You could argue that modern viral tourism got its start in Iceland around 2010. That was the year the debt-riddled birthplace of Björk made headlines with an air-traffic-grounding, unpronounceable volcanic eruption. A few years later, every flight had a stopover in Reykjavik, and the Icelandic economy was booming. Not long after that, though, tourists were defecating on famous poets’ gravestones and going door-to-door asking locals for a free place to sleep.
Bad tourist behavior is anything but new — just look at what happened historically every time Europeans “discovered” a new land mass. The difference is that now, a whole country can go from unknown to overrun practically overnight. Anyone with a passport and internet access can book a ticket across the world without learning the language, the etiquette, or even basic safety. They don’t know where to sleep, where to pee, or how not to drown when the tide comes in.
The result is thousands of new arrivals at a time descending upon a city or country without any real preparation. They ignore or miss locals’ warnings — putting rescuers’ lives at risk — and violate local customs, traditions, and cultural norms. When they’re not destroying the environment, they’re defacing sites like Buddhist temples and the Roman Colosseum. Here are some ways bad tourist behavior continues to spread and how it could shape the future of travel.
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Unconscious Travel
With the internet, you can go from stumbling upon a video of a place to actually visiting it with just a few clicks. You can get inspired by a TikTok of the Taj Mahal, get your India eVisa, and be on a flight in under two weeks. On the one hand, this unrestricted access is amazing: nearly anyone can fulfill a dream of seeing the world. On the other hand, it means visitors often arrive with no concept of local cultural norms, and wind up accidentally offending and insulting locals.
Speaking of hands, in India and several other countries, it’s considered extremely offensive to touch people, food, or sacred objects with your left hand. That’s because that hand is typically used for “unclean” tasks like putting on shoes and taking care of personal hygiene. In other countries, describing someone’s height with your palm down or giving the “OK” sign are offensive. More and more tourists are arriving without knowing what is and isn’t OK to do.
When it’s just about avoiding offense, understanding the local norms may not seem like a very big deal. However, in countries where those norms are strong enough, they can result in arrests or public brawls. For example, there are anecdotes of tourists in Vietnam getting into fist-fights with locals over road incidents. It often happens because travelers simply don’t understand Vietnamese social norms like avoiding public arguments.
Strained Resources
Tourists aren’t just making locals uncomfortable with their un-culturally-aware behavior. Their choices are also making it much more difficult for countries’ residents to go about their daily lives. In cities like Barcelona, many tourists stay in short-term rentals instead of local hotels, driving rents so high that locals are often forced to leave. In Amsterdam, locals lost their last floating florist because tourists physically blocked locals from browsing or buying flowers.
Many cities have moved to place caps on over-tourism, banning short-term rentals and requiring permits for certain sites. Others have taken measures to limit the size of tour groups or restrict the number of buses arriving each day. However, even when tourists are on their best behavior, their numbers still strain local resources and infrastructure. In cities like Kyoto, there are so many tourists on buses and trains that locals experience longer wait times for public transit.
In Iceland, one important public resource is the country’s volunteer-based search and rescue service, ICE-SAR. Bad tourist behavior routinely puts rescuers’ lives at risk when tourists drive off-road or try to walk alone on glaciers. These kinds of bad decisions can also result in serious accidents, blocking off roads and restricting travel for locals and other travelers.
An Ailing Environment
The greatest resource of any country is of course the natural environment, and tourist behavior is wrecking that too. In places like the Galapagos, tourism means major plastic pollution, while in others like Cozumel, it’s destroying coral reefs. Many swimmers, snorkelers, and divers don’t understand (or care) that coral is a living organism that can die when touched by humans. In 2018, Thailand closed its famous Maya Bay, where tourists had killed off all but 8% of the coral.
Flying and driving are already bad for the environment, but some tourists make it worse by choosing to travel on cruises. These floating mall hotels use up to 250 tons of fossil fuels per day, and dump thousands of pounds of liquified waste into the ocean. That’s not to mention the local impact of thousands of people descending on the same port community all at once, every day.
Then there are the impacts of small groups or individuals acting idiotically in deeply catastrophic ways. In Chile, for example, tourists have decimated tens of thousands of hectares of national parks by trying to burn their used toilet paper. Thousands of animals died, thousands of hikers were evacuated, and trees and vegetation will take decades to grow back.
Turning the Tables
This article has barely touched on the massive environmental and societal impact of tourist behavior. It hasn’t addressed the link between sex tourism and trafficking or between drug tourism and local levels of violence and crime. The good news is many governments, local groups, and travel companies are working to turn things around. They’re moving to distribute tourists more evenly and encouraging more ethical, sustainable tourism and spending.
In Greece, France, and the Netherlands, governments are implementing policies to limit taxi use, cap visitors, and ban sex work in certain areas. Barcelona and Venice are charging cruise ship passengers an entry fee. Around the world, researchers are working to develop metrics for sustainable tourism that could be used to help guide public policy. Thousands of sustainable travel startups are working, in various ways, to reshape how tourists interact with destinations.
Different organizations are working to support local women, improve the environment, and fight racial injustice. They’re building eco-friendly hotels, promoting under-tourist destinations, and encouraging low-impact forms of transportation. Tourism can have an incredibly positive impact, boosting local economies and getting people out of poverty. With education, advocacy — and of course, good behavior — tourism could become a force for social and environmental progress.