The ideas of Over-tourism and Slow travel are subjects of discussion in the travel industry in the current scenario. The reason has been contrasting beliefs both the terminologies carries along.
Talking about the idea of Over-tourism, it is a situation where a particular tourist spot is claimed to be over-crowded accounting the total number of inhabitants and the visitors. Many popular tourist places have declined promoting the idea of Over-tourism as this leads to affecting their climatic conditions. The idea has indeed led to the environmental degradation threatening the existence of the vertebrates and invertebrates.
Impact of Overtourism:
- Environmental depletion: Over-crowding of a place depletes the natural sanctity leading to erosion of soil and accumulation of wastes which directly channels to environmental pollution.
- Exploit of local infrastructure: When a place is over-crowded with inhabitants it leads to scarcity of natural resources. This results as the population intensifies and the same resources are acquired by many.
- Poor quality of life for locals: The inhabitants of a particular place suffer as they are subjected to lack of resources essential for their sustenance.
Now coming to Slow Travel, the idea is to inhale the beauty of a place instead of exploring the place within a limited time. This will help you to experience the true beauty a place holds in addition to understanding the culture and tradition.
Significance of slow-travel:
- Learning about a culture: When you take time to explore a place you get to understand the culture, the inheritance better. This helps you to understand how they live their life and what unique them from the race.
- Cross-cultural understanding: When you slow the pace of exploring a destination you not only understand their culture but also talk about their culture to them too. This allows for building meaningful relationships.
Conclusion:
Both these ideas in times created buzz however the idea of Over-tourism faded with time due to its strong contrasting points whereas the idea of slow travel is continuing to dominate for nurturing a tradition.