Coronavirus May Solve Overtourism in Europe But Will That Shift Leave Lasting Economic Scars?
Photo Credit: If there is a silver lining to coronavirus, it's that markets like Iceland and Portugal get a reprieve from years of overtourism. Flickr / Rustam Aliyev
Skift Take
European tourist organizations should use coronavirus as an opportunity to solve overtourism concerns. But going overboard may ultimately do away with the economic benefits of recent years that put much-needed funds into both local and national coffers.
The year of 2020 may be a lot of things, but overtourism is almost certainly not one of them.
Tourist organization leaders in some of Europe’s hottest destinations like Portugal and Iceland recognize a silver lining to decimated travel demand is the ability to form new strategies for sustainable tourism.
But these travel leaders also recognize the role foreign visitors play in helping their national economy.
“Everyone is trying to understand how many tourists you need and how many tickets you need to sell to keep the monuments in place,” Luis Araujo, president of Turism de Portugal, said Tuesday at Skift Forum Europe during a panel moderated by global tourism reporter Rosie Spinks. “How many people do you need to have to have a good experience?”
Europe faces a drastically altered summer travel landscape this year due to cor
