In the Hot Seat
Nick Greenfield, the European Tour Operators Association's head of tour operator relations, spoke about improving the relationship between cities and tourism. Read More
As some of Europe's most popular tourist destinations
grapple with congestion, pollution and skyrocketing property prices driven by
hotels and vacation rentals, residents are demanding that local officials do
more to protect their interests from the impacts of tourism.
Consequently, the travel industry is increasingly under
pressure to become a part of the solution or risk being ostracized.
A prime example is the city of Barcelona, which in November
slapped Airbnb and HomeAway with fines for operating improperly licensed units.
In doing so, it became the latest municipality in Europe to send a message to
the travel industry: Tourism is not an inexhaustible resource that can grow
unfettered without repercussions.
"The mayor of Barcelona is doing what she's elected to
do, which is to look after the concerns of people in the city," said James
Thornton, managing director of Intrepid Group.
Ada Colau has cracked down on tourism since she
became mayor of Barcelona in 2015, most recently moving to put a hold on
licenses for all new hospitality accommodations.
"If travelers are having a negative impact on places or
people they visit, then we need to find ways to mitigate that," Thornton
said, adding that tourism is "slowly changing what we love about cities
like Barcelona and Venice. When businesses start catering to foreign tourists
ahead of locals, then those experiences lose their authenticity. You run the
risk of changing the cultural fabric that defined the destination and put it on
the travel bucket list in the first place."
Whether it's the $635,000 each that Barcelona fined Airbnb
and Expedia's HomeAway division, the low-emission caps that Paris officials
have imposed on motorcoach companies or various tourist taxes inflicted by
cities throughout Italy, the travel industry is feeling the financial and
logistical burden of cities whose citizens are increasingly less enchanted by
the potential benefits of tourism and more concerned with its drawbacks.
For that reason, the European Tour Operators Association
(ETOA) has recently undertaken a campaign to work more closely with city
officials in Europe to collaborate on ways that tourism can continue to grow
throughout Europe sustainably. Late last year ETOA representatives and travel
industry members met with Barcelona city officials to discuss a way forward.
"I think the main thing that came out of that first
meeting was to recognize that they had to, in city hall, respond a bit to some
of the things you see, the sentiments or feelings, correctly or incorrectly,
that people had in the city about tourism," said Nick Greenfield, ETOA's
head of tour operator relations.
"One of the things that's really
important for us -- and it's a big thing for us now over the next few years --
is that cities and the industry, and then even the residents, need to all be
involved in some way or another. There needs to be some joined-up thinking
between all of us. We as an industry can't just say, 'No, no, no, no, no.' And
equally we hope that the cities will choose to engage with us. Some do, some don't."
Florence is one of the cities where the European Tour Operators Association has teamed with local organizations to discuss the locals' perceptions of tourism.
The ETOA has been working with various other organizations
and factions to improve the dialogue among the travel industry, municipalities
and residents about tourism-related issues.
For example, the association last year partnered with the
city of Florence; the Centro Studi Turistici di Firenze, a Florence-based
tourism research institute; Life Beyond Tourism, a nonprofit sustainable-
tourism organization; and the Florence-based newspaper La Nazione, to conduct a
survey of residents about their knowledge of and sentiments about the city's
tourism industry. The idea was to gauge what residents' real concerns are when
it comes to tourism so as to better address those issues.
"In Florence, there's been a concern that [tourism has]
priced people out of the city," Greenfield said. "The center of the
city is in danger of becoming a tourist center, rather than a place where the
locals would live."
But on the flip side, the survey also revealed that people
who live in Florence recognize that tourism is a key contributor to the local
economy. That information, Greenfield said, "kind of balances the more
hysterical stuff you might hear, such as that there's a tourist invasion. You
might think, geez, well, they don't want anyone to come to the city. And that's
far from the case."
The challenge, Greenfield said, is that communication and
collaboration are not a given. In Rome, for example, the ETOA has not had much
luck creating any meaningful forum for discussions.
"We are engaging," Greenfield said. "Some
cities it's working, others it's a mixed bag. Others, like Rome at the moment,
it could be a lot better, a lot better."
Greenfield acknowledged that many of these projects, such as
the Florence survey and the discussions in Barcelona, are just a starting point
and that there is a long way to go to reach practical, working solutions to
many of the challenges and concerns about tourism.
La Casa Batllo, a top tourist attraction in Barcelona.
But he also said, "Some of these things do end up
sorting themselves out."
As certain destinations or attractions become overcrowded or
too difficult to visit, a certain portion of tourists and travel companies
naturally begin avoiding them.
That, in turn, creates opportunities for other lesser known
or up-and-coming destinations, many of which have rolled out the welcome mat in
recent years and are seeking to further incentivize travelers to visit them.
Bordeaux, for example, has completely transformed itself into an attractive
tourism destination, as Travel Weekly recently reported.
"Even Rome," Greenfield said, "will reach a
breaking point, where there will be some people, however much they'd love to go
see such an iconic city, they might start reconsidering whether it's worth
their while, either as an operator to push it and sell it, or whether also even
visitors get ultimately put off. I think we honestly could be at a tipping
point."