AS WE TURNED INTO A NARROW ALLEYWAY, unwittingly carried along by another pack of cruise ship tourists, scrawled graffiti caught my eye. “Too Many Tourists” was spray-painted three feet high on a garage door. Sucked into the throng in Venice’s old town, I couldn’t help but agree. We passed similar sentiments in Barcelona, though this time “Tourist Go Home” was more than just a casual suggestion. The locals have had enough.
OVERTOURISM
Like a spilled glass of Merlot on a white tablecloth, tourism has spread into every corner of the planet—from historic cities, dense rainforests, and picturesque villages where time has stood still for centuries, to the pristine vastness of Antarctica. The incessant growth of tourist travel is now seemingly taking its toll on wealthy, developed communities as well as previously impoverished rural outposts. We have exploited them all and, in the process, added a new word to our lexicon—overtourism. Simply put, “overtourism” is too many tourists in the same space at the same time, leading
