cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/19371857
I'm curious to learn about places around the globe that have a significant amount of underutilized tourism infrastructure. In many cases, I suspect that governments are propping up unsustainable tourism operators or investing in tourism with a "build it and they will come" mentality.
Here are a few examples that I'm aware of:
Qatar - The country has an oversupply of hotels relative to the number of visitors, and its tourism economy heavily relies on layover tours due to the strength of Qatar Airways' network.
Saudi Arabia - In an effort to diversify its economy away from oil, the country is pushing a massive tourism development agenda, despite having many factors that make it less appealing to visitors. Religious tourism seems to be a primary focus.
North Korea - For obvious reasons... For example, only a few floors of the Ryugyong Hotel are ever occupied.
Northern Japan (Aomori, Akita, Sendai) - These places are heavily fueled by domestic tourism, and are basically deserted for half of the year (despite attractions and so on still functioning).
To clarify, I'm not looking for hidden gems or places that are simply underrated travel destinations. Instead, I'm interested in learning about locations where there is a clear mismatch between the available tourism infrastructure and the actual number of visitors.
I want to find places where I might end up being the only visitor to a museum or one of few tourists on an airport bus. The fact that these museums and airport limo buses even exist is where the question stems from.
Abroad In Japan did a series on northern japanese tourist destinations. And I would absolutely love to visit it some winter just to hang out in onsen for the whole trip
Highly recommend it, especially between the edges of off-season and shoulder season. I went to Fukushima and was basically one of two tourists in town (the other being a Rwandan artist-in-residence). When I was in Sendai in January, the most touristed attraction (Sendai Castle ruins) couldn't have had more than 40 visitors, and I remember taking a $10 airport limo bus to the hotel meant for 55 travelers, and I was the only one on it. I've made it a goal to visit Akita and Aomori in the future.
I live in a very rural town in southern Japan. Japanese people flock to it but i never see any foreign tourists. It's such a picturesque little Japanese village -- Almost out of a fairy tale.
Any advice you might have for wandering off the beaten path into some of these villages?
I think this kind of thing is mostly viable because of the strength of Japan's land transit system.
If off season counts then most anywhere around the European Med from early September to mid October. Things are still open, the weather is great, but the tourists have all gone back to work and their kids to school.
I'd say it counts so long as they aren't basically closing for the off-season.