Tourism protests don’t stop the Swiss from traveling
Published: Wednesday, Jun 12th 2024, 10:20
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Exploding rents and drunken visitors: many residents of European tourist strongholds have had enough of the onslaught of summer visitors. In many places, there have been demonstrations against mass tourism. Nevertheless, the Swiss are once again drawn to the usual hotspots on the Mediterranean this summer.
More and more places that were considered insider tips just a few years ago are becoming hotspots of mass tourism. And the population in the traditional destinations has long been suffering from the negative side effects of the influx of visitors anyway.
This is why there were protests in Mallorca this spring. Behind a banner reading "Mallorca is not for sale", demonstrators marched through the center of the island's capital Palma in May. The lagoon city of Venice, on the other hand, introduced a day ticket for tourists in order to at least slow down the onslaught somewhat.
Mallorca remains popular
But all this seems to have little effect - at least if you believe the Swiss tour operators. For the classic package tour operators, guests are booking vacations in tourist strongholds as they always have. According to Tui Switzerland, for example, there is no noticeable impact on customer booking behavior. Mallorca, for example, is enjoying "great popularity", as in previous years, said a spokeswoman.
It sounds similar at Kuoni. Mallorca is consistently one of the most popular destinations for the Swiss. However, they typically rarely visit the busy centers, preferring, for example, hiking tourism in the interior of the country or seaside resorts away from the main attractions such as Magaluf or El Arenal, also known as Ballermann.
Kuoni therefore welcomes the fact that Mallorca has been making various efforts to improve the quality of tourism for some time now. This spring, for example, the local government significantly tightened the reins against booze tourism. In several party strongholds, the consumption of alcohol on the beach or even on the street has been banned. Violators can expect fines of up to 1500 euros.
But none of this has stopped the tourist rush so far. And experts are not surprised. "People want to travel and the number of travelers is increasing worldwide," says tourism expert Beatrix Morath from the management consultancy AlixPartners.
Balanced measures are therefore required to meet the challenges faced by the local population in party strongholds. At the same time, sustainable travel must continue to be possible.
Spain lives from tourism
For a country like Spain in particular, tourism is essential, even if it is a double-edged sword. "It means economic growth, infrastructural improvements and additional jobs," says Morath.
A look at the statistics confirms this assessment. In 2023, 85 million foreign visitors came to Spain. Of these 85 million, 14.4 million came to the Balearic Islands, the region with the second-highest number of tourists in Spain. Overall, tourism accounts for 13 percent of Spain's gross domestic product. In the tourist strongholds such as the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, it is even around a third in each case.
So without tourism, there is no economic viability - despite the protests. "We don't see the demonstrations in the vacation regions as a blanket call for guests to stop traveling there," says Kuoni. The residents are concerned with the specific organization of tourism on site. And the fact that this should take place more in harmony with the local population is a concern that Kuoni shares.
Hotelplan, for its part, says: "If measures against overtourism enhance the customer experience and the safety of our customers, and are conducive to sustainable development, we welcome them."
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