Today, I will be featuring another article published just yesterday about a place addressing the same issues of over-tourism, this one on Kauai sent to me by Ken Wright. Before I get to that, I do want to inform everyone that this issue will be appearing on the BSMAAC meeting of 3/23/18. Unfortunately, I have a conference that day and the following day up in SF, so will not be in attendance. I trust my views will be aptly represented by the rest of you. Next week, I plan to go back to my coverage of the Sustainable Destination Management Plan options laid out at Destination Center’s website which I have been covering for some months.
Today’s article can be found in total here: The Garden Island.
“Tourist destinations around the world are reacting to growing numbers of visitors adding to congestion, increasing costs of living and disrupting fragile ecosystems.
‘This is our state’s largest industry, so we have to do a better job of addressing our parks, traffic and safety,’ said Rep. Nadine Nakamura.
Some travel destinations are looking closely for ways to solve issues of massive traffic jams, creaking infrastructure, environmental degradation and rising rents.
In 2017, police advised visitors to stay away from Scotland’s second-largest island, Isle of Skye, due to noise complaints, overcrowding and visitors urinating in public.
In Spain, Barcelona’s government passed a law to limit tourist beds after anti-tourist graffiti and protests of services like Airbnb that sent rents soaring and forced residents from homes.
Dubrovnik, Croatia, is capping the number of visitors at 4,000 a day and cutting the number of cruise ships entering the ancient port. Visitors to Santorini, Greece, have been capped to 8,000 a day by the island’s mayor in 2017 with a rising population. Other destinations like Bhutan and Nepal are minimizing environmental impacts by charging daily fees and implementing permit guidelines and restrictions.”
The article mentions two specific problems the Garden Isle is having that Big Sur Shares: Beach Acess (Pfeiffer Beach) and State Park parking along a busy highway. (Point Lobos and JFB.)
“According to Kanoho, a Haena master plan is scheduled to go before the Department of Land and Natural Resources to request limits on visitors to Ke’e Beach, requiring reservations with fees and permits.
Nakamura is also working with a group focusing on visitor impacts at Haena State Park, especially illegal parking on the state highway never intended to accommodate 2,000 visitors a day. She introduced a bill to create a surcharge that would go to county law enforcement and another bill to increase rental car fees for highway improvements and public transit.”
Perhaps, Monterey and any destination plan committee we form can look to implement some of these same ideas.
Glad to see there are communities out there addressing the problem head-on which provide us with examples.
My family comes from the island of Kaua’i (Waimea). I was recently visiting and was shocked by the impact that increased tourism has had on Hanalei. The infrastructure is not keeping pace with the flow of cars and humans. And the trash! In the middle of this is a large 1600 acre ahupua’a (Waipa) stewarded by the local community. The owners (The Kamehameha Schools) were going to develop this into a golf resort destination, but protests from the community culminated in KS handing over stewardship of the land to a community group that formed. They now run a commercial kitchen, poi factory, workshops for kids and adults, and more. Wouldn’t that be a dream in Big Sur to have a large community stewarded parcel with services for the community.
Wow, Lisa, yes, that would be a dream for Big Sur. It is why the SCCLT was formed, to try to get a community center for the South Coast. Just no land available. I like the way you think, though.
https://bigsurkate.blog
My stepson & family just returned from there so it’ll be interesting to hear what he has to say from a tourist’s point of view.
My experience on the Isle of Skye was very different than the comment in that article would indicate. My wife and I got married at the end of May on Skye, and the island was VERY quiet, with largely empty roads, and we encountered very few folks who weren’t locals. Perhaps it was because we stayed in Duisdale and didn’t make it to the northwestern part of the island, where the largest settlement is. Or perhaps it completely changed from 2016 to 2017.
Regardless, our experience was the polar opposite of that which I’ve encountered on my trips to Big Sur.
Any web search for microplastics and e-coli in seawater will tell you the whole story.
Every drop of seawater has microplastics in it, almost all sea salt on the market is contaminated with microplastics, its in the fish, its in the animals, its in you.
Seawater is high in antibiotic resistant e-coli introduced into the waters through large-scale agricultural runoff, sewage, and trash dumping, those enjoying the ocean recreationally are 3x more likely to harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria in their intestines.
More significant steps need to be taken here on our 90 miles of protected coastline than just controlling the number of guests, we need to stop enabling and selling death by the store full, car full, plate full and dumpster full.
Monterey County is making efforts to brand itself as a true sustainable, wellness and life style tourism destination.
Carmel has “Mindful-by-the-Sea” advertising the city as a destination spot for meditation and mindfulness.
I think everyone knows where this is going, if we don’t decide on a plan some agency will decide for us.