Quote from Harald A. Friedl on 21. January 2020, 15:08

Dear Eva, Jarmo and Annika,

dear colleagues from our TOURIST project,

excellent and compact summery of this challenging topic. There is not a lot to add - except different examples for different places, conditions, peculiarities...
I think that this approach could help a lot our partners in Viet Nam and Thailand as there are - as in many places in Europe - very crowded hotspots and wide fields of undertouristed destinations. Here I see a great challenge for both research and development, but also for the coordination of marketing activities, the challenge of competition among destinations, and also the issue of the symbolic value of - normally already overtouristed - destinations.
The big question, though: How can we shift symbolic value from destinations such as Barcelona to Bilbao or from Vienna to Graz... Tricky about people who haven't yet been in these symbolically over-loaded places, as those who are looking for "secret spots aside from the masses" have already enjoyed Barcelona and Vienna....

Conclusion? From a brain theory perspective: There won't be change befor it doesn't hurt... but then, the consequences are terribly hurting.

Thanks, bye, Harry

Quote from Jarmo Ritalahti on 16. November 2020, 10:41

The discussion of over- and under-tourism has changed since the beginning of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic had closed this year most the the countries and tourism destinations from international tourism. Domestic tourism has replaced it to certain extent especially in countries with higher tourism demand and financial resources. Over tourism as a phenomenon is not new, but the discussion started when popular first row city destinations were "conquered" by individual visitors who purchased services online without the assistance of traditional intermediaries. As the question of over-tourism was raised often by inhabitants of popular cities, it could be explained also by the "good old" concept of social carrying capacity. Over-tourism won't perhaps be an issue in the near future, but we don't know yet, how strong the tourism demand will be after the lock-downs.

Quote from Harald A. Friedl on 3. March 2021, 21:46

Dear Jarmo, thanks for that reflection, with which I agree pretty much: As you say, overtourism is the new buzz word instead of "social carrying capacity, but while the main problem might be the same, many circumstances and also the quality of exceeding the limits of social carrying capacity might have changed due to the emerging social networks which are boosting images and "symbolic value" of a hot spot; AirBnB plus Low-cost-carriers were a "wonderful" combination of boosting this effect of overcrowded tourism hot spots...
Indeed, the phenomenon didn't really changed during CoVid19, at least in central Europe, as we were able to observe severe over-tourism during summer time...

And where? At the most "pretty" places, promoted by public and social media as "secret top spots in the Alps for national tourist seeking for best compensation destinations instead of some coastal dream beaches...: Habits don't change, just the ocurrence of determinating circumstances...

Quote from Leena Grönroos on 5. March 2021, 17:44

Hi!

Here's a fresh example from New Zealand and how they combat with overtourism. Create a nice, funny story and make a video :).  Stories are more powerful, touching feelings, than giving orders and guidelines only.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/27/seen-all-this-before-tourism-nz-says-ditch-influencer-shots-for-something-new

Cheers
Leena

 

Quote from Harald A. Friedl on 5. March 2021, 18:19

Nice story,  thanks, Leena, but isn't this story kind of paradox, as the "comedian Tom Sainsbury stars as a lone ranger in the “social observation squad”,..." in order to convince tourists to not follow the attraction of influencers... but they should follow his influence, instead?
Please don't get me wrong: the story is nice, if not funny, but it reminds me a bit on the scenery of "The Life of Brian" on the markets where all the different prophets are... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqaQ_Bhgmrc&list=PLk34SXGN1ETPDM6MSYNbDFWmIkJ2AITO9&index=40

As the Austro-American philosopher of ommunication, Paul Watzlawick, wrote: You can not not-communicate. Transformed into the era of social media:
You cannot not-influence.

We have a ompetition of influence. Also a network is a kind of influence-competition like in a dschungle...(well, this one here is more like a desert...).

Over all, my main thesis is: We need stronger, better influencer - in the way of Tom Sainsbury... or Monty Python: Always look on the bright side of life... (this could be the hymn of CoVid-based tourism....): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep9Vzb6R_58&list=PLk34SXGN1ETPDM6MSYNbDFWmIkJ2AITO9&index=60