Changes in tourism

[Alpinista]

There was an article in the print edition Washington Post today about the massive drop in Chinese tourism to Italy due to the current coronavirus outbreak with specific mention of Bagnoreggio and the economic impact on the town. The article does not seem to appear in the electronic version. The piece made several references to "the past 10 years" and how the tourism sources had changed and the reaction of the sites visited (noted that some shopkeepers in Bagnoreggio were learning Mandarin phrases to welcome customers). The thought it brought to mind was how the impressions I carry of a place (was in Bagnoreggio 12 years ago) could be so different from what would be experienced now. It seems that the tourist traffic to the town has exploded over the years and what I remember as a very secluded and peaceful place to stroll may no longer be the case. I know that some conversations on this and the predecessor site pointed out how different some towns are (San Gimignano comes to mind) between the tour bus daytime hours and the evening/nighttime hours. I know personally how Lucca has changed in the 30+ years we have been visiting there with the once unseen tour groups now a regular mass moving down Via Fillungo with their ear pieces in place and guides leading the way. What this leads me to is a personal thought that I should do a better job of placing comments in perspective when I post -- time of year, who I was traveling with (big difference in the way my wife and I travel now compared to when we had infant children -- or the dreaded teenagers), type of travel (we've moved from tents and backpacks to far more comfortable quarters over the course of our marriage), and, of course, how far removed I am in time from when I formed my opinion.

 

[joe]

I'd prefer to add to this thread, than the "Chinese" thread - I think "Changes in tourism" is a subject that might not focus only on this or that group or country, but could be interesting to think of in a broader sense.

We've all witnessed how the relative ease of travel today has brought over-tourism to new heights. On one hand, I'm starting to think that at some point the pendulum might start to shift in the other direction : people will be forced to cut down on travel because of the environmental costs. Travel or environmental taxes will find some way to be imposed. There might be social pressure to limit travel abroad. OTOH, there might be a surge of tourism to places that are endangered because of climate or political change - the "see it before it disappears" sort of travel. There also might be growth in tourism to places that until now have not been in "the most popular" lists, if only to try and have a more "authentic" experience and to get away from the tourist crowds. Hard to say. I see, though, that new hotels are being built almost everywhere I look....