Maybe the world is trying to tell us to slow down. So far this year, we’ve clocked 29 climate-related disasters that have each caused more than a billion dollars worth of damage, from a catastrophic “monsoon on steroids” in Pakistan to a pair of hurricanes that swept away bridges and homes in Puerto Rico and Florida, and record heat waves and drought that killed thousands of people and agricultural crops across Europe. The latter even exposed “hunger stones,” rocks engraved to mark low water levels during historic droughts. A circa 1900 inscription on one in Děčín, along the Elbe River in the northern Czech Republic, reads, “If you see me, then weep”—an ominous reminder that no pocket of the planet has gone untouched by climate change.

For all the good it can do in bolstering local economies and connecting cultures, tourism is a significant contributor to climate change. Three years after the word “covid” entered our daily vocabulary, tourism numbers from April to July 2022 exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Travel currently accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is poised to increase by 2030. And there are plenty of unquantified effects of overtourism: stress on supply chains, destruction of wildlife habitat, and overcrowding. As climate change intensifies, the damage may make popular destinations inhospitable to travelers and cause their economies to plummet.

We can have a positive impact on this world we love so dearly.

Anti-tourism movements and travel boycotts, especially to destinations accused of human rights or environmental violations, might seem like easy solutions. But they don’t usually have the desired effect. Simply choosing one destination over another doesn’t tell those in power—municipal governments—why you’re spending your dollars elsewhere. More than anyone else, blanket boycotts affect the lowest-paid and most vulnerable workers, typically women, migrants, and people of color.

For this year’s No List, we’re highlighting destinations to reconsider visiting in 2023 in three main categories: natural attractions that could use a break in order to heal and rejuvenate; cultural hotspots that are plagued with overcrowding and resource depletion; and locations around the world immediately and dramatically impacted by water crises. 

We’re also looking at ways we can be more responsible travelers, by supporting destinations that focus on community-first initiatives and profiling Earth-conscious organizations with unique sustainable and eco-conscious approaches to tourism. 

This year’s No List does not serve as a boycott, ban, or cancelation of any sort; but a call to travelers to consider wisely the choices we make. We can have a positive impact on this world we love so dearly.

Nature That Needs a Break 

In a world of theme parks, Instagram-curated restaurants, and pop-up museums, it’s easy to forget that most of the world’s top attractions were created by nature and are very much still alive. But many of these natural sights have taken a beating–either by recent natural disasters or an influx of humans visiting. Some iconic landmarks have been damaged so badly that tourism bureaus and elected officials have asked travelers not to visit while the land, air, and sea recuperate. These natural destinations desperately need a pause from visitors.

France’s Cliffs and Calanques

Coastline erosion is a huge part of climate change, as larger storms wreak more havoc on beaches every year. France is currently dealing with dramatic coastline erosion that has more to do with a storm of tourists than weather. Étretat, Normandy, has been hit hard by an influx of visitors. The tiny town’s wastewater treatment facility had to be shut down for maintenance last year as it couldn’t handle the three times as many visitors as its regular population. More concerning are the frequent landslides from too much foot traffic. And the north coast isn’t the only area experiencing erosion from overtourism. Marseille’s Calanques National Park introduced a reservation system to visit its beaches, with a daily cap of 400 visitors. 

“We need tourism, but a balance needs to be found. The tourists themselves would benefit the most. Many of them leave angry after having spent several hours in the car without being able to find parking, someplace to eat, or toilets, because there isn’t enough infrastructure. This mass tourism satisfies nobody,” said Jean-Baptiste Renié, an Étretat city councilor.

 The cliffs of Étretat, Normandy.Oliver Hlavaty Photo/Shutterstock

Lake Tahoe, California 

Lake Tahoe has a people problem. Amid the pandemic and the great migration, there was an influx of people moving to the mountains, as well as people with second homes in the area coming to live in Tahoe permanently. And it’s caused traffic along the lake to crawl, as well as kept trails and beaches packed. 

The leading threat to Tahoe’s famous clarity is fine sediment pollution running off our urban landscape, according to The League to Save Lake Tahoe. Heavy traffic crushes Tahoe’s roads into fine dust and debris and pumps tailpipe emissions into the air. When it rains or snow melts, stormwater transports these fine pollution particles into the Lake, clouding its cobalt blue waters. Improving Tahoe’s traffic conditions will reduce this pollution source, and alleviate the stress and strain of travel in Tahoe.

“We all need to give nature a break, but we don’t want to tell people not to come to Tahoe.”

“It is difficult to take our city’s talk about leadership on the problem of long-term climate change seriously when we simultaneously encourage visitor traffic that results in jams that can stretch into Sacramento,” says Scott Robbins, a spokesman for the Tahoe Neighborhood Group and 2022 South Lake Tahoe City Council candidate.

“We’re feeling the increase of population around us,” said Andy Chapman, ​​President and CEO of Travel North Tahoe Nevada. “We all need to give nature a break, but we don’t want to tell people not to come to Tahoe. We want to educate people how to respect Tahoe.” 

Chapman says we need to adjust the way we interact with nature to fix the problem and North Lake Tahoe is working with the Center for Responsible Travel as well as finding creative solutions to take cars off the road. Biking the rim trail is always a good option, but there’s now a free shuttle program for North Lake Tahoe that connects many tourist resorts to shopping and restaurants in town. 

Antarctica 

Unlike other destinations that have exploded in tourism popularity in the past decade, Antarctica is just about as remote as it gets. It’s also arguably one of the most susceptible places on the planet to climate change. 

On paper, the tourism numbers don’t look that big, and they are capped by various treaties that protect Antarctica. But those tourist bodies are concentrated in one part of Antarctica: the Antarctic Peninsula, which has experienced some of the fastest warming temperatures and steepest wildlife decline in history. As Claire Christian, executive director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, told The Revelator, “If you’re looking at this big, vast continent and thinking, ‘How can a few thousand scientists, 100,000 tourists, and a few fishing boats make a difference?’ The important thing to remember is that a lot of this is concentrated in very small places and places that are already under stress from rapid climate change.”

And simply getting there has consequences on nature. Unlike other wintery adventure destinations, there is no land travel here. Ships and planes produce black carbon, an air pollutant caused by burning fossil fuels, which makes the snow darker and actually makes the ice melt faster. A recent study highlighted that commercial tourism and research activities on the continent are exacerbating the black carbon problem, leading to faster snow-melting. “As it’s darker than the snow, it causes more energy to be absorbed from the sun than would otherwise be, leading to more melting. We need more sustainable forms of transport, and more sustainable energy sources to avoid this,” climate scientist Dr. Samantha Buzzard, a lecturer at Cardiff University, told Fodor’s. 

The trade-offs of a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Antarctica need to be weighed against the environmental impacts. If you decide to go, pick a responsible operator, get involved in a citizen science program, and think about ways in which you can limit your footprint.

Suffering Cultural Hotspots 

The world is a big place, but certain destinations regularly receive high visitor volumes. This can lead to adverse consequences for locals–everything from water shortages to inflation to environmental degradation. Europe, in particular, is a key cultural tourism destination that travelers pay attention to en masse. As a result, the likes of Barcelona, Paris, and Dubrovnik, among many others, have become celebrity cities mobbed by travelers treading familiar paths to check off bucket lists and garner social media clout. Cultural hotspots are such for a reason–they’re well worth visiting in your lifetime. But maybe reconsider visiting some in 2023.

Italy’s Most Popular Destinations

In Venice, residents have been pushed out of their apartments and piazzas to make way for eager tourists looking to devour the centuries-old monuments and sights. According to the city’s official visitor guide, Venice received as many as 80,000 tourists a day during its summer of reopening after lockdowns. Mass tourism has long afflicted Venice, with an unpalatable ratio of 370 visitors for every resident per year.

Cultural hotspots are such for a reason–they’re well worth visiting in your lifetime. But maybe reconsider visiting some in 2023.

As a city on the water that is prone to flooding and vulnerable to sea level rises, various measures are being introduced to mitigate the consequences of climate change and also to manage the flow of visitors. In the summer of 2021, large cruise ships (vessels weighing more than 25,000 tonnes) were banned from the historic center to preserve the fragile lagoon ecosystem. Starting in 2023, Venice will begin charging an entrance fee of between three and 10 euros which will fluctuate based on demand.

Simone Venturini, who leads the Destination Management Organization of Venice (OGD), told CNN that the move is to encourage overnight tourism and discourage mass tourism during some days. “We want quality over quantity,” he said. “Daily tourists sometimes arrive and consume the city” as opposed to overnight visitors that stay longer and truly get to know it.

Another Italian region grappling with untenable numbers is the Amalfi Coast. A chaotic and crowded experience awaited the hordes of visitors to this hotspot of scenic coastal towns resembling impressionist paintings during the 2022 high season. This resulted in the introduction of an alternate number plate system to ease nightmarish, miles-long traffic jams. Taking inspiration from Colombia’s Pico y Placa traffic policy, drivers with number plates ending with odd numbers could only drive on odd-number dates. Even-number vehicles could only visit on even-number dates when driving between Vietri sul Mare and picturesque Positano.

Angela Infante, deputy mayor of Vietri sul Mare, told CNN the policy is needed. “It’s started again this year—you can’t drive at weekends, people are trapped at home,” she said. “You have to drive incredibly slowly because there are so many cars, and often it’s completely blocked. Apart from anything else, you could have an ambulance [in that traffic] and anything could happen—we have to limit the heavy traffic.”

 

Maybe the world is trying to tell us to slow down. So far this year, we’ve clocked 29 climate-related disasters that have each caused more than a billion dollars worth of damage, from a catastrophic “monsoon on steroids” in Pakistan to a pair of hurricanes that swept away bridges and homes in Puerto Rico and Florida, and record heat waves and drought that killed thousands of people and agricultural crops across Europe. The latter even exposed “hunger stones,” rocks engraved to mark low water levels during historic droughts. A circa 1900 inscription on one in Děčín, along the Elbe River in the northern Czech Republic, reads, “If you see me, then weep”—an ominous reminder that no pocket of the planet has gone untouched by climate change.

For all the good it can do in bolstering local economies and connecting cultures, tourism is a significant contributor to climate change. Three years after the word “covid” entered our daily vocabulary, tourism numbers from April to July 2022 exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Travel currently accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is poised to increase by 2030. And there are plenty of unquantified effects of overtourism: stress on supply chains, destruction of wildlife habitat, and overcrowding. As climate change intensifies, the damage may make popular destinations inhospitable to travelers and cause their economies to plummet.

We can have a positive impact on this world we love so dearly.

Anti-tourism movements and travel boycotts, especially to destinations accused of human rights or environmental violations, might seem like easy solutions. But they don’t usually have the desired effect. Simply choosing one destination over another doesn’t tell those in power—municipal governments—why you’re spending your dollars elsewhere. More than anyone else, blanket boycotts affect the lowest-paid and most vulnerable workers, typically women, migrants, and people of color.

For this year’s No List, we’re highlighting destinations to reconsider visiting in 2023 in three main categories: natural attractions that could use a break in order to heal and rejuvenate; cultural hotspots that are plagued with overcrowding and resource depletion; and locations around the world immediately and dramatically impacted by water crises. 

We’re also looking at ways we can be more responsible travelers, by supporting destinations that focus on community-first initiatives and profiling Earth-conscious organizations with unique sustainable and eco-conscious approaches to tourism. 

This year’s No List does not serve as a boycott, ban, or cancelation of any sort; but a call to travelers to consider wisely the choices we make. We can have a positive impact on this world we love so dearly.

Nature That Needs a Break 

In a world of theme parks, Instagram-curated restaurants, and pop-up museums, it’s easy to forget that most of the world’s top attractions were created by nature and are very much still alive. But many of these natural sights have taken a beating–either by recent natural disasters or an influx of humans visiting. Some iconic landmarks have been damaged so badly that tourism bureaus and elected officials have asked travelers not to visit while the land, air, and sea recuperate. These natural destinations desperately need a pause from visitors.

France’s Cliffs and Calanques

Coastline erosion is a huge part of climate change, as larger storms wreak more havoc on beaches every year. France is currently dealing with dramatic coastline erosion that has more to do with a storm of tourists than weather. Étretat, Normandy, has been hit hard by an influx of visitors. The tiny town’s wastewater treatment facility had to be shut down for maintenance last year as it couldn’t handle the three times as many visitors as its regular population. More concerning are the frequent landslides from too much foot traffic. And the north coast isn’t the only area experiencing erosion from overtourism. Marseille’s Calanques National Park introduced a reservation system to visit its beaches, with a daily cap of 400 visitors. 

“We need tourism, but a balance needs to be found. The tourists themselves would benefit the most. Many of them leave angry after having spent several hours in the car without being able to find parking, someplace to eat, or toilets, because there isn’t enough infrastructure. This mass tourism satisfies nobody,” said Jean-Baptiste Renié, an Étretat city councilor.

 The cliffs of Étretat, Normandy.Oliver Hlavaty Photo/Shutterstock

Lake Tahoe, California 

Lake Tahoe has a people problem. Amid the pandemic and the great migration, there was an influx of people moving to the mountains, as well as people with second homes in the area coming to live in Tahoe permanently. And it’s caused traffic along the lake to crawl, as well as kept trails and beaches packed. 

The leading threat to Tahoe’s famous clarity is fine sediment pollution running off our urban landscape, according to The League to Save Lake Tahoe. Heavy traffic crushes Tahoe’s roads into fine dust and debris and pumps tailpipe emissions into the air. When it rains or snow melts, stormwater transports these fine pollution particles into the Lake, clouding its cobalt blue waters. Improving Tahoe’s traffic conditions will reduce this pollution source, and alleviate the stress and strain of travel in Tahoe.

“We all need to give nature a break, but we don’t want to tell people not to come to Tahoe.”

“It is difficult to take our city’s talk about leadership on the problem of long-term climate change seriously when we simultaneously encourage visitor traffic that results in jams that can stretch into Sacramento,” says Scott Robbins, a spokesman for the Tahoe Neighborhood Group and 2022 South Lake Tahoe City Council candidate.

“We’re feeling the increase of population around us,” said Andy Chapman, ​​President and CEO of Travel North Tahoe Nevada. “We all need to give nature a break, but we don’t want to tell people not to come to Tahoe. We want to educate people how to respect Tahoe.” 

Chapman says we need to adjust the way we interact with nature to fix the problem and North Lake Tahoe is working with the Center for Responsible Travel as well as finding creative solutions to take cars off the road. Biking the rim trail is always a good option, but there’s now a free shuttle program for North Lake Tahoe that connects many tourist resorts to shopping and restaurants in town. 

Antarctica 

Unlike other destinations that have exploded in tourism popularity in the past decade, Antarctica is just about as remote as it gets. It’s also arguably one of the most susceptible places on the planet to climate change. 

On paper, the tourism numbers don’t look that big, and they are capped by various treaties that protect Antarctica. But those tourist bodies are concentrated in one part of Antarctica: the Antarctic Peninsula, which has experienced some of the fastest warming temperatures and steepest wildlife decline in history. As Claire Christian, executive director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, told The Revelator, “If you’re looking at this big, vast continent and thinking, ‘How can a few thousand scientists, 100,000 tourists, and a few fishing boats make a difference?’ The important thing to remember is that a lot of this is concentrated in very small places and places that are already under stress from rapid climate change.”

And simply getting there has consequences on nature. Unlike other wintery adventure destinations, there is no land travel here. Ships and planes produce black carbon, an air pollutant caused by burning fossil fuels, which makes the snow darker and actually makes the ice melt faster. A recent study highlighted that commercial tourism and research activities on the continent are exacerbating the black carbon problem, leading to faster snow-melting. “As it’s darker than the snow, it causes more energy to be absorbed from the sun than would otherwise be, leading to more melting. We need more sustainable forms of transport, and more sustainable energy sources to avoid this,” climate scientist Dr. Samantha Buzzard, a lecturer at Cardiff University, told Fodor’s. 

The trade-offs of a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Antarctica need to be weighed against the environmental impacts. If you decide to go, pick a responsible operator, get involved in a citizen science program, and think about ways in which you can limit your footprint.

Suffering Cultural Hotspots 

The world is a big place, but certain destinations regularly receive high visitor volumes. This can lead to adverse consequences for locals–everything from water shortages to inflation to environmental degradation. Europe, in particular, is a key cultural tourism destination that travelers pay attention to en masse. As a result, the likes of Barcelona, Paris, and Dubrovnik, among many others, have become celebrity cities mobbed by travelers treading familiar paths to check off bucket lists and garner social media clout. Cultural hotspots are such for a reason–they’re well worth visiting in your lifetime. But maybe reconsider visiting some in 2023.

Italy’s Most Popular Destinations

In Venice, residents have been pushed out of their apartments and piazzas to make way for eager tourists looking to devour the centuries-old monuments and sights. According to the city’s official visitor guide, Venice received as many as 80,000 tourists a day during its summer of reopening after lockdowns. Mass tourism has long afflicted Venice, with an unpalatable ratio of 370 visitors for every resident per year.

Cultural hotspots are such for a reason–they’re well worth visiting in your lifetime. But maybe reconsider visiting some in 2023.

As a city on the water that is prone to flooding and vulnerable to sea level rises, various measures are being introduced to mitigate the consequences of climate change and also to manage the flow of visitors. In the summer of 2021, large cruise ships (vessels weighing more than 25,000 tonnes) were banned from the historic center to preserve the fragile lagoon ecosystem. Starting in 2023, Venice will begin charging an entrance fee of between three and 10 euros which will fluctuate based on demand.

Simone Venturini, who leads the Destination Management Organization of Venice (OGD), told CNN that the move is to encourage overnight tourism and discourage mass tourism during some days. “We want quality over quantity,” he said. “Daily tourists sometimes arrive and consume the city” as opposed to overnight visitors that stay longer and truly get to know it.

Another Italian region grappling with untenable numbers is the Amalfi Coast. A chaotic and crowded experience awaited the hordes of visitors to this hotspot of scenic coastal towns resembling impressionist paintings during the 2022 high season. This resulted in the introduction of an alternate number plate system to ease nightmarish, miles-long traffic jams. Taking inspiration from Colombia’s Pico y Placa traffic policy, drivers with number plates ending with odd numbers could only drive on odd-number dates. Even-number vehicles could only visit on even-number dates when driving between Vietri sul Mare and picturesque Positano.

Angela Infante, deputy mayor of Vietri sul Mare, told CNN the policy is needed. “It’s started again this year—you can’t drive at weekends, people are trapped at home,” she said. “You have to drive incredibly slowly because there are so many cars, and often it’s completely blocked. Apart from anything else, you could have an ambulance [in that traffic] and anything could happen—we have to limit the heavy traffic.”