Locals in Edinburgh are raising the alarm on over-tourism, with overcrowding, excessive noise and the proliferation of souvenir shops causing growing discontent.
The Scottish city, famous for its Fringe Festival, JK Rowling and Edinburgh Castle, is the latest destination to raise its voice against unsustainable tourist numbers after places like Barcelona, Amsterdam and Venice.
A report prepared by the city's Culture and Communities Committee details some of the negative impacts of rising tourism on local "normal life," including the proliferation of souvenir shops at the expense of retail offers for local residents and excess noise levels from open-top bus tours, "amplified" walking tour guides, concerts and street buskers.
Likewise, bottle-neck overcrowding in both the Old Town and New Town has resulted in pavement overcrowding during peak tourist seasons, the report notes, with pedestrians shuffling elbow to elbow along popular areas like Princes Street.
In August, 2017, a footfall counter clocked an average of 45,000 people per day, more than double the average from June.
Last summer, Edinburgh Castle -- the city's most popular paid-for attraction -- broke the 2 million visitor record. Congestion and peak numbers have prompted the Castle to introduce capacity time slots and liaise more closely with cruise ship operators.
Edinburgh is the top UK destination after London, attracting more than 4.1 million visits a year and £1.46 billion (about US $2.07 billion) in visitor spending.
The concerns are identified as part of an Edinburgh tourism action plan report, which details some of the city's tourism targets, including the increase of visitors by one-third by 2030.
But as the report notes, to avoid becoming a victim of its own success like Barcelona, Amsterdam and Venice, the key is to manage tourism growth sustainably, particularly if they want to maintain their UNESCO World Heritage Status.
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