Arianne Mae B.

Holgado

TOPIC 1: Overtourism – A growing global problem.

1. What is Overtourism?
-Overtourism refers to places where hosts, guests, locals, or tourists believe there are
too many visitors and that the quality of life in the area has decreased.

or the level of the encounter has unacceptably dropped. The goal of responsible
tourism, on the other hand, is to use the industry to improve both the places people
reside and travel. Frequently, the deterioration is felt simultaneously by guests and
tourists, who then rebel against it.
Tourism must respect flora, fauna, and microclimate when it comes to natural tourist
sites. When a city is the final stop, tourists must first and foremost respect the locals,
their culture, and historical places. The latter in particular are tiny, frozen-in-time
microcosms that tourists should preserve. If this isn't the case, then we're talking about
unsustainable or overtourism, which is bad for the environment, the locals, and the
location itself.

2. What are the key causes of overtourism?

-Every year, more than 1.4 billion people travel around the globe, and their numbers are
increasing exponentially. According to the World Tourist Organization, there will be
more than 2 billion travellers worldwide by 2030. This enormous number of people
concentrate on a small number of popular tourism destinations, which suffer from their
heavy influx of visitors. Too much tourism has many root reasons. From the well-known
movies that have made tourist locations popular to the simplicity of travelling anywhere
in the world. We can also name the cruises that transport big numbers across the seas.
In this piece, we discussed cruises' effects on the environment.
Tourism that is affected by mass culture is currently popular. People chose the location
in accordance with this type of tourism based on social media, influencers, television
shows, and movies. Film tourism, also known as tourism inspired by movies and TV
shows, has occasionally resulted in actual catastrophes.

3. Choose one of the destinations from the article as an example and elaborate on

a. a. What are they doing to address that issue and to solve it? Do you think they are in
the right track? Why?
- I choose Boracay in the Philippines. The island was dubbed a "cesspool" by
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in February of the year 2018, and he
requested a six-month closure to clean it up. New one-use plastics bans have
been implemented, illegal beachfront properties have been bulldozed, and all
 hotels have been requested to apply for new permits (which include new
operational standards, including refuse management). There is also discussion of
setting a cap on the total number of visitors and residents who can be present on
the island at once, though no specific figure has been determined. On October
26 2018, a soft reopening of the island will take place. Following this, the
government will gradually evaluate the impact of tourists on the "new" Boracay.

And last year June 22, 2022 they finished the rehabilitation of the beach.
My answer is yes, for the reason that after the 6 months of the rehabilitation,
there is the big improvement around the island. The picture on the left side is
the updated image of Boracay compare it to the old image there is really huge
differences between the pictures.

b. What are they not doing yet and that you believe could help them to alleviate that
problem and eventually solve it in a sustainable way? Why?

- The problem with the Island of Boracay Is that there is a lot of people all year round,
Philippines is a tropical country so that the businessman and the locals can accommodate
people from around the world. I think, the government of the Philippines should promote other
or more tourist spot in around the country. There is a lot of islands that is the same with
Boracay and they are actually look alike. Is just overhyped in a view of the fact of the internet.

4. To conclude, elaborate on what tourists can do to contribute in minimizing this issue in

the destination that you chose and what travelers should bear in mind in regards to
overtourism before they choose their next vacation trip?

- The island now has strict measures in place to ensure that humans
don’t grossly overpopulate this small stretch of sand. Single use plastic is no
 more and the island is working to provide more trash cans on the beach. There
are a set number of government-approved hotels that visitors can stay in. And
the massive parties that used to trash the beach are a distant memory.
The term "responsible tourism" refers to travel that improves the places where
people reside and travel, with the emphasis on "to live." Consequently, it is by
definition the opposite of overtourism, which lowers the standard of life for
locals and gives visitors a bad experience. Sometimes, overtourism is just a
matter of numbers: there are too many people in a certain location at a certain
moment. However, in some circumstances, promoting tourism responsibly can
lessen the negative impacts.
-

References:

 https://verafiles.org/articles/vera-files-fact-check-viral-and-after-photos-boracay-mislead
 https://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/the-real-causes-of-overtourism