Warning signals for tourism
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At a tourism panel discussion, some years back when Sri Lanka reached its highest arrivals figure in 2018, the question was raised as to whether Sri Lanka would have to import food to feed its 22 million people plus 2.4 million tourists? What impact would there be on prices of essential commodities when hotels order the bulk of the produce in the village, sending up prices for local communities? Will rentals rise for locals?It is early days for Sri Lanka as it aims for 4 million arrivals in the coming years but over-tourism and over-visitation are happening in the rest of the world and becoming a source of concern. To some extent it is also affecting Sri Lanka with tourists (along with local visitors) crowding Sigiriya and the Yala and Minneriya national parks. Long lines of jeeps at Yala are already scaring away the animals.
Many countries and cities are reaching the limit where visitors are more than the local population, triggering protests from locals (more on this later). In Asia, Singapore’s tourist footfall is 13.6 million arrivals compared to a population of 5.6 million; Maldives with a population of 525,000 gets 1.8 million tourists, while it is closing in on 20 million tourists for Malaysia which has a population of 34 million and 28 million tourists for Thailand with a population of 71.7 million.
This was also the topic of discussion when ‘Reconditioned’ Ranjith – a know-all in the second-hand car market – called on Thursday morning. It was the first time I was connecting with Ranjith this year as he had been spending time abroad.
“I say…..I have been following with interest the increasing tourist numbers in Sri Lanka because foreign inflows have improved and hopefully will help to restore the import of vehicles and their spare parts,” he said.
“It is indeed. However, Sri Lanka also needs to be conscious of having targets for tourist numbers that don’t exceed the population, otherwise we would face difficulties that some countries are now facing,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well in some countries, housing rentals have gone up as tourist numbers outstrip the local population and living costs have also risen,” I said.
“So shouldn’t we plan for such an eventuality and
ensure we are prepared when we aim for 4-6 million arrivals,” he asked again.
“Yes we should, being ready with an action plan is critical because this issue is currently not being discussed,” I said.
As we ended the conversation, the trio had gathered under the margosa tree for their regular weekly ‘gossip’. “Aanduwa kiwwata indana mila adu wenawa kiyala, elavalu mila adu wenney nae-ney (The government says fuel prices are coming down but there seems to be no impact on the price of vegetables),” said Kussi Amma Sera.
“Samahara market wala elavalu mila adu wela eth 2018 ganan walata nemey (In some markets vegetable prices have fallen but not to the level in 2018),” noted Serapina.
“Jeevana wiyadama loku prashnayak lankawey, mokada janathawata rassawalin labena mudal madi avashyatha walata gevanna (The cost of living is always an issue in Sri Lanka because what people earn is not enough to pay for essentials),” added Mabel Rasthiyadu.
Returning to the tourism discussion, here are a few examples in the world where over-tourism and over-visitation are affecting local communities.
According to media reports, Thai officials fear Pattaya and Phuket cities are overcrowded hotspots. The Federation of Thai Tourism Associations has warned the Thai government that over-tourism is now at crisis point. With projections that the calendar year 2024 will see 40 million overseas visitors – parallel to 2019 the last pre-COVID year – both the environment and tourist comfort are under dire threat, the reports said.
In these most badly affected cities, there are 118 and 99 overseas visitors for every local resident in Phuket and Pattaya respectively, according to research conducted by MoneyTransfers. The most obvious signs of over-tourism in Pattaya are traffic congestion made worse by tour buses crowding the inadequate roads. John Leeman, a tourist from Liverpool UK, was quoted as saying, ”It takes me at least one hour after dark to travel from Jomtien to central Pattaya, twice last year’s time and when you get to your destination, parking is near-impossible.” The situation could soon be made worse by the threat of water shortages, caused by lack of rainfall.
Tourism is strangling Amsterdam, media reports say. There are long queues for French fries; shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrians in shopping streets; parks are packed; and restaurants and cafes are crowded where you struggle to get a table. After the pandemic-induced lull, the number of visitors to Amsterdam have shot back up to around 20 million a year. That’s for a city that is home to just over 900,000. Getting a ticket to a good exhibition can be just as much a trial as pushing your way through revellers in the red-light district, media reports said.
Amsterdam is also banning hotel developments as part of its strategy to fight mass tourism. “Amsterdam will no longer be issuing permits for new hotels, except for a ‘new-for-old arrangement’ in which a new hotel may only be built if a hotel elsewhere closes and the number of sleeping places does not increase,” said a spokesperson for the city government.
Tensions are rising in Tenerife, an island in Spain, with locals protesting against over-tourism. Locals say tourism is destroying their economy.
Residents protesting against the construction of new hotels are demanding that locals are given a say in development even as housing costs rise and make it unbearable for locals. Residents are now travelling long distances as the lack of housing in popular areas due to the development of hotels is leading to their frustration and protests, media reports said.
Well where does this put Sri Lanka in a scenario of achieving a much higher tourist footfall in the next decade? Already some towns in southern Sri Lanka are seeing a spike in rents (a good example being Galle and its popular Fort area), while foreigners involved in local businesses like restaurants, bars and hiring motorcycles, bicycles and other modes of transport are affecting locals and threatening the peace in these areas.
There was one instance where a social media-organised party was for ‘whites only’ which organisers were forced to cancel after locals protested.
Ideally, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry along with the authorities can learn from the examples listed of the impact of over-visitation and over-tourism and prepare when we reach large numbers of arrivals. Ideally, there should be some discussion among the various sectors involved in tourism and a game plan prepared so that Sri Lanka doesn’t face the same crises affecting other countries. The development of new hotels should also address these concerns.
Rewarding as it is for Sri Lanka to strive for large numbers of tourists which would boost foreign inflows and beef up foreign reserves, the need to make sure locals are unaffected in terms of rental costs, food costs and crowding of popular sites is paramount. That was my wish-list today as I sipped Kussi Amma Sera’s second mug of tea on a warm, sunny morning.
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