Holidays in the sun - what is wrong with that

[mids2019]

I was listening to some radio piece about residents in a Spanish island wanting fewer UK tourists. There was a girly middle class commentator on this story supporting the islanders claiming British tourists are awful, wanting just to drink and eat bad food, dressing inapproriately,, drinking to much and being leary. All the Brit abroad sterotypes.

However I feel there is a large amount of class.snobbery here and a lot of families just want a week or two somewhere hot, have a few beers, relax and try and get a tan. Some of us don't want a.cultured or stressful holiday and I am very much each to his own on this.
As long as there isn't any breaking of laws I think we shouldn't be ashamed of breaks to the costs del sol etc.

Prices in the UK are extortionate and our weather is miserable. Viva Espagna!

Part of the issue is the ridiculous drinking culture we have in the UK. You only have to look at the city centres on Friday and Saturday nights in the UK to see how some people behave. I think Spain and other countries need to increase the prices of alcohol. It's way too cheap, plus they often free pour and the measures are much bigger than what we have at home. It wouldn't stop the bad behaviour but maybe curtail it a little.

I have sympathy with the people who live in these holiday destinations. Obviously you have to expect some noise and rowdy behaviour when people are on holiday, but there are people who go way beyond this and ruin it for everyone.

I have been to a few resort type holidays over the years. Mainly full of Irish/ British people. They were fine. I doubt the locals minded too much as they were mainly families who did as you said liked a few beers, had food they were familiar with and just wanted guaranteed sun on the beach.

I have also been to 1 resort where the behaviour by I'm afraid to say mostly British men made me feel disgusted. If the lovely warm Spanish place I lived turned from a family resort where OK the food was British and the pubs were Irish but 90% of people were reasonable turned into a place filled with drunk men grabbing at women and walking around with burnt beer bellies hanging out I'd be pissed off!

I’m not from the UK but sadly wherever you go British people often stick out like a sore thumb. The way they (don’t) dress, are drunk and shout at their kids. Obviously not all, but they do often stand out. I don’t go to ”Espagna” but I can see what they mean.

I think it's missing the point. The islanders don't want so many tourists because the locals can't afford to live there. In Ibiza there are police having to live in their cars because they can't afford the rent. More and more hotels are built but there is nowhere for the locals to live.

I absolutely agree with the locals that something needs to be done both about the awful drunken resorts and also the bigger problem of local housing. The government needs to tackle both though because the people who go there to get pissed and party aren't going to care. The locals are getting angry with the wrong people, there needs to be changes in the laws and planning permission - but no doubt it comes down to greed on the part of whoever is making the decisions.

Only in the UK.. 😂😩

Hmm British people seem to loose their heads when the sun is out either here or in Spain. And obviously nobody should feel they are above the local law (legal or social norm)

I think some of the problem in Tenerife is something we also see here in the UK and that is to do with housing. Lots of accommodation being made available to tourists and not enough for the local population. Rents inflated and lack of availability.

Girly was a typo......same with espana...woops.

I personally see how anti social behaviour would annoy anyone but I think there is some snobbery about people window is he their week in the sun. I sign want to spend every holiday in the Costs del Sol but there is something attractive about guaranteed weather and relatively cheap food and drink. I think maybe it's ca as if a few rotten apples?

Locals in British tourist hotspots complain bitterly about tourists too.

Edinburgh and Cornwall spring immediately to mind. And there will be many others.

It's hard work going about your daily life among many thousands of tourists.

Tourists should take greater care, have respect and manners wherever they go.

I used to work for a cheap holiday company many years ago and took British holiday makers to Spain by coach. Most of them were fine but often as I dropped a group off at their resort I mentally apologised to the locals for what I was about to unleash

What was girly a typo for?

You keep saying Costs del Sol, it’s Costa not Costs.

Spanish sun holidays are not our thing at all

However, last year we went on our first ever package deal for the kids - water park in the hotel and kids club. Etc.

Kids had an amazing Time and it was relaxing

However, at night all you could see and hear were English parents, there was a fist fight that continued on to the pool over the next few days

I don't think it's a few rotten apples, much more than that. I have probably heard Spanish spoken more often on the London Underground than the last Spanish tourist resort I went to.

I don't blame the Spanish for protesting, particularly after having seen what British tourism has done to the southwest corner of Tenerife. It's a tacky shithole that looks like Blackpool and is freqented by beer-swilling, lobster-red louts who are covered in ugly tattoos and spend all day drinking. Would I want that kind of tourist in my town? Nope.

I think there are a lot of good points on these threads but there is part of me that thinks that there is a dislike of a certain 'type' of holiday maker. There are some families that will avoid cultural hot spots e.g. Rome, Venice, Barcelona etc. and will always very towards the well established, sun, beach and booze holiday. People may not be fluent in Spanish or Greek for instance.

I think if you avoid overly anti social behaviour then we shouldn't be too judgmental.

@ladybirdsanchez

A lot of the characteristics you describe some would say are earthy working class types? Depends on perpective.

Not my mind of holiday but if it works for some.....

People may not be fluent in Spanish or Greek for instance.

Very few tourist are fluent in either of those languages, but you can try to learn a few phrases - it's not that hard! But turning up with your broad Middlesbrough accent and expecting everyone to understand you wherever you go and just speaking more loudly if they don't is taking the piss.

People may not be fluent in Spanish or Greek for instance.

What do you mean by this?

TBH I think that many tourist hotspots (even posh ones) are struggling to cope with the huge increase in global tourism.

Its going to be a challenge over the next decade or so IMO, as more and more places object to being hollowed out and turned into playgrounds for visitors.

We already see it with objections to Airbnb, calls for increased tourist taxes, ticketing entry to cities etc.

Tourism is making many places completely unliveable, and that is tragic really.

It’s even an issue in the UK with coachloads of tourists swamping villages and not spending any money. What’s the value to the local community of that? Just a load of people gawping and taking photos because your village features in instagram posts about ‘cutest villages to visit in England’?

The certain 'type' that's disliked is the antisocial type - one that doesn't respect dress codes, makes a lot of noise & mess. I think it's hard to defend that 'type'.

I think what offends me about some kinds of tourists is the refusal to acknowledge that they are visiting a different country with its own very interesting language, culture and heritage. Talking about just going somewhere for guaranteed sun and cheap booze as if it's a blank void only capable of providing those two things is pretty offensive to the people whose home it is. A place is always more than that.

That's what they want.
The heat, the sun and the cheap booze.
Of course they're not going to visit the Alhambra.

I remember chatting with a local villa rep in the Algarve about the local large supermarket and she asked what I thought about the prices, and I said I thought it was really reasonable and she said “not for the locals though”. Which I understand but also the main recruitment in the whole area was tourism?

mind you my sister lives in a UK holiday destination sea side resort and she’s noticed there are lots of things more expensive there again to take advantage of the weekend trade.

You couldn’t pay me to go to somewhere like Magaluf. It’s just Basildon on sea.

God, the snobbery is rife on this thread.

Pretty much the same issues as we experience in British holiday destinations and I'm sure all over the world really.
I live in a UK tourist destination and I would say most people feel like this. Nobody wants to ban tourism. The area's economy depends on it greatly, plus we know it's a beautiful part of the country that people benefit from visiting. But we also see the negative effects on communities of excessive second home/holiday let ownership, damage to the environment and so on so there needs to be some limits. And people - of all kinds - need to treat places they visit and the people who live there with a bit more respect than many currently do. I imagine that's all the Spanish protestors want, and it's not unreasonable is it?