Summer lovin'? Not in angry Europe's tourist hotspots

[snoop1130]

Summer lovin'? Not in angry Europe's tourist hotspots

By Sam Edwards, Isla Binnie and Maja Zuvela

 

 

BARCELONA/ROME/SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Chronic overcrowding in some of Europe's beloved tourism hotspots is fuelling an angry backlash, from polite protest to "Go Home" graffiti and even physical intimidation.

 

Across southern Europe, from the choked boulevards of Gaudi's Barcelona to the swarms of cruise liners disgorging passengers into Croatia's mediaeval Dubrovnik, residents are complaining that a sharp rise in tourism is making life intolerable.

 

The backlash has sparked concerns for one of the region's biggest economic drivers and prompted authorities to act.

 

Rome is considering limiting visitor numbers to parts of the eternal city, such as the Trevi fountain. Dubrovnik plans to limit cruise ships. Barcelona is planning a new tourism tax.

 

Graphic: European vacations - click http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/EUROPE-TOURISM/0100509T0N7/index.html

 

In Venice last month, residents marched through a throng of visitor to protest against uncontrolled tourism. They did so behind a banner: "My future is Venice".

Youth activists plan a similar protest in San Sebastián, northern Spain, later this month.

 

In Barcelona, where anger has been brewing for some time, some graffiti has turned menacing. One slogan, featuring a black silhouette with a red target on its head, reads: "Why call it tourist season if we can't shoot them?"

 

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy intervened this week after some anti-tourist anger turned physical. A video emerged of masked activists setting off flares outside a restaurant full of tourists on the island of Palma de Majorca. They then entered the restaurant and threw confetti at frightened diners.

 

Rajoy described the activists as "extremists going against common sense". Tourism makes up 12 percent of Spain's economy.

 

Similar videos were released this week under the slogan "tourism kills neighbourhoods". In one, several hooded individuals stop a tourist bus in Barcelona, slashing the tyres and spray-painting the windscreen.

 

"We haven't seen any of that yet but we heard that the locals are not that fond of tourists," said 20-year-old Dutch tourist Roel Theuniszen as he took a break from cycling on a rental bike outside Barcelona's popular Ciutdella Park.

 

"It's important to try not to stand out as a tourist in a city like Barcelona to have a good experience ... Also, it's important to be more considerate (as a tourist)."

 

"AN INVASION"

 

Tourism to southern Europe has surged over the past two years, partly because visitors are choosing the region over other Mediterranean destinations where security fears are a concern, such as Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey.

 

Visitors to Spain jumped 12 percent in the first half of 2017 to 36.4 million. Barcelona draws at least 11 million visitors a year and is planning a new tax that will hit cruise ships: 65 euro cents for each visitor staying less than 12 hours. About 750 cruise ships docked at Barcelona last year.

 

Tourist arrivals in Italy rose a modest 1 percent in 2016 to almost 56 million, but hotel stays were up 4.8 percent in the first half of 2017. Foreign visitors to the glories of Rome, Florence and Venice surged 31.5 percent between 2009 and 2015.

 

Resident anger has prompted Italian authorities to monitor tourists more closely, with special patrols in Rome's historic centre and fines for people who paddle in the fountains.

 

Venetian authorities experimented with limiting access to certain areas during a festival for the first time in the city's history in July, shortly after the street protest.

 

Some officials have proposed ticket-only access to St Mark's Square, which heaves with people in summer, but local and national authorities are against this.

 

"The city has completely lost its identity," said Alessandro Bressanello, a Venetian actor who joined the 25 April civil group which wants limits imposed on new tourist accommodation and better management of tourist flows.

 

"Everyone should be able to come here but this invasion creates real problems for Venetians and the city, it creates infinite amounts of rubbish and noise," Bressanello said.

 

THE DUBROVNIK SHUFFLE

 

Authorities in the town of Dubrovnik, on Croatia's Adriatic coast, are considering cutting the limit on daily visits by cruise liners to two from up to five currently, due to concerns of overcrowding at the UNESCO World Heritage site.

 

More than 5,000 tourists from cruise liners flocked to the walled town in a single day in June on top of thousands vacationing in the city. UNESCO has even warned that Dubrovnik's World Heritage status is at risk.

 

    A walk through the old town's 300-meter-long (330-yard-long) pedestrian zone can take 40 minutes in peak season. The old town's resident population is dwindling as residents move away to escape the crowds, traffic jams and noise.

 

"It must never happen again that more than two cruise ships come to the town at the same moment," Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Frankovic said recently.

 

Croatia overall saw a 10.5 percent jump in tourists last month from a year earlier, tourism association data shows.

 

For its part, Cruise Lines International Association says it expects more tourism restrictions in some places and that it is committed to sustainable tourism.

 

Elsewhere, Portugal expects a record 27 million visitors this year and Greece a record 28 million, but neither has seen a big backlash.

 

In France, too, relations between tourists and residents appear good, despite a comedian's attempt to suggest otherwise last month.

 

He arranged for a plane to fly over Carnon beach in southern France, trailing a banner with decidedly Anglo-Saxon wording requesting the tourists to go home.

 

(Additional reporting by Sarah White in MADRID, Axel Bugge in LISBON and Lefteris Papadimas in ATHENS, Alistair Smout in LONDON; Writing by Mark Bendeich Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-8-7

[observer90210]

Not surprising at all...

 

When one observes how some drunk tourists behave on holiday and on how some expats behave when abroad....

 

Pity though that the image of the little hottie on the picture is not a bit more on zoom and on focus!!!!!

Edited August 7, 2017 by observer90210

[coulson]

Get over it, the whole world belongs to everyone. If some people don't like strangers then they should just fxxx off into the hills

[Aachen]

19 minutes ago, coulson said:

Get over it, the whole world belongs to everyone. If some people don't like strangers then they should just fxxx off into the hills

This is really no solution for the hill tribe people.

[Grouse]

Put the prices up. Dramatically!

 

Worked for Winter sports resorts!

 

And the Cote d'Azure

Edited August 7, 2017 by Grouse

[Deli]

Some years ago, after the civil war in ex Yugoslavia, when Dubrovnik and many other places were destroyed and starving, they were begging for Tourists coming back.

Now they have a good chance to recover even more  and make money and what they do...complain. Silly people they are, breed they should not.

[ikbenhet]

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

"Why call it tourist season if we can't shoot them?"

lol! 

[baboon]

The locals must be doing awfully well from themselves if they don't want all the tourist lucre sloshing round the economy...

Come over to glorious Whitley Bay, jewel in the crown of European resorts. We'll happily take your money and not bitch about it...

[over it]

Spain all but killed its tourism business due to cheating people. Now with other places unsafe, they are getting an unwarranted reprieve. Take note, Thailand.

[Ulic]

It seems many are adopting a Thai attitude. Just send your money and don't bother coming.

[JAG]

The trouble is if you stay at home, the place is overrun with bloody tourists...

[craigt3365]

10 hours ago, Deli said:

Some years ago, after the civil war in ex Yugoslavia, when Dubrovnik and many other places were destroyed and starving, they were begging for Tourists coming back.

Now they have a good chance to recover even more  and make money and what they do...complain. Silly people they are, breed they should not.

Dubrovnik is over run with tourists.  It's packed during the day.  Many tour buses line up at the gates around 9am and leave around 5pm.  A few do make money off this, but the place has been ruined.  Same with Rome.  Venice is terrible.  Florence isn't much better, same with many other cities in Italy.  Many restaurants in Rome are now run by Chinese.  The food is over priced and horrible.

 

The big problem is mass tourism.  Like the problem we have here in Thailand.  3 or 4 tour buses show up at a site and it's completely over run. 

 

Some do profit from this, but many do not.  And it does change the character of a city for the worst. 

 

People are not silly.  Just those who don't fully understand the problem.

[YetAnother]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

"Why call it tourist season if we can't shoot them?"

funniest thing i have heard in some time

[boomerangutang]

Overpopulation manifests in many ways.   In the grander scheme of things, imagine if you were a bear in Europe, 22,433 years ago.  A group of hominids show up.  It's bothersome.  Yet it soon becomes worse than bothersome, as the hominids are so adept at hunting (the only species other than spiders to use fabricated tools to hunt),  that they reduce the former balance of large beasts.  Add to that the success-rate of human propagation, .....and within one or two thousand years, nearly all large beasts became extinct.

 

 

 

 

[Credo]

1 hour ago, boomerangutang said:

Overpopulation manifests in many ways.   In the grander scheme of things, imagine if you were a bear in Europe, 22,433 years ago.  A group of hominids show up.  It's bothersome.  Yet it soon becomes worse than bothersome, as the hominids are so adept at hunting (the only species other than spiders to use fabricated tools to hunt),  that they reduce the former balance of large beasts.  Add to that the success-rate of human propagation, .....and within one or two thousand years, nearly all large beasts became extinct.

 

So what are you saying, Tourists are going to go extinct?    

[heybruce]

5 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Dubrovnik is over run with tourists.  It's packed during the day.  Many tour buses line up at the gates around 9am and leave around 5pm.  A few do make money off this, but the place has been ruined.  Same with Rome.  Venice is terrible.  Florence isn't much better, same with many other cities in Italy.  Many restaurants in Rome are now run by Chinese.  The food is over priced and horrible.

 

The big problem is mass tourism.  Like the problem we have here in Thailand.  3 or 4 tour buses show up at a site and it's completely over run. 

 

Some do profit from this, but many do not.  And it does change the character of a city for the worst. 

 

People are not silly.  Just those who don't fully understand the problem.

Ban tour buses, or only allow tour buses that will stay overnight, forcing the tourists to spend money in the area.

 

Or, as has been suggested, raise prices.  When demand exceeds supply, prices should rise.  However in this case I suspect this a a variation of "the tragedy of the commons" problem: Some people make money by transporting, housing and feeding tourists, then the tourists overwhelm the free public places--beaches, parks, historical monuments, etc.  Higher taxes on lodging and transport could correct that, but would outrage budget travelers.

[craigt3365]

14 minutes ago, heybruce said:

Ban tour buses, or only allow tour buses that will stay overnight, forcing the tourists to spend money in the area.

 

Or, as has been suggested, raise prices.  When demand exceeds supply, prices should rise.  However in this case I suspect this a a variation of "the tragedy of the commons" problem: Some people make money by transporting, housing and feeding tourists, then the tourists overwhelm the free public places--beaches, parks, historical monuments, etc.  Higher taxes on lodging and transport could correct that, but would outrage budget travelers.

Some places manage large numbers of tourists quite well.  Some places will never be able to handle large number of tourists.  Like that place where they filmed The Beach down near Phi Phi.  You can make just as much money from a place like that with high prices as you can with low prices.  Perhaps more.  And you're doing the right thing for the environment. 

 

Sadly, a few profited massively off the large numbers of tourists.  Most did not.

[WaywardWind]

19 hours ago, coulson said:

Get over it, the whole world belongs to everyone. If some people don't like strangers then they should just fxxx off into the hills

So you don't mind if those from north and sub-Sahara Africa come over to Spain?

[Stargeezr]

Well I have never been to Europe, and if they do not want me there,  okay, I won't

go there for a visit.

Geezer

[joeyg]

On 8/7/2017 at 6:05 PM, observer90210 said:

Not surprising at all...

 

When one observes how some drunk tourists behave on holiday and on how some expats behave when abroad....

 

Pity though that the image of the little hottie on the picture is not a bit more on zoom and on focus!!!!!

Greek island bans 10,000 boozy Brits for destroying its reputation

 

[Rancid]

There are only limited really nice spots in the world, as populations grow they are going to descend on them for holidays. Images of a locust plague comes to mind...

[dick dasterdly]

This report doesn't suprise me as decades ago my sister in law and I were riding bicycles on Rhodes and were stopped by several, young locals on a couple of scooters - who spat at us before driving off, laughing. 

 

Presumably they weren't making money from tourists, and therefore hated so many tourists on their island.

 

Edit - That was my last visit to Rhodes !

Edited August 9, 2017 by dick dasterdly