Just a few years ago, Albania would have been an exclusive tourist destination. But this summer, the constant search for hidden and convenient corners attracted an avalanche of visitors to the beaches with crystal clear waters. Controversy even arose after a group of influencers criticized the country as a tourist destination. Their reputation: The place was not as idyllic as what they had seen on TikTok. The irony is that it was precisely the videos of other influencers that attracted them.
A recent study shows how the video platform can lead to a sudden increase in the number of visitors to a particular location. Research shows that unlike other social networks, TikTok promotes those who generate many interactions at the same time. This can encourage the sudden popularity of a destination and therefore lead to saturation problems in locations designed for a much smaller influx.
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The aspects that differentiate TikTok from other social networks include its virality and its target audience. “One of TikTok’s key drivers is its younger audience. Destinations that can be classified as cheaper and more accessible to the population are better adapted to the public of this social network,” says Jennifer Mourenza, digital marketing specialist at AccuraCast.
However, the effects also occur in other segments of the population. According to a report from marketing agency MGH, which specializes in tourism, 35% of users of this social network in the US traveled to a new place after seeing it in a TikTok video. Of course, among 25 to 44 year olds the proportion rises to 45%.
It is difficult to say how many people use TikTok to reach destinations that are trending on this social network, such as Albania, whose growth in the tourism sector is undeniable. The country recorded a 26% increase in foreign visitors in July compared to last year’s figures. An increase that is more noticeable outside the central summer months. According to the Albanian Statistics Institute, 45% more international tourists arrived in September, totaling 1.1 million (more than a third of the local population), while visits increased by 94% last January. In the first nine months of the year, the country had 29% more visitors than in the same period in 2022.
However, the study, published by the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, found correlations between numbers on TikTok and data on the ground on Hainan Island in southern China. There, the largest mountain in Jianfengling National Park saw visitors go from 50 in January 2021 to around 400-600 from the following month. This came after posting a video on TikTok that showed the view from the enclave with a spectacular sunrise from a sea of clouds, which received 65,000 likes. Two other attractions near Daguangba Reservoir also suddenly became popular after a video received 29,000 likes.
“TikTok’s algorithm is different and better suited to distributing videos to many people. Greater virality is achieved. TikTok creates waves of popularity that don’t exist on Instagram,” says Jerome Bergerou, Mourenza’s colleague and international director at the AccuraCast agency. Both mention the case of Cornwall’s beaches, which they know well as their headquarters are in London. During the pandemic, visits to this coastal area skyrocketed. “Extremely powerful videos have been released showing spectacular beaches in England that were completely unknown to people. And there was a viral effect,” says Mourenza.
Following the UK lockdown, the influx of tourists seeking sun and sand in Cornwall exploded. It’s not an easy task to figure out which of these tourists came via TikTok and whether they really represented a significant number. Especially at a time when tourism was retreating inland at the expense of international destinations. Although it seems clear that Cornwall’s beaches are popular on TikTok today, be it from the information in the local newspaper CornwallLive or the 26.7 million views that the hashtag #cornwallbeaches has garnered.
Although tourism is typically hailed as an engine of economic prosperity, there are counterparts to this sudden growth. The study on the impact of TikTok on the development of tourist destinations shows that the massive and unexpected arrival of visitors caused problems such as traffic jams, crowds and pollution.
Regarding the consequences that an unforeseen increase in the number of visitors can have, Pedro Bravo, journalist and author of the essay “Excess Baggage (Debate) in Mass Tourism”, points out some important points: “There are public services that are prepared to deal with this to serve a certain part of the population.” that they suddenly look saturated. And by public services we can mean anything from water to cleaning, security or garbage collection. “This also happens in historically saturated places like the Balearic Islands.”
At the locations examined on the island of Hainan, the lack of organized transport options within the national park became clear due to the avalanche of visitors. Also the lack of hiking trails and the impact of private vehicles: more traffic and less safety on the narrow mountain roads. The researchers also found a lack of public toilets, trash cans and eating and drinking options.
According to Bravo, environmental problems are also occurring due to increasing waste generation and, in many cases, greenhouse gas emissions. If there is also a lack of an established hotel infrastructure, there will be an increase in tourist accommodation, which makes living space more expensive for the local population. “These are the same problems that arise with mass tourism. They even appear in places that are theoretically used to mass tourism, such as the Balearic Islands, Amsterdam, Venice, Madrid or Barcelona. “Imagine not even being prepared and all of this suddenly coming at you,” the author emphasizes.
Places like the beaches of Cornwall and Albania are already showing signs of overcrowding. In any case, Bravo points out that the process varies depending on the country and location, since the influx of tourists at the national level requires a prior plan and government involvement. “Countries usually have the tourism infrastructure in place before a wave of tourism occurs. Hotels are needed. In order for more planes to come, negotiations must be held with the airlines and in order for the flights to be cheap, the slots reserved for the airlines must be cheap. Travel agencies also have to include it in their catalog and make price offers. All of this happened before the first TikToker came along,” he explains.
Then comes the advertising for the travel destination, which, why not, could be done on TikTok. In 2022, travel portal Breaking Travel News highlighted Albania’s explosive popularity on TikTok this summer. However, as AccuraCast points out, it’s difficult to know whether there’s paid content behind it or not. They point out that there are two ways to advertise. The first is direct, with advertising. “The other one is more effective. Influencers are used to generate content about the travel destination. These influencers are supposed to explain that they receive money to promote this destination, but often they don’t and it’s not always clear which content is paid and which is organic,” says Bergerou.
In Albania it is clear that airport planning has already taken place before. In 2021, it opened its second international airport in Kukes, alongside the one the capital Tirana already had. And in fact there are plans to build two more in the tourist areas of Saranda and Vlora.
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