Why overtourism could ruin your next vacation | Suresh Subudhi
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 June 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
When was your last unforgettable trip? Travel industry expert Suresh Subudhi believes joyful moments of connection are the reason we explore the world — but with vacation hotspots overrun and locals pushed to the brink, tourists have become unwelcome guests. Proposing a new way to use technology to stop loving our favorite destinations to death, he shows what travel could look like if we got it right.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. |
| 0:09.0 | I'm your host, Elise Hugh. |
| 0:11.0 | There's a growing chasm between travelers to thought-after destinations and the people who actually live in those places. |
| 0:18.0 | We are loving our favorite destinations to death. |
| 0:23.1 | We are overrunning them. |
| 0:24.9 | And residents are pushing back because it's impacting their livability. |
| 0:28.8 | That's travel industry researcher Suresh Sibouti, |
| 0:32.0 | who has spent more than 20 years studying the relationship |
| 0:35.3 | between the places we love and the people who actually live in them. |
| 0:39.2 | He says that the travelers and the residents who host them are on a collision course. |
| 0:44.4 | But with technology and small behavior shifts, things don't have to be that way. |
| 0:49.3 | In your next trip, will you be tourists or a joyful guest? |
| 0:53.8 | It's time we bring joy back in travel. |
| 0:57.7 | How? It's coming up right after a short break. |
| 1:06.9 | And now our TED Talk of the Day. |
| 1:09.9 | Last July, I was in Rome. |
| 1:13.2 | I walked from my hotel to the travi fountain on the Kabul streets lined with beautiful cafes, |
| 1:22.4 | bustling with residents and travelers, drinking their espressoes and cheering and greeting each other. |
| 1:30.3 | Small souvenir shops selling beautiful replicas of the Colosium, the Sistine Chapel |
| 1:36.3 | ceiling paintings. |
| 1:38.3 | What an atmosphere. |
| 1:40.3 | I soaked it all in, reached the Trevi F fountain, grabbed my favorite pistachio gelato, and looked |
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