tourism

Global tourism is a booming industry. But in a growing number of places around the world, the surge in tourism is too much of a good thing.

Venice has been depopulated as year-round residents have fled its historic canals – where they’re now vastly outnumbered by tourists. In the Philippines, the once pristine beaches of the country’s famed Boracay Island were closed for months recently to allow them to recover from the effects of 6 million annual visitors.

In Amsterdam, the crowds are so bad the Dutch tourism board has stopped promoting the city all together – and now encourages people to visit elsewhere.

On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at the spread of this problem – and how tourism sites around the world are trying to adapt.

Next week, a first time cross-state bicycle ride launches. Leaders in small Missouri towns along the route are understandably eager to see the economic impacts of 1,000-plus riders cruising through town and spending their soggy dollars.

As a 5-piece band wound its way through an acoustic set of music, guests slowly shuffled into the “Inside the Walls” festival at the Missouri State Penitentiary. To the southwest, the main entrance to the prison towered over the festival.

Charles Vaughan used to live in a house across the street. He remembers the 1954 riots, which were the worst in the history of the penitentiary. Vaughan remembers his dad and brother were on top of a nearby building with guns.

“There was a big fire going on," he said. "My mom was keeping me in the house which upset me because I wanted to get on the roof and my mom was piling furniture right in front of the front door.”

But now the penitentiary looks much lonelier. Its paint peels. Some of its buildings have been torn down. In fact — of those that remain, some parts are even off limits to tours – this is due to a process Steve Picker calls “demolition by neglect.” He’s the former executive director of the Jefferson City Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.