Top 10 Places Ruined by Tourism

Today, we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Places Ruined by over Tourism .

1.   Mount Everest Nepal: the last thing you'd expect to encounter as you ascend to the highest peak on earth is a human traffic jam.  But sadly,  this has become a reality for climbers hoping to reach the summit of Mount Everest on the Nepalese side.  As the mountain becomes more accessible, the number of inexperienced climbers increases. This, when combined with overcrowding can lead to death that could have otherwise been avoided. As routes become congested it puts climbers at risk of hypothermia altitude sickness and more. Everest is also facing a pollution problem. It's gotten so bad the travel specialists Walter Keats claims Nepal's national flower should be quote a discarded plastic water bottle.  Eleven people have already died attempting to reach Everest summit in 2019 and that number is likely to increase unless new regulations are implemented.

2.   Thailand: tourism can create and at the same time tourism can disrupt. That was the response of Thailand's tourism Minister after a whale turned up dead with plastic bags in its stomach. This is just one of the effects that over tourism is having on various areas of Thailand in recent years. The country has been forced to close many of its most popular islands and beaches in response to a massive boom in tourism. The beach has a beach that's just 820 feet long yet it received 5,000 visitors and 200 boats a day. Before being closed in 2018 until 2021. As it's home to more than 1,000 islands, the solution is simple if you're traveling to Thailand don't follow the herd.

3.   Dubrovnik Croatia: a 2018 report by the Australian travel company intrepid found that Croatia is suffering over tourism more than any other country and while the exact figures are contested,  there can be no dispute that nowhere is this more apparent than in Dubrovnik whose old city walls and picturesque views served as the setting for Game of Thrones King's Landing from 2011 to 2018. Thrones fans aren't the only ones clogging up the streets; the city is also a popular pit stop for cruise ships with thousands of tourists disembarking each day.  In an effort to combat this problem, Dubrovnik mare has limited the number of cruise ships to two per day while also installing cameras to track the number of people entering the old city.

4.   Iceland: As the number of international trips taken per year increases, over a billion were taken in 2017 compared to mere millions. In the 50s, even remote countries like Iceland are starting to feel the effects of over tourism. More than 2 million people visited the country in 2017 and while that might not seem like a crazy amount, keep in mind that this is a country with a population of just over 350,000 with an infrastructure to match. Simply put, certain parts of the country are not equipped to handle that, (Many tourists) annually something the Icelandic tourist board and the Icelandic Tourism Research Centre are working on remedying.

5.   Bali Indonesia:  as recently as the early 60s, Bali was a little-known island in Southeast Asia with barely any hotels to its name. Nowadays; it's one of the most popular tourist spots on earth attracting an estimated 14 million visitors in 2017 alone. Stemming the flow of lucrative tourism doesn't appear to be a top priority for Indonesia's government who are currently attempting to replicate Bali success on different islands across the country. Over tourism has gotten so bad that two years ago a garbage emergency was declared with teams of workers clearing many tons of garbage each day from multiple beaches. Indonesia is a diverse country with hundreds of islands and areas not named Bali that are worth exploring.

6.   The Galapagos Islands Ecuador: in 2007 the Galapagos Islands had a problem. A United Nations study found that a 150 percent increase in the amount of time tourists spent there was disrupting the region's thousands of endemic species. This forced the UN to declare the UNESCO World Heritage Site endangered a status it retained until 2010. However, the islands were far from receiving a perfectly clean bill of health, while ship based tourism has decreased. Land-based tourism had increased by 90 percent between 2007 and 2016. Thankfully measures have been taken to ensure the protection of the Galapagos Islands ecosystem including limiting tourists to certain areas and requiring the licensed guide to be present at all times.

7.   Angkor Wat Cambodia: in 1993, 7650 people visited Angkor Wat. Back forward to 2017 and that number hovers around 2.5 million annual visitors. I don't need to explain to you while that's not good for a Hindu temple complex that's over 800 years old. The Cambodian government has attempted to reduce overcrowding by increasing the price of tickets and limiting the number of people allowed on specific points of interest.  This includes; Poonam Bakheng a popular temple also perfect for watching the sunrise over Angkor Wat which now limits tourists to 300 at a time as Cambodia's most popular tourist attraction. We don't expect anchors over tourism problem to be solved any time soon.

8.    Venice Italy: one of the most well-known examples of how over tourism can negatively affect a city. Venice continues to be crushed by the burden of millions of annual visitors. Around 30 million of them in an effort to take back their city, Venetian officials have made a number of proposals including fining people for sitting in public spaces.  Another way they're combating congestion. While simultaneously reducing harm to the ecosystem is by banning large cruise ships from entering the historic city center. This was a big win for Venetians as cruise ships are responsible for bringing in thousands of tourists per day. Of course it doesn't help that the city is slowly sinking or that the locals continue to leave in droves a byproduct of the ever increasing rents.

9.    Majorca Spain: one of the littoral tourism hotspots in Europe. Myoga has seen its amount of visitors grow exponentially in the past decade. In 2018, the island welcomed on average 1090 for flights and up to 17,000 cruise ship passengers per day. Okay that was during the peak season but still it's gotten so bad that myoga has anti tourists activists who just last year took to the airport with signs reading; tourism kills the city and handing out leaflets claiming that myoga was in an extreme environmental crisis caused by over tourism. The government has responded by upping the daily tourist tax and limiting the types of Airbing listings available for rent.

10.                Amsterdam the Netherlands: Amsterdam the Venice of the north in more ways than one. Known for its open-minded social attitudes, stunning beauty and amazing cultural attractions. It's not surprising to learn that the city is a victim of its own success. Tourists are simply everywhere in Amsterdam with some estimates tallying up close to 20 million visitors annually and it's not just the city centre. Residents of nearby areas like outside and de pipe have complained of foreign tourists clogging up the roads and sidewalks and littering as locals become more frustrated. Amsterdam status as one of Europe's prime tourist destinations might perversely be in jeopardy.