People don’t have a problem with “too many tourists” as they do with too many tourists taking up residential space. Tourism is great for the economy, but only a

People don’t have a problem with “too many tourists” as they do with too many tourists taking up residential space. Tourism is great for the economy, but only as long as it doesn’t create negative externalities on other parts of the economy. It’s not so much the rise in tourism that’s the problem as it is the rise in tourists staying in residentially zoned areas. Hosts are renting apartments and then illegally subleasing them for profit, artificially inflating rental prices without a corresponding increase in income. This is an especially large problem in developing countries, where due to geographical arbitrage, tourists can afford to pay way more for an apartment than a resident can.