Culture, overtourism, 수정2 .docx
[Culture]
Overtourism
By, Lee Hyeon-ju, Culture Reporter, twohj1218@mju.ac.kr
By, Hwang Bo-sung, Culture Editor, khby44@mju.ac.kr
Italy Venice, Spain Barcelona, France Paris, Greece Santorini, Bhutan, Japan Kyoto. These are the cities where its local residents had to leave their homes and the community left vacant due to overtourism. Korea is no exception. Seoul Bukchon Hanok Village, Tongyeong Dongpirang Mural Village, Busan Gamcheon Village, Jeonju Hanok Village are all victims of overtourism.
This social problem is called Overtourism. Overtourism is a compound word that combines 'over' and 'tourism', which means that the tourist who surpasses the accommodation capacity of the tourist area is invading the lives of the people. Overtourism has the side effect of destroying the environment and ecosystem and lowering the quality of tourism. The more serious problem is that the people who experience discomfort in the real life eventually migrate to another place. As a result, it also reduces the enjoyment of tourists.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the number of tourists in the world was 674 million in 2000 but increased to 1.3 billion in 2017 and 1.8 billion by 2030. Worldwide, thanks to the growing richness, travel is becoming a more widely shared amusement. This growth was once apparently considered as good news. But the most popular destinations in the world cannot accommodate a myriad of visitors from all over the world. Each year, the most popular destinations in Europe are filled with tourists surpassing the locals in many multiples, turning them into "uncomfortable" towns. They are becoming increasingly global threats.
The explosion of tourists has resulted in a variety of travel patterns In the past, tourists enjoyed sightseeing and taking pictures of famous tourist attractions such as famous landmarks like towers and statues. But nowadays, tourists are staying at a local house and guest house rather than a hotel, buying food at a local markets like the locals, cooking, eating and traveling around a secluded neighborhood. These changes in travel patterns are spreading all over the place and causing damage to local residents. With the arrival of various facilities for tourists, the local workshops and small shops that had preserved the identity of the area have disappeared and problems such as noise, garbage and rent increase have occurred.
Eventually, tourist attractions have taken bold steps. In San Marco Square, Venice, Italy, order maintainers are stationed and sanctions are applied to tourists who eat there. In Barcelona, more than 30 million tourists visit Barcelona every year, raising apartment rents, illegal dumping of garbage, and noise pollution. As these problems persisted, the Barcelona government formed a tourism committee of public officials, schools and local residents to discuss and suggest alternatives to the problems caused by excessive tourism. Tourists now pay a certain amount of money for their accommodation. This cost corresponds to the so-called "tourism tax" used to keep the area clean and the group tourists were restricted from entering the famous traditional market, Boqueria.
Korea's Bukchon Hanok Village is a famous tourist destination that 10,000 domestic and foreign tourists visit on an average day. Tourists have come into conflict with the residents by causing unauthorized entry into the residents' homes or pushing the doorbell. In order to relieve the suffering of Bukchon residents, Jongno-gu has restricted the tourism of Bukchon by creating a time limit for sightseeing. On weekdays and Saturdays, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, tourists will come to Bukchon to inform tourists and inform tourists using banners.
Moreover, the influence of social media, such as Instagram and Facebook, is very well noticeable as the cause of over tourism. Until the smartphone-based SNS became widespread, the main purpose of tourism was to pursue the experience. However, SNS, especially the photo sharing application such as Instagram, became explosively popular and the situation began to change. Once a tasty restaurant or a stunning store in an isolated place is captured by an influential Instagrammer (Instagram user), the information is spread instantly in the follower's network. As a result, when you get to the top of the tourist attraction, the surroundings are changed by another store in the vicinity. This is the case in Korea's Gyeongju. Now it has become an activity to promote each person through photos and SNS. For many, the pictures taken on the trip become more important than the experience.
As we have become more industrialized, our living standards are becoming more and more commonly associated with tourism and travel. Now, traveling around the world has become a daily routine, and when holiday has come, the number of passengers at Incheon International Airport is so high as to record new records every year. There are no citizens who hates the development of the local economy from domestic economy that tourist have saved. However, even if the tradition and history are turned into tourism resources, it is necessary to preserve the original tradition and find a way for tourists to minimize the damage they are giving to the local residents.