Tourist Tuesdays seem to a be a semi-permanent feature, as many of the blog’s followers send me articles each week. This one was sent on Sunday. The tourism industry in Kauai is now partnering with residents to limit the amount of visitors. Here are some excellent points that are equally as applicable to Big Sur.

“On Kauai, as in many world-class visitor destinations, times have changed,” it concludes. “We are at a tipping point and the risk of overtourism threatens the environment, quality of life and the visitor experience.

“For the visitor industry to continue to thrive and be a positive contributor to our economy, it must also be a vital partner in contributing to the quality of life for Kauai residents and protecting our island’s precious resources. This requires a ‘refocus’ within the visitor industry.”

Ann Walton of Community Coalition Kauai, who also helped develop the plan, summed up the apparent feelings of many.

“No one said this would be simple. It’s going to take a major effort to diversify our mono-economy: re-thinking how humans interact with the natural environment, our greatest asset and most prominent marketing tool; changing the visitor experience from one of overcrowded attractions and time spent sitting in traffic; and, returning to the rural lifestyle our residents deserve,” Walton said. “As the document recognizes, what constituted a success in the past, when viewed through a different lens, we now see as a crisis.”

For the rest of this article see: http://www.thegardenisland.com/2018/09/16/hawaii-news/overtourism-on-kauai/

Overtourism, like overpopulation, is a global issue. Big Sur is not alone with this problem. I have brought you articles demonstrating this problem for almost a year. I will be cutting back on bringing these to you for Tourist Tuesday. I am still resolving what I will cover on this issue, and how.

One of the lines in the last article about social media and tourism that caught my eye, which is a good lead-in to this article is this: “Do governments need to do a better job managing their tourists, spending more money on enforcing laws, permit systems, sustainability, and infrastructure — rather than tourism marketing?”

Infrastructure is what many of us have been arguing since 2016 and our first “overtourism” meeting at Treebones in May of that year. We are always told there are no resources to support the infrastructure we have been clamoring for; increased enforcement bathrooms, parking permits, etc. Let’s look at that claim.

To begin:

Here is the budget of the MCCVB for 2018-2019:

Here is a closer look: between Jurisdictional Income and TID/HID income Monterey County gives the MCCVB $2,000,000 a year.

As well as the annual report of the MCCVB for 2017-2018:

To put this in perspective, with the money MoCo gives MCCVB each year it could fund TEN deputy sheriffs at Jesse Villasenor’s level, that includes salary, overtime, other pay, and benefits. (Here is the link for: Jesse’s salary)

The next time our county tells us they don’t have the money to help Big Sur with its overtourism problem. Point to this. They do. They have simply prioritized bringing in more and more tourists rather than provide for a meaningful experience for them.

But we need to think Statewide, not just county. It is a state highway, patrolled, by state employees. The entire state depends on us and this stretch of road to meet its tourism goals, as was amply demonstrated when other areas were closed due to fires. Yosemite and Big Sur are now tied for yearly number of visitors. See California (link here)

I will provide additional research and information on the tourist industry in MoCo and California in another installment of Tourist Tuesdays, but no longer will I be doing them each week due to the time needed to research what I write. Maybe I will be make this a monthly column, will see where it leads us…

This seems suited to the day after Labor Day, a typically heavy tourist weekend.

Travel Photography

The massive growth of Instagram, social media, and travel blogs in recent years has had a profound impact on how we travel. Not all of it positive. Has travel changed forever?

As someone who makes a living as a travel blogger and photographer, inspiring others to travel, this topic has been on my mind a lot lately.

Over the last 8 years I’ve witnessed first-hand how travel destinations have become overwhelmed by tourists and Instagram selfie-seekers, many of whom are destroying the places they visit.

In fact, I’m part of the problem. And I don’t know how I feel about that.

As you’ll see below, this is a multi-faceted issue, with many different components involved. Social media isn’t the only culprit.

But how do we fix it? Is it even possible, or are we too late?

There is much more to this article, but I am going to skip to his last points, then give you a link to go read the entire article. It is worth it.

TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE,  GO HERE: 

https://expertvagabond.com/instagram-tourism-impact/

It doesn’t take long before the woman at the hotel reception pulls out a city map of Porto. Look, she says, there’s the Old Town and the Douro, there’s the harbor and here, by the way, the pride evident in her voice, is the world’s most beautiful bookshop: Livraria Lello.

It sounds fantastic and the place looks even more amazing in the photos. It’s located in a two-story, neo-Gothic building with lots of dark wood, an abundance of old books, ornamentation and stained glass, and a curved staircase right in the middle. It was opened in 1906, a cathedral of books, a dream for voracious bookworms from all over the world. When traveling, we often look more for the beauty of the past than that of the present. We may even buy a book for vacation reading, to while away evenings on the Atlantic coast. It has been said that J.K. Rowling often visited the Livraria when she lived in Porto at the beginning of the 1990s, a time when she taught English and began dreaming up the Harry Potter series.

Porto is not a big city — with just over 200,000 inhabitants, the Old Town is easily manageable. The first thing you notice when approaching the Livraria Lello is the long line in front of it. Young Japanese travelers, Scandinavian backpackers, families from France, couples from China, Americans and Germans.

An imposing bouncer stands at the door of the bookshop. To get in, you must first purchase a five-euro ticket bearing the visage of Fernando Pessoa, Portugal’s most famous poet, in the shop next door. There, too, visitors must wait in line, with crowd-control barriers set up just like at the airport check-in desk. Those waiting in line are guided past shelves full of souvenirs, postcards and keychains. The standard tourist bric-à-brac. [Or you can get an “online voucher” by reserving a copy of a special edition book Here]

The bookstore is every bit is as beautiful as the one in the photos, even if it’s not much of a bookstore these days. No one browses through the merchandise here. They all seem to be taking pictures with their smartphones — photos that look exactly like the more than 7,000 images already posted on TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel website, where Livraria is listed as one of the city’s top sightseeing attractions.

Just like the rest of the country, Livraria Lello stood on the verge of bankruptcy four years ago as a result of the financial crisis. But even then, the bookshop had no lack of visitors. The problem was that people were buying fewer and fewer books. Someone suggested the store ought to start charging an admission fee of five euros. It may have sounded crazy at the time, but 4,000 people now visit Livraria each day while during the summer, the number of daily visitors swells to 5,000. The store had 1.2 million visitors in 2017 and revenues of over 7 million euros. (Hmmm…interesting idea for some of Big Sur’s icons?)

To read the rest of this article, go here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/paradise-lost-tourists-are-destroying-the-places-they-love-a-1223502.html

Here are some photos of the bookstore in 2015 taken and shared by Sterling Doughty