Postcards From…/Steven G. Williams
Postcards From…
Y
Overtourism
ou may have read this in the news last month: Venice will soon require a reservation and a fee for day trippers. Obviously, this resulted in mixed reactions from folks across the world. But as much as I am a proponent of travel and I want you to experience as much as possible, I do think we should have an honest conversation with ourselves about our impact on the places we travel to and whether we are adding or subtracting from those places. Take for example, Maya Bay in Thailand. It became so popular due to the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, The Beach, that on average 5,000 people were visiting it per day, leaving behind trash and damaging wildlife. In 2018, Thailand was forced to close Maya Beach. They have since reopened it, but with limited access. Like Venice, Thailand was responding to overtourism. We should all try mitigating overtourism’s effects on a location, whether it be Venice, Maya Bay or anywhere in between. So, to help with that, here are some tips to consider when planning your next trip. • Slow down your trip. If you have one week, don’t bother trying to hit all the iconic spots in a location. Prioritize a few and really live in the moment. • Post fewer pictures on your Instagram story. This goes
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hand in hand with the first bullet point. Being in a new place is about experiencing that new place. As much fun as it might be to flex for the gram, that is not what travel is about. Plus, all the filters on Instagram actively help paint a different picture of what the location is like. Filters skew reality. • Don’t just follow the crowd; explore. Go beyond the “bucketlist” destinations and sites. Do some research on what else there is in the place you’re visiting and branch out beyond sites like the Eiffel Tower. • Support local establishments and not chains. There seems to be a Hard Rock Café in every country and, even though collecting the shirts with the countries’ names on them might be fun, please do not eat there. Find local establishments serving up local dishes and patronize them with your travel dollars. Charging folks an entrance fee to what some consider one of the most beautiful cities in the world may seem unfair to some, but this fee will also be applicable to vacationers getting to the city via cruise ship, and you may recall that, in 2019, a cruise ship crashed into a Venetian harbor. The long-term impact of this fee might be that it discourages those massive boats from getting so close. If we want these wonderful places to continue being wonderful and accessible for future generations, we must protect them and sometimes that means protecting them from ourselves. I love a good selfie, but when you visit a place, make sure you’re also contributing to the local economy, mindful of your waste and treating the locals with respect. 7 Steven Williams is an avid traveler, amateur cook, and fantasy author. He serves on the Harrisburg School Board and is the Associate Director for the Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool/Youth Development Network. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife Danielle.
