Can a City Actually Suffer From Too Much Tourism

Tourism is wonderful for the economy, and city officials invest millions to foster its growth. So, can have too many tourists be a bad thing for a city? Although, the question seems like some sort of a ridiculous first world problem, like not knowing what to do with too much money, upon closer inspection that might not be the case. 

People living in metropolitan areas that have constantly high influx of tourists are not always thrilled with the situation. In fact, some places are overcrowded mostly because of tourists, and having to go through that on an everyday basis is definitely stressful. Here we will go over the problems of metropolitan areas that suffer from too much tourism.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a small city with around a million citizens, and yet they have over 18 million visitors on an annual basis. Because of the high demand for rentals real-estate prices are rocket high. Moreover, in order to maintain the appeal of the town, there are lax drug regulations, and it is something that really bothers the locals. To address these problems, the government has banned short term rentals in some areas and is making efforts to channel the tourists to different towns or areas.  

San Francisco 

San Francisco is another example of an overcrowded town, as a result of tourism. Traveling across Lombard Street is getting increasingly difficult, so the traffic spills over to other streets, making them crowded as well. Moreover, tourists often pay little attention to vehicles as the stop in order to take selfies, which makes the whole traffic jam even worse. Another part of the town that is really popular is Alamo Square Park, as it boasts Victorian houses from the 1890s called the ‘Painted Ladies’. Tourists, basically invade the privacy of the locals as they go to their porch to take pictures. 

Barcelona 

In Barcelona, tourists come in large groups and very often commute together. This creates a problem as they take small buses designed to transport elderly locals from one neighborhood to another, as there is no room in the bus for them. Moreover, they create big lines when check-in subway tickets, so locals very often run late, as they can’t get to a terminal and validate their own tickets. 

Tourists typically flock to the beaches of Barcelona, and unfortunately, not all of them are very polite. Some people don’t pay attention to the environment and leave quite a mess on the beach, and no one wants to see a beautiful coast filled with trash at the end of the day. 

There are more examples of metropolitan cities that have similar problems like Prague, Toronto, Venice, etc. It’s an important aspect of the economy, but it is unfair towards the locals at the same time.