The Fear of Overtourism

In recent years our holidays have been blamed as contributing to a range of social problems. Tourists, apparently, push up rents, diminish culture and behave badly - so much so that protests in popular destinations such as Barcelona, Tenerife and Majorca seem set to become an annual occurrence. Air travel - the principle means of global tourism - is viewed as immoral by 'No Fly' campaigns and Just Stop Oil activists. Meanwhile the new middles classes of economically growing countries such as China and India are increasingly doing what wealthy people have always done - spending their disposable income on holidays. What's the truth about so called 'overtourism', and what does the future hold for our holidays?

Speaker: Jim Butcher is a lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University. He edits the Tourism's Horizon: Travel for the Millions blog, blogs at Politics of Tourism, and is currently writing his fourth book on the politics of holidays.

Photo Credit: Billy Grace Ward (2019) used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licence.

Host or Publisher East Midlands Salon