Rethinking Tourism | Degrowth policies

Right now, we treat tourism like an endless buffet, where the world is just a playground for people with money and passports. This means:

🌍 Ecosystems get trashed so that tourists can have their dream destinations.

🏠 Locals get displaced because landlords would rather rent to tourists than house actual residents.

🏝 Culture gets packaged and sold to visitors, while the people who live there struggle to afford their own homes.

🚫 Tourism shouldn’t be about consumption—it should be about respect, reciprocity, and responsibility.

✅ This policy is about shifting power back to the communities who actually live in these places.

Policy Objective

Right now, we treat tourism like an endless buffet, where the world is just a playground for people with money and passports. This means:

🌍 Ecosystems get trashed so that tourists can have their dream destinations.

🏠 Locals get displaced because landlords would rather rent to tourists than house actual residents.

🏝 Culture gets packaged and sold to visitors, while the people who live there struggle to afford their own homes.

🚫 Tourism shouldn’t be about consumption—it should be about respect, reciprocity, and responsibility.

✅ This policy is about shifting power back to the communities who actually live in these places.

Tourism Policy Instruments 👇

Remember: Policy instruments are the means by which governments can achieve the degrowth goals/objectives we urgently need!

1 - Local Cooperative Ownership – Travel That Serves Communities, Not Corporations 🚊

💡 Translation: Let locals own and control tourism, not foreign investors.

Right now, big hotel chains, international tour operators, and Airbnb landlords are scooping up properties, hiking up prices, and turning entire cities into tourist zones.

🚫 The problem?

Mass tourism concentrates wealth at the top. The profits from tourism flow to a handful of corporations while locals get underpaid, precarious jobs.

Landlords and investors drive out residents. Short-term rentals and luxury developments push out the people who actually live there.

The community has no say—decisions are made based on profit, not local well-being.

📌 How this policy seeks to address this

🏡 Local co-ops own hotels, restaurants, and tour businesses—so money stays in the community.

💰 Tourism profits are reinvested in public services, housing, and conservation instead of disappearing into corporate bank accounts.

🗳 Decisions about tourism are made by the people who live there—not by hotel chains, airlines, or international investors.

💥 Tourism should serve the people who host it—not exploit them.

2 - Prioritise the Right to Live Over the Right to Travel 🛌🏽

💡 Translation: Tourism is a privilege, not a human right.

The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has actually proposed making tourism a human right. Let’s be real:

🚫 This is not about human rights. It’s about guaranteeing the right of wealthy travelers to roam freely, while many can’t even afford housing or basic security.

📌 How this policy seeks to address this

- Redefine tourism as a voluntary act of hosting, not an automatic entitlement.

- Communities should have the power to say no to destructive tourism.

- The well-being of residents, refugees, and ecosystems should come first—not the convenience of travelers.

- Fight the idea that tourism = economic necessity.

- Tourism should be one option among many, not a forced industry that replaces real, sustainable local economies.

- Tax the ultra-rich for their excessive travel.

- The wealthiest fly more, cruise more, and consume more resources—they should pay for the damage.

💥 No one has the “right” to a cheap holiday at the expense of someone else’s home.