Travel experts have warned that 2024 could rank among the worst years ever for excessive travel.
International tourism reached a record high of almost 1.5 billion in 2019.
Following the Covid pandemic, the global tourism sector has been working to recover with 2023 numbers reportedly accounting for 88 percent of 2019 levels.
Tourism in Asia has been slow to recover but was the world’s second-most popular travel destination after Europe before the pandemic.
But if Asia keeps up its current rate of recovery, more tourists will travel worldwide than the 1.5 billion who visited in 2019, says Sandra Carvao, director of market intelligence and competitiveness at UNWTO.
Ms Carvao told Sky News: “There is a lagging tourism recovery in Asia, which pre-pandemic was the second biggest region in terms of travel after Europe… but if Asia keeps recovering at the rate it has been, the global figure will most probably surpass the 1.5 billion figure we had in 2019.”
The Netherlands has long looked to shore up its lowlands from being subsumed by the North Sea giving rise to the age-old networks of canals and dykes which have proven crucial in holding back both rivers and seawater.
However, this historic struggle seems to be on the brink of being lost in the capital Amsterdam, as years of neglect and mass tourism leave the vibrant city’s canalside street littered with holes and houseboats under threat from collapsing mooring.
Cyclists have even been known to plummet into the water below as the canal path crumbles beneath their wheels.
For the last four years, officials Amsterdam have been restoring crumbling bridges and quay walls.
The local government has set aside millions of euros, to tackle this issue.
By April, officials estimated that between 80 and 125 bridges, and a large stretch of quay walls, would require rehabilitation work over the next 30 years.
Local officials have been criticised for ignored repeated warnings about the state of the city’s bridges and quays.
