This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter.

Back in 2018, the Oxford English Dictionary shortlisted “overtourism” for its word of the year.

Six years on, it feels like the term has now almost slid into overuse – or perhaps tourism itself has got even more “over” – overpacked, over-congested, over-trodden, over-promoted and over-littered.

The term was used often by campaigners when I was researching some of the extensive coverage which The Herald did last week on Flamingo Land’s controversial Lomond Banks development. Fears of “over-tourism” were often expressed.

It was also used last week, when LBC talked with a resident on the North Coast 500, Robin Pettigrew, about the problems on the route. The campaigner observed that he thought it wouldn’t be long till Scotland saw the kind of anti-tourism protests that have taken place in Mallorca and other southern European destinations this summer.

“The same problems that are happening in the Canaries and the Balearic islands are happening here with overtourism, houses being snapped up, no jobs for the locals, Airbnbs buying everything up. It's exactly the same problems just in a wider area.”

He said: “I'm seeing a lot of discussion on social media about taking direct action. There is a lot of talk now about direct action and protests.”

A big question for Scotland, as for other countries, has to be how do we invite people to visit our beautiful lochs, mountains and islands, or our bustling and historic cities, without it all getting a bit too much.

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Flamingo Land’s development at the southern tip of........

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