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I wonder if you could get away with some kind of payment for locals in tourist heavy locations, like the Canary Islands are HEAVY tourist locations. Stick a tourist tax on hotels, holiday rentals etc. and a large property tax on villas owned by foreign companies and non-Spanish citizens, and then distribute that money to any local working and living on the islands as a flat “Dealing with the tourists” payment. Couple that with lower/no taxes for locals that are employed on the islands (not just those that own property and rent it out) and that might make things seem nicer for them.
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.
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
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.
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I vacationed in Venice last year and I had to wade my way through rivers of people, so I can understand the sentiment.
The irony.
We got lighted crosswalks! Why are you randomly walking in the street‽
Oh I see you’ve visited Barcelona. Oh, and Annecy, my previous hometown.
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.
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
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
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.
One of my most valuable memories comes from i worked at an incredibly touristy restaurant in one of the most tourist friendly areas in the country.
This restaurant would routinely have a line out the door for walk-ins, despite the fact we had reservations. Im talking 700 covers a day at a minimum during peak season.
Entitled Tourist who walked past the line: Hi there, im super exhausted, and my family needs to seat 4 people.
Me: im sorry we have a 2 hour wait, you’ll have to wait in line
Entitled tourist: are you sure, we really need some food
Me: yes i am very sure, there are people outside who have waited in line for an hour plus
Entitled tourist: (irritated) but we just got off of our flight and we heard you guys were great
Me: yes im absolutely sure
Entitled tourist: you cant treat us this way, we came to your city to enjoy your food
Me: im sorry maam, we cannot let you skip the waiting list
Entitled tourist: (now visibly angry) you can not treat us this way, WE ARE TOURISTS!!!
Me: i look at the hostess next me and we both start cracking up at the absurdity
We continued to laugh until she left.
Was honestly one of the funniest things ive eve encountered in the service industry and thats after a career of almost 25 years.
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.
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
This all assumes it’s the locals and not wealthy migrants that bought a shit ton of real estate and are squeezing the investment for what it’s worth till some politician grows a pair. AirBNB is also a foreing wealthy company, it’s part of the problem because it used tech to evade regulations that protected against precisely what people are complaining about.
AirBNB’s CEO should be brought behind the shed and sent to the far away farm.
Edit: Also, good luck regulating US big tech. The US started a proxy war to have the entire EU by the balls, smaller countries alone have exactly 0 chance.
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 💀
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
You sound like a basement dweller ngl
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.
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.
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.
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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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.
Who is economy?
I am!
Welcome to Amsterdam! They think they are such elitists, they actually think Amsterdam is the centre of the universe and they’re are disgusted by anything else. But also they focus on tourism. But they hate tourists.
The rest of The Netherlands prefers if Amsterdam became an island with no connection to the mainland, to both keep the tourists and the Amsterdammers there. They can have Urk too.
Found the Limburger
