[Culture]
Overtourism
by Lee
Hyeon-ju, Culture Reporter, twohj1218@mju.ac.kr
by Hwang
Bo-sung, Culture Editor, khby44@mju.ac.kr
Venice,
Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Paris, France; Santorini, Greece; Thimphu, Bhutan;
Kyoto, Japan. These are cities where local residents have had to vacate their
homes and leave their communities vacant due to overtourism. Korea is no
exception. Seoul Bukchon Hanok Village, Tongyeong Dongpirang Mural Village,
Busan Gamcheon Village, and Jeonju Hanok Village are all victims of
overtourism.
A particular
social problem is described by overtourism,
a compound word that combines over
and tourism, meaning that tourists
have surpassed the accommodation capacity of a tourist area and are invading
the lives of the local people. Due to overtourism, the environment and
ecosystem are destroyed and the quality of tourism is degraded. A more serious
problem is that the local people who experience day-to-day discomfort
eventually migrate to another place. As a result, the enjoyment of tourists is
negatively impacted.
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 is
forecasted to be 1.8 billion by 2030. Thanks to growing wealth worldwide,
traveling is becoming a more widely shared form of recreation. This growth was
once welcomed as good news; however, popular destinations around the world
cannot accommodate myriad visitors from all over the globe. Each year, the top-luring
destinations in Europe are filled with tourists that surpass the number of
locals by multiples, and thereby turning these locations into “uncomfortable”
towns. This situation is becoming an increasingly global menace.
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 towers, statues and other landmarks. But nowadays, tourists are staying
at local homes and guest houses rather than hotels, buying food at local
markets like the locals and cooking, eating and traveling around secluded
neighborhoods. These changes in travel patterns are spreading all over the
planet and inflicting damage to local residents. With the arrival of various
facilities for tourists, local workshops and small shops that preserve the
identity of an area often disappear, and problems such as noise, garbage, and
rent increases intensify.
Moreover, the
influence of social media, such as Instagram and Facebook, is very noticeable
cause of overtourism. Before the use of smartphone-based SNS became widespread,
the main purpose of tourism was to pursue the experience. However, after SNS,
especially photo-sharing applications such as Instagram, became explosively
popular, 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 followers’
networks. As a result, when you reach the tourist attraction, you find that the
surroundings have been changed by the construction of one or more stores in the
vicinity. This is the case in Korea’s Gyeongju. It has now become a regular
activity for people to engage in self-promotion using photos and SNS. For many,
the pictures taken on the trip become more important than the experience.
To alleviate
these problems, some tourist attractions have taken bold steps. In San Marco
Square, Venice, Italy, order maintainers are stationed at key points and
sanctions are applied to tourists found eating there. More than 30 million
tourists visit Barcelona every year, which results in rising apartment rents,
illegal dumping of garbage, and noise pollution. As these problems went on, the
Barcelona government has formed a tourism committee of public officials,
schools, and local residents to discuss and suggest alternatives to address the
problems caused by excessive tourism. Tourists now pay an extra amount of money
for their accommodation. This cost corresponds to a so-called “tourism tax”
used to keep areas clean. In addition, tourist groups are restricted from
entering the famous traditional market, the 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 through unauthorized entry into the residents’ homes or by
ringing their doorbells. In order to relieve the suffering of Bukchon
residents, Jongno-gu has restricted tourism in Bukchon by creating a time limit
for sightseeing: Weekdays and Saturdays, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Banners are
used to inform tourists who come to Bukchon of the restricted sightseeing
period.
As we have
become more industrialized, our living standards are becoming more and more
commonly associated with tourism and traveling. Nowadays, traveling around the
world has become a daily routine, and when the holidays come, the number of
passengers at Incheon International Airport is so high as to reach new records
every year. There are no citizens who hate the development of local economy and
vibrant
domestic economy by tourism. However, even if traditions and history are turned into tourism
resources, it is necessary to preserve original traditions and find a way for
tourists to minimize the damage they inflict on local residents.
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