379 Overtourism and What We Can Do About It

Can you imagine that we didn't used to talk about overtourism? It's really only a decade since this word entered common usage but it seems we hear about it constantly now. In this episode I chat with two guests who have great perspectives to add on this issue, and I also share some tips on how we can deal with overtourism as travellers. First up, I chat with Christine Newell, who spent a year living in Seoul, South Korea, before it became a big deal on the international tourist radar. She talks about how it has changed over the past two decades and gives examples of mitigation efforts like curfews keeping tourists out of particularly affected areas. I then speak with Bex Thomas, who started giving serious thought to issues like overtourism and economic leakage in tourism some years back when she and her friend made an effort to book locally to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. She highlights how being more mindful about our tourist time and dollars can also lead to a better travelling experience - win-win! Finally, some tips on how we can deal with overtourism to both make our own trips better and impact the places we visit positively instead of negatively - drawing on my own experiences and a great blog post from Erin Hynes. Links: Christine Newell - Christine's book Five Seasons in Seoul - Bex Thomas - Sabbatical Stories Podcast - Community Back Pocket - Erin's post on overtourism - Erin's post on economic leakage - Episode 378 Seoul Trip Report - Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - Show notes: *Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Support the show:

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379 Overtourism and What We Can Do About It is an episode from The Thoughtful Travel Podcast by Amanda.

This episode is 25:42 long.

This episode was published on Jan 21, 2026.

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