amsterdam, but the trio also describe Ljubljana. The capital of Slovenia shares many of the same attributes as its western neighbour, such as the Volcji Potok Arboretum, which holds a tulip exhibit every April; a bikeshare programme with rentals and more than 5 450 cycling routes; and the Ljubljana River. The European Commission crowned the city the European Green Capital in 2016, a distinction Amsterdam has never won. You can inhale the fresh air aboard Kavalirs (Gentle Helpers), the free public transport system, and in Tivoli Garden, the city’s largest park. The Central Market is a feeding frenzy. At the Open Market, which runs from April to October, more than 30 chefs prepare dishes.
OVERBOOKED: ROME
Marketing research firm Euromonitor International expects visitation numbers to surpass 10 million by 2020, but you can already see the toll tourism has taken on the Eternal City. In 2015, the Spanish Steps closed for a year to reverse damage caused by too many touchy people. The lines to enter the city’s Roman ruins and museums are notorious. The Colosseum’s website, for once, states that the arena can accommodate up to 3 000 people at one time but warns, “This could lead to delays in access to the site, even for pre-booked visitors”.
OVERLOOKED: TURIN
Like Rome, the ghosts of Roman civilisation haunt this Piemonte city in northern Italy. You can find them under your feet, on the cobblestone streets, and looming overhead, in the 16-sided towers bookending the Palatine Gate. Quadrilatero Romano, or the Roman Quarter, showcases the period’s signature grid as well as ancient wall ruins and the excavated remains of a Roman theatre. The Royal Museums contain several institutions that track the city’s arc from Roman times to Italian unification in the 1800s. Among the complex’s cultural attractions: the Archaeological Museum; the Royal Garden, Armoury and Library; and the Chapel of the Holy Shroud.
OVERBOOKED: CINQUE TERRE
The daisy chain of five medieval villages along the Italian Riviera is wilting. Hordes of people are cramming into towns with limited space and modest amenities. The 2.4 million annual visitors are stultifying Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso, which cumulatively support about 4 000 residents. The rugged hiking trails that connect the dots are heaving under the foot traffic. Several of the routes are temporarily closed. There has been some chatter about limiting the number of hikers on routes that charge a fee and updating the park’s app to include Cinque Terre pedestrian traffic reports.
OVERLOOKED: PORTO VENERE
The Italian village near Cinque Terre shares its Unesco designation with the five hamlets, but it is not a Cinque. It is, however, one of three towns that stands guard over the Gulf of Poets, a muse for many writers and painters. The train does not service Porto Venere, so most people arrive by ferry or car, which keeps the crowds at a minimum. Most of the dining, drinking and shopping is centred along the waterfront and on the pedestrian street, Via Capellini. If you’re lucky, you might cross paths with the local celebrity, Tarantolino, Europe’s smallest gecko. The itty-bitty reptile lives in Porto Venere Regional Park, a protected area that covers more than 380 hectares of land and sea, including Tino Island.