TikTok Tourism: hidden gems, or harmful trends?

Since its astronomical growth over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, TikTok has given rise to a vast array of trends, ranging from dance challenges to comedy skits. As the world has emerged from the pandemic and countries have started to open back up to tourism, one content category that has rapidly grown in popularity is travel. Videos range from ‘top 10s’ to ‘what I spend in a day’, to recommendations of ‘off the beaten track’ destinations and attractions. Whilst this content can be helpful for stimulating visitor numbers and recovery of tourism industries, it begs the question – does this mass exposure of certain places lead to unwanted attention, and harmful tourism trends?

During a trip to Bali, Indonesia this summer, a friend and I found ourselves frequently turning to TikTok for recommendations on activities to do or places to eat. Up-to-date, easy-to-access content from users of a similar demographic to ourselves was often more appealing than reading dated, prepandemic travel guides. And we were not alone in feeling this: according to data by Statista, in January 2022, ‘explore’ was one of the top 15 most-used hashtags on TikTok worldwide with 245.5 billion views, which has since grown to 500.6 billion views in November 2022. The ubiquity of TikTok as a tool for young travellers means that destinations can experience sudden surges in popularity after being shared on social media. In a paper in March 2022, Wengel et al. described this as the ‘overnight fame’ effect. For instance, in February 2021, after a TikTok – known as Douyin in China – went viral for displaying a mountain viewpoint in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, China, the national park unexpectedly received a sudden growth in visitors, rising from 50 to 500 visitors in less than a month. This put sudden pressure on the park’s existing tourist infrastructure, leading to traffic congestion, crowding and pollution.

The problem with TikTok compared to other social media platforms is that its algorithm popularises content based on user interactions as opposed to follower count, meaning it is harder to predict sudden interest in a destination. Responding to the ‘overnight fame’ effect requires a new form of destination management – one that monitors potential issues of overcrowding and features a rapid response framework to provide additional

TikTok search results for ‘Bali’ on 1 November 2022 BackgroundimagesourcedfromNiklasTinner,Unsplash infrastructure such as parking, catering, bins and toilets in the event of sudden popularity. Issues of social media-related overtourism have been observed for several years, but this has been largely in the context of Instagram. As TikTok is still a relatively new platform, it remains to be seen as to whether the increased interest in destinations promoted through TikTok will last. For Hollie Marie, a 26-year-old travel content creator (@thatbalibitch), the effects of TikTok are palpable in Bali. Hollie has been living in Bali for 2 years, and making travel TikToks since September 2021. During this time she has witnessed Bali’s dramatic recovery from the pandemic, but also the potentially negative effects of increasing tourism. In an interview in October 2022, Hollie highlighted how tourism growth in Bali does not seem to be stopping, and is stretching across all areas of the island. She stated that Bali is “becoming massively gentrified by the minute”, with beach clubs and chain hotels being “chucked up” to meet visitor demand. Hollie has observed how some of her TikToks have stimikattractions, hotels or Airbnbs she has recommended – “I pushed all my favourite places and now I don’t go to them because they’re so busy”. She highlights the example of Kanto Lampo waterfall in Ubud, Bali, an attraction which has become drastically overcrowded as a result of numerous TikToks promoting it.

Whilst not all Bali’s tourist growth can be attributed to social media, Hollie suggests that it plays a large part as nowadays many tourists only go to certain destinations or attractions to get photos. A 2019 study by Hook Research found that 40% of UK millennials now take into consideration how ‘Instagrammable’ a location is when planning a holiday. Instagram, TikTok and other forms of social media often present highly selective, curated views of destinations, which can distort perceptions of a place and lead tourists to only want to visit places they have seen online. Whilst travelling to a place for its aesthetic appeal is not necessarily a new idea, social media has exacerbated this by directing more people to specific places and viewpoints. This can generate unsustainable forms of tourism, as visitors may care less about respecting and supporting local cultures and economies. Cultural disrespect and appropriation by tourists are recurrent issues across Southeast Asia – in Bali, it is common for temple visitors to take part in bathing rituals solely for the purpose of creating content for social media. Whilst some visitors do engage in these rituals due to a genuine interest in learning more about Bali’s Hindu culture, during our trip we were wary and chose to not participate in such activities in order to avoid becoming ‘part of the problem’.

Another impact of travelling ‘for the Gram’ in Bali is motorbike accidents involving tourists, which are becoming increasingly common – just a few months ago in June 2022, a young British couple was put into intensive care after being involved in a moped crash in Bali. This can be linked to the tourist desire to create aesthetic content, as motorbiking is an activity often displayed in TikToks and other social media posts of Bali.

Despite many of these issues, TikTok may not necessarily be a completely negative force in the travel industry. A key message that Hollie, as well as many other travel influencers, try to promote in their TikToks is encouraging people to be more respectful and responsible when travelling. Hollie is keen to emphasise to her viewers the importance of wearing motorbike helmets, disposing of rubbish correctly and respecting cultural norms and behaviours. This can help to mitigate against the harmful effects of overtourism generated by the ‘overnight fame’ phenomenon. Trends on travel TikTok such as ‘expectation vs reality’ can help to dismantle generalist perceptions and present destinations in a more unfiltered way compared to the singular viewpoint of an Instagram photo.

Furthermore, travel companies and national travel boards are becoming increasingly aware of the value of TikTok in marketing. Many are beginning to leverage the platform to draw visitors away from the most popular places, as well as communicate how they can engage in more responsible and sustainable tourism.

It is clear that TikTok can propagate harmful overtourism effects, but increasing awareness of these issues on the platform provides hope that it can be used for good. TikTok’s popularity shows no sign of slowing down, so where will ‘TikTok tourism’ go next?

References:

Hook, 2019. Overtourism: the future of Instagrammable hotspots? [online] HookResearch.co.uk. Available at: <https://www. hookresearch.co.uk/overtourism-the-future-of-instagramable-hotspots/> [Accessed 6 November 2022].

Statista, 2022. Most-used hashtags on TikTok worldwide in August 2021, by monthly unique users growth. [online] Statista.com. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/1257691/tiktok-top-hashtagsby-users-growth/> [Accessed 6 November 2022].

Wengel, Y., Ma, L., Ma, Y., Apollo, M., Maciuk, K., and Suwaree Ashton, A., 2022. The TikTok effect on destination development: Famous overnight, now what? Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 37(100458).

A relatively ‘undiscovered’ waterfall in Bali Author’simage