Bali, but also Kyoto, Tokyo in Japan or even Oaxaca in Mexico… These are some of the trips that a great American guide advises against organizing if you wish to participate in their preservation, at least for a while.
Natural building materials, recycling policies, rainwater harvesting, awareness raising among customers on daily cleaning practices for hotel rooms, respect for the traditions of local communities…
There is now an arsenal of tools put in place by the hotel industry and local communities to make their places responsible places, in line with the ecological emergency. So many new arguments to attract travelers keen to reduce the carbon footprint of their getaways.
At a time when visitor quotas, the implementation of tourist taxes or entry taxes are becoming increasingly used measures to limit tourist flows, Wouldn’t the solution rather be to encourage travelers to “simply” no longer choose certain destinationsamong the most stifled by overtourism?
Without calling for a boycott, this is what the Fodor guide suggests by publishing a list places on Earth not to go in 2025 due to tourism exerting too much pressure on local communities.
Recalling the spirit of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) classification distinguishing between extinct, critically endangered or vulnerable animal species, the Los Angeles publication divides destinations into two categories.
Destinations in great pain
First there are those which cannot strictly speaking be on a list as they have suffered for a long time from the degradation of their landscapes, their traditions and their places of life. This is the case of Baliin Indonesia. There are also places where locals no longer want the presence of tourists – at least not as many – like in Barcelona (Spain), Venice (Italy), Majorca (Spain), but also Koh Samui (Thailand),Everest (Nepal).
And the destinations that how to suffer
Fodor put it in another big category destinations that are starting to suffer from tourism. And since it will be Italian capital of culture in 2025, the Sicilian city ofAgrigento thus integrated the list of the American guide. This is cited alongside Kerala (Inde), Kyoto et Tokyo (Japan), Oaxaca (Mexico), the North Coast 500 in Scotland.
More surprising, British Virgin Islands are also cited. “In the first half of 2024, the British Virgin Islands saw record numbers of visitors, largely driven by a post-pandemic surge in cruise ship passengers. The first six months of 2024 set a new record tourism, with more than 683,000 visitors, an increase of 17% compared to the same period in 2023. Cruise ship passengers now represent approximately 72% of total tourist arrivals. However, the number of night visitors remains almost 24% lower than its peak in 2017, which was 243,000.explains Fodor, who therefore points to cruise tourism as a potential threat.
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