Why has (over) tourism become so much of an issue recently?

[CormorantStrikesBack]

So protests in various areas of Spain and other places telling tourists to go home. I get some of it is about housing being used for Airbnb and locals being priced out but even in areas where they’re stopping the Airbnbs they are still saying there’s too many tourists.

in this country various areas such as Snowdonia, the Peak District, the Lakes are rammed. Can’t park anywhere, lengthy queue to touch the trig at the top of snowdon, crazy queues for cafes, etc. I used to live in Snowdonia, currently live near the Peak District and have holidayed in the Lakes for 20 years. Since Covid it’s been bonkers.

did Covid make people decide to get out and about and explore more? Where did these people who now come to uk national parks holiday before? I could understand it maybe in the early post Covid days of people were reluctant to fly but are people still nervous about going abroad? But obviously not everyone because Spain is also rammed. Is it social media encouraging people to go out and explore? I get loads of videos on my TikTok of people who have recently taken up hiking and follow the crowds to watch the sunrise on Mam Tor, never used to be a thing. Now there might be 50 plus people up there watching the sun rise.

We have just paid a tourist tax in Europe so they probably already exist

First time abroad since COVID

They do indeed exist in some places. I think more tourist destinations should introduce them.

If you look at the statistics, UK airports are still handling fewer passengers now than they did pre Covid, so there are definitely lots of people who have been put off foreign travel. I'm one of them. Used to go abroad 2 or 3 times per year but havn't been since Covid and I doubt I will fly again.

We now have 3 or 4 UK short breaks, but as we don't have school age children, we avoid school holidays and only go "off peak" - we also avoid the tourist honey pots, so we don't suffer the ridiculously busy places/times.

We also avoid renting holiday homes on housing estates or city centre flats etc. We go for proper holiday conversions/new builds, typically on farms or conversions such as a railway carriage, converted railway station, barn conversions, static caravans, etc., so that we're not displacing locals from where they could live, which usually means better quality and more professional owners. The few residential flats or houses we've lived in were clearly amateurs and we feel there's just something "wrong" about holidaying on a housing estate when your neighbours are going to/from work, mowing their lawns, etc - it just doesn't feel like a holiday!

I have just been to Greece. The tourist tax is a lot more than 5 Euro a family. It can be up to 10 Euro per room per night.

I agree. We've paid tourist taxes in some places, can't exactly remember which, but pretty sure we've paid tourist taxes in Venice and Berlin, and relatively expensive too, maybe something like a fiver per person per night, so £100 or so for a week's stay for three of us I seem to remember somewhere.

We definitely should be doing it in the UK such as London and other cities affected by lots of tourists such as York, Edinburgh, etc., and impose it on Air BNBs and holiday cottages too, not just hotels.

The Welsh assembly has been talking about bringing in a “tourist” tax for several years. I believe it will apply to anyone paying for accommodation in Wales, regardless of whether they are a tourist or not.

I think people just travel so much more than they used to. So many people I know seem to go away virtually every time it’s the school holidays, plus multiple weekend breaks as well. And it seems to be quite a thing for retired people in their 60s as well, they’re constantly on holiday!

30 years ago when I started primary school, most people would go on a maximum of 1-2 holidays a year.

That makes sense as it's impossible to "police" who is a tourist and who isn't. People would just self declare themselves as "non tourists" on booking forms etc to avoid it. Just the same way as during covid lockdowns, people would self declare as "essential workers" on hotel booking sites or airplane booking sites and no one policed it. Anyway, people who aren't "tourists" are still using local resources, causing congestion, using services etc., so can't see why they shouldn't be charged it. If they're on business, their employers/clients would ultimately pay!

A lot of it is population growth. The UK population has risen by 10 million over the past 30 years or so. That's 10 million more people holidaying!

Very similar growth throughout Europe really. So in, say, Barcelona, it's not just foreign tourists causing problems, there'll be more Spaniards living in and holidaying in Barcelona too!

Much of the extra people in the UK are students and very low paid workers, they wont be holidaying.

Passenger numbers for 2023 are still 3% below 2019 levels.

We been travelling via Ferry in late june/july to France for many years, on our recent trip, the outward and inward ferries were half empty, never seen it like this before.

Flight and ferry tickets have soared because of fuel prices yet now they've fallen, the ticket prices have not, in fact gone up again and again.

I was a tourist in Edinburgh recently, part of a big family group of 17 (mainly English, one American and some with joint nationality (UK/US).

The family who live in the US was visiting another, who live in Scotland. The rest of us live in the south of England. We didn't go to see Edinburgh (lovely as it is) but to see the family, who we hadn't seen since Covid.

On the day we left, the last 8 of us were wandering around with a lot of cases/bags. We had intended to leave them at Waverley station while we had lunch but decided against, partly because the queue for left luggage was massive and hardly moved at all in the 10 minutes we were in it, and partly because of the cost.

I know. I've paid it before. I meant add on 5 euros per family specifically for social housing or similar.

Most French cities and towns charge a tourist tax. We recently paid about 2 euros each per night where we stayed.

Just came back from Portugal. We were each charged 2 Euros a night tourist tax. That’s not going to put me off holidays but hopefully goes some way towards the city upkeep.

Skye is the same - total bedlam. Yes it's beautiful, but so are loads of other places which get zero attention. Everyone wants to go to the same places and see the same things, no individuality.

f you look at the statistics, UK airports are still handling fewer passengers now than they did pre Covid, so there are definitely lots of people who have been put off foreign travel. I'm one of them. Used to go abroad 2 or 3 times per year but havn't been since Covid and I doubt I will fly again.

I had no idea about this. Interesting.

I wonder how much the reduced flights are also about reduced business travel though? I have a lot of clients with international offices and while there IS still travel, it does seem to be less because they've all got used to doing a lot on skype or similar.

That's a great point.

And a tourist tax to fund it

Where do they all find the money in this economy? Can't all be mumsnetters on 6 figure salaries.

@Octocat i was just thinking the same! We live on the causeway coast and I’m just waiting for it to be ‘discovered’ as it stands you can be parked at the beach on the hottest day of the year and still have the place to yourself for most of the morning 😂

Yup, we are coastal too. Don't tell anyone.

I do get that. But my point is that 10 years ago when I was going to the Lakes, even 5 years ago there wasn’t a problem. I’m not saying I have more right to be there because I’ve been visiting 20 plus years (just realised it’s 30) compared to someone who has only just discovered it. Guess I’m just curious as to the explosion in numbers.

i try to be a “thoughtful” tourist. I stay in a caravan (my own touring one) when I go somewhere, used to camp but too old now. So hopefully not affecting local housing. I shop locally at independent places as much as possible ie don’t stock up in Tesco. I eat lunch out at an independent cafe or pub every day. I hope I’m contributing to the local economy. I don’t go in the school holidays, i generally try to stick to quieter places. There are certainly areas in the Lake District where even a couple of years ago I could walk all day and not see a single person in July. I pay for car parks rather than try and squeeze into a verge, etc.

I also live in a tourist city so have to “put up” with tourists in the summer.

The cost of living crisis is very unevenly distributed, and lots of people have disposable income. You don't need anything like a 6 figure salary to do regular UK travel. Additionally, some people will be doing it as a cost saving measure in itself. They might be doing a few UK mini breaks because they can't afford 2 weeks abroad in August any more.

Honestly there is no way I’d be queuing to touch the trig if I’d hiked up it. I saw a video of two hikers who bypassed the queue by walking up the other side, touched the trig and turned round and went down…..didn’t take a photo or anything. And I don’t blame them. People in the queue were shouting and booing and accusing them of pushing in. It’s a fucking mountain not the post office queue. Bet most of them took the train 😁

@Octocat the best kept secret 😂