Category: Tourism Tuesday

Tourist Tuesday, 4/9/19 – In Nature

WARNING: Some of the information contained in the article is graphic, and if you care about Mother Nature, will make you sick.

”It’s no secret that people aren’t always appreciative of their surroundings. Whether up in the air or traveling abroad, people have done some horrible things to their environment.

Poaching Elephants in a protected Sanctuary is only one.

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When it comes to nature, this rings especially true. [In 2018] people have made headlines by vandalizing, destroying, or tampering with some of the world’s most gorgeous natural environments.

From defacing a national monument to shattering a rock formation millions of years in the making, here’s how people have damaged nature in 2018. Here is an article about tourists behaving badly all over the world in nature: https://www.thisisinsider.com/bad-tourists-nature-2018-12

Leave No Trace, the Center for Outdoor Ethics has begun to address the LNT ethics in terms of the digital age. (See https://lnt.org/blog/new-social-media-guidance)

New Social Media Guidance

Boulder, CO: There is little question that social media plays a role in the promotion of various outdoor locations, and in some cases, has led to significant resource and social impacts. It’s logical to ask, “Would this place be as impacted as it is now had it not been for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Pintrest?” Social media, like any tool or technology, can be a force for good or it can have the opposite effect. What if every social media post also included a message of stewardship? Think how different things would or could be if this were the case.

Leave No Trace isn’t black or white, right or wrong. It’s a framework for making good decisions about enjoying the outdoors responsibly, regardless of how one chooses to do so. If outdoor enthusiasts stop and think about the potential impacts and associated consequences of a particular action, it can go a long way towards ensuring protection of our shared outdoor spaces. To that end, we encourage outdoor enthusiasts to stop and think about their actions and the potential consequences of posting pictures, GPS data, detailed maps, etc. to social media. Furthermore, we urge people to think about both the protection and sustainability of the resource and the visitors who come after them.

When posting to social media, consider the following:

Tag thoughtfully – avoid tagging (or geotagging) specific locations. Instead, tag a general location such as a state or region, if any at all. While tagging can seem innocent, it can also lead to significant impacts to particular places.

Be mindful of what your images portray – give some thought to what your images may encourage others to do. Images that demonstrate good Leave No Trace practices and stewardship are always in style.

Give back to places you love – invest your own sweat equity into the outdoor spaces and places you care about. Learn about volunteer stewardship opportunities and get involved in the protection of our shared lands.

Encourage and inspire Leave No Trace in social media posts – given the millions of social media users in the world, think of the incredible potential that social media has to educate outdoor enthusiasts – first timers to seasoned adventurers – about enjoying our wild lands responsibly.

As we have contemplated this issue we’re left wondering what the future will bring in terms of technology, communication, and outdoor recreation. Will posting pictures to social media be a thing of the past in five years? None of us know. Social media, if used the right way, is a powerful tool that can motivate a nation of outdoor advocates to enthusiastically and collectively take care of the places we share and cherish.

Enjoy Your [OUR] World, Leave No Trace!

 

 

 

Tourist Tuesday, 4/2/19: Turismophobia

From the same article quoted on Thursday: “The Spanish have a name for the reaction of locals against overtourism which is turismofobia.”  https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-technology-can-help-us-tackle-overtourism

“By August [2017] the headlines declared that ‘tourists are no longer welcome’, and ‘residents hate tourists’ in these angry tourist hotspots. Meanwhile local governments took measures to appease residents and restore order.

In Barcelona, moratorium on the creation of new hotel rooms and tourist flats in key areas of the city has already been in place for a number of years. In Milan a ban on selfie-sticks was introduced around certain landmarks, while Rome launched a crack-down on littering and paddling in public fountains.” (https://theculturetrip.com/europe/articles/tourismophobia-is-a-thing-and-heres-everything-you-need-to-know-about-it/

Barcelona and Venice have taken a “punishing” approach by forbidding selfie-sticks, and fining tourists, while Amsterdam has taken a redirectingor “guiding” approach. Here is what the panel member from Amsterdam had to say:

”In 2013, we already knew that because the world economy was growing so fast, and traveling became so cheap, that the amount of people visiting our city would be too much to service in a way that didn’t harm our locals, because in the end that’s our main goal: to keep the city livable, lovable, and prosperous. So we quit promoting tourism, but there was social media. There are so many still promoting our city. And on the one hand, it makes us feel proud, because who are we? We’re the lucky people that can live in this most beautiful city in the world. On the other hand, it makes it hard because you know it will attract more people.

So we try to focus away from marketing, and instead focus on guiding. We’re an open and free country, an open city, and we would love to invite people who save their money and time to visit everything that’s valuable in our city. Only again, we want to do it in a way so that it will not harm the local people.

There are two factors—one is antisocial behavior, especially in the red light district. Visitors come and couldn’t care less where they are, they just drink their heads off. That’s a real problem. To fight that problem we have to meet with police, law enforcement, to nudge travelers, saying that of course they’re welcome and we are a city of freedom, but freedom is based on one condition and that is respect for each other and the city. The other factor is too many people in a certain spot at a certain time. If you’re in the city for the first time, you go to the highlights. In Barcelona, you want to see the Sagrada Familia. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower. But we also know that a lot of people who come to the city are repeat visitors or are Dutch, so we can guide them much more easily to other unknown spots. We have to make sure we can spread tourism but not spread the problem. Other neighborhoods are welcoming to visitors, but up to a certain point.

ME: I thought this was interesting, you did simple things. Amsterdam Beach for example or extending the range of the CityPass so it was free to get outside of the city.

GU: You have to facilitate. It starts from the perspective of the traveler. If I go to Paris, it’s easy for me to go to Versailles. Versailles is not Paris, it’s a different city, but I don’t care. We know from data that people are willing to travel for an hour if they find something of interest. That is why we collaborated with 32 other cities around Amsterdam to ask about their unique spots, and make sure visitors could get there with public transport. We all know that people are becoming more and more lazy—they want to be serviced! If you have to transfer twice, you’re not going to go. So we have a city card and we make sure all of the museums in the other cities are on the card as well, so you make it 10 times easier to go off the beaten track.

ME: I thought this was a brilliant idea: live feeds of the lines outside museums that you could check on the website, so before you go somewhere you can say, “oh that’s busy, I’ll check later.” That to me is so obvious but only you were smart enough. It’s a win-win!”

(https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-technology-can-help-us-tackle-overtourism

(To be continued…)

 

Tourist Thursday, 3/28/19

It seems as if I have so much information I want to share regarding overtourism, I think I might have to add a second day for a while. As we all know, once fire season starts, we will all be too busy to have this discussion!

Here is the first page of a lengthy article I am reading (I will be posting more of it in the coming weeks, as well as of other lengthy articles):

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It got me thinking…what are the tourist/resident ratios for other destinations? So I looked up a few: The greatest ratio given is 33:1 Here. However, there are other statistics available and the countries with the highest Yearly Tourist arrivals to residents ratio are Andorra, Macao SAR, China, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Monaco, Aruba with a(n) Yearly Tourist arrivals to residents ratio of (2,630), (2,349), (1,169), (957), (883) % respectively. (See: http://mecometer.com/topic/yearly-tourist-arrivals-to-residents-ratio/)

So, I did a little math. A conservative estimate of the number of visitors to Big Sur given at the CCC meeting on Friday, 3/22/19 was said to be 5-6 million a year. I will use the lower, more conservative, 5 million. The number of residents in Big Sur, being generous, is approximately 1500. What does that make our tourist to residents ration: 3,333% -greater than any country in the world, by over 700%!!

I’ll let that sink in, for a moment.

Tourist Tuesday & The California Coastal Commission

This was an expansion of the oral statement Martha Diehl offered before the community meeting last Friday hosted by Supervisor Mary Adams for our Coastal Commission representative, Commissioner Groome. Martha spoke with Commissioner Groome at the pre tour meeting in the Highlands as Mary Adams requested. That one wasn’t filmed & had no audience so nobody except the invitees heard her. She was asked to give an overview of the LUP to set the scene for the driving tour before the community meeting. She also submitted this letter to the commissioner in this more expansive written format. Remember, the Coastal Commission’s purpose is to increase public access to our state’s coastal regions, which can sometimes be at odds with environmental protections and community needs. This is a long read, but well worth it. Thank you, Martha, for allowing me to publish this!

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Tourist Tuesday – Epler Wood International

The quote below is by the same woman, Meghan Epler Wood, who wrote the book I introduced last Tuesday. This quote is from her website, EplerWoodInternational, Here

“After decades of steady growth, international tourist numbers surpassed 1 billion for the first time in 2012. The report shows that destinations across the world are not prepared for the unprecedented demands this has placed on them, leading to alarming reports of overtourism. With growth set to continue exponentially, reaching 1.8 billion tourists by 2030, a global crisis is looming.

While overtourism is an important symptom, the use of vital natural, social and public assets without recompense is highlighted as the core of the problem.  The report suggests that, wherever it exists, tourism places an “invisible burden” on destinations and their residents. The invisible burden leaves inadequate revenue to provide a sustainable foundation to manage the rapid growth of tourism worldwide.

Examples of the invisible burden of tourism include the costs of:

  • expanding local infrastructure to meet growing tourism needs;
  • high demand for scarce land and valuable urban resources;
  • managing increased exposure to climate change risks, especially with coastal tourism; and
  • protecting historic public spaces and monuments.

It’s clear that the failure to properly account for the full cost of tourism growth is preventing action. Therefore, new accounting mechanisms are necessary to protect the very assets on which national economies and businesses worldwide depend.

The report explores innovations in both policy and finance to manage the invisible burden of tourism. It makes a case for public-private cooperation in the design of data-driven mechanisms for managing, monitoring and financing destinations worldwide.

The analysis began with in-depth interviews with academic, business, and global experts and a roundtable at Cornell University. It was followed up with research into current academic and case literature and sustainability studies from relevant fields such as urban planning, protected area management, environmental economics, and the digital economy.

The report will be published in March 2019.”

Closer to home, at CSUMB, Dr. Roberta Atzori and Dr. Laura Kasa are working on a case study on overtourism using as their focus Big Sur and what has happened here. Their case study will become a chapter in a book on this subject. I can’t wait to read both of these reports.

Tourist Tuesday, 3/12/19

I know I am quite late today. I plead DST and sun. Perfect day to strip the bed and wash the sheets and comforter. As I have said before, my house and I are solar powered, and with the sun being my dryer as well as running my washer, it has been hard to get the bed stripped this month. I may be missing in action this week, while I enjoy the sunshine until the storms come in next week and stay around until the end of the month. I know you all understand. I so needed this break in the rain.

I am reading this book, along with several others of varying subjects and types, and will be sharing bits and pieces of it as it moves me.

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Tourist Tuesday – The Gringo Trail

I have been covering this weekly subject for quite a while now – over a year. As I said the last time, we all know what the problem is, but it is now time to move out of identifying the problem and into finding solutions. I will no longer be reporting on the problems, but now, focusing on the solutions, instead.

In 2016, we started this process at Treebones, then all hell broke loose in our world- Soberanes, then Mud Creek – and it wasn’t until 2018 that we were able to reorganize and get all the stakeholders together for a series of meetings at Lisa Kleissner’s house. This has lead to a variety of approaches which are now taking shape, but focusing on developing our own Sustainable Destination Management Plan. We are in the process of bringing that to our community with some national and international leaders to help us facilitate. Look for an announcement here in the next few months for a community meeting on this project to hopefully meet a couple people who we think can help guide us in this project and on this process.

In researching one of these international leaders, on Sunday, I found this, and wanted to post it for Tourist Tuesday. Unfortunately, I did that through YouTube, not through my own website, so it went up immediately, rather than today, as I intended. The post was incomplete, so I rescheduled it to today. I apologize to those of you who get the email notifications. There were many things I wanted to add, besides the trailer, and so here it is.

www.youtube.com/watch

The above is just the trailer, but the entire feature length documentary can be purchased for $3.99.  One can find the places to purchase this video here: http://gringotrails.com/support-2/

Currently, as some of you are aware, CABS Board, Friends of Garrapatta, and other individuals, two professors at CSUMB are doing a case study on the effect of overtourism on Big Sur. They are both PhDs and professors in the Sustainable Hospitality Department, and are very interested in investigating the problems we have had here, from the back country to the highway, and the roll tourism has played into these problems and the solutions that can be implemented. They are also looking at the MCCVB and See California tourism industries to see what solutions can be obtained in conjunction with their efforts to enhance the tourist experience. I don’t expect the results to be available soon, but when they are, I am hopeful I can share them with you. Until then, attend the B-SAGE  event on March 30th and bring your ideas to the solutions board. If I don’t make it, (road/weather/whatever) can someone take a picture of it at the end of the day and send it to me??

Tourist Tuesday, 1/29/19 –

Shaping Sustainable Tourism In Monterey County

By   (KAZU. 90.3 – NPR for the Monterey Area)

“Overtourism has impacted places like the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, where Games of Thrones was filmed. But it also pushed that destination to manage the industry more mindfully. Now in Monterey County, there’s also a push to shape the tourism industry in a more sustainable way.

Bixby Bridge has become a must-see spot on the Big Sur coast. Its concrete arches overlook the vast Pacific Ocean. Car commercials are filmed here and the bridge is featured in the opening credits of the popular HBO TV series Big Little Lies. Pictures of Bixby Bridge are all over social media apps like Instagram.

Even on a rainy weekday, dozens of tourists pull over to take selfies. Alejandro Munoz is visiting from Southern California.

“I saw it on Google, looked it up. I saw it on Instagram. I saw it on my cousin’s Snapchat. I was like I got to go here,” Munoz says.

Sometimes visitors take risks to get the perfect picture, like getting too close to steep cliffs.

“It’s a little muddy right now. So it’s a little slippery,” Munoz says.

That kind of behavior worries Butch Kronlund. He’s the Executive Director of the Community Association of Big Sur and has lived in Big Sur for nearly 30 years.

“Big Sur is a wild coast and folks get themselves in trouble all of the time. In the process of trying to get to a secluded location, they end up damaging the very resource that they’re there to look at. So that’s also a problem,” says Kronlund.

To improve tourist behavior, a group of Big Sur residents created the “Big Sur Pledge.” It’s posted online at bigsurpledge.org. The goal is to remind people to respect this popular wilderness destination. It asks them to commit to sharing the road, leaving no trace, camping only where allowed. The pledge is modeled after Hawai’i’s Pono Pledge.”

For the rest of this article see: http://www.kazu.org/post/shaping-sustainable-tourism-monterey-county

Tourist Tuesday on a Wednesday, 1/2/19 – Big Sur is a health hazard

National Parks during the government shutdown – several examples from CA:

Joshua Tree National Park: 

“The government shutdown has left America’s national parks largely unsupervised. No one is at the gate. No one is collecting a fee. The visitor centers are closed. There are some law enforcement and emergency personnel on site, but certainly nothing as standard as a park ranger who can answer a question.

People are streaming into the parks, enjoying the free access, but they’re finding trash cans overflowing and restrooms locked. Vault toilets are not serviced, and there’s hardly a flush toilet to be found anywhere. If nature calls — well, the woods are over that way.”

Read more of this article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-shutdown-national-parks-transformed-into-wild-west–heavily-populated-and-barely-supervised/2019/01/01/db51564e-0d3b-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html

Joshua Tree National Park campgrounds will close at 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 2 “to take…action for health and safety concerns as vault toilets reach capacity,” according to a National Park Service news release.

During the government shutdown, much of the onus of park upkeep has been left in the hands of volunteers. 

“In addition human waste in public areas, driving off road and other infractions that damage the resource are becoming a problem,” reads the release.”Additional closures include Lost Horse Mine Road due to illegal activity and Rattlesnake Canyon in order to reduce the number of search and rescue events for rangers already spread thin due to the government shutdown.”

Joshua Tree business people and volunteers have tried to take over for the furloughed rangers and maintenance staff as best they can.

About 35 people pitched in Saturday during a volunteer event, while businesses in downtown Joshua Tree tried to help incoming visitors looking for information.

Volunteers including retired park ranger Caryn Davidson, Stone Adventures co-owner Annie Semmelroth and Coyote Corner co-owner Ethan Feltges manned a makeshift information booth outside Coyote Corner through the weekend.

One of their main concerns by Saturday afternoon was where to put all the trash generated by the thousands of visitors.

“Our dumpsters are full,” Feltges said.

It pointed out a larger problem with the volunteer effort. “It’s not sustainable for the long haul, and the cash isn’t going to be here,” said Seth Zaharias, co-owner of Cliffhanger Guides.

He estimated he and other business owners had paid several thousands of dollars over the past week to stock bathrooms with toilet paper, buy cleaning supplies and rent portable bathrooms.

Park Superintendent David Smith praised the efforts of locals who have been working to help park visitors. (http://www.hidesertstar.com/news/article_d9cf37c0-0d2a-11e9-9f7c-e7e542e5ea9f.html)

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite visitors turn roads into toilets as shutdown crises mount at national parks

Mountains of garbage and human waste are challenging efforts to keep U.S. national parks open during a partial shutdown of the federal government, National Parks Traveler reported.

In California, Yosemite National Park officials have closed the Wawona and Hodgson Meadows campgrounds, along with the Mariposa Grove of redwoods, after finding human feces and urinebeside Wawona Road, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“With restrooms closed, some visitors are opting to deposit their waste in natural areas adjacent to high traffic areas, which creates a health hazard for other visitors,” National Parks Service spokesman Andrew Munoz told the publication in an email.

“It’s a free-for-all,” said Dakota Snider, 24, a Yosemite Valley resident, reported The Associated Press. “It’s so heartbreaking. There is more trash and human waste and disregard for the rulesthan I’ve seen in my four years living here.”

 

Sequoia or Kings Canyon National park

The partial federal government shutdown, now into its 11th day, has forced furloughs of hundreds of thousands of federal government employees. This has left many parks without most of the rangers and others who staff campgrounds and otherwise keep parks running.

The lack of staff and unsanitary conditions have led to the closures of several areas of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

The closures went into effect at 6 p.m. on Monday, according to Sintia Kawasaki-Yee, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks public affairs officer.

https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/2019/01/01/government-shutdown-leads-sequoia-kings-canyon-park-closures/2457254002/

Closer to home is Pinnacles National Park

“Park rangers will close the eastern park entrance… due to impacts from human waste and increased vehicle congestion,” the press release says.

https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2018/12/30/pinnacles-national-parks-eastern-entrance-closes-due-shutdown/2446878002/

All of the above listed California National Parks are now closed (or partially closed) due to trash and human waste, which are health hazards. Sound familiar? Big Sur has become a health hazard. Just ask anyone who lives or camps here. Trash, feces and toilet paper everywhere. Big Sur, one of the most beautiful and healing places on the planet is now a health hazard. How did we let it go this far?

 

 

 

 

Tourist Tuesday – Monterey County

Tourist Tuesday is on Wednesday this week, due to Christmas Holiday.

“Monterey County, CA, December 18, 2018 The Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau (MCCVB) has joined two initiatives that will further its goal of ensuring Monterey County is one of the worlds leading sustainable destinations by both setting ambitious goals and measuring long term impacts.

The first is with Positive Impact, a global not for profit which exists to provide education and collaboration opportunities to create a sustainable event industry and a vision to address the role of plastics in this industry.”

Here is the second: “Measuring success is also critical to MCCVBs mission. The organization joined the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) initiative, an alliance focused on helping destinations, convention bureaus, and businesses promote sustainable practices. The GDS-Index does this by measuring and comparing sustainability strategies, policies and performance of participating destinations and by sharing best practices from around the world.

GDS-Index recently released its yearly survey of global destinations at the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) annual meeting in Dubai in November. Monterey County scored 52% on the sustainability index just behind Geneva and ahead of U.S. cities like Washington, D.C. and Houston. The scoring allows MCCVB to set a benchmark and improve in the coming years.”

Ultimately, protecting our destination is every bit as important as promoting it, said Rob OKeefe, Chief Marketing Officer for MCCVB. These initiatives contribute to our long term viability as a top tourism destination plus they are essential to the balance we seek to foster between visiting travelers and the residents who call our beautiful region home.”

The latest Global Destination Sustainability (GDS) Index has shown Scandinavia leading the way, with the top six destinations all coming from countries in the region.

Gothenburg was the overall winner with a score of 94% on the GDS Index, a rating system designed to recognise responsible practices in the business tourism and events industry.

This is done by measuring and comparing the social and environmental sustainability strategies, policies and performance of participating cities around the world.

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Here are the figures/breakdown for Monterey County:

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This is the link to the GDS Index report specifically to Monterey, however if you explore this website, you will see how we compare to the others: https://www.gds-index.com/destinations/explore/view/monterey-county/united-states/2018/68

Monterey County has a long way to go to compete with the Scandinavian Countries. At least now, we know where we are starting.