cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/19371857
I’m curious to learn about places around the globe that have a significant amount of underutilized tourism infrastructure. In many cases, I suspect that governments are propping up unsustainable tourism operators or investing in tourism with a “build it and they will come” mentality.
Here are a few examples that I’m aware of:
Qatar - The country has an oversupply of hotels relative to the number of visitors, and its tourism economy heavily relies on layover tours due to the strength of Qatar Airways’ network.
Saudi Arabia - In an effort to diversify its economy away from oil, the country is pushing a massive tourism development agenda, despite having many factors that make it less appealing to visitors. Religious tourism seems to be a primary focus.
North Korea - For obvious reasons… For example, only a few floors of the Ryugyong Hotel are ever occupied.
Northern Japan (Aomori, Akita, Sendai) - These places are heavily fueled by domestic tourism, and are basically deserted for half of the year (despite attractions and so on still functioning).
To clarify, I’m not looking for hidden gems or places that are simply underrated travel destinations. Instead, I’m interested in learning about locations where there is a clear mismatch between the available tourism infrastructure and the actual number of visitors.
I want to find places where I might end up being the only visitor to a museum or one of few tourists on an airport bus. The fact that these museums and airport limo buses even exist is where the question stems from.
I think Greenland will fit the premise of your question in a few years.
There’s not a ton of tourism infrastructure yet, but there are currently a lot of subsidies going into roads, airports, lodging, etc. to induce more tourism.
https://traveltrade.visitgreenland.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Strategi-EN-feb2021.pdf
This is a great find. I remember about a year ago, people were speculating that Air Greenland was going to become a partner of Air Canada - my hopes were dashed when that didn’t materialize.
I’d definitely like to go there someday too–it’s just a bit too remote for me at the moment.
I can see its tourism becoming what Iceland was like 15-20 years ago.
I’m in South Greenland atm and it’s just amazing! No tourists, no tours, no souvenirs just incredible nature and huge mountains. I’ve not been to Iceland yet, but the nature here is just so amped up it’s insane. Bonus icebergs floating around all year!
Those are the exact things I’m looking for (just waiting for a few more roads to connect towns). I’m glad to hear it’s living up to the expectations I’ve heard of!
I went to Iceland a couple years ago and the landscapes are amazing, but there are definitely areas where you run into a lot of tourists, busses, etc.
I’m visiting the Faroe Islands later this year and I’m hoping to experience some rugged landscapes in relative isolation there too.
There will never be roads to connect towns, there’s too many mountains. Best take a boat or a helicopter 🚁. Definitely have Faroe on my bucket list too.
I would have thought so too, but they’re working on at least one. Although you’re right about a lot of places being unfeasible–anything more than dirt/gravel in a very limited number of communities would be cost prohibitive.
I feel like they actually could attract a reasonable number of adventure tourists who can’t afford a charter plane.