Designing Buildings Wiki (DBW) – host platform for the IHBC’s Conservation Wiki and the ‘construction industry knowledge base’ – has featured the IHBC’s 2020 Yearbook article on heritage and tourism by Prof Ian Baxter – a member of the IHBC’s Education Committee –in its bi-weekly Newsletter to its 11K circulation list.
… pressures and pinch points differ…
… Blanket terms such as ‘overtourism’ are unhelpful and usually inaccurate…
Ian Baxter writes, via DBW:
Across the world cities with high levels of tourism have been under the spotlight, and it is widely considered that they are being ruined by ‘overtourism’. Venice, Amsterdam and Barcelona are often quoted as suffering badly, while further afield Jakarta, Bangkok, Xi’an and Auckland are reported to be facing increasing pressures. Even in the UK, newspapers eagerly publicise stories of tense relationships between communities, businesses, city administrations and visitors in places as diverse as Edinburgh, Cambridge, York and Bath.
Of course the reality is always more complex than the headlines suggest, and the pressures and pinch points differ from one city location to another. Each has a unique set of issues. What causes a flash point, and what makes a good story in the media may be down to specific transportation and mobility issues around a location, building uses and service offerings in the area, or retail and development pressures. Another factor may be visitor behaviour in highly localised physical, social, policy and business environments. Blanket terms such as ‘overtourism’ are unhelpful and usually inaccurate if applied to an entire city.
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Read the original article
For more see the Yearbook
