If you live in a place popular with tourists, how do you feel about?

[Crunchymum]

Currently in a lovely little Airbnb cottage, in a pretty seaside town and I wonder how the locals feel about us tourists.

I get that tourism has major positives - employment / local economy benefits but I'd hate to live next door to an Airbnb or share my lovely beach with a billion others on BH weekend or deal with the noise and rubbish left (not even litter per just the sheer volume)

We are Londoners so are well versed on avoiding tourist hotspots unless we actually want to be in the hub but in smaller places it must be hard for the locals to avoid the tourists?

I grew up in a beautiful countryside seaside location it was and still is a tourist hot spot. I hated the upheaval in the summer and the house prices were inflated by second home owners and this was way back in the 1980’s it is not a new thing at all. I would never choose to live in a very touristy area again.

I live in a mill town now that I doubt anyone would ever visit as there is nothing of note.

The 2 worst things about the tourists are the increased traffic jams and litter

I live right on the edge of a national park. I'm fine with tourists, they bring much-needed income and trade and mean that facilities such as country pubs, village shops are able to stay open. We go to the less popular places or go after work or during the off season - one of the advantages of living here!

Second home owners OTOH do huge damage to communities.

Been awake since 3.40am with 2 tourists at the B&B nd chatting on outside my window.
Dh told them to stfu.
So they started a car, revved and drove off..

@newnortherner111

Tourism is very different from second homes, and this should be recognised. Value the first, hate the second.

Don't tar second home owners with the same brush. I get that for some areas they are causing problems in not allowing young people to buy locally or meaning schools are getting the numbers. However, that's the same in many places. I live in a popular (but not very touristy) city. I have many friends who are priced out of living in the city, for one reason or another. It's not an exclusive problem to tourist places because of second home owners.

Also, they can bring regeneration. Our house was a run down shack. It was knocked down and re build to a eco house as demanded by the local council. We also pay council tax, and use local businesses and services continuously through busy and quiet times. We come to Devon continuously throughout the year spending money in local businesses and using many local services such as small pottery painting shops, local extremely small and quiet cinema, cleaners, maintenance people etc, continuously rather than just rocking up and using them for a couple of weeks before going again. Helping local businesses during quieter times too. Surely that can be better than just contributing through the good, busy times. We are also respectful and well mannered, clearing up after ourselves.

I live in the Lakes.

Tourists as people are generally absolutely fine - friendly, clean and just out to have a good time.

But the roads can't cope and there are so many traffic jams, accidents and parking problems because people have dumped their cars on the side of the road and buggered off up a fell for the day

Just this weekend in Wasdale emergency vehicles couldn't get through to an accident because of selfish parking.

I live near a popular tourist town and like to see the visitors. Though I don’t work in hospitality industry myself, plenty of my family, friends and neighbours do. As usual it is the few inconsiderate idiots that spoil it. Those who think it is ok to carve their name into rock millions of years old and part of heritage site, leave their rubbish for others to clear up, generally don’t respect the area.

I used to live in London, born and bred and worked in one of the most touristy places. And I loved it. I love helping tourists and giving them directions, and offer suggestions for where to eat and go see things etc.

I think the nicest time was during the olympics and everyone was so friendly and came together to make life for eachother pleasant and easier.

Only time I ever get irritated is when a group of tourists stop at the bottom of an escalator to have a conversation.

Otherwise I’m happy to have people visiting and enjoying where I live.

I used to take my DC out and do touristy things, I was really surprised when DH told me he’d never been on the London eye or had a tour on the Thames or any of those things. So DC and I are taking him this summer 😆

@PrimeraVez

We have lived in Dubai for ten years - we live deep in suburbia now so don't come across tourists on a day to day basis apart from weekends when we venture out to eat, to the beach etc.

But before the kids were born, we lived in a really busy area that had lots of hotels, holiday rentals etc and I never really minded it? I guess it was 'easier' because whilst this is very much my home, it's still not my country or my city.

I will say though that I think I've got really good at differentiating between tourists and residents based on their physical appearance. There is such a specific 'Brits on holiday' look!

Absolutely. We live in SW France and can spot holiday Brits immediately. Our village is a beautiful tourist spot and beloved by bikers who are always polite and respectful. I've never seen litter and the commune clean the streets every Friday after the market. The village is geared up for tourism with an overflow car park, no charges, a summer man made beach next to the river with shower and a lifeguard.
Also most tourists are Dutch or French and don't get drunk like Brits.

We tend to have shopped and had a coffee by 10 in summer. Any later and all the croissants have gone!

I live in a small ski resort in Switzerland (not far from Geneva). My son’s school is literally at the foot of some of the downhill slopes/ski lift and in winter it’s difficult to physically get into school with him for skiers!

That said, in winter, half of their PE lessons are outside on the slopes, so can’t really complain, it’s an enormous privilege for the children really.

@Melitza

My PIL (French) live in a tourist hotspot in Provence. They complain about British, Dutch and German tourists equally, although are more critical of the Dutch as apparently they bring their own sandwiches instead of going to the restaurants/cafés!

I don’t recognise the image of drunken Brits that you paint (either from our family & friends in the village - FIL is mayor, or from our own firsthand experiences).

I live in Bondi Beach, obviously very touristy but has a strong local community.

We love winter here as the tourists bugger off.

I feel lucky every day to live somewhere so fantastic, but the downside are all the backpackers. Thankfully they have mostly left since Covid.

Traffic is also a nightmare in summer.

I live in a seaside tourist spot and of course you do take that into account when moving here. The area desperately needs the tourism after last year and I fully get that. Whilst my income isn't tourism related there is no denying the need for it.

That said you wold be amazed at the absolute entitlement of some visitors . The arrogance and the mess. On Monday obviously there was a huge influx. Fine ...to be expected we are very close walking distance to the beach and it was a sunny Bank Holiday at the start of half term. The locals get used to it so you go to the supermarket etc really early before everyone arrives and stay home mostly.

Monday someone tried to urinate in next doors front garden , someone else through a glass beer bottle down the road (which we have to drive to get out ) " for a laugh" ( explanation to a neighbour when challenged). Someone else told DP to move his car from the residents permit parking and lend them his residents permit (wouldn't work anyway as its numberplate specific) because we should be grateful the tourist was here and paying DP wages (DP teaches in hospitals ...nothing related to tourism) so we should park the other side of town.

Reasonable human being tourists are welcomed with open arms. Entitled fuckwits are not. Lots of occurrences of people being pushed into roads (without outing ita common because of the set up of the town and pathways) because tourists barge past (including once one of my DC ...that didn't end well for the tourist).

It's not uncommon for a tourist to be so nasty to the young girls who work the seafront food kiosks that locals step in when they reduce them to tears.

I have no problem accepting that tourism is a part of the town. I do have a problem being expected to look the other way while people behave in a disgusting entitled manner because they bought a pint and a pie in one of the pubs along the seafront so everyone should be grateful.

On the local Facebook page on Monday there were 11 different posts where a tourist had parked ovr a driveway blocking the resident in. One was quite distressing as the resident needed to get to her elderly father who had been admitted to hospital. (A taxi was provided free of charge which actually reaffirms your faith in the world but even so)

I live in very central london. It’s been like going back decades walking along quiet streets. Went for a walk yesterday and was startled by the number of tourists/visitors back. Still v concerned about so many shuttered shops restaurants cafes and office buildings.
Friend lives in Cornish village in very touristy part. Slow build up. Got very busy last weekend. Locals absolutely dreading it whilst at same time many depend on tourist spending. Very mixed feelings.

I do think there's an element with parallels between the attitude towards tourists and people parking.

Complaints about tourists clogging up the roads and making locals' journeys longer or 'taking over' the beaches vs complaints about people who aren't local parking in your residential street - or even people who do live in the street parking their car outside your house.

It's all very nice if things go your way, but if it's public property, be it a residential road, a trunk road, a beach or whatever, it belongs to everybody and everybody has an equal right to use it.

You could just as well look at it the other way and say that locals/residents should feel lucky when they get chance to enjoy things all to themselves during the quieter months when tourists would have every right to use those shared facilities, but choose not to.

I'm glad when our regional motorways are free-running at non-peak time, but I don't get angry and critical when they're full of holidaymakers during the peak times - because they're no more my motorways than they are theirs, just by virtue of the fact that I live nearer to them.

I'd 100% support a clampdown on and sanctions against badly-behaved, rude, disrespectful, threatening tourists who ruin it for everybody else - locals and the nice tourists.

As a PP said, most of these people never had manners to leave at home in the first place. The fact they're tourists is far less relevant than the fact that they're unpleasant arseholes - which they probably are everywhere they go.

I only mind when huge groups stand around totally blocking the pavement and don't move to let anyone past. This happens A LOT.

It’s all very well saying tourists bring money but when it takes 2 hours to get to Asda because the roads are blocked when it should be a 10 minute drive it gets wearing! I can’t believe it’s my fault for living in the area where my family have lived since the 1800’s. Yeah I’ll just upsticks and fuck off then!!!! Boozed up teenagers from the local city get the train to our area on s jive day to have a ‘beach party’ they leave rubbish, bottles, piles of sick, piss on children’s play equipment, fight with each other and then with locals, generally get in the way of us trying to just live our lives. It’s my fault though apparently.

I agree with all the heartfelt views expressed from tourist destinations. It seems to boil down the division of the human race into pleasant and unpleasant individuals... sadly the unlikeable ones can't be forced to stay at home, or required to learn to reverse their car/caravan, and take their rubbish to a bin.

I think we should bring back the stocks for the sake of humilating the entitled and ill-mannered publicly.

I lived in a popular bucket and spade seaside resort in the south as a child and it was brilliant. Not only did we have a glorious sandy beach and safe shallow sea, but amusements, attractions, a funfair and later, any amount of coffee bars, discos, a dance hall, venues for big name bands and shows, parks, gardens, etc.
The tourists brought in money to sustain all these and more, and there was a buzz in the town in those days.
Yes, the locals may have heaved a sigh of relief at the end of the season (when we all got a glorious half fare day on all the rides in the fair before it shut down!) and there was a lot of litter, which meant more employment in cleaning it up, and a lot of the jobs were seasonal, there was drunken behaviour in certain bars and it was less easy to get about in the area around the sea front.
But the decline was sad to see, following the advent of package holidays abroad.
Now that people are back holidaying at home, I wonder how it is, with the stories about people leaving excrement everywhere and not even trying to put litter in bins. We did moan about crowding and litter but we didn't have that.

@BashfulClam

It’s all very well saying tourists bring money but when it takes 2 hours to get to Asda because the roads are blocked when it should be a 10 minute drive it gets wearing! I can’t believe it’s my fault for living in the area where my family have lived since the 1800’s. Yeah I’ll just upsticks and fuck off then!!!! Boozed up teenagers from the local city get the train to our area on s jive day to have a ‘beach party’ they leave rubbish, bottles, piles of sick, piss on children’s play equipment, fight with each other and then with locals, generally get in the way of us trying to just live our lives. It’s my fault though apparently.

But this happens anywhere and you could say that about anywhere. I live in a popular city and only yesterday there was a car meet at a local Green space. 000s cars zooming around there, radios blaring, litter everywhere and antisocial behaviour. Play equipment is regularly broken at the local playpark And litter everywhere. It's not exclusive to tourist places.

I feel sorry for them because the local council has turned the entire place into a big University campus site and there's nothing much left for the tourists now.

As a central Londoner I could bang on abkut not being able to afford to buy property due to wealthy incomers, lack of affordable housing, kids having to move away from generations old areas, empty properties, crowds of tourists (who don’t know how to move efficiently on pavements), crowds at my local beauty spots and cultural and entertainment venues. But we tend to put up with it all. As a fact of living with inequality, capitalism and cheap travel etc etc. Never sure why some places feel they have a different right to complain about things millions of us live with every day of the year !

Edinburgh is a nightmare during the Fringe Festival but due to Covid we haven’t had it since 2019 and I doubt very much we will have one this year so it’s been a nice break from all the many people and traffic, I get stressed and anxious nowadays with big crowds but I quite like that Edinburgh is a popular tourist destination, I only wish they wouldn’t go sightseeing on public transport at peak times on weekday mornings because they are forever holding the bus up by asking the driver questions, taking a while to get their change out, etc, etc.

I’m lucky to have lived in lots of places people like to visit - from big touristy cities to small towns (currently lots of neighbours are - unfortunately - second homes which I think are more detrimental than holiday lets in constant use). While there is a fair bit of local tourism where we are now I’d actual welcome more visitors as it is a beautiful yet overlooked part of the country.

The only place tourists have really bothered me is in York - they’re everywhere! Perhaps it’s because as a small city you have no choice to avoid the city centre to get from A to B, but between day trippers and coaches, the races and a steady stream of hen and stag dos I don’t think I visited city centre shops/pubs etc on a Saturday for years. Perhaps my dislike for the tourists mirrored the fact I didn’t hugely get the appeal of a day/night out in York - for various reasons we were tied there for work, but chose to leave as soon as we could. As a city, I just found it so bland and soulless.