The issue of over-tourism is a challenge facing many places around the world with rising mobility and tourist flows. Globally, international tourist arrivals grew by 7% in 2017, amounting to 1,326 million tourists visiting destinations around the world. This growth was higher than the annual rise of 3.8% forecasted by the United Nation’s World Tourism Organization for the decade 2010-2020.

Rising numbers of international tourists are a noticeable trend in countries such as Italy, Spain, Croatia and the Netherlands. New Zealand also recorded an increase in international tourist arrivals in 2018, up from 3.5% the previous year to reach 3.8 million. Similar to many tourist hot spots around the world, popular destinations in New Zealand are not immune from potential over-tourism, with many destinations struggling to cope with large numbers of tourists.

Read the full article from Associate Pofessor Andrea Insch here.