By BAKANG MOKOTO
5 September 2025- The Director of the Research Unit Tourism Research in Economics, Environs and Society (TREES) at North West University (NWU), Prof Elmarie Slabbert said man the gates, the tourists are coming. Slabbert said popular European destinations such as Barcelona, Paris and Venice are being laid to siege by an unrelenting influx of tourists, prompting residents to take to the streets in protest, sometimes disruptively so.
She further said it is a tourism meltdown and an untenable situation for those living in the very cities tourists flock to.
“Budget airlines, cheap transport and low-cost accommodation have fuelled this migration headache, and many of the discontented would scoff at the idea of us South Africans celebrating Tourism Month in September.
“But, surely there are lessons to be learned from Europe’s over-tourism dilemma. As popular tourism destinations such as Barcelona and Venice struggle to manage over-tourism, tourist numbers in South Africa are growing steadily,” she said.
Slabbert further said the country welcomed 8.92 million foreign visitors to South Africa in 2024, but has not reached its pre-pandemic number of 10.22 million. She added that tourism is an economic driver in South Africa and although they want to grow tourist numbers, it should not happen at the expense of their natural resources and their people.
“The warning signs should not be ignored. During peak seasons, popular South African tourism destinations such as Kruger National Park and the Garden Route are operating at capacity, but the scale of these visitor numbers is moderate considering the overseas over-tourism phenomenon.
“Over-tourism mostly experienced by residents, leads to protests against tourists who feel they overuse resources, crowd cities, and almost invade residents’ spaces,” said Slabbert.
She said tourist accommodation available in residential areas also brings the tourists into neighbourhoods, which can disturb communities if visitors behave unruly. Slabbert argues that the pressure is felt most acutely by residents.
“In many cases, infrastructure cannot deal with masses of tourists at a specific time and it is the residents who feel the pressure. Food prices increase, moving in one’s own residential and retail areas is challenging, and to some extent, one does not feel welcome in one’s own city or town.
“Residents then protest and scare tourists away, but also send a message to governing bodies that tourism needs to be better managed,” she said.
Slabbert said South Africa, she believes, is not yet at that point, but could reach it unless diversification strategies are deliberately pursued. She said although not currently a major problem in South Africa, tourists should be managed to ensure that they not only visit the hot spots, but also venture into the rural areas where many tourism gems can be found.
“A continuous focus on the same destinations, such as Cape Town, will attract more people to this area, but marketing organisations need to diversify tourism experiences and create more hype about other areas.
“This should be done intentionally so that we do not get to a space of over-tourism. South Africa’s distance from Europe offers a natural buffer, but not a permanent one,” said Slabbert.
She said South Africa is a long-haul destination and thus not easily accessible for tourists from the North. Slabbert said their trips to SA are well planned and structured, but to a large extent focused on the hotspots.
“It is only with the second trip that these tourists move to other areas for different experiences. Access for our visitors from Africa is easier, but they require different experiences, for example, visiting family and friends – again, one should diversify the product to spread our visitors across SA.
“Practical solutions already exist. For tourism products such as national parks, it is easier to manage visitor numbers since they have a quota for day visitors (and a gate),” she said.
Slabbert said these types of strategies contribute to avoiding over-tourism. She said it is even more important to involve local communities so that they directly benefit from tourism, as involvement increases their tolerance levels of tourist numbers.
The Guardian 