Portugal: Too much tourism, too little water? | WDR Documentary
Portugal is one of the most popular summer travel destinations for Germans. The country hopes that as many holidaymakers will soon return as before Corona, but increasing tourist numbers also bring problems. Portugal's capital Lisbon alone receives almost five million tourists every year, with only around 500,000 inhabitants - this is called overtourism. Many residents are accordingly annoyed: by the crowds of inconsiderate visitors on city trips, by a noisy airport with no night flight ban, by cruise ships that emit more exhaust fumes in the port of Lisbon than all the country's car traffic. And the increasing number of holiday apartments for tourists is leading to rising rents in the tight housing market. So how many tourists are "healthy" for the city?
And then the heat and dryness of recent years have brought forest fires and water shortages. According to a current target, water should also be saved in the tourism sector: 25%. What impact does this have on package holidays in the Algarve, for example? Or on golf tourism? Away from the dream beaches in the south on the Algarve, climate change is manifesting itself in a completely different form in the north of Portugal, around Porto: coastal erosion is threatening beaches and cliffs, which are actually the basis of tourism there.
Even those who go on holiday away from the hustle and bustle of the beach in the agricultural hinterland come across the new climate problems: the water conflict is evident, for example, in the cultivation of imported industrial plants such as eucalyptus, which threatens the cork oak, which has been typical in Portugal for centuries, because it literally drains its water. But there are also farmers who are tackling climate change with the methods of traditional agriculture that have been forgotten for many years and are happy to show this to their foreign holiday guests.
The story authors Dirk Bitzer and Fritz Sprengart go on a journey through a beautiful and popular holiday destination that not only attracts many Germans, but also has to overcome great challenges.
