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Why Overtourism Could Ruin Your Next Vacation | Suresh Subudhi | TED

When was your last unforgettable trip? Travel industry expert Suresh Subudhi believes joyful moments of connection are the reason we explore the world — but with vacation hotspots overrun and locals pushed to the brink, tourists have become unwelcome guests. Proposing a new way to use technology to stop loving our favorite destinations to death,…

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When was your last unforgettable trip? Travel industry expert Suresh Subudhi believes joyful moments of connection are the reason we explore the world — but with vacation hotspots overrun and locals pushed to the brink, tourists have become unwelcome guests. Proposing a new way to use technology to stop loving our favorite destinations to death, he shows what travel could look like if we got it right. (Recorded at TED@BCG on October 23, 2025)

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19 Comments

19 Comments

  1. @keithbell9348

    August 9, 2026 at 11:14 am

    Nothing here in this comment that other people will not understand nor relate too.
    When my wife and I were younger, we would travel, visit famous places and WE were had no problem with huge crowds.
    Our view was- the more the people, the more we want to get there because there must be something there worth seeing.
    Now we are older.
    Now when we travel to see places that we haven’t seen:
    if its a weekend- that is a day we relax at the airbnb, or hotel. If its a Monday- Thursday we visit. We do not travel duirng holidays, we do not travel during peak seasosn. And if we stay for a week, we break up that 7 day trip accordingly:
    A day to rest and decompress. Next day to act as tourists.
    Folllwing day- rest and relaxation.
    Next day go visit someplace
    So on amd so forth.
    That- for us- makes for a nice vacation

  2. @neilmeiskey5482

    August 9, 2026 at 11:24 am

    I have a limited budget for travel so usually end up at less popular places. The connection as you said is a big deal. My wife and I went to Mazatlan, Mexico years ago during their non-tourist season (very warm!) It was a time when Mexicans traveled. Early one evening we were approached by two gentlemen to dine at their restaurant near the beach. They were both learning English and wanted to chat with us. After our dinner they asked if they could join us at our table, such a memorable evening. We shared where we are from, our careers and some family information. They shared with us as well, even described how the illegal drug trade functioned and how they stay clear of that. It was a great evening. We learned a lot and good they learned from us as well.

  3. @sharibigay4712

    August 9, 2026 at 11:50 am

    Yeah I’m 65 and have never been on a vacation/trip even close to this. It’s just not in the budget. But I do feel sorry for the residents of those areas having to put up with a bunch of people tramping through their city, while trying to live their everyday life.

  4. @SteVeL_318

    August 9, 2026 at 11:53 am

    Traveling and complaining there are too many tourists is peak self entitlement. We’re all part of the problem.
    And the solution suggested is overly idealistic and not practical. I would love an unexpected experience but if I traveled to Egypt and didn’t get to see the pyramids I guarantee you it wouldn’t be a joyful trip.

    • @homewall724

      August 9, 2026 at 6:36 pm

      Perhaps, but people have traveled forever and it’s only now that there are too cheap and tech shows all the “secret” places that it’s been ruined. I mean, we used to camp in places we’d never go now. We used to shoot guns in places that are not suburbs. Remote cabins are now packed.

  5. @doyouguysnothavephones8967

    August 9, 2026 at 12:04 pm

    Don’t worry, in this economy fewer and fewer people will be able to afford travelling going forward.

    • @homewall724

      August 9, 2026 at 6:37 pm

      Many can’t afford to stay home.

  6. @Mrlogboy-1

    August 9, 2026 at 12:46 pm

    The thinking behind this TED talk is too fold. One is absolutely legitimate when you go to Japan as an example don’t go to Tokyo travel an hour to outside of Tokyo to a popular or not popular destination for locals I’ve seen lots of people on YouTube to do this, and these places are dead we’re the only other“white people “ are themselves. So going off the beaten trail, trying different places other than the main tourist places for now is very legitimate.

    The part I had to push back hard on is you’re preaching to the choir. You need to preface this TED talk by saying I’m talking to companies, corporations and employers as well as school board and colleges universities. If we’re focusing on America from the majority of the part, they are specific time of the year seasonal and otherwise when you have time off and so does everybody else and there are quite a few other countries that have mimic America’s time off. If you don’t have children, and if you’re with an employer, that is much more flexible than this is golden. A few years ago I went to Hong Kong the second and or third week of September September is when people in Hong Kong go back to school go back to work. The summer is over. In ordinary populous downtown places after work hours it was kind of busy on weekends. It was kind of busy Monday through Friday-ish during the day. It was quiet we went to Disneyland Hong Kong. It was absolutely dead or we could just walk on a ride or an event again and again and again characters walking around would actively come up and walk around with us cause they’re kind of bored so we were in frozen land and Elsa and Anna were talking with us for like 30 minutes cause we were the only ones there. Hahaha. And during the week we went to other tourist destinations that were very quiet Ish. A big percentage of the American population does not have this luxury and after Covid, a lot of employers companies, corporations quietly or not pretty much say don’t care your title should be why over tourism could ruin the next vacation for your employees and put them in a bad mood. Their response would be oh well.
    This is a be careful what you wish for you just might get it and as other people have said due to circumstances, prices are going up a lot. I have a vacation this fall that my airline tickets are now $300 more per ticket if I bought it today, but I bought it approximately 6 to 8months ago and so it was $300 per ticket cheaper so this problem. So there might be some relief to this problem as prices go up but times of the year when people go that’s pretty much locked in.

    • @iemjay

      August 9, 2026 at 1:13 pm

      You can go to Tokyo. I’ve been there three times. My wife lives there. It’s just a matter of picking the right time of the year, namely, not on holidays, where everyone else has a day off. There are times that I walked down the streets in Tokyo and the streets were completely silent. That said, I think a lot of people presume that Tokyo will be overcrowded so they go to somewhere like Osaka. You can’t get anywhere in Osaka. That’s far worse than Tokyo..

  7. @CA-sl2xw

    August 9, 2026 at 1:14 pm

    The idea of invasion being called overtourism is annoyingly clever in a wicked way.

  8. @StevieWonders2020

    August 9, 2026 at 1:16 pm

    Why no link[s] to volunteer organizations?

  9. @matthewjay660

    August 9, 2026 at 1:48 pm

    Do like Kyoto: tourist tax everything heavily. Tax hotel rooms, restaurants, souvenirs, tourist attractions, taxis, public transportation, entry visa, exit visa, even bureaux de change.

  10. @welcome.421

    August 9, 2026 at 2:18 pm

    TED❤🌿help me for better again🙏🏼

  11. @DHA17396

    August 9, 2026 at 2:37 pm

    It gets worse if overtourism ruins one’s daily life. And yes it does, if you happen to live in a touristic area. You can’t take a step outside without stumbling into some huge groups of photo shooting selfcentered social-media-idiots.

  12. @lores996

    August 9, 2026 at 2:56 pm

    I am a citizen of Florence / Firenze. STOP COMING! The only way to save the city from over tourism is reducing the afflux of tourists, nothing else will solve the issue, nothing! The city can’t go on with million of tourist each year. Go visit other beautiful little known cities in the world, avoid Florence, DON’T COME HERE!

  13. @fleurmethemaluuheerulff6210

    August 9, 2026 at 3:56 pm

    We got be able to travle back in time…1980ties were amazing…
    Everyone or almost everyone need pictures to their socialmedia nowadays such a same..i stopped travel years ago…

  14. @stereoroid

    August 9, 2026 at 4:35 pm

    A couple of years ago I went to the Netherlands, but *not* to Amsterdam since I’d heard so much about overtourism. The Hague was great, though, the nearby beaches are underrated.

  15. @chasmenear7130

    August 9, 2026 at 5:13 pm

    ‘Overtourism’?! Wake up buddy. Most people are simply attempting to EAT. Gentrification….geez.

  16. @chasmenear7130

    August 9, 2026 at 5:16 pm

    Sorry…The Government already ruined my next vacation….

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