A few places are already trying this. Venice will soon start charging people to come to the city for day trips. New Zealand has introduced a tourist tax. Various other European countries and cities have implemented or plan to implement taxes on hotels and other overnight accommodation. This is a simple application of congestion pricing, the textbook economics solution to the problem of overcrowding.
The inevitable rise of congestion pricing will be bad news for the emerging global middle class. It means that the dream of cheap globetrotting will never be for everyone -- at least, not if you want to go to famous places. Trips to premium destinations such as Venice will eventually become things only the well-off can afford. There will be more tourists than in the age before air travel and the internet, but tourism may never become as ubiquitous a middle-class luxury as sliced bread or automobiles.
The world is big, but it isn’t big enough to be everyone’s personal playground.
This opinion piece was provided by Bloomberg News.