While overtourism might be an increasing problem around the world, the problems and issues it creates are specific to each destination it impacts, meaning local solutions are required.
This is why the Cockburn Association held a day-long conference in Edinburgh in October not only to discuss the issues impacting the city, but the tools that can be used to solve them.
Dating back to its inception in 1875, the association was formed to fight for Edinburgh’s green spaces originally and continues to ensure Edinburgh remains a desirable place to live.
During the overtourism conference, UK experts on responsible tourism met with local government officials and Scottish public sector bodies to discuss both the problems and the solutions available.
And the problems are considerable for a city which has seen the number of staying visits rise from 980,000 in 1999 to 2.32 million in 2023.
And while these visitors might bring in £2.7 billion a year and support 30,000 jobs, the residents of Edinburgh are increasingly feeling the pain.
Short-term holiday lets in city accommodation were blamed for creating a housing crisis while the streets are regularly overrun by tourists more interested in visiting sites featured in the Harry Potter films than the city itself.
Fringe benefits
Then there are the annual summer problems created by the Edinburgh international Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival which recently saw 3.2 million attendances to events generated by 700,000 attendees.
Tourism organisation VisitScotland said the events’ scale puts them on a par with the FIFA football World Cup which generates attendances of 3.4 million, while the positive economic impact for the city has grown from £280 million in 2015 to £407 million in 2022 with the spend from non-Scottish staying visitors growing from £95 million to £137 million in the same period.
Glasgow Caledonian University emeritus professor of travel and tourism business development and founder of the JJ Lennon Tourism Development Consultancy L Professor J John Lennon said “Festivals have increasingly become visitor events and local people are crowded out by traffic, litter, queues and overloaded infrastructure.”
He added much of the problem is created by the fact that while public sector tourism bodies like VisitScotland can effectively market the destination, since they don’t own the product they can’t control visitor numbers and ultimately the experience.
Lennon said: “They can advise and they can nudge but they don’t have the ability to deal with capacity issues.”
While VisitScotland destination development director Caroline Warburton agreed that not owning the product is challenging, she added solutions are available while travellers themselves are becoming increasingly conscious of the impact they can have on a destination.
She added: “We have definitely seen over the last five year this move where visitors don’t just want to be extractive of the destination; they are looking to put something back.”
Warburton also said that both the city and the country are dealing with pent up demand following the Covid pandemic with people from the US, Canada and Australia particularly interested in visiting.
But she admitted that when they do come they are often visiting the country’s most popular and best-known destinations, Edinburgh Castle, the Isle of Skye and Loch Ness.
As a result they are trying to market other Scottish attractions while driving travellers to visit the country during the less popular seasons such as autumn.
Warburton said they are also targeting more valuable tourists, adding: “What we’re looking for is for people to stay longer and spend more while they are here.”
Other minor solutions have seen Edinburgh castle cap the number of daily visitors to 8,000 since Covid which has seen annual numbers drop from up to 2.1 million to between 1.1 million and 1.2 million.
Visitor levy
However, perhaps the biggest weapon that Edinburgh is set to employ in the battle against overtourism is a visitor levy which is currently due to launch in July 2026.
While the levy is still under consultation, final plans are expected to be announced in January 2025 with the rate set at a 5% surcharge on accommodation costs, capped at seven days.
Edinburgh Council leader Cammy Day said the levy is expected to raise £40 million to £50 million per year, adding: “That levy will bring huge benefits to the city, the money raised will allow us to invest tens of millions pounds it sustaining and improving the things that make our city the best in the world.”
The levy is currently being resisted by city hoteliers who state that their businesses are already abundantly taxed and the new levy will make them even less competitive.
However, Lennon said the new levy will remain good value compared to other rival destinations that have introduced one, with New York operating a similar tax of 14.75% while Amsterdam has one of 12.5%.
He added the argument that the Edinburgh levy will price out tourists when added to a 20% VAT tax on their accommodation spend is also spurious, with many European countries charging VAT at much higher rates.
Lennon said: “If we look at competitors where the levy has been introduced it suggests it will have a very marginal impact on visitors to Edinburgh.”
He also questioned whether the tax should be levied on cruise passengers visiting the city, with a record season for Scotland seeing 161 ships deliver 235,000 passengers to Edinburgh, Fife and Dundee.
While the numbers alone are considerable, Lennon argued they have little positive economic impact on the city.
He said: “As an economic engine those people stopping in Edinburgh as part of a cruise and doing some of the attractions and sites, they are perhaps the least economically attractive visitor you can come by.
“When they visit port they don’t purchase accommodation, they don’t purchase food and beverages because they’re bursting as you try and overfeed people on cruises and often … retail purchases are limited because cabins are quite small.”
However, he predicted with up to half the charge set to go on city operations and infrastructure, 35% allocated to cultural heritage and events and 15% spent on destination and visitor management, the charge could have a positive impact once introduced.
Whether or not it does remains to be seen, but certainly everyone attending the conference will be keeping their fingers crossed that it does.
(Image courtesy of tatchie/Flickr)