According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, global tourism keep increasing in 2023, with an estimated 1.3 billion international tourist arrivals. Increasing visitors to popular tourist destinations like Bali and Indonesia could result in overtourism. According to Responsible Travel, over tourism occurs when there are too many visitors to a particular destination. “Too many” is a subjective term, of course, but it is defined in each destination by local residents, hosts, business owners and tourists. The negative impacts of over-tourism are:
- The increase of transport-related carbon emissions.
- Escalation of housing prices for locals and residences.
- Skyrocketing prices.
- Excessive queues.
- Damage at historical sites.
- Traffic jams.
- The ramifications of nature.
Our office is in Bali, and Tri Hita Consulting team members are experiencing this phenomenon firsthand. The negative impacts we see vary from something light and tolerable to something that we think could be very serious and damaging to Bali if nothing is done to them. One of the more serious issues arising from tourism overdevelopment is the vast disappearing rice paddies, which have at least two essential functions: food security and water absorption (terraced rice paddies). In Bali, due to the zoning laws not being applied effectively, many rice paddies are being built over for villas, hotels, restaurants and clubs to accommodate tourists and visitors. The other more severe issues are waste management and depleting water sources.
A few mechanisms for overcoming over-tourism have been implemented in other popular tourist destination cities worldwide. Among these efforts are:
- The tourist tax.
- The ban on cruise ships.
- Restrictions from one of a big online marketplace homestays worldwide.
- The limitation of tourist behaviour in essential sites.
- Demarketing.
- Discouraging “Bad” Tourists and Tourism.
- Pricing and rationing.
We believe that whichever mechanism to be conducted should be decided based on analyses of a comprehensive fact base and considered the most beneficial for the local (economically, socially, and ecologically). As we work in sustainability, we couldn’t help but feel brokenhearted to see that this phenomenon has turned the Island of Gods to experience imbalance. Tri Hita hopes to increase awareness of responsible tourism and environmental protection for sustainable development.
#sustainabletourism #Bali #Indonesia
Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/21793/international-tourist-arrivals-worldwide/
