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Photos by Jonathan Tourtellot unless indicated otherwise. The key lies in combining tourism management with destination stewardship. And that requires some new ways of thinking about just what "tourism" will mean for the Olympic Peninsula’s future.

www.DestinationCenter.org is a collaborative community nonprofit website for practitioners in destination stewardship, in cultural and natural heritage, and the geotourism approach. It is available, In part or in whole, for partnering, incorporating, or transfer, if such action contributes to a coordinated global approach to destination stewardship.

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The travel industry has been discussing an old problem with a new name: “overtourism”—“too many tourists”. World tourism is outgrowing its home.

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Overtourism in China.

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When this happens, everyone loses.

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I’ll use one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions to illustrate the arrival of overtourism.

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I want to use this tape measure to demonstrate just how big those numbers are. In the 1950s, when post-war travel was just beginning, there were about 25 million international arrivals, worldwide. Imagine that 1 inch on this tape represents 10 million of those tourists. In 1959, that means 2 ½ inches. By last year, the figure was 1.3 BILLION trips—10 feet, 10 inches on my tape—and that’s only international. Multiply by 5 or 6 for all the world’s domestic trips.

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In 2011, the United Nations World Tourism Organization predicted 1.8 billion international arrivals for the year 2030. They underestimated. In 2017, we had already passed 1.3 billion, on our way to 2 billion as soon as 2030!!

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Why does Mt Everest have an overtourism issue? Just think how the numbers work: if only 1 in a million of every international trip next year is to climb Mt Everest, that would still put at least 1,300 climbers on the mountain. Plus their teams.

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Not too long ago, Mr Scowsill, then CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council, suggested that arrivals could reach 3 billion by 2050. The challenge is simple arithmetic: We cannot continue cramming infinitely growing numbers of people into finite spaces and places.

Five people looking at the painting in 1959 has swollen to more than 200 today, and growing.

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Tourists climbing and damaging ruins.

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A warning shot from the Philippines. You can see it happening. A few years ago, the country advertised El Nido, Palawan for nature and “privacy”.

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Then this happened: Even though it is hard to get to, El Nido has seen tourism growth that reflects the global trend.

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Now tourism growth is so fast that the advertisement promising privacy at El Nido are out of date. Sadly so.

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Last year it tripled to 126,000 or more; 200,00 by one report.

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And the government had to step in.

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That appeals to international tourists.

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For example, this medieval World Heritage city . . .

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. . . To boast of its WH status.

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And yet . . . governments still keep striving for more tourists. Here are announcements I found in just one week in March. At least someone in the D.R. realizes that steps must be taken.

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Economic success in tourism need not be the same as increased visitation. Fewer tourists staying longer is a better long-term business plan than more tourists staying briefly. Over the years it yields better economic benefit with a much lighter footprint—less stress on the site.

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All these cruise-versus-stayover figures compiled by the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST).

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Jewelry stores and T-shirt shops have taken over, catering to the cruise bus tours. The jewelry shop sells them tanzanite.• That’s a gem from Tanzania. Not Alaska.

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The grassy field experiment: When visitation is light—just a few tourists—it’s best for them to spread out. But as numbers increase, trampling kills much of the grass. So high visitation requires containing tourists to one path, the sacrifice zone, and so spare the rest of the field. The field is a metaphor for destination as a whole.

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A new heritage center on Palawan hopes to draw tourist overflow from overtaxed El Nido. Here enthusiastic young Cuyonon dancers on Palawan are reviving traditional dance forms, to be supported in part by tourism.

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As well as relieving entrance back-ups.

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Download this report.

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These tourists?

These tourists?

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Gannet colony, Newfoundland—an ecotourism attraction.

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Spanish colonial, Oaxaca, Mexico. History gets you on travel magazine covers.

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Too much of the world looks like this. Tourists will not cross oceans or continents to look at such scenes.

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What image do you want?

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The Museum of the Romanian Peasant expounds upon the theme of the Village Museum, displaying objects from all aspects of folk life.

http://industry.travelwisconsin.com/travel-green-wisconsin

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Golf is a less important tourism attractor than normally assumed. Courses often have a heavy environmental footprint due to intense fertilizer and water use, but it is possible to build a “green,” Audubon-certified golf course.

Change the “M” in “DMO” from Marketing to Management

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I proposed that National Geographic begin a small program to look at tourism’s effects how to manage it, in other words, tourism that supports sense of place—geographical character.

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In Sept 2013, OAS tourism ministers endorsed geotourism as the preferred policy for tourism development in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Ecotourism is not just another word for nature travel. True ecotourism is defined as “Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” It was a brilliant idea: Use tourism to create a financial incentive for people to protect the ecology that tourists are coming to see. Geotourism expands that idea beyond natural areas to encompass everything special and distinctive to a place. So geotourism is more than ecotourism, which is traditionally focused on nature alone; more than sustainable tourism because it speaks to the possibility of enhancing unique aspects of a place. Many things contribute to character of place.

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NatGeoTraveler and Travel Industry Association of America teamed up to do the first study (2002) that asked Americans about the activities they do while traveling and then correlated these answers with their attitudes about sustainability and place-based activities. We found that over half of the American traveling public think it’s harder to find unspoiled places than it used to be; 3/4 say they don’t want their visits to harm the environment.

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The Central Cascades geotourism MapGuide project

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We now strongly encourage creation of Geotourism Stewardship Councils or an equivalent. Members of proposed geotourism councils are motivated by their own missions to remain engaged. A catalytic project like a cobranded Geotourism MapGuide can get the ball rolling, as can a community project such as a destinatination-wide “Olympic Pennisula Day” festival.

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We now strongly encourage creation of Geotourism Stewardship Councils or an equivalent for Charter signatories. Members of proposed geotourism councils are motivated by their own missions to remain engaged. Structured as a public-private-civic partnership, no single sector has control, ensuring a collaborative process.

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It’s important to plan long term.

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Download the full Charter at geotourism.org.

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A deadline is essential to keep a volunteer effort on track.

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The core group does most of the planning, coordination, and policy-making. A much larger pool of affiliate members can help with specific projects or expertise as needed.

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A good model being developed.

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