Kelsey Frenkiel

Kelsey Frenkiel is a Program Manager at the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), where she coordinates research and advocacy to promote responsible travel policies and practices globally. Her background and particular area of focus is in tourism and wildlife conservation. Kelsey is also a freelance travel writer and researcher, having supported publications for National Geographic Traveler, The Washingtonian, and other outlets. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the College of William & Mary and an MSc in Primate Conservation from Oxford Brookes University, where she studied the intersection between tourism and slow loris conservation in Java, Indonesia.

Overtourism to No Tourism: How (and Why) to build a more sustainable tourism industry

Before COVID-19 hit, the biggest problem in the world of travel was overtourism. Think of a vacation you’ve had where overflowing crowds were destroying once pristine natural environments and swarms of people were making daily life unbearable for the local residents. Then, seemingly overnight, tourism nearly ceased. There is no question that travel will resume. What’s unknown is, what will it look like when it does? Will we return to a world of overrun monuments, littered beaches, and gridlocked city streets? Or can we build back better?