American national parks have been operating permit systems for years. But
even this is not enough for the most popular sites. By 1981, there was an eight-
year waiting list to go rafting down the Grand Canyon's Colorado River, so now
there is a lottery once a year to select the lucky travellers.
· In
Notre Dame in Paris, 108 visitors enter each minute during opening hours.
Thirty-five buses, having put down their passengers, wait outside, their fumes
eating away at the stonework of the cathedral.
· In
Barbados and
Hawaii , each tourist uses ten times as much water and
electricity as a local inhabitant. Whilst feeling that this is unfair, the locals
acknowledge the importance of tourism to their economy overall.
· The prehistoric cave paintings at
Lascaux in France were being slowly ruined
by the breath and bacteria from 200,000 visitors a year. The caves have now
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been closed to the public and a replica has been built. This is much praised for
its likeness to the original.
