Visitors Clog Up Kyoto's Public Buses Amid Overtourism
Also today: New minimum energy standards for affordable housing in the US, and the Chicago Bears’ $4.7 billion stadium plan.
A tour guide holding a flag leads a group of tourists in Kyoto. Some 32 million overnight guests visited Kyoto prefecture last year.
Photographer: Buddhika Weerasinghe/BloombergThese days, it’s not uncommon for residents in Kyoto to have to wait for several jam-packed buses to pass before being able to get on themselves. Japan’s ancient capital is in the midst of a tourism boom, and visitors are not only overcrowding attraction sites — but also the bus network that most ordinary residents rely on.
Part of the challenge comes from Kyoto’s size and sprawling layout in which many tourist destinations overlap with areas frequented by residents. Public anger has become so acute that it helped elect Kyoto’s new mayor, whose campaign pledged to fight overtourism. Today on CityLab: Record Tourist Numbers Are Clogging Up Kyoto's Public Transport