G rappling with suitcases and rucksacks, the bewildered-looking crowd that piled off the train and onto the platform at Manarola, the second smallest of the five picturesque villages that make up Italy’s the Cinque Terre , could hardly move. But still the jovial Italian steward ushering them into a single file and towards the station’s narrow exit was telling them to hurry up. “Quick .
.. Manarola needs more tourists!” she said in English.
Barely registering her irony, the visitors picked up the pace of their shuffle before dispersing towards the tiny marina to capture an Instagram-perfect photo on the rugged riviera coastline. There was a time when Manarola’s year-round population, which has dwindled over the years to about 350, could take a peaceful afternoon nap. “Older people like me were used to having a sleep at around four o’clock,” said Giancarlo Cielano, 80, as he nostalgically recalled his siestas of a bygone area.
“But then, as more people came, we just couldn’t do it anymore. There were these constant voices and suitcases being rolled along the streets..
.we could no longer hear the sound of the sea.” From Venice and Dubrovnik to Bali and Alaska, managing mass tourism is a dilemma facing many popular global destinations.
In Italy, 2023 was a record year, with foreigners making up the vast majority of visitors for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic. Great for the country’s coffers, not so good for the coveted hotspots struggl.
