Overtourism and sustainability top agenda at World Travel Market in London

The event takes place amid growing concerns over the impact of tourism on climate change as well as extreme weather events affecting the sector.

Transcript

00:00Thousands of travel representatives have landed in London for the World Travel Market trade

00:06event as new data shows global tourism is now breaking pre-pandemic records. But where

00:13does that leave pledges to ease overcrowding and to deliver on sustainability?

00:18Actually, this overtourism rhetoric is like on the edge of being real or not, because

00:25it's not over a long period of time. We have phenomena like this when cruises, for instance,

00:33visit small islands that cannot handle too many tourists at the same time. We think it's

00:41an issue of infrastructure and management at a local level that makes the difference.

00:48With sustainability, the travel sector says it's not just working to be net zero, but

00:53also striving for net positive. This amid mounting climate change concerns and extreme

01:00weather events impacting the sector.

01:03The stats say that people are acutely aware of the impact on the environment and many

01:07of them are eager to go to destinations that have a lower carbon footprint. I think there's

01:12a bigger impact as well on the weather and how that's changing people's travel choices.

01:18With the tourism bounce back, there's also been pushback from communities. Some European

01:23destinations have seen anti-tourism protests amid concerns over things like environmental

01:29damage and high rental prices. In Croatia, short-term rentals are now changing.

01:37We're passing the law in which we are requiring 80% approval of the tenants in the buildings

01:44when short-term rentals are possible. We will have a situation in which we have our

01:48apartments and residential areas, I'm not going to say free from tourists, but with

01:53a significant reduced number of tourists.

01:56For the global travel and tourism sector, the pressure is now on to prove that it can

02:01be a force for good. Damon Ambling, Euronews, London.