With the improvement of living standards, and the "burden", more and more people began to choose to travel abroad. Picturesque Australia, unique, exotic Europe has become the "good heart" of Chinese tourists!
However, some of Europe's most popular attractions have recently become unusually "unhospitable".
Residents of Barcelona, Spain, for example, openly express hostility towards tourists. At the same time, the local government is also increasing the Airbnb (Airbnb) and other short-term rental platform improvement. Recently, Venice, the city of water, has imposed restrictions on tourist routes. Dubrovnik, a port tourist city in southeastern Croatia, also limits the number of cruise ships entering the city.
There is only one reason why these resorts have changed from hospitality to today's rejection of tourists: "over-travel (overtourism)."
One, what is excessive travel?
By definition, "excessive tourism" refers to a situation in which a tourist destination exceeds its carrying capacity. Excessive tourism leads to a deterioration of the tourist experience or the quality of life of the local population, or both. If allowed to continue, excessive tourism could lead to the collapse of the local tourism industry extreme phenomenon.
The tourist destination mentioned above is tormented by tourists'"over-travel", which leads to unhospitable, unenthusiastic and helpless actions. According to statistics, in 2016, the number of global tourists to travel reached 1.24 billion. Among them, Europe has the largest number of trips abroad, accounting for nearly 50%.
Spain, for example, is a country of 46.5 million people, with 75.3 million visitors in 2016. The number of tourists exceeds the number of people in the country! Similarly, the phenomenon of over-tourism in Australia is becoming more and more intense.
The reasons for excessive tourism vary. Some say that the rise of short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb has greatly reduced tourist costs. Others say it is excessive media hype, making some areas so-called "internet celebrities", attracting a large number of tourists.
Of course, the most important is the guidance of the government policy. In order to promote economic growth, many countries government will vigorously develop tourism industry, increase external publicity. Tourism Australia, for example, announced a growth-oriented "tourism 2020" strategy. There is only one target, reaching A $115 billion in tourism spending by 2020 (an increase of about 65 percent from A $70 billion in 2009).
Australia received more than 8.24 million visitors in 2016. Although Australia's tourist numbers seem to be "small" compared with some of Europe's famous tourist resorts. However, the phenomenon of over-tourism in Australia is equally serious when it comes to whether locals have excessively affected their quality of life.
In Tasmania, for example, local resident protest government built a cable car near Wellington Hill. The reason given by the state government is that the cable car will attract 1 million visitors a year after the cable car is completed, which could significantly boost the local economy. But residents' objections are that cable car construction will affect their daily lives to a large extent.
Second, Australia's tourism industry: a goose that lays golden eggs!
Australia, with its beautiful scenery and rare animal and plant resources, coupled with the developed economy, has become a popular tourist destination. From the aurora of the heart-shaped island state of Tasmania to the invincible sea view of the gold coast, and even the exotic red land of the northern territories, visitors are fascinated. Recently, as the Australian dollar weakened, Australia is one of the preferred destinations for international tourists to travel abroad.
According to data released by the Australian Tourism Office (Tourism Research Australia), Australian tourism has flourished in recent years and continues to grow. Since 2000, the economic value of tourism contributions has been increasing, starting in 2012. The travel parade industry has outpaced Australia's overall GDP growth rate. Travel parade accounted for 3.2 percent between 2016 and 2017, making it Australia's sixth-largest industry.
In fiscal year 2015-16, tourism revenues accounted for half of all exports of services, and short-term visitor arrivals rose to 8.24 million. New Zealand, China and Britain are Australia's largest source of international tourists. Spending on goods and services by overseas tourists in Australia totalled A $34.2 billion, with the highest spending on Chinese tourists, at A $8405 per capita.
Australia's tourism industry continued to record strong growth in fiscal year 2017 / 18. International spending in Australia rose 6 percent to A $42.3 billion, fuelled by "multi-gold" Chinese tourists. In terms of geography, international tourist spending in almost all states and territories in Australia has increased, with some regions recording double-digit growth.
Wherever Chinese tourists go, they leave the impression of a "tuhao". In 2017, a group from China spent hundreds of millions of yuan in Melbourne in a week, according to the Australian newspaper. Last Spring Festival, Australia felt the strong purchasing power of China year. During last year's Spring Festival, Chinese tourists are expected to throw A $6 billion for shopping in Australia during a short holiday.
The arrival of Chinese tourists has greatly boosted the consumption of Australian goods and services. To some extent, when a Chinese tourist returns from Australia with an Australian product, the process is itself a free advertisement.
According to the survey, each Chinese tourist spends A $8405 on services and products in Australia, with up to 86 percent of visitors saying they are buying a growing range of products in Australia.
It can be seen that China's "rich" for Australia's tourism industry, and even the entire Australian economy is undoubtedly "a goose laying golden eggs."
Third, fish and bear paws cannot be obtained at the same time.
Australia's economy has not fallen into recession for 27 years in a row, and the booming tourism industry has greatly contributed to the Australian economy's prosperity.
Prosperity and decline are natural laws, and the same is true for tourism. Tourism can be said to be a "double-edged sword," on the one hand, the tourism industry in front of the income, but on the other hand is overburdened with the impact of the flow of people.
As Steven Portman (Stefaan Poortman), chairman of the World Heritage Foundation, says, the world's most beautiful attractions are on the verge of collapse because of over-exploitation of tourism.
The disappearing Great Barrier Reef
As the world's largest coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven natural landscapes in the world and Australia's most proud natural landscape. The colorful seafloor attracts countless travelers looking forward to the wonderful world for sightseeing.
But because of climate change and overexploitation, scientists say, 30 years from now, the world-renowned landscape may be saying good-bye to us forever.
At present, the Great Barrier Reef whitening speed has exceeded previous expectations. And the Great Barrier Reef's health will continue to deteriorate this year. Russell Reichelt, director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Service, said staff had observed the reef from the air and sea.
The results show that albinism is still increasing in the north and south of the Great Barrier Reef. Reichelt said: "in fact, the extent of whitening in 2016 has exceeded our expectations.
For Australia, it is not only the picturesque risks that disappear, but also the growing discontent of the people.
For example, the 2011 kangaroo professional water skiing and music festival was strongly boycott by the local community. The reason is that the local government is full of tourism resources, forcing 5000 visitors to a Vivian Bay, which has a population of just 400 local people. The activities brought about nightmares to the locals. As a result, the following year's activities had to end with strong opposition from the local community.
Even so, government is reluctant to abandon the development of local tourism resources and proposes to double the number of landings by 2020.
Like other famous tourist attractions in the world, the hardware and software facilities of the Australian tourism market are already overburdened with tourists. This also gave birth to a new term, "tourists for illness." The most direct result is not only the tourist experience, but also the quality of life of the local residents. If you don't manage it, it's completely out of control.
This situation has become worse and worse in recent years. Local Australian media published articles such as the Local minefield Guide, or coined new words such as "anti-tourism" or "tourist phobia." There have even been attacks on tourists at tourist attractions.
Fish, what I want, bear palm, I also want, both can not become the current Australian government facing a difficult problem.
Fourth, Australia's government is in a dilemma.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the top four, estimates that if Chinese students and Chinese tourists stop coming to Australia for a year, the Australian economy will lose 23 billion yuan, leading to the loss of 20, 000 jobs, an "unthinkable" scenario. It is the best interpretation of the current Australian tourism "highly dependent" on Chinese tourists.
Chinese tourists continue to be the biggest source of revenue for Australia's tourism industry, according to the latest figures from the Australian Tourism Authority. Spending by Chinese tourists in Australia rose 13 percent (A $1.3 billion) to A $10.9 billion in FY17-18, according to statistics.
Sydney remains the prime destination for visitors to Australia, with up to 4.1 million visitors. The state's global reputation has also continued to grow, with the number of international tourists receiving an increase of 91 percent last year.
Steve Ciobo, Australia's tourism minister, said tourism was a "silent contributor" to the Australian economy. "our goal is to attract more generous tourists and increase their spending on tourism-related industries such as hotel accommodation," he said.
However, in the face of over-exploitation of tourism resources to Australian society and residents of the majority of problems. Whether industry experts or local residents, they think government should "do something."
Following Barcelona's regulation of Airbnb, Thailand's government decided to close Maya Beach on PP Island for four months a year, allowing marine animals to recuperate. In New Zealand, the Tourism Board is actively promoting the wrong peak tourism. There is also the "de-tagging" strategy, there are no "missed wait 10,000 years" and other very demagogue propaganda words. Mallorca's government is trying to divert attention from seeing them as just winter places to reduce the number of people traveling during the peak season.
But instead, Australia's government's 2020 strategy looks at numbers and nothing else. Both the Commonwealth government and local tourism authorities seem to need to consider sustainability and acceptance by local residents. In this way, the number of tourists and the quality of tourism can be maintained without interference from the local residents.
END
Australia is no longer the country that sat on a miner and rode on the back of a sheep. Tourism has become one of the troika driving Australia's sustained economic growth.
Among them, China's "golden" middle class can be said to be supporting half of Australia's tourism industry, contributing as much as 10 billion a year.
But, when Australia is "overcrowded", are you willing to "go ahead"?
The writer: Jone