Some of the world's most popular natural destinations, attracting millions of people around the world with their beauty, have been struggling with an influx of visitors increasingly seeking remote and outdoorsy places in the post-pandemic era of travel. .
“This longing for simplicity has extended to travel,” social media platform Pinterest (PAWS) he recently wrote in his 2024 Summer Travel Report. “Since last year, searches for 'quiet places' and 'quiet places' have increased 50% and 42% respectively.” While it's often a transformative experience for travelers, that change invariably puts a strain on remote destinations that often don't have enough people to clean up after such a large number of visitors.
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In an effort to combat overcrowding, several US national parks have begun introducing a time-slotted entry system in which visitors, during the popular summer season, must go online and choose a time at which who plan to enter.
Are you coming to Mount Fuji? The rules for hiking the most popular trail are changing.
Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state, Zion National Park in Utah and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado have launched or brought back a slotted entry system from last year. Doing so gives park authorities a chance to see how many visitors come and cut off entry if the park becomes too crowded.
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Thousands of miles away, Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan also announced that those interested in visiting Mount Fuji's Yoshida Trail between July 1 and September 10 will need to register their spots. Each day will be limited to 4,000 hikers who will be able to enter the 12,300-foot volcano's most popular trail; 3,000 of those spots will open for online reservations a few weeks before the date for a fee of 2,000 yen (approximately $13 USD), while the other 1,000 will be reserved for day reservations and group tours.
The goal is also to combat overcrowding that has worsened significantly in recent years; The slot system will limit the number of visitors to what the area can handle as determined by park authorities.
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'Excess tourism and its consequences is the biggest problem facing Mount Fuji'
“Overtourism – and all the subsequent consequences such as litter, increased CO2 emissions and reckless hikers – is the biggest problem facing Mount Fuji,” said Masatake Izumi, a Yamanashi government official. said to CNN in 2023.
Mount Fuji was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013 and has since received even greater numbers of tourists from outside Japan. The country's Environment Ministry estimates that 221,322 tourists arrived in the area in 2023 and that number has increased since the country began opening up to international visitors in 2022.
While most come just to hike Yoshida, there are also opportunities to spend the night on Mount Fuji by reserving a special camping hut or hiking additional trails such as Fujinomiya, Subashiri, and Gotemba. Visitors accessing Mount Fuji from Shizuoka Prefecture have been asked since 2014 to make a donation of 1,000 yen (approximately US$6.4) which is redirected to a cleanup and environmental protection fund.
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