The Coronavirus: Good for Tourism in Less Touristy Cities?

Most people who have traveled this summer have gone where there are few other tourists.

Well, there are some exceptions… below is a video of the red light district in my city Amsterdam – still horribly crowded despite the presence of lots of police, good policies like one-way walking only, and the closing of streets when it gets too crowded.

I hope these tourists had a good time in my city of course, but I can imagine they might want to travel elsewhere next time. And I wouldn’t mind.

At Spotted by Locals, we think more people will want to keep traveling to less touristy cities in the future. Locals, as well as travelers who have stayed in touristy cities, will have experienced how harmful overtourism can be and how wonderful cities can be without the tourist crowds. And partially thanks to the coronavirus crisis, more people realize that spending their money at locally-owned businesses, especially in developing countries, can have a positive impact.

Locals and tourists in Venice July 2020 (by Sterling Lanier)

Since we started Spotted by Locals in 2008, it’s been our mission to get people to places where they meet locals instead of just other tourists. And we took this mission a step further a few years ago. All the new city guides launched on Spotted by Locals since 2018 have been for cities that will benefit greatly from receiving more tourists (like Beirut, Cairo, Chisinau, Podgorica, Prishtina, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tbilisi, Tashkent, Tirana, Yerevan… full list here!).

Kyiv (by Victor Xok)

As for most companies in the travel industry, also for Spotted by Locals it’s now a difficult time. But we are hopeful for the future, knowing that we’re one of the few city guide networks focused on undiscovered cities and that we have an amazing community of 500 Spotters in 80+ cities behind us!

Want to help Spotted by Locals through this crisis? Consider paying for a city guide in our app. Or – if you like our locals’ tips & app – reviewing and rating our app. Direct review links: Apple App Store & Android Google Play.