In 1973, returning from a trip to India, Philippe Gloaguen created the “Guide du routard” with Michel Duval ». Since then, 55 million books covering a hundred countries have been sold. At 73, the Breton still rereads all the manuscripts. A privileged witness to tell the story of the evolution of tourism.
You have been traveling the world for fifty years. Have you noticed an increase in tourist numbers?
Yes, definitely. First, for the two “historical” destinations that are Spain and Italy, where we are also seeing a strong surge in regions that were previously little visited, such as Puglia in Italy. At the same time, the fall of the Berlin Wall opened up all Eastern countries to traditional tourism. Closer to home, since the end of Covid, we have seen a very strong increase in our sales of guides to Japan and the United States, rather expensive destinations, which I explain by a “kitty” that many French people built up during this period. We currently publish 180 editions of the Backpacker, This tells you how much tourism has conquered almost the entire planet.
What is your definition of “overtourism”?
I have one for what it’s worth: these are places where the hotel or restaurant capacity is insufficient to accommodate all the tourists, leading to higher prices and lower quality. An example? Prague.
How can the cities concerned combat this phenomenon?
By encouraging people to come out of season or to get up early. St. Mark’s Square, at 8 o’clock, there is no one. I am not very much in favour of taxing day visitors as Venice has just done. Venice should never have accepted cruise ships that unload floods of visitors whose turbulences, incidentally, greatly weaken the stilts on which the city is built. That said, I recognise that there are not many solutions: how can we reduce the number of young people who come to party in Barcelona? And ethically, it is problematic. Perhaps cities could take inspiration from the online bookings that many museums now use.
What do you think about the initiative of a country like Bhutan which imposes a tourist tax of 200 dollars per day (recently reduced to 100 dollars)?
Not much good. I’ve never been there. I think they put this tax in place mainly because they have a low hotel capacity. It’s a very poor mountainous country where the land available for construction is very limited.
Since we are talking about Bhutan, I would like to point out that one of the factors of “overtourism” is these hordes of Chinese tourists who suddenly appeared a few years ago and who are estimated at 150 million people.
Do guides like “Le Routard”, by facilitating tourism, not contribute to overtourism?
In a way. That’s why we created a section in our guides called “Le pas de côté” in which we point out to our readers places to visit that are not very touristy. We recently received a medal from the Spanish Ministry of Tourism in recognition of the promotion we do of less popular places, such as the inland villages of Andalusia, as an escape from the crowded beaches of the coast. Labels also have a big influence. We see the overcrowding of places with the label of “Most Beautiful Villages of France” which attract thousands of tourists to villages that absolutely do not have the capacity to accommodate them. I experienced it myself a few days ago in Rochefort-en-Terre, in Brittany, where it was crowded.
Hasn’t globalization led to a standardization of the world?
Certainly, we find the same brands all over the world. For example, before, we would go and buy shoes in Spain and clothes in Italy. This specialization has completely disappeared. I’m not even talking about duty free in airports, all selling the same thing.
There are more and more countries banned. Aren’t we witnessing a shrinking of the world?
I share your feeling. The first Backpackerin 1973, was called “The Road to India”. Today, on this route, at least three countries are strongly discouraged: Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. What about the Sahel countries? When will we be able to return to Mali or Yemen, two countries where I had the most wonderful moments of my life?
