“When it’s done right, tourism can be beneficial for conservation, preserving the environment and helping people become stewards of the environment,” she said.
Striking a Balance
In Copenhagen, one of Europe’s fastest-growing tourist destinations, residents are also protective. Paolo Savi, a 43-year-old publicist who moved to Copenhagen from Helsingborg, Sweden, said that he and his friends don’t mention their favorite beaches and parks on social media because posts about the city have a way of going viral.
“We try to have a balance between what we decide to tell people and what we keep to ourselves,” Mr. Savi said. He said that his go-to beach was once grassy and quiet, with little development and few tourists, but now it is always busy.
Lately, he said, he’s come to accept that nothing can be kept secret forever. On a walk through his neighborhood park in the Frederiksberg area, he heard more American accents than in years past.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, they’re coming here now,’” he said. “They’re discovering it now. It’s going to be part of their itineraries.”
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