118 - We need to retire Overtourism
Back from a big summer break! Overtourism is a problem - especially the word itself. What is the role of Taste? The age of brutal PR strategies. and more
Hello,
I took a few weeks off and figured I’d take a break from the newsletter as well. We did a “Grand Tour” of Italy visiting Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio and Campagna. Some ultra summarized takeaways on Italian culture: more chilled, better dressed, better food. Sometimes we judge countries by their GDP per capita. But maybe we should just go there, experience it and notice that people are actually doing good and love their culture. End of takeaway.
And with that, here’s the newsletter - don’t forget to check out the column about Overtourism.
Best, Martin
Sponsored by Klairhaus. Support the newsletter, treat someone to great office gadgets.
Speed + Taste = Wins
To build taste, try, fail, adjust, repeat. And if you do that with speed, you win. I remember working with an actual graphic designer who was way faster than me on InDesign (in my paper days) but kept making taste errors. I made them too, but at least I noticed them. Gradually trying, failing, correcting and repeating I got better. One’s ability to apply taste grows by doing. Then there’s speed, uncertainty and doubt are the best ways to wait a bit. Iterate fast, embrace the fact that a lot of your work will suck, but just keep working and shipping then start winning. It’s been said a thousand times, but it is still the key difference. I think everyone cringes a bit on the stuff they shipped in the past (imagine how it is for tattoo artists).
BRILLIANT THOUGHTS ON THIS
Creative Inspiration for Hotels
There are a handful of people who are building bridges between the creative world and the hotel world. Often it is for architects or interior designers. When it comes to marketing - our industry is often re-hashing the same (though efficient) conversations about OTAs vs Direct, Meta search, Google Ads, Website conversion rates. But what if we looked a bit further and got inspired by some taste makers? I like how both of these resources look beyond our industry and share bigger ideas.
LUXURY+BRANDING and SOCIETIES BENCHMARK⁺
About me: I'm a fractional CMO for large travel technology companies helping turn them into industry leaders. I'm also the co-founder of 10minutes.news a hotel news media that is unsensational, factual and keeps hoteliers updated on the industry. Travel tech innovates in Europe
I’ve wondered about this for some time, it seems most of the travel tech innovation tends to happen in Europe. Maybe because the market is much more fragmented, which makes it easier for startups to find customers. Maybe because the travel industry is such a big part of the European GDP. Despite most of the VC and capital being in the US and Europe not being a startup friendly culture - great to see some wins.
EUROPEAN TRAVEL TECH INNOVATION
Is AI the New Backbone of Hotel Operations?
No it isn’t. Not yet at least. There’s a lot of hype out there of what AI will do for hotels, and while I’m a huge fan of Generative AI, I still haven’t seen a lot of real applications in hotel operations. I’m not saying they wont happen, they’re just no here yet. Can we make the whole check-in process take seconds instead of minutes? Can we totally eliminate the check-out process? Can we make staff instantly recognize every guest or at least know if it is their first time at the hotel or not? These aren’t impossible problems - AI can fix a lot of them. But is it really a priority?
AI IN HOTEL OPERATIONS
Taste, can AI replace it?
Content is no longer the problem. Too much content is a growing problem. Is taste the solution? And can AI replace it? On a technical level there’s no reason that machine learning can’t curate with the same level of accuracy as a human. Many curated newsletters are AI managed. I use AI to pre-filter for this newsletter but it’s never quite right. Design of interiors, digital products, retail outlets and product selections need taste, when all the systemic elements are included - taste is that little illogical bit that makes it special. I still believe that no machine will ever replace a human with great taste. But maybe I’m just being romantic.
IMPORTANCE OF TASTE
Nike’s Attempted Cultural Comeback
Nike is working on a much needed strategic comeback with a bold marketing campaign and product revitalization. Under the new CEO and CMO their “So Win” Super Bowl campaign is a step in the direction. My personal opinion about Nike’s positioning that worked was “the brand of winners”. IMO it never was a activist brand (contrary to brands like Patagonia which are excellent activist brands). Probably a simplistic view. Maybe branding is best when it is simple?
NIKE CULTURAL COMEBACK
Brutal vs Aesthetic PR
It seems we’re going through the “brutal public relations”-era. Finesse, clever double-entendres, aesthetic messaging are out of vogue for the moment. Brutal PR works well in a way (much faster), but it doesn’t grow relationships or build positive sentiment. It is more of the slap in the face PR. Even though it has it’s uses and sometimes is the right strategy - I’m not a big fan. Nothing beats a visionary PR campaign like Think Different, or Think Small that used positive ideas to change the way millions viewed a brand, product or situation. Or even Iceland’s “Inspired by Iceland” post-volcano campaign.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL DELAYS vs INSPIRED BY ICELAND
Podcast: I was invited to talk about AI in hospitality on this podcast, along with many other great industry thought leaders. A great discussion, we didn't agree on everything. Which made it more interesting. Opinion
No, it’s not “Overtourism”
Two weeks on the road in Italy, from Milan to Naples, will teach you many things. For one, gelato is great at any time. But more importantly, it forces you to confront a term that’s been floating around travel discourse for years: overtourism.
It’s a phrase I think we need to retire. Not because crowds in Amalfi aren’t real (oh, they very much are) but because the word frames tourism as the villain. That’s short-sighted. Tourism is how we build bridges between cultures. It’s how we learn that “different” is not “wrong.” It’s how we see, in real life, that another culture can have an entirely different set of priorities and still be thriving.
The problem isn’t that there are too many tourists. The problem is that they’re all in the same places at the same time. Ten minutes by boat from Amalfi is Minori: a beautiful beach town, relaxed, friendly, with a mix of Italians and international visitors. No gridlock, no cruise ships offloading thousands. Meanwhile, Amalfi is bursting at the seams, largely because of its branding success.
This is a distribution issue, and it’s solvable. We already have the tools: AI, data platforms, and smart content targeting, that can guide visitors toward equally great but lesser-known destinations. Imagine dynamic recommendations that push travelers to nearby towns during peak hours, or highlight festivals in neighboring villages. Instead of funneling everyone to the “top 5” list TripAdvisor’s algorithm happens to love, we could design systems that spread demand across a region.
AI can make this smarter. Predictive models could anticipate crowd surges, reroute tour buses, or package itineraries that combine headline destinations with hidden gems. That’s good for local economies, good for visitor experience, and good for preserving what makes these places worth visiting in the first place.
So let’s stop saying “overtourism” as if the solution is fewer people experiencing the world. As I keep saying (and strongly believe) tourism fuels economies, deepens cultural understanding, and makes the world a little less “us versus them.” The challenge is not demand: it’s distribution. Call it “under-distributed tourism,” “tourism bottlenecking,” “Destination imbalance,” or something catchier, but let’s make the conversation about balancing the distribution, not blaming the people who are going out of their way to see other cultures.
Because yes, Amalfi for an afternoon by boat is delightful. But so is Minori for three days. The world (and Italy) has more than enough beauty to go around.
Really great point about the negative connotation of the term “overtourism.” Certainly the “too many people in the same place at the same time” is the real issue 👏. Also I agree that AI can’t truly replace great taste!
Here's a weird piece of information. Skift one of the travel industry's largest medias claims to have invented the word. They even trademarked the term.
Trademark application: https://trademarks.justia.com/872/57/overtourism-87257024.html
Article: https://skift.com/2018/08/14/the-genesis-of-overtourism-why-we-came-up-with-the-term-and-whats-happened-since