From blocked views to free food: How holiday destinations in Japan, Denmark and more are tackling overtourism

This article was originally published in August 2023 and most recently updated in July 2024.

Copenhagen recently announced an ingenious solution to tackle over tourism -- put visitors to work. Tourists who visit the city and pick up litter (or practice other eco-friendly behaviors) can earn free food and special cultural experiences, CNN reports.

The pilot program joins a range of solutions put in place to cope with overtourism, including imposing entry fees to Venice or blocking views of Mt Fuji in Japan. The efforts drive home the need for hot spots to draw much-needed tourism business while managing impacts to local populations, historic sites, air pollution and nature.

As more cities and regions try to find ways to curb visitor numbers, this must be balanced with the economic reality that tourism as an industry makes up around 10% of global GDP. In 2023, 27 million new jobs were in the travel and tourism sector, the World Travel & Tourism Council says.

When COVID-19 halted global travel, revenues fell 80% for some sub-sectors of the tourism industry in the EU, affecting 11 million jobs.

As tourism continues to bounce back from the pandemic, policymakers are trying to find ways to do it more sustainably – and get tourists to foot some of the bill through ecotourism taxes.

As the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index says, there is an “imperative to embed sustainability and resilience into the design and management of the sector”.

Taxes and fees:. Venice recently launched an entry fee for tourists coming to see its famous canals but only staying for one day. The city also has an overnight tax in place, the rate of which is based on the number of nights spent and the level or number of stars the accommodation has.

Bans: Amsterdam recently joined Venice as the latest destination to consider restricting tourist levels through bans of cruise ships in its city centres. While the plan has been approved by the city council, the changes have yet to be enacted.

Rewards for good behavior: Copenhagen has taken a slightly different approach, rewarding visitors who contribute in a positive way to the environment – litter picking or using public transport, for instance – with free food or cultural experiences, reports CNN.

Setting limits: The French city of Marseilles introduced a reservation system to limit the number of tourists entering the Calanques National Park. It wanted to protect a cove it says is "the most sensitive, vulnerable, and degraded" site in the area.

The system has proven so successful that local authorities have decided to keep it in place for the next four years.

On Italy’s Amalfi coastal road, non-residents can only drive along it on certain days.

Marketing: Other destinations are planning campaigns to try to disperse tourists and encourage them to travel to less-visited places. Around 80% of France’s 37 million annual visitors congregate in just 20% of the country.

Blocked views: Officials in Japan have erected a barrier to block a popular view of Mount Fuji as record numbers of visitors arrive in the country. While those visits have brought an economic boost, people living near this particular view say the masses of keen photographers arriving to get the perfect shot often refuse to obey rules on littering and parking.

Other popular destinations in Japan, including the city of Osaka and the hot-spring resort town Hakone, are considering new tourism taxes to address the uplift in visitor numbers.

General tourist taxes have been around for decades at some destinations for a variety of reasons, such as raising funds for infrastructure and facilities.

Specific ecotourism taxes differ as they are ring-fenced payments that will be reinvested in sustainability projects. They can be a way to remind guests of the environmental impact of their visit, Christopher Khoo of tourism consultancy MasterConsult Services told the Eco-Business website.

As Topaz Smith, Community Lead, Aviation, Travel & Tourism at the World Economic Forum, explains, "Ecotourism taxes play a key role in generating revenue to fund sustainable infrastructure development, supporting conservation efforts, promoting environmental education, training hospitality workers, and enhancing local communities’ capacity to manage and benefit from tourism."

Bali is the latest Asian destination to introduce an ecotourism tax. It now charges visitors 150,000 rupiah ($10) to enter the popular tourist spot.

Freshwater scarcity is a particular concern for Bali. A single tourist uses 1,785 litres of water per day, while locals use around 14 litres, the South China Morning Post reports. And this figure jumps to 4,000 litres a day for tourists staying in hotels.

Like with the introduction of any additional tax, ecotourism taxes will need to strike a balance between the revenue benefits and the potential to deter visitors, according to Zhang Jiajie, Assistant Professor in Human Geography at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

“A robust framework needs to be set up for proper reporting on how the funds raised by such taxes benefit conservation efforts and local livelihoods. Otherwise, the trickle-down effect is questionable,” he told the Eco-Business website.