For many people, travel is something they look forward to all year. It occupies daydreams, shapes savings plans and hopefully exceeds expectations when in the destination. But with a globally growing middle class, visa requirements easing-up and the cost of air travel dropping, more people than ever are hitting the road. And often, too many of us at the same time in the same place. This can not only lead to trips sometimes not living up to expectations, but the destinations themselves and people that live there becoming forever changed, often not for the better. On this episode we’ll explore the issue of Overtourism and talk with an expert about the future of travel.

Trevor & Scott then chat about how they’ve noticed numbers and destinations change – some in particular:

• Angkor’s Temples
• Kyoto
• Grand Palace
• Bali
• Similan Islands

We really want to read Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism by Elizabeth Becker, which got us thinking about the issue. We also mentioned on the first episode of 2018, Ep. 73: 2018 New Year’s Travel Resolutions that we wanted to learn about the subject this year. Check!

Some of the issues that locals in popular tourism destinations face that lead them to be upset at times it seems are increased costs of living for locals, harder to get around, increased pollution, threats to traditional cultures, and that people have memories of quieter times that are nostalgic for them.

Agreed, it’s a double-whammy. It ruins the experience for the visitor, who has to fight the crowds and doesnt get to experience anything “authentic” especially while trying to get photos, and then its a catch-22 for the destination, who may like the revenue, but have their communities overrun with visitors.

Guest Intro: Our guest is Dr. Chris Bottrill, PATA Vice Chairman and Dean at the Faculty of Global and Community Studies, School of Tourism Management, Capilano University in Vancouver, Canada. He’s originally from New Zealand, an active outdoorsman and he joins us by Skype from North Vancouver.

Some of the questions we ask Chris:

• Tell us a bit about your work in tourism?
• What sort of tourism-related work have you done in Asia?
• How did you become interested in the topic of Overtourism?
• How have tourism numbers grown in Asia over the last 10 years?
• What are the most common problems of overtourism?
• Where are the majority of new travelers coming from?
• In a PATA presentation you mentioned the “bucket list phenomena” is affecting many countries around the globe. How so?
• Is overtourism leading to backlash against any particular nationalities?
• How do you manage the quality of life for locals and provide quality tourism?
• Are there destinations in Asia that will be destroyed or not visitable ten years from now?
• What does the future of tourism in Asia look like?

Links

• PATA: https://www.pata.org/
• Dr. Chris Bottrill: https://www.pata.org/chris-bottrill/
• Dr. Chris Bottrill: https://www.capilanou.ca/about/president-office/bios/Chris_Bottrill/
• Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism: https://www.amazon.com/Overbooked-Exploding-Business-Travel-Tourism/dp/1439160996

To learn more about Scott & Trevor:

• Follow Scott on Twitter: @scottcoates73
• Trevor’s Blog
• Scott’s Blog
• Groovy Map Seoul
• National Geographic Cambodia
• National Geographic Thailand
• Follow Talk Travel Asia on Twitter
• Follow us on Facebook
• Follow us on Instagram
• Theme Music by Jamie Ruben

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