Amsterdam and Copenhagen are experimenting with hiding their cultural landmarks from tourists (2024)

Already this year, 142 countries are projected to exceed their pre-pandemic tourism performance,according to theWorld Travel & Tourism Council. (That’s out of a total of 185 countries that the organization tracks.) In the next decade,tourism is predicted to grow into a $16 trillion industrythat will generate 12.2% of global jobs. But the crowds and rising costs that come with it have locals in many cities feeling weary.

“It’s not that tourism used to be a force for good and now has become a force for evil,” explains Ondrej Mitas, a senior lecturer atBreda University of Applied Sciencesin the Netherlands.Mitas,who specializes in overtourism, says news coverageoften describesthe phenomenonas a single, unmanageable issue.If you tease it apart into smallercomponent parts, he argues, it’s easier to find solutions.

In his mind, overtourism is actually four separate problems.There’s the classic overcrowding of popular sites. Visitors disrespectingcultural norms—say, swinging selfie sticks or baring theirshoulders in an Orthodox church—is another. Then you have the partierswho get indecent or destroy public property.Last is themostinsidious prong of overtourism: when locals do not sufficiently benefit from tourism in their communities, due to unequaldistribution of profits. That’s whatmost often leadsto resident-level resistance,as seen in Spain this summer. “That’s a political problem,” says Mitas. “It’s much more difficult to solve.”

There’s reason for Mitas—and the rest of us travelers—to be optimistic.

Solutions for each of theseissuesare being tested in different destinations around the world, from Copenhagen to Thailand to Hawaii. Herearethree such trailblazing initiatives, some new, some years in the making. Though they’re still relatively small, each has the potential to scalearound the world—and impact an ever-growing share of travelers.

Redefining a Destination’s“Must-Sees”

In a 2021experiment run by Mitasand his team at Breda University,155 visitors to the Dutch province ofOverijssel were given one of twodigital planningtools to inspire their trips.One group was givenanapp with the traditional sights marked out, and another wasset up with an AI concierge calledTravel With Zoey, whichrecommendedthe least visited tourist attractions as must-sees, verified by a behind-the-scenes employee.

Travelers from both groups took the recommendations to heart, goingto the places they wereshown or told about, rather than forging their own paths.In surveys afterward, they showed equal satisfaction with their vacations.“People had an equally good timewhether they went to the hot spots or not, and that is pretty important,” says Mitas.

The reality is that most destinations have lesser-visited points of interest that are ready and worthy of receiving more tourists. But as long as most travelers use the same sources to find inspiration—say,Alphabet Inc.’sGoogle Maps or TripAdvisor—they will be steered towardthe same spots.

Of course, nothing preventstravelers from Googling their trips. But the study may convince tourist boards and travel agents that there’s good reason to stray from mainstreamrecommendations. “Whatever source reaches people with the least frictionand makes the experience sound the most funwins,” Mitas says.

Mitas and the Zoey team arenow working with Amsterdam’s and Copenhagen’s tourism boards to re-create the experiment in overcrowded city centers.“We’re expecting that the outcomes will be relatively the same as in Overijssel,” says Rajneesh Badal, Zoey’s chief executive officer. If so, he says, “the next step for us will beto make this part of the toolkit for policymakers and destination management organizations.”

Spreading Tourism Revenue

For the past seven years, nonprofit organization Tourism Cares has been buildinga “meaningful tourism map,” filled with vettedproviders ofsustainable experiences around the world—think a weaving workshop with a women’s group in rural Jordan, birding with local conservationists in Colombia’sOtún QuimbayaSanctuaryor a woman-ledhistorytour of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

So far, the mapincludes 321 impact partnersin 22 countriesaround the world, though it’s primarily meant as a business-to-business tool for tour operators and travel agents who can create entire trips around the experiences and deliver a larger scale of bookings.To build its map, the organization is partnering directly with tourism boards, like those from Colombia and Thailand, which must each identify at least 10responsible tourism enterprises that are ready to receive an influx of visitors.

The idea started in Jordan, which wanted to see tourism spread beyond Petra, its famed Unesco World Heritage Site; since then, companies such asInsight Vacations,Intrepid TravelandG Adventureshave bolstered their itineraries withceramics, cooking and weaving workshops—all driving business to rural co-ops in small communities such as Bani Hamida, 90 minutes south of Amman.

Among the project’s challenges is the fact that tourismboards aren’t always savvy about identifying local impact partners. ButTourism CaresCEO Greg Takehara says he’sseeing momentum, with a record numberof destinations includingPanama, Scotland, Ireland, Hawaiiand San Luis Obispoadding some 200 impact partners in 2024.

Creating BehavioralIncentives

What does it take to get tourists to make sustainable choices? Copenhagen’s tourismboard thinks fun freebies may do the trick. In Julyit started rewardingvisitors for taking simple, climate-friendly actions throughan innovative, monthlong pilot programin partnership with20 local sites. Choosing to bike or take public transportation to a particular point of interest, for example, would get you a free museum tour,kayak rentalor locally sourced veggie lunch. Anyone who brings plastic waste tothe National Gallery of Denmark can join a complimentary workshop on upcycling it into an art piece. The pilot endedon August 11, and Visit Denmark expects to publish results later in the month.

In Hawaii, a similar campaign calledMalama Hawaii has been encouraging visitors to engage with volunteer activities across the island since 2020. In the first quarter of 2024, theHawaii Tourism Authority saysnearly20% of all visitorsstatewide participatedin these activities,up from 16% in the first quarter of 2023.

The activities include everything from shore cleanups to propagating native plants and feeding animals on a farm sanctuary; since Aprilthey’ve been centralized on anonline dashboardfor easier access. Like Copenhagen, Hawaii is rewarding visitors for participation, offeringdiscounts or free nightsat participating hotels for takingpartin select activities. Joining a beach cleanup with the Hawaii Land Trust, for example, can get you a freesixth night’sstay atthe Grand Wailea on Maui, a Waldorf Astoria resort.

The trend continues to catch on. Take thelatest example,inVancouver Island. Pickup trash along the destination’spearlescent beaches or Douglas fir-filled forests and bring it back to a designated collection point, and you’ll earn rewards that range from hotel discounts toa free pint of beer. It’s a small step in the right directionfor an industry that is oftenslow to change.