The problem of ‘overtourism’

Big crowds at the world’s most popular tourist spots have led to limits on the number of visitors at some destinations and attractions.

A June 17, 2019 Washington Post article outlined some of the problems of so-called “overtourism.” In Venice, for instance, a cruise ship crashed into a crowded dock on June 2, resulting in protests.

Experts say that too many tourists can damage fragile environments or landmarks, scare wildlife, push up local rents, and crowd narrow roads.

Megan Epler Wood, director of the International Sustainable Tourism Initiative at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in the article, “Some of our most beloved monuments and ports and especially port cities … are realizing that, based on the experiences of Venice, they have to be very organized to manage this.”

Read the Washington Post article: We’re in the age of the overtourist. You can avoid being one of them.

Learn more

In Southeast Asia, tourists are harming the environment (Harvard Chan School news)