ETOA survey shows growing concerns about overtourism
Overcrowding in Europe’s most popular tourist destinations is becoming a growing concern for inbound tour operators to the region.
According to a recent survey by European tourism association ETOA, incoming operators are increasingly worried about capacity management and how to source new product in tourist hotspots.
Executive director Tom Jenkins said the survey had indicated growth in incoming tourism to Europe. A poll of 320 of the largest incoming operators handling Europe found 71% said business was more than 5% up on last year and 35% said it was up by more than 10%.
But he said over crowding is becoming a problem of that success.
"It’s very difficult to source product in established destinations like London, Rome, Venice, and Florence, which operators fear have all turned into sellers markets," he said.
"How we handle these issues is going to be one of the next big policy questions, but it’s a self-regulating problem rather than unfocused wailing on over tourism, which we have seen in the media."
He said the simple answer is for operators to sell low season product more aggressively and to add value by delivering a ‘different, exceptional’ product.
The problem of overtourism was tackled in a special session at this year’s World Travel Market.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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