25 Endangered Historical Sites Being Destroyed By Tourists

Of all the historical sites ruined by tourism, this one catches a lot of people off guard. Between the amount of trash everywhere and the scammers always looking to make a quick buck, the area surrounding the pyramids isn’t quite what you would expect. Also, there have been numerous tourists caught climbing the pyramids without permission.

The tourism industry here has pretty much taken over the city. In fact, it’s so bad that in the last 30 years the city has lost half of its fixed population. The whole city has become a huge tourist trap.

Thanks in part to social media, the number of climbers on Mount Everest has skyrocketed (pun intended). This has led to a lot more trash. In fact, the mountain has a well documented poop-problem. The trail to the top is littered with human feces and garbage, some being years old. (It freezes).

A classic case of tourism destroying the environment, the frozen continent has seen an massive increase in visitors lately. From marathons to surfers, everybody wants to say they were there. The problem, however, is that in a place where no government has jurisdiction…no government has the responsibility to clean things up or protect the environment. It’s the bystander effect on an international level.

Rediscovered in the early 20th century, Machu Picchu has steadily attracted more and more visitors. Weak local government and a strong influx of tourism has caused damage to the site – damage that guides and conservationists are having a hard time containing.