Over tourism

[Kamrul Hasan Bhuiyan]

Since its inception, tourism has been considered a benign activity. This is hardly surprising; the holiday industry’s USP is leisure, enjoyment, a break from all responsibility. It has brought wealth to forgotten rural communities, cushioned the blow of financial crashes, conserved critically endangered species and restored crumbling, historic cities. Tourism’s potential benefits are clear. However, the mistake is to think that it can only bring good. Many of us do not believe this myth, and have been speaking out against it for decades. Our concerns were dismissed, until very recently. In summer 2017, the media and the travel industry finally began to turn their gaze to the negative impacts of the holiday industry, and the term ‘overtourism’ was coined.