Cities must redefine tourism with tailored policies

Tourism is the backbone of thriving local economies in many cities. However, promoting tourism without a tailored policy risks unintended consequence—straining local public infrastructure and services, disrupting local life, and potentially harming the very heritage and environment that cities aim to showcase to tourists

Most of you must have seen news about massive traffic jams in Manali, Shimla, and Nainital between April and June. In different instances, people waited in their cars for several hours to enter these hill stations because of massive traffic jams. Shimla has been facing water scarcity during peak tourist seasons for many years, and the corporation has to ration water to handle the water crisis. The city gets about 30 MLD (million litres per day) of water, but the demand reaches about 48 MLD because of the massive tourist influx. Many such problems arise because these hill stations have limited carrying capacity, and the existing civic and environmental infrastructure cannot handle the growing load. Himachal Pradesh used to get about 5.1 million tourists a year in 2002, and this number has crossed the 15 million mark.

Travelling has become affordable and accessible for the growing middle class in India. Ask your parents, and you will know the elder generation did not travel as much. According to a news article in the Economic Times, the tourism sector has grown into a robust $194.3 billion market, making up 6.8 per cent of the GDP. The sector provides employment to more than 40 million individuals and indirectly helps many other local industries and service providers. The travel and tourism sector contributed about 9.1 per cent to global GDP in 2023. Though this is a good thing, there are certain issues that need to be addressed to make this growth sustainable and beneficial for all.

State governments are promoting their touristy and unexplored natural and heritage places to attract more tourists, but still, tourism is getting concentrated in certain pockets of the state and city. Such tourism trends strain their natural and urban resources. Overtourism and concentrated tourism can be tackled by city governments without negatively impacting the local economy.

Overtourism

“Overtourism” is relatively new. The word may sound strange when governments everywhere want more tourists in their cities. A report, “Overtourism: Impact and Possible Policy Responses,” published by the European Parliament defines it. It says, “Overtourism is the situation in which the impact of tourism, at certain times and in certain locations, exceeds physical, ecological, social, economic, psychological, and/or political capacity thresholds.” In many cities, locals are up in arms against the overcrowding of cities and heritage sites and the impacts of overtourism on local residents, protesting with placards shouting “Tourists, Go Back Home.” Residents in cities like Barcelona, Amsterdam, Hawaii, USA, and cities in the Maldives have protested against tourists. Local residents in the Spanish city of Barcelona attacked tourists eating in a popular eatery with water spray guns. Such hostility for tourists may further aggravate and spread in other parts of the world.

Too much tourism in a city also causes housing shortages and increases in house rent. Cities all over the world are recognising the risks of overtourism and formulating policies to promote sustainable and responsible tourism.

Many studies on this subject underline that overtourism may cause environmental strain, infrastructure overload, and social and economic imbalances. Overtourism is not just about many tourists crowding touristy places. Responsible and sustainable tourism practices are essential to mitigate these issues and ensure that both travellers and locals coexist without disturbing each other or the local urban environment.

The concentration of tourism activities in one city or one area of a city is another issue that needs to be addressed. For example, Uttar Pradesh is a large state, but the Agra and Varanasi regions get the maximum number of national and international tourists. To put things in perspective, according to recent year-wise tourist statistics for Uttar Pradesh, the state received about 470 million Indian tourists and 1.6 million foreign tourists. Out of these, Varanasi and Agra received 220 million Indian tourists and 1.3 million foreign tourists. Agra alone had 62 per cent of the foreign tourists visiting Uttar Pradesh. This pattern is seen within cities too, where a particular area becomes popular among tourists and becomes too crowded. There is a need to formulate policies that can help distribute the crowd and create attractive tourist nodes within the city and the state.

Measures

While researching for the article, I came across the Tourism Policy of Amsterdam City—Vision on Tourism in Amsterdam 2035. The capital city of the Netherlands recorded over 20 million overnight stays in 2019. Amsterdam seemed concerned with this rise in tourist numbers. The city has become popular for bachelor and hen parties. The city government recognises that “this popularity affects the city and, in turn, how we live and work in Amsterdam.” The policy highlights a pressing issue: “The recent city-council regulation on balancing tourism in Amsterdam identified a problem that people, particularly in the city centre, had already been aware of for much longer: it is too busy. Too many visitors in too small an area cause undesirable situations and put too much pressure on the city’s character and the quality of life it offers.”

To address this, Amsterdam has implemented a tourist tax on paid accommodations. This tax applies not only to hotels, apartments, and campsites but also to private individuals who rent out their homes for holiday stays or run bed & breakfasts. The tax rate for hotels, camping sites, and holiday rentals is 12.5% of the overnight rate, excluding VAT.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, an article published on CNN Travel quoted locals who described the absence of noisier, intoxicated tourists as a breath of fresh air, underscoring the need for sustainable tourism practices. Amsterdam’s approach aims to balance the influx of visitors with the needs and well-being of its residents, preserving the city’s unique character and quality of life.

Other cities are also following the trend. For example, Bhutan, a landlocked country in South-Central Asia, has put in place stringent tourism regulations called “High Value, Low Impact,” which require tourists to pay $200 per night as a Sustainable Development Fee (SDF). This fee, equivalent to 1,200 Indian rupees, covers accommodation, food, guides, and other provisions to help fund education, healthcare, and poverty reduction. Similarly, a tourist tax was introduced in Venice, a city in northeastern Italy, to manage the impact of mass tourism on its historic infrastructure. Rates range from €1 to €5 per person per night. A day-tripper fee of €3 to €10 per person is already applicable there, starting in 2024, to fund city maintenance and preservation.

The aim is to lower the number of visitors, particularly during peak times, while ensuring that those present contribute to the maintenance of the city.