PANEL no. 2: GOOD LIFE VS. ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION?

Too many tourists...? What a big deal?

ADAM MIKOŁAJCZYK, CEO

BEST PLACE INSTITUTE

On the one hand, everything is great….

The most attractive city destinations

Top City Destinations Ranking (WTM London 2017 Edition)

Source: Euromonitor International

The most attractive city destinations

The direct, indirect

and induced effect of tourism

spending

SOURCE: TRAVEL & TOURISM. ECONOMIC IMPACT 2017 WORLD

Top cities by market size (tourism GDP)

Tourism market size v share of the country (2016)

SOURCE: TRAVEL & TOURISM. CITY TRAVEL & TOURISM IMPACT 2017 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

…however, on the other

hand...

Is this a problem?

UNESCO threatened to remove Dubrovnik's World Heritage Site status unless it curbed tourist numbers. Local people in Venice organised angry protests against overtourism and cruise ships. Local people on the Isle of Skye called for help because their roads became impassable and they could no longer get their food shopping or visit relatives.

Source: Harold Goodwin, The Challenge of Overtourism, Responsible Tourism Partnership Working Paper 4. October 2017

1. Lack of government understanding about the negative

impacts of tourism.

2. Poor planning.

3. The growth of the middle classes globally.

4. Growth of the new markets (Chinese).

5. The falling cost of travel (even collusion between airlines,

cruise ships and governments to create artificially cheap

flights and cruises).

6. Disintermediation and P2P platforms.

Causes

Population + Technology + Money = Boom!

Change of the perspective

1. Change the prevailing paradigm: More tourism is not

necessarily better. Better tourism is better.

2. Governments and industry should therefore abolish the

practice of setting tourism goals based only on arrivals.

3. Instead, incentivize longer stays and discourage hit-and-

run, selfie-stick tourism.

4. To help do that, destination stakeholders should form

stewardship councils that help government and industry

plan according to limits of acceptable change.

Source: Jonathan Tourtellot, the Destination Stewardship Center

What we can really do ?

Examples of solutions

Source: Harold Goodwin, The Challenge of Overtourism, Responsible Tourism Partnership Working Paper 4. October 2017

Examples of solutions

Source: Harold Goodwin, The Challenge of Overtourism, Responsible Tourism Partnership Working Paper 4. October 2017

Examples of solutions

Good life means what?

Quality of Life Index (2018)

Source: https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_current.jsp

Good life means what?

MERCER 2017 Quality of Living Rankings

Source: mercer.com/qol

Good life means what?

MERCER 2017 Quality of Living Rankings

Looking at 450 cities across the world, Mercer takes into account the following metrics to judge which cities made the list for the best quality of life: • Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement) • Economic environment (currency-exchange regulations, banking services) • Socio-cultural environment (media availability and censorship, limitations on

personal freedom) • Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious

diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution) • Schools and education (standards and availability of international schools) • Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation,

traffic congestion) • Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure) • Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars) • Housing (rental housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services) • Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

Source: mercer.com/qol

visitor = temporary resident?

Sustainable practices appear to be key in managing the balance between the

advantages and disadvantages of tourism; 2017 was announced as the International

Year of Sustainable Tourism, developed by the United Nations to help combat issues of

overtourism and promote sustainable methods within the industry. In regards to

the responsible parties for sustainable tourism practices, a survey of UK

holidaymakers suggested it was up to the local government of the destination to

ensure environmental standards and acceptable working conditions were met. It

also showed that only 17 percent of travelers in 2017 planned to research

the impact of tourism on their next destination.

Hope of a way out?

Responsible Tourism is about using tourism to make better places for people to live in, first; and second, better places for people to visit. The aspiration is to use tourism rather than to be used by it.

Source: Overtourism in European destinations - Statistics & Facts

Key question :

How to reconcile the tourism development,

increasing number of tourists and

improvement of the quality of life in the

city, especially such specific as the historical

one? Is it possible at all?

THANK YOU ! ADAM MIKOLAJCZYK BEST PLACE INSTITUTE