Are business travellers contributing to over tourism? The Meeting Room Episode 4

Overtourism has made the headlines in recent months, with residents in popular holiday hotspots like Majorca, Barcelona, Rome and Greece, uniting to tackle the problem. Whether spraying tourists with water pistols, blocking entry to beaches, or marching behind placards urging tourists to ‘go home' locals are making their disgruntlement clear.
While overtourism is often associated with leisure tourists, in episode four of The Meeting Room James and Paul ask whether business travellers - those attending conferences, meeting, exhibitions and incentives - are also contributing to the congestion crisis?
If so, how can a destination ensure its infrastructure doesn’t creak under the weight of extra visitors or divert vital resources from residents? And importantly, how can a destination help shift the narrative from ‘there’s too many visitors’ to ‘we’re proud people want to visit our home’, also known as tapping into the ‘psychic income’.
In this episode of The Meeting Room, James and Paul provide their hot take on over tourism, business tourism and the psychic income, and how, if any, are these themes link.

[@eprohoda]

that is well traveler, have a good one~

[@EmmaDelaney-v1i]

Really interesting discussion which raises questions about potential over (business) tourism!

[@CJ-Connections]

I went to Oman once with a small 6 pax fam and we literally ran round the destination to keep ahead of the cruise set, it was bonkers but coming out the Souq we were greeted by 100s and 100s of tourists, I get there is a need for the $$ that come with it to some destinations but there is a balance. In general terms you would like to think some tourism in the BT sector could be cut, the days of going to NY on Concorde for a F2F meeting must surely be over (I know it no longer flies but you get the point). In a post Covid high tech world the BT sector should have adapted more IMO.