How would you feel if you get to Amsterdam, a life long item on your bucket list and you see signs that say “Tourists Go Home” or “Your Vacation is my Nightmare.”

Yikes, that’s happening. In Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice, Cinque Terre and other places around the world. It’s a problem. It’s called OverTourism

What it is ? When too many tourists go to the same place. It causes bad experiences for the tourists, miserable times for the residents, environmental damage, hollowing out of cities, parking issues at National Parks and all kinds of bad stuff.

In a presentation I recently gave at Aquinas College, I reported on some of the causes of OverTourism which include increasing middle class around the world, cheap airfares, cruise ships, millennials in search of experiences, baby boomers fulfilling their bucket lists and on and on. We are a world on-the-go.

An obvious solution is to go to different places. Skip the major tourist destinations around the world. Look for the spots where masses of tourists don’t go.

As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that the trip we took to South America fills that bill. Talk about uninhabited spaces. It’s amazing. While challenging to get to, once you are there, the views are breathtaking and it’s certainly not crowded.

Here are some photos from the trip that make this point. Enjoy!