Business of Tourism : Extent of tourism in numbers - the T/P Ratio

Overtourism is the current rage in the travel, tourism, government and social circles. There are cities being overwhelmed by visitors in particular months and empty in others; there are protests and water being squirted over tourists ( which is sad because tourists cant be blamed for local policies that enable them to arrive!).

That said , I thought it would be interesting to gauge from numbers exactly how bad is the problem of over tourism. I compiled a few numbers (see table) from various sources - the Ministry of Tourism India (2022 data) , UN tourism site, Euromonitor, Statista, ET, TOI, The Guardian, CNN and a few others). 

The "T/P ratio" is essentially simply Tourist- to- Population ratio. Just my way to grasp the scale of the issue. 

Not surprisingly, western Europe has some T/P  ratios that could be called alarming. The point here is that not all these millions are leisure travelers. Quite a large component will be business arrivals too. Still, the numbers are huge in already huge cities. Istanbul, for example, gets 25% more visitors thru its gates in a year than its resident population. London, nearly 2x, and Barcelona, the current hot topic, 37 % more than its population. These are serious enough "overruns" to stress out people, resources like water and sanitation, as well as transport. ( populations are measured differently in different cities - some take in only metro city areas; some the wider metro area including suburbs, but the core purpose of the analysis remains good). 

numbers in millions.
Sources: Euromonitor, Statista,
WTTO, UN Tourism Dashboard, media reports,
TOI, ET, Guardian, CNN

India : big on population, low on tourism

Ironically, in the second half of the table, you can see how under-developed India is on the tourism scale. India gets less than 1.7% of global tourism, and its FTA (Foreign Tourist Arrivals) are about 9 mn. Basically, the whole, huge subcontinent of India , one of the oldest and most diverse cultures on Earth, gets less tourist arrivals than any one of the cities in the table! 

India has tremendous potential for tourism - both domestic and international. There are some clear concerns, but they pertain to infrastructure, costs, general perception of safety, and that India is destination by itself requiring much time and planning). 

There's essentially no concern on overtourism for India! As it is, Indian cities are densely populated. A few million more may not even be noticed! 

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Business of Tourism: Rising costs doesn't deter Indian tourists to Europe

Further to the discussion on if entry fees are an effective barrier to slow or stop tourism, take a look at the numbers from India to Europe, the most preferred destination for Indians.  

Source: schnegenvisainfo.com / TOI/ HT/ 
https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/

Take a look at the data for Schengen visas issued to Indian citizens (see table 1).  

There are three interesting data points here.

First, there was a smart recovery from the low of the pandemic years (2020-2022) and it really shot up post 2022.  

Second, in the same duration. the Schengen visa fee rose from Euro 60 to 80 per head and is today, in 2024, euro 90. Every three years or so, the EU revises this fee. The latest revision was effective June 2024. 

Third, check out the rejections. There was a smart spike in the rejection % as well. India now is the third most rejected country from European visas. There is no refund for rejections (I think that's unform for all countries, even India). The key data point is- how much Indians lost to rejections. In 2023, it was about Euro 12 mn  against about Euro 10mn in 2022. 

So, what does it look like, in money terms? See table 2 below. 

Table 2: 

Source: schnegenvisainfo.com / TOI/ HT/ 
https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/

So, this clearly shows the price inelasticity for Schengen visas in India. Expect this price to cross Euro 100 by 2026, possibly. The point is, increasing price barriers - visa fees / hotel taxes / entry fees/ fines only cause the demand table to readjust to a higher cost level and go on as usual. Dips if any, will be limited and short. 

So how do you slow down over tourism? I believe more long-term damage to image and attractiveness of a destination will be done by singling out genuine tourists with embarrassment, financial losses, or violence (actual or threatened), like we saw in Barcelona. The latent hostility is even more concerning. Many people will pause a bit, and wonder.  Should I spend my money in a place that's clearly hostile? Or at the very least, disdainfully tolerates me for my money? 

Tricky, knotty issue, it sure is! 

Business of Tourism : What enables over tourism?

Over tourism remains a topic of great debate. in an earlier post, I tried to understand what could be done about it (taxes, phase out, new destinations and so on) .  Here, I wanted to explore another closely related issue : permissions and approvals.

Its easy and convenient to say tourists mess up , clog up and in general ruin the place.  That in itself is a broad generalization and not always true. 

But how and what enabled so many to visit so many areas for so many days? 

Some key factors: local authorities, logistics and prosperity.  

To start with, isn't it local authorities ( municipalities, state governments and national ministries) who allow the proliferation of short stay apartments? 

How does a tourist enable / force / cause flats or apartments to be converted into short stay tourism accommodation without active support,  frame work and planning by landlords and city authorities? 

Does a tourist have any say in housing or zoning or public transport policies of the destination? Clearly, no. 

In all the arguments raging across media, I don't find much debate on the role of authorities in allowing the shift of housing for locals into short stay for tourists (Barcelona did say they would ban all short stays, but after 4 years).  They welcomed the money that came in ( both local landlords who rented out and governments who got taxes and income).  

But perhaps it went overboard?

No one fault can be pinpointed here - it is the responsibility of authorities to grow their economies, and they simply used one economic lever. But then to turn around and blame transient visitors  almost entirely for this problem is a bit rich. Local protestors would be aware of this. Surely they would be asking hard questions of their administrators. 

The other enabler is of course, logistics or access. The expansion of low cost airlines suddenly opened up new destinations otherwise out of budget. Here again, landing / docking rights are the economic assets of the destination-its entirely there prerogative to control them. The tricky balance is to get more money in, without messing up the works- economic, cultural, business. 

The third enabler is the growing prosperity of the middle classes elsewhere in the world that puts more money and enables them to travel, supported by vastly expanded air, sea and road links. In India, at least, foreign travel is no longer a luxury, The moment the young people have excess funds and/ time, they will travel. Its just part of being the new Global Indian culture and imagery that has crystalized over the past decade. And India isnt even the largest source markets for many tourism-troubled destinations- not yet. 

Just look at India only (not even that other big source market - China) . 1400 mn people- of which the middle class would be 500mn. To put that into perspective- that would be more than the population of Scandinavia and most European countries, and quite big chunks of S/ S E Asia as well! Even if 10% of these 500mn are able to travel, that's 50mn. Europe holds the pride of place for every Indian- and even within Europe, certain destinations are always top of the list- Switzerland, UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy for sure, Next layer for the more discerning would be eastern and central Europe, and for the jaded Indian, Scandinavia/ Iceland. 

Another interesting aspect is FOMO - the fear of missing out in travel and tourism. Just consider India again. With 65% of its population below 30 years and infrastructure still shoddy for tourism, the longing for the "first world lifestyle" means that a whole mass of people are traveling- and putting on social media that " they made it" . That perfect insta photo/ that perfect facebook post. It all adds to the allure of travel. Its a good thing in many ways for Indians - exposure, style, perspective, confidence. But only if done correctly.

The fourth enabler I would say are the investments into the tourism infrastructure by a lot of players, from hotels, to transport, to F&B and governments. The rapid expansion of chain hotels and Air B&B stays opened up vast accommodation options and allowed more stays for longer. Its a matter of another debate if hotels are better for a city or short stay rentals. Hotels are usually more expensive but offer a control point for the destination. 

In sum, it was a perfect conjunction of circumstances and enablers that drove excessive tourism numbers. There are hard solutions in hand, and some soft, long term. But perhaps the travel industry will find its right, if an uneasy and flexible, balance sooner than later! 

Business of Tourism: Over Tourism causes consternation, concern and chaos

There's a lot of debate and discussion on " over-tourism" these days, on the Internet, print and social media. 

Its a complex subject. On one hand, tourism brings in much needed funds into local economies, helping for services and maintenance, allowing governments to subsidize citizens costs. Clearly, London's museums couldn't be free if the city didn't get so many visitors ( Or may be called "spenders'). Likewise, the big gems of tourism- Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam or Venice, Athens in Europe amongst others. But for every city overrun in Europe, there are tons of others in Asia, the USA and Africa who would love to have (even if temporarily!) the tourism dollars. 

Tourism injects life, vigour, a virtuous investment cycle, jobs, general good feeling, and yes, often times, is a strategic tool in the political or economic arsenal. 

But there are definitely downsides. Too much of a good thing can be a problem. 

Over tourism I believe generally kicks in when local culture, life patterns and services begin to change or bend to the needs and demands of a transient population which attains critical mass to actually cause these changes, and infrastructure ominously breaches the limits it was designed for faster than can be replaced or enhanced. When the local citizen finds no seat on his own city's trams or buses ( as we saw several times across Europe). Or when the local restaurants change menus to accommodate global tastes rather than offer local cuisine, when standardization rather than uniqueness becomes rampant. 

I don't come from a city or nation which suffers from any sort of over tourism, but we actually suffer from "over- population" which , if you think of it, is the same issue as over tourism- and you cant even ban airlines or cruise ships- its there, permanently, every time, every day.  In fact, Indians I believe generally visit the "first world" to experience less crowding, clean air, weather, superb infrastructure and cleanliness! 

While over tourism and over crowding are two sides of the same coin, the approaches and solutions have to be very different.  

Discussing over tourism solutions this time : 

1. Marketing can be used to phase out visits. Not always possible because of weather and vacations. 

2. Entry barriers - visa issuances can be controlled. Easiest method, but could have political and economic repercussions. 

3. Cost barriers- simply make it more expensive, which would filter out the marginal, low and budget categories, but that could be seen as unfriendly, and discriminatory (which it could well be). Cost barriers could be higher taxes, expensive room rates, differential public transport and entrance fees (which does create resentment). It could well be the entrance fees like Venice tried ( But travelers simply adjust mentally to a higher cost plane and kept coming). 

4. Open new areas : could spread the numbers across the land, but presumably, could get overwhelmed as well - necessitating newer areas every few years. Not easy. 

5. Other destinations develop- this could well cause diversion of tourism permanently and cause economic damage. This has started in Vietnam and Cambodia, which have started taking in more Indians diverting from Thailand and Singapore. (When destinations within India develop, that will also divert some tourism- but the sheer numbers of Indians means this is not a worry for Europe, USA , Singapore or UAE and others anytime soon!) 

Just some ideas but no quick solutions. As the massive middle classes of India , China and Asia in general prosper, they will travel. Its a human need. But the numbers can, and will, overwhelm. Destinations need to deal with it. 

I intend to analyze interconnected, historical and economic issues related to tourism and travel going ahead- watch this space. 

The temples of Angkor – in miniature

I found an artisan quite by chance through my research on travel and tourism in Siem Reap on google / google maps and some blogs. 

This was an old gentleman called Dy Proeung who created scale models of the temples of Angkor. These have become quite well known in the travel world, with a lot of blogs, sites and photos, as this one on travel covers it. You can find reviews of this on tripadvisor and blogs/ websites as well, like this one: 

https://leightontravels.com/2022/06/12/miniature-replicas-of-angkor-siem-reap/

Over 84 years of age, he has a lot of experience in conservation and decided to replicate these models. 

With some searching in the back alleys of Siem Reap with our day hire Tuktuk of Bannu, I found the place. Not very attractive, looked a bit unkempt but he had made several temples which were remarkably well made. In fact, I later realized that the only way to see the whole of Angkor Wat, the main temple, was thru this scale model, or take a helicopter tour (available, but too expensive!).

There were scale models of Angkor Wat, Bayon, Bantaey Srei and I think Neak Poan. 

The entry fee was US$2. 

If you have time and are sufficiently interested, you could drop in. The address can be found from google maps.

The Circle Tours of Angkor - all together !

The temples of Angkor - Small + Big Circles 
map source: Google Maps

This route is most of the Small Circle and Big Circle tours put together. This is what you would end up doing if you do both these tours over 2 days (nor advisable to do all these in 1 day- and anyway gets too humid to travel / walk so much - nearly 30 km totally). 

That said, this map still doesn't cover the Rolous Group of 3 temples , 15 km away. 

And this map doesn't cover one of the prettiest and most intricate temples in Angkor- Banteay Srei. Its quite off the beaten track of Angkor, but its totally worth the visit. Will cover it later in this Cambodia series. 

The Rolous Group Tour (Angkor Archaeological Park)

 

The Rolous Group of 3 temples 
map from google maps

The Rolous Group Tour-3 temples

These are Bakong, Preah Ko and Lolie Temple. (See map).

This group of temples is a little off the rest of the temples, and you need a vehicle to reach them. But each of these are starkly different from the small circle and big circle temples.

Bakong claim to fame is the it was the first temple mountain design made by the Khmer Kings near today's Siem Reap. It was the state temple of the city called Hariharalaya, in the area called Rolous. Hence the name " Rolous Group of temples." 

Preah Ko means the sacred bull, and is over 1200 years old. Three Nandi statues face the temple structures, hence the name, 

The third temple of this tour is the Lolei Temple, This is the third and last temple made around 893 AD. There are four temples on a sandstone platform, and at one time apparently this temple was surrounded by water. Quite a nice place. 

The google map shot is of a larger area, to show where the Rolous Group is in relation to the main Angkor Wat ( about 15 km away). 

The Big Circle Tour (Angkor Archeological Park)

 

The Big Circle temples 
map source : google maps

The Big Circle Tour

Temples covered are: Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon and Pre Rup Temple. (See map). This is a nice tour with all temples unique in their own way.

Preah Khan is a flat straight line- quite different from other temples around.  This is a 12th century temple, This has been left mostly unrestored, which gives it a whole different feel! 

Neak Pean (means Intertwined serpents in Khmer) is in the middle of a lake ( Preah Khan is on the shorter side of this rectangular water body- see map besides. This temple was said to be built for medical purposes, as it was in the lake and the water would balance the elements. 

Ta Som is also a small temple, on the opposite side from Prasat Preah Khan, This is a relatively simple temple, but has now been restored. 

Pre Rup is a temple made for the Khmer King and dedicated to Lord Shiva. The name apparently means : "turn the body" - so it could have been used for funerals, This is also approx. 1,000 years old. 

Photos coming! 

The Small Circle Tour (Angkor Archaeological Park)

 

The "small circle" tour 
maps : google maps 

The temples in the "small circle tour" are Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom complex, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Beanteay Kdei and Prasat Kravan Temple. (see map).

The term small circle can be misleading to say it covers just 6 temples. Actually it covers a large area with all the major sites. 

The Angkor Wat complex itself takes 3 hours if you really want to enjoy it starting from the sunrise. 

Angkor Thom is an enclosed city area with its five gates, and the massive temple of Bayon in the centre. Apart from the Bayon, The Terrace of the Leper King, and Terrace of the Elephants,and  Baphuon temple and all near Bayon. 

Angkor Wat is situated outside the Angkor Thom complex.

The famous, and breathtaking temple of Ta Prohm (made famous by the Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie) is between Angkor Wat and Bayon.  Don't miss Ta Prohm!