Residents of Barcelona, Spain, have recently participated in anti-tourist protests, with some launching water pistols at guests. Other marches calling for an end to mass tourism have taken place around the Balearic and Canary Islands. And it’s not just Spaniards. Locals in Athens have held funerals for their deceased neighbors. Authorities in Japan have erected a barrier to block a popular view of Mount Fuji and keep tourists away.
During the height of the Covid-19 outbreak, many predicted that tourism would never recover. Now, however, vacationers are returning. According to UN Tourism, a worldwide agency, travels are expected to total 1.5 billion this year, a little increase over 2019. Tourists bring cash and rarely use taxpayer-funded services. Indeed, officials in central banks and finance ministries enjoy the inflows, despite political pressure from voters to tax visitors and curb arrivals.
The paradox is that larger tax receipts provide spread benefits while tourism costs are concentrated. Barcelona inhabitants are irritated by crowds, unclean streets, higher prices, and shops peddling weed and gaudy souvenirs. Joana Maria, who coordinates local anti-tourist protests, describes Majorca’s situation as “unbearable”. During peak periods, the island’s population can range from 1 million to 1.4 million.
Some economists are also worried. As tourism grows, it absorbs a greater share of an economy’s capital and labor. Critics compare this to a form of “Dutch disease,” in which rapid growth in one export industry hinders other, higher-value-added businesses from expanding. According to Giuseppe Di Giacomo of the University of Lugano and Benjamin Lerch of the Swiss finance ministry, expansion in Italy’s tourism industry between 2010 and 2019 lowered demand for education, resulting in lower university enrollment and completion rates.
At the age of 20, serving pizzas to hungry visitors sounds like a terrific way to make ends meet; by the age of 40, a tired waiter may wish he had pursued that degree. The holiday industry relies on a large number of low-wage workers whose productivity rises slowly, making it an especially undesirable market for emerging countries to enter into.
It is better to attempt to make tourism work than to become as unwelcoming as possible. If guests raise local costs, they will raise wages, according to Chloe Parkins of Oxford Economics, a consultancy. Governments may do more to welcome newcomers, both by creating infrastructure and relaxing planning regulations. Rents would not grow as quickly in Barcelona, for example, if housing supply responded to both foreign and domestic demand. Indeed, history demonstrates that tourism revenues can be invested in infrastructure and higher value-added sectors, as has been done in Italy and, most recently, Mexico. Summer vacations may usually be enjoyed by everyone.
Source: Economist
