Tourism in the headlines
Tourism brings money, jobs and visitors to a place. It can also bring serious problems. In 2017 and 2018, newspapers around the world ran stories like these:
- A bay in Thailand, made famous by the film The Beach, was closed indefinitely (The Guardian, 3 October 2018).
- A reporter visited Venice in its busiest month to ask whether tourism had killed the city (The Telegraph, 17 August 2018).
- People living in Barcelona were reported to hate tourists (The Independent, 9 August 2017).
- Bali was considering new rules to stop offensive behaviour by tourists (news.com.au, 26 September 2018).
All four stories are about popular destinations that have too much of a good thing. Some of the governments involved are now trying to discourage tourists instead of attracting more. That raises the central question for any busy destination. How can a place cut the damage tourists cause without losing the income they bring?
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