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Welcome back to Climate. Change.

I'm Jack and I edit our reporting on climate and nature at Context. In this new version of the newsletter, I'll be looking at a different topic each month to understand how environmental issues are transforming people’s lives around the world.

This month we're looking at (over)tourism.

I'm still reeling from the finale of "The White Lotus". Even if you haven’t seen the popular TV show, you've probably heard people like me drone on about it.

The drama's latest season is set in a five-star resort on Thailand's Koh Samui island. Its ugly scenes clash with a lush, tranquil environment.

But famous movies and TV shows in pristine locations are leaving behind real-life ugly scenes as more and more people visit these hotspots.

From waste pile-ups to water shortages, local communities and natural ecosystems are suffering from a growing problem: overtourism.

So what can be done? I reached out to Tim Williamson, joint managing director of the holiday company Responsible Travel, which sees itself as an antidote to overtourism.

Popular TV and films "can become something of a poisoned chalice for a destination, particularly in the age of social media amplification," Williamson told me.

He said many of these destinations are not ready for the influx facing them, as "cheap flights, huge cruise liners and social media influence" has intensified overtourism – often to very specific locations like a beach or bridge.

That's certainly the case in Thailand. In a mini-documentary for Context, my colleague Ranel Felix reported on The White Lotus Effect threatening Koh Samui. 

Previous seasons of "The White Lotus" led to a surge in tourism to filming locations in Hawaii and Sicily, and the third instalment is expected to be no different.

The island is already enduring a drought and trash crisis exacerbated by tourism, with huge mounds of rubbish waiting to be shipped to the mainland.

"At the moment, we have to admit that we’re not yet stable enough to support (the tourists)," Koh Samui Mayor Ramnate Chaikwang told us.

But tourism also promises economic growth, as does the tens of millions of dollars from Hollywood production companies. The tourism sector makes up 12% of Thailand's economy.

As always, these dilemmas throw up more questions. Should locals be denied those economic opportunities? How much tourism is too much?

"The White Lotus" isn’t the first time Hollywood stars have frolicked around Thailand’s beaches. Leonardo DiCaprio’s aptly named "The Beach" in 2000 was set in Maya Bay on the island of Phi Phi Leh.

The film was mauled by critics, which has put me off watching it. But it certainly didn’t deter millions of tourists travelling to the bay and devastating the local ecosystem.

So much so that authorities were forced to shut it completely in 2018 to protect and revive local coral reefs. It was reopened with restricted numbers in 2022.

For those working in tourism, finding ways to make the business more sustainable may help to protect nature while avoiding the need to completely shut it down.

Responsible Travel's Williamson says one solution is to introduce local tourist taxes which can be reinvested into conservation projects.

"We use local services (and) infrastructure, we enjoy their natural spaces. Residents shouldn’t have to pay for our impacts," he said.

At Context, we've been exploring some of these potential fixes, from a "climate resilience fee" paid by tourists in Greece to bolstering Indigenous rights in Bali.

More recently, on a trip to Siargao island in the Philippines, Mariejo Ramos found that sustainable tourism itself is helping to protect crucial mangrove forests.

After decades of environmental damage from illegal deforestation and harmful fishing - including the use of dynamite - locals once involved in those activities now make a more lucrative income from tourist boat tours.

Home to the Filipino surfing capital Del Carmen, the area's mangroves have been growing back, and the Del Carmen Mangrove Reserve was internationally recognised last year under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

But as more people visit, increasing threats of marine debris and plastic pollution loom large.

As in "The White Lotus," there could be trouble in paradise.

See you next time,

Jack