'From now on, we want quality tourism'

The coronavirus pandemic has forced famous tourist destinations to question their business model […].

Nature has quickly replaced hordes of visitors at sites like Machu Picchu, in Peru, where sightings of elusive Andean bears have caused a buzz among conservationists. And in Thailand, which has seen a drop in arrivals of more than 83 per cent, marine fauna including dugongs, turtles and whale sharks are enjoying a rebound.

The Thai government has decided to close more than 150 national parks for an average of three months a year and to limit access so that animal and plant life can flourish.

“From now on, we want quality tourism, we don’t want a mass tourist influx into our national parks,” said Varawut Silpa-archa, minister of natural resources and the environment.

Visitor fees might have to rise to compensate for the lost income, but “it is the price we have to pay” to preserve natural resources, he said.

Access to Machu Picchu has also been curbed, and Peruvian authorities are mulling ways to develop a more exclusive model.

Local mayor Darwin Baca […] said they hoped tourists could be convinced to stay longer, for example with guided visits to natural sites such as waterfalls while waiting to see Machu Picchu.

[…]

Jean-Francois Rial, head of the travel agency Voyageurs du Monde, thought it might be possible to “educate visitors” to seek out less well known sites, or to visit outside the peak seasons.

Officials in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which typifies the effects of excessive tourism, want to attract tourists to places outside the walls of the cramped medieval city. They also wanted “to reposition Dubrovnik into a destination of excellence and sustainable tourism”, said Ana Hrnic, director of the Dubrovnik tourist board. […]

The pandemic might turn out to be “a chance to move towards more responsible tourism” over the long term, said Damien Chaney, a marketing professor at the French business school EM Normandie.

“For radical solutions to emerge, it generally takes an external shock, such as Covid-19,” he noted.

But for many, tourism is a big, often vital, business. In Tunisia, where it accounts for 14 per cent of gross domestic product, the number of visitors to the island of Djerba has plunged by 80 per cent.

“All indicators are flashing red,” said Hichem Mehouachi, the region’s tourist commissioner.

In Barcelona, Spain, most restaurants near the iconic Sagrada Familia basilica or along the well-trodden thoroughfare of Las Ramblas have closed or are struggling to make ends meet without tourists.

“Tourism kicked out local residents and now that the tourists are gone, there is nothing,” said Marti Cuso, a social worker who has been campaigning against tourists invading the city centre.

Pablo Diaz, an economy professor at the Open University of Catalonia, added: “Covid has proved that tourism dependence turns some areas into a desert.”

Hotel occupancy in Barcelona plunged from 8.5 million in 2019 to 1.8 million last year. The few hotels still operating have repurposed into venues for teleworkers or have slashed their long-stay rates to compete with traditional rental accommodation.

Guido Moltedo, founder of the Italian news website Ytali, has launched a petition calling on museums in Venice to reopen and for a consultation on the city’s future and its cultural vision. Six thousand people have signed it so far.

“The city is on its knees,” Moltedo warns. But Venice, like other tourist destinations, would find it hard to do without the primary source of income for around 65 per cent of its inhabitants. “Every little bar here earns €3,000 (US$3,700) a day, the city is addicted,” Moltedo said.

“It’s true that mass tourism is sometimes a problem in Venice, but no tourism at all is worse,” said Claudio Scarpa, head of the local hotel association.

The first nine months of 2020 saw a drop of 73.1 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals in Venice, according to a study published by an employment consultancy in December. The overall decrease was 59.5 per cent.

“Without the tourists, Venice has become a ghost town, a dead city like Pompeii,” said Anna Bigai, president of the lagoon city’s tourist guide cooperative, who has led only around a dozen tours in the past year. “There’s a feeling of sadness when you walk down the street.”

Diaz is worried things will go right back to where they were before in Catalonia once health restrictions are lifted. “Even in cities such as Barcelona where there were too many tourists and a strong movement against them, now we miss them,” he acknowledged.

Jean-Pierre Mas, head of the French company Entreprises du Voyage, concluded that Covid-19 would probably provoke “heightened awareness” of damage from mass tourism – but “not a revolution”.

This is an excerpt from an article originally published by South China Morning Post. Words: Agence France-Presse.