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Having experienced life in a city with a heavy tourism influence, it’s not the tourists that’s the problem, it’s counterintuitively a select few locals ripping the arse out of it.
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Housing shortages and sky high rents because homeowners and flat owners stick their places on AirBNB and other types of peer to peer services they provide access to;
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Ludicrous policies imposed on residents by locally-contracted private enterprises like event managers extending their road closures and parking suspensions a quarter mile away from their actual event areas, fucking over residents who actually live there for the other eleven months of the year;
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Zero hour contracts for those in gig economy or service workers, who get used and abused for a few weeks a year and fucked off when the good times dry up, while business owners have made bank;
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Increased pressure on public services for a few weeks a year, caused by influxes of folk putting heavy demands on the staff but leaving local residents to foot the tax bill;
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…and the usual creep towards city centre locations trending towards tat merchants selling utter shite.
It’s important to note that none of the above is anything wrong, it’s just assholery for the most part…
…and then those small numbers of “locals” have the gall to blame Mr and Mrs Miggins from halfway across the globe for ruining the city. Fuck all of the way off
Do you live in Edinburgh by any chance? Because that all sounds familiar…
I was going to say the same thing about it being Toronto 💀
EXACTLY
This is the kinda shite that happens, you’ve also got things like the one time people mistook an actual decapitated corpse for a Halloween decoration and the entire old town had to be closed off
Sorry for the barely related anecdote it’s still such a crazy story
Nah, fuck tourists and tourism generally. Maybe if they didn’t wreck where they lived they wouldn’t feel the need to come looking to get waited on. Also, fuck economies that rely on tourism, how about some manufacturing or tech industry? Promoting tourism should be last on the list of priorities for any sane locale
Yes. Stay at home in your closed off little bubble. Never experiencing other cultures or places to help expand your world view and instead reinforce it with the echo chamber of those around you.
I mean… that’s one definition of tourism I guess?
I’m very much a “leave only footprints” sort of guy - I know Brits have a bit of a shit reputation particularly when it comes to inexpensive package holidays, but I think tourism and learning about the rest of the world promotes a greater understanding of the only planet we live on. Whether it’s food; culture; history; or scenes of key historical events - it gives a window into people’s own gaps in knowledge or empathy.
I agree that an economy based entirely on tourism is a house of cards in itself, but I don’t think it’s a binary choice. Humanity have always had a nomadic element and there will always be those who want to travel, but it should be done sustainably.
TIL I’m wrecking where I live and that’s why I like to travel. I could have sworn it was because I wanted to see and experience different places and cultures.
Wtf no. Tourism is awesome, you get to show people from around the world the awesome parts of your country and take them on amazing experiences. It makes a ton of money and encourages a beautiful town.
A world where every town was manufacturing, or tech sounds like a dystopian hellscape.
I second this. I watched my hometown turn into a tourism focus and there ended up being no careers so there was massive brain drain as people left to other towns and states for work.
A strong tourism industry in a small city does displace everything else. It’s one version of the Dutch disease that actually happens even when the government doesn’t actively cause it.
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Maybe if they didn’t wreck where they lived
how about some manufacturing or tech industry?
So they should wreck their cities and nature, but by your own logic that would only fuel more tourism in areas that aren’t wrecked.
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Most of those places were doing just fine before becoming tourist destinations. This “economy” you speak of is just the profit margins of hotel chains. It very seldom benefits the people living there.
No, no suelte’ la bandera ni olvide’ el lelolai, que no quiero que hagan contigo lo que le pasó a Hawái
But now that they’ve let it into their economy, it has grown like a parasite the type of which cannot be removed without also killing the host.
Would you look at a parasite any other way?
I think you can safely remove most parasites, if that’s what you mean?
I’m saying the parasite analogy only cements why locals hate tourists.
Ah, ok. Yeah.
If it was symbiotic, it wouldn’t be called a parasite, typically, so yeah.It’s not good, but also it’s too late to do anything about it.
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The problem is usually wealth inequality. The residents have to compete with the tourists for resources, but most of what they could get in return gets gobbled up by late stage capitalism. Most people who have a direct relation to tourism to how it benefits them in their lives have no problem with it.
I remember talking to an ice-cream seller in Egypt and he asked me what I do for a living. When I told him I was an engineer he said ‘so am I’. The predatory behaviour of Egyptian street sellers made more sense after that exchange but it never stopped grating. I think the best way deal with it is engage with the people in a friendly way and have a laugh. Most of the time people just need acknowledgement, that goes a long way.
I mean on a macro scale sure but I think most of them just don’t like the stereotypical entitled and annoying tourist they’ve been routinely exposed to. Emotional responses rarely incorporate indirect economics.
Yeah, there are some bigots and dickheads too.
usually.
but
let me introduce you to the native People of the southmost part of Bavaria/Germany … almost Austria.
Example: A Boat-Person of the Beautiful Königssee spent almost all of the ride ranting about stupid dumb dumb tourists… .to tourists. the rants were only interrupted by short lacklustre descriptions of the beautiful nature and rich history… and a forgetable music stop with agressive tip fishing.
Now, this was off season and in german. Well, german - a non native speaker would likely struggle to understand his thick accent liberally spiced with words only they use. Half the people on board have no idea what the angry noise is about. The others don’t complain, they know: yes, this is a perfect example specimen. This is what the average local is like. this man is not rich probably, no, but certainly well off, safe, living surrounded by breathtaking nature and beauty…
And he hates everybody else with every fibre of their being.
I’ve met several people from this specifc small region, which is one of the most beautiful places in the world, who were exactly like this.
maybe their point is to protect this environment. every stranger is a potential danger to it, they dont want to risk. if they value the protection of nature over their livelihood, it can almost be seen as noble. just don’t ask them what they vote for
Almost all of the places I have lived have been tourism heavy.
- French Quarter, New Orleans
- Park City, Utah
- Kissimmee, Florida (Disney)
- Jackson Hole, Wyoming
- Austin, Texas (not at first, but definitely the later years)
- Destin, Florida
There is one recurring theme. People on vacation are stressed the fuck out, desperate to enjoy their very limited and probably very expensive time off, and impatient. This makes many of them rude and entitled. Many people forget to bring their common sense and their manners when they go on vacation. They also have a propensity to binge on everything including food, entertainment, and especially booze and/or drugs. Locals are under no obligation to take your shit just because you are blowing $10k on a week or weekend vacation (of which you only get two of per year) with the family, and you are having an existential crisis that you hope your expensive vacation might remedy. Some of us are just trying to get a coffee on the way to our daily grind and you have decided to let your kids sample every flavor of ice cream in the shop before only buying a single scoop. If you see people waiting, be nice and offer to let someone else get their order in while your kids make up their minds. It is common courtesy.
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Thats the thing I don’t get with vacations. I am stressed at work so I take a week off to be stressed somewhere else for a week? Don’t get me wrong, there is so much to love about vacations but I never found vacations to be relaxing just because I feel like I am under time pressure to go out and see and do as much as I possibly can in the limited time at the vacation spot.
In contrast taking a week off and just staying at home has been far more relaxing.
That’s because tourism heavy economies have a tendency to screw over low income locals to favor high income tourists.
People need to realize it’s not the locals that decided to base their economy on tourism at some town hall meeting. Where I live the government moved all the industry to different parts of the country and allowed for huge real estate development that turned the area into tourism based economy. At the beginning it’s just extra jobs and people are happy about it but at some point it starts displacing locals and people start complaining.
When the town gets too expensive for locals to live then it’s a problem
So we kick out locals! Problem solved! Who needs locals, right? Profit!
Adding infrastructure adds cost. If you’re adding improvements for added housing, you upgrade internet, sewage, health and safety, replacing old building membranes that eventually break down, hospitals, community centres, libraries, parks, routes for delivery access, this does cost. This is stuff that does benefit the locals. And it’s not only paid for by the locals.
And yet, taxes, cost of living, housing prices, rent also goes up. The one thing that doesn’t is pay. To which the locals have to move to outlying areas and commute.
And as I’ve been rudely corrected before: housing is not connected to the facilities and is an entire industry of its own.
Which, and I’m with you on this: personally I don’t think it should be.
It should be considered part and parcel of the same package that is supplying the sewage system and garbage collecting.
Cuz one requires and is entirely reliant on the other.
just shows that the system is meant to fail as it is serving the capitalists. Not the clients.
Anyways, it’s still a digression from the point that the tourists aren’t necessarily the same evil when they are just supplying means that could just as well be used to improve the area. They are just being used by capitalists as the locals are. They aren’t the enemy here. You’re just being tricked into displacing your hate for the capitalists to the other person being played in the same puzzle. Like how a server at the restaurant displaces their hate for the underpaying, selfish, manager onto the paying customer.
Customer didnt set the rules. They didn’t set the paycheck. It’s just easier to pacify the self by targetting them and stay in the same problem than do anything that could actually change the situation. And the manager couldn’t be happier to not be the target while happily benefitting off of everyone else’s back.
This is not unique to tourism but an issue of all economic opportunity:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse
The outcome should not be to “shun tourists” but to take over the government and replace the incompetent management.
How are people from a single town supposed take over the government? Local governments very often have very limited tools to influence the economy of their town. Roads, railways, airports, energy lines, water treatment plants and many more are managed by national governments. They decide where infrastructure will be expanded and what type of economy will be able to expand in where. Most of the country doesn’t care that some town are overrun by tourist and it doesn’t impact national elections. At some point the only thing the town can do is to start discouraging tourists from coming like some towns in Italy do.
It’s exactly opposite. Local governments have immense control of their own local resources almost everywhere around the world. If worst to come there’s nothing stopping from locals implementing entry tax and managing tourists any way they feel like - all of which have been done before and is being done currently. At the end of the day locals are the ones that get paid the tourist money and thats exactly why tourism is so good because it gives independence and power for towns and cities rather than waiting for central government initiatives.
So… you just ignored everything I said, right? I’m looking at my town:
- highways - planned by central government
- airports - managed centrally
- railway for cargo - planned by central government
- environmental rules - decided centrally
- energy infrastructure - planned centrally
- economic incentives for industry - planned centrally
- internet backbone - build by central government
- water management - financed centrally
The central government financed big passenger airport and high speed passenger train that bring tourists but the energy grid is at it limits not allowing for big investments, there are no cargo trains and no economic incentives to bring industry here. But yes, the town will simply decide to build chemical plants and still mills and it will magically work… The only option given by central government was tourism so of course they build the economy based on that. And yes, now they can control it with entry tax and limiting licenses for hotels but that’s exactly what this post is complaining about. People want less tourist so they complain and expect the local government to do something. It’s not like people loved tourists 20 years ago and now they changed their minds. They tolerated it for as long as they could and are now getting tired.
Whoever made this meme doesn’t live in a city where new houses are bought up to be turned into shitty airbnbs
Hey I got news for you, that’s not just tourist towns.
See also:
- locals who live in a college town every time they see a student
- locals who live near an international airport every time a plane flys over
- locals who live near a military base every time something goes boom
- locals who live near pretty much any industry town every time anything from that industry annoys them
Its weird with military bases. I used to work on one and got regular emails about scheduled EOD explosions, and somehow i never heard a single one.
I did survey work on a military base for a year and didn’t hear a single explosion. We were traveling all over the base.
Growing up my house was about 25 miles from a military base and I still remember the glass on my window shaking from the explosions.
Except for the first time! It was a loud one.
Here in Russia we used to have people complain about the military bases. But we fixed that problem.
It is possible they were there before the base is built so they do have a reason to complain.
But if they are complaining while benefitting from it(better access to amenities as a result) then yeah, they really need to be more realistic about their expectations and how the world works.
Pretty unlikely in most places in the west. Most military bases were established at the latest WW2 or shortly thereafter.
I’m sure there are exceptions, but for the most part those bases have been there
Also:
- People move near a racetrack.
- People complain about the racetrack.
- Racetrack gets shut down.
- People complain about all of the lunatics racing on public roads.
I live in a tourist heavy place. My biggest issue is that the influx of tourists is seasonal. During the summer, the number of tourists brings the infrastructure to knees and shops, restaurants and cafés are uncomfortably full. During the off season, maintenance of the roads serms to be of low priority and a lot of the shops, restaurants and cafés reduce their opening time or even close, and the town center becomes a ghost town.
So no hate towards tourists, but the inconsistency of this place is very annoying.
It does definitely show just how much the local businesses rely on this kind of income
Tourism can ruin a city
Yea how dare they give an influx of money. Cities don’t need moneh!
Hopefully you’re fine with shitty abusive workplaces since you get paid and that’s that matters lol
I’m fine with hospitals and community centres. And improvements on water and transport.
So you’re fine with shitty abusive workplaces since you’re fine with food on your table?
It sounds like you are accusing me of explicitly personally setting the rules of workplaces. And that I’ve somehow personally abused you in a workplace somewhere? What is even happening right now…
No, you can’t be that stupid. Nope. No one can be this stupid. That sounds like something an internet troll would do to elicit a response. This is Not a functional conversation from someone rational.
Troll newb is newb.
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And? Reasonably so. Tourists are annoying af
If your entire economy is based on tourism, and you want to get rid of the tourists, you are saying that you really want to get rid of your own job. Not usually a wise decision.
It’s almost like the “economy” has fuck-all to do with quality of life and a couple business owners getting rich isn’t worth commodifying your home!
Tourists when they enter a place: Clearly the whole economy is based on Tourism :)
Yeah, we don’t like them.
Tourist Town is what happens after your community has been bankrupted and stripped for parts
No shit people are resentful
It’s also what happens when there’s no jobs for 6 months of the year. It’s no surprise that a lot of the seaside towns in the UK are also on the list of the most deprived towns.
Not the tourists’ fault, and hating on them demonstrates a lack of civic pride and not much else. I welcome tourists who come to my city for its niche history and the historic mall and the foofy shops who wouldn’t be in business without them.
fuck civic pride, are you kidding? you’re telling people who have been priced out of their hometowns to shut up and appreciate the surge of shady shops selling tacky trash
shady shops selling tacky trash
You’re referring to your neighbors and community members trying to make a living? It’s not their fault either.
It’s everyone’s fault, collectively. We all need to rise up and overthrow the ruling class. To achieve that, we need to actually talk about the problems our current society has without taking it all personally, and reflect on how the structure of our society has created the problems we have. It’s not about who specifically we have to blame, that’s a distraction.
You want to smash the state with me? Want to be my comrade? First I need you to look around at your own community and say something nice about it and the people who live in it. If you can’t do that, I don’t need you.
I have no problem with the people. I have a massive problem with the society. Criticising one does not mean that I have a personal problem with the people who comprise that society.
It’s all built on exploitation. Tourism is just another kind of exploitation. So, no, I think by telling people they should be thankful for their oppression, you were doing a shitty thing. That doesn’t mean you’re a shitty person, I just want you to reflect instead of brushing concerns under the rug.
Being “nice” won’t get us to where we need to be. Solidarity and class consciousness will.
Ah, no one is responsible for their own actions, got it.
It kinda is though, people who buy holiday homes are directly responsible for pushing up the price to the point that local people can no longer afford to live there. Then they don’t even live in those holiday homes so the local economy is fucked. Why hire any workers for 9 months of the year when your customers are only there for 3 months of the year?
