The Algorithmic Tourist: How Digital Influence is Quietly Destroying the Places We Love

The Algorithmic Tourist: How Digital Influence is Quietly Destroying the Places We Love explores the hidden algorithmic systems shaping modern travel and the devastating environmental and cultural consequences unfolding behind viral tourism. In this narrative podcast, I investigate how platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and digital travel platforms increasingly dictate where millions of people go, concentrating tourists into fragile destinations already struggling under the pressure of mass exposure. From the collapsing coral ecosystems of Maya Bay to the overcrowded and physically sinking streets of Venice, the podcast combines peer-reviewed academic research with personal travel experiences to reveal an alarming reality quietly unfolding across the globe: the greatest threat to many of the world’s most treasured places may no longer be neglect, but attention itself.