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.
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;
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;
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;
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;
…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.
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.
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’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.
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.
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;
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;
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;
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;
…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.