In the years since mass tourism emerged in the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of people have been able to go on holiday every year, keeping the sector on a healthy economic footing. Recently renamed “overtourism”, it now seems to be reaching its limits. Research shows that this form of tourism is gradually losing its appeal. Why? Because of the growing awareness of its damaging effects and, for some people, the desire for truly authentic experiences. From paddling with penguins to transporting cheese on mule-back, the choices are endless. A quick tour of what’s on offer…

Depending on the destinations, the continuous flow of holidaymakers, encouraged by a growing array of low-cost flights, is steadily growing. This trend is borne out by figures from the World Tourism Organisation: international tourist arrivals worldwide increased 7% in 2017, representing a total of 1.322 billion people. In an attempt to regulate them more effectively, municipalities have decided to take action, following in the footsteps of Venice: the Italian city is imposing an entrance fee on visitors starting this summer. The movement is also winning over a category of travellers in search of the authenticity provided by “experiences”.

But what exactly is it about? Last October, Dutch website Booking.com conducted a survey on tourist expectations. It revealed a number of interesting trends, such as a focus on experience, with 60% of people questioned saying they wanted to “undergo an experience during a trip”. Although no exact definition of this type of experience-centred tourism, also called experiential travel, yet exists, it is characterised by the desire for an alternative form of travel – the antithesis of the package tours on offer from tour operators. Among other choices, experiential travellers prefer to sleep in people’s homes, opt for reduced and sustainable consumption and take part in local activities and social initiatives. The underlying principle is contact with local communities: making efforts to meet them, share with them and respect their lifestyles.

Participative tourism

Participative tourism would seem to be an ideal option for anyone looking for a more authentic way of travelling. This type of tourism is rooted in the desire to establish ties between visitors and locals within a non-commercial framework. “Come as a guest, leave as a friend” proclaims the Greeters website. The Greeters are volunteers, part of a worldwide community, who offer to take visitors on free walks around their city in an excellent, low-cost way of really getting to know local culture.

The concept is far from new – the first Greeters appeared in 1992 in New York in a movement initiated by American Lynn Brooks. This collaborative initiative is growing increasingly popular in France, which has not taken long to become the country with the highest number of Greeters organisations worldwide. And the figures keep going up – 31 in July 2014 and 50+ in 2017! It’s a sign that collaborative tourism is really thriving.

Themed activities

Inspired directly by Greeters, sites that recommend activities with locals are proliferating online. Like a local, for example, offers you the chance to explore a city with “real locals” and thus “skip the tourist traps”. All capital and major cities are represented, with varying numbers of options. Most of them sell museum tours, walks and courses in local traditional cuisine. Online giants TripAdvisor, Expedia and Booking.com are getting in on the act and adding to the usual attractions and excursions with themed activities run by individuals now featuring on their platforms. Just the sort of thing to add a touch of authenticity that contrasts with the tour operator package deals already present on the sites.

In Switzerland, for example, the Dzin platform – the name means people in the Fribourg dialect – “puts local people who want to share their passion, their craft or their love for the region in touch with visitors who are seeking interaction, authenticity and new experiences.” The platform puts the focus very much on authenticity, offering activities such as transporting Alpine cheese on mule-back and a workshop for making Bénichon mustard followed by a tasting session with organic cuchaule saffron bread.

Municipalities and tourist offices are also keeping pace. In a bid to reduce congestion in certain areas, Paris City Council is planning to encourage tourists to discover other corners of the French capital. As the deputy mayor of Paris in charge of tourism and sports, Jean-François Martins, recently explained to Business Travel, “We want to promote new tourist experiences in Paris at a time when the city is reaching breaking point, it’s swamped. The tourist sites sometimes have too many visitors. Individual clients who have already been to Paris once or twice are looking for authenticity.” The Paris tourist office has chosen Montparnasse as the first testbed for this type of alternative experience. It has organised five themed walks exploring topics such as architecture and ecology, all off the beaten track.

Unique experiences

“Promoting new experiences” is the also the core ethos of Airbnb, the star of accommodation bookings between individuals since 2016. It features activities created and proposed by locals grouped into themes (nature, music, art, nightlife, sport, etc.) under the title Experiences. The service promises to “go beyond typical tours or classes by immersing guests in each host’s unique world.” In other words, it guarantees tourists a one-of-a-kind experience.

Suggested Experiences include paddling with penguins in Cape Town, dining in an artists’ studio in Paris and a vegan taxidermist class in London. That’s a far cry from strolling through New York’s East Village with a local! And Airbnb intends to take the concept of experiences, or even experiments, still further. Tourists will soon be able to take part in activities in categories such as Social Dining, Adventures or Social Impact. The idea is to offer an increasingly broad and unusual selection of “things to do”.

And it’s working. In 2017, Experiences bookings rose by 2,500%. Over 5,000 Experiences are currently on offer in 60 destinations. In France, the service has grown rapidly, with the number of Experiences multiplied by seven in the space of one year. In 2017, Emmanuel Marill, Airbnb France director, stated: “Airbnb Experiences are only just over a year old, but we have already seen them growing 25 times faster than accommodation when the platform was launched.”

So, unique or authentic? All you need to do is sit back and choose the experience that suits you best.