Catherine Chaulet warns that over-tourism also threatens the MICE business

# tags: Events , Associations , Meetings Industry

Over-tourism in cities is a threat not only to leisure travel, but also to the MICE segment, warns Catherine Chaulet.

‘The fact that people are so against tourism in cities like Barcelona is much talked about in the media and it scares meeting planners,’ said Chaterine Chaulet, CEO of Global DMC Partners, in a statement to Event Point.

‘Normally, in the MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions] industry, programmes are developed two years in advance. If meeting planners start to hear about problems in a destination, they start to move away from that destination,’ she warned.

For Chatherine Chaulet, ‘the governments of the countries suffering from over-tourism are not paying enough attention to the municipalities that are suffering from this problem, especially on the financial side of the issue’.

‘Countries love tourism, it brings them money, they want to receive more and they welcome low-cost airlines, which bring people, but the infrastructure of the cities is not prepared to manage these flows,’ she warned.

‘Local residents are suffering from the expansion of tourist accommodation, which increases the cost of living, but there is also something we call the invisible burden, which is waste management, water management, protecting and respecting culture. This is not taken into account in many cases,’ emphasised Catherine Chaulet.

‘The money goes to the governments and not necessarily to the municipalities. If we did a PnL [profit and loss analysis] of municipalities in terms of tourism, it would probably show losses,’ argued the CEO of Global DMC Partners.

Catherine Chaulet believes that MICE companies should be involved in discussions with governments to resolve the issue of over-tourism.

‘Countries still want tourists, but they need to manage the flow,’ and Destination Management Companies can help in this process. ‘We have the ability to promote other destinations in the countries. In Portugal, it doesn’t have to be all in Lisbon, it can be in other places. And it can be at different times of the year.’

Luís Canto