is tourism destroying cities residents of some of the most beautiful cities around the world have been protesting against tourism and there has been anti-tourist violence in places like barcelona and venice but why there are four ways that tourism can affect cities overcrowding pollution bad behavior and rising prices let's begin with overcrowding venice a city of 60 000 people welcomes nearly 30 million visitors a year that's 76 000 tourists a day spain had 82 million visitors in 2017 with 9 million visiting barcelona alone there are even traffic jams climbing mount everest now overcrowding has an obvious
effect on traffic footpaths and queues it can also affect the city's culture and identity like in barcelona where locals are complaining tourism is diluting its vibrancy and history tourists also bring with them pollution and waste they consume heaps of water and food while causing environmental damage to the destination in thailand a beach has been closed to protect its coral reefs from tourists in indonesia bali's famously pristine beaches are now being swamped by garbage and their underground water sources are being drained too quickly the island predicts it will run out of its water supply by 2020.
in venice cruise ships that bring thousands of tourists each day are damaging the local environment with engine pollution and water displacement tourism even accounts for eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions mainly from transportation and then there's the issue of tourists bad behavior there are many viral videos that show tourists behaving inappropriately from airport check-in meltdowns and assaults on cabin crews to deliberately damaging ancient ruins locals in the brazilian city of rio de janeiro are furious at drunk tourists at their infamous ipanema beach in croatia people are fed up with loud and rude tourists so
fines are being issued to those who drink alcohol in public and bali is even considering imposing restrictions on temples after tourists continue to climb on the holy sites or pose in swimwear finally tourism causes a rise in prices especially when it comes to short-term rentals like with airbnb an accommodation app where users can share their homes with tourists it has grown enormously with over 5 million lodgings across 81 000 cities but it has its downsides landlords in major cities make more money out of short-term leases on airbnb forcing local tenants to pay more in some
cities it can raise housing prices as people look to invest in airbnb homes these rising prices are not just limited to airbnb though in cambodia citizens were evicted from fishing villages so that resorts could be built on the beaches the increased cost of living is forcing residents out from some of the most beautiful cities in the world but there is hope cities are starting to recognize the impacts of mass tourism and are looking to introduce measures to deal with the load fines for behavior are being introduced in cities all over the world regulations are starting
to hit airbnb with their listings in san francisco barcelona and paris dropping iceland and greece are instituting caps on arrivals venice is planning to divert massive cruise liners to reduce some of the environmental damage and growing recognition of over tourism could push visitors into more environmentally and culturally friendly tourism in an attempt to save some of these delicate sites for generations to come [Music] you
