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Overtourism – a massive missed destination opportunity
Destinations should be rubbing their hands and wondering what to do with their share of the money and the benefits.
Global tourism has risen to unprecedented unbelievable levels so, the destinations should be rubbing their hands and wondering what to do with their share of the money and the benefits.
But It’s like a fantasy premier football league where the promotors share the billions and little goes to the clubs or the footballers themselves.
All the benefits are creamed off by intermediaries with no skin in the game and who have grown fat as a result.
Tourism represents about $10 trillion of trade. Destinations get a tiny fraction of that.
The brands that actually drive the industry are the destination names. Why, after all would anyone travel without wanting to go somewhere.
Just think of the power of Saint Tropez, Paris, New York, London and hundreds of other places to pull in tourists – it’s their power, don’t they own it?
Isn’t it time for every destination politician to take the reins and begin managing their brands for the benefit of those that vote for them and pay them? As we have recently seen visitor numbers are no markers of success.
Destination after destination is falling to tourist hordes. Who benefits? Organisations with no skin in the game.
Over-popular destinations such as Barcelona, Madrid, Dubrovnik, Venice are taking action but too late. They failed to build and manage their brands for the benefit of their communities. They have let the travel industry hijack their brands and their assets free – and look what happened!
But all this is changing – organisations like the Top100 Sustainable destinations are getting together to reverse the trend.
Now it’s time to reverse the benefits. It’s time to manage inbound tourism for the benefit of those that are affected – local communities that pay the wages of their tourism managers. It’s time to take tourism seriously let’s see destinations employ professional brand managers who recognise the benefit of being Prada rather than Wallmart.
Valere Tjolle
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