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.

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

This.

Its lLike in the U.K. the number of UK tourists has doubled in 5 years. I’m totally confused by it. I used be able to go places and never see anyone. Now every corner is packed to bursting.

There are more people than ever before on the planet. The swathes of kids that baby boomers had are now all adults and many have kids/families of their own. This country has also received a huge number of immigrants.

Is it only Airbnb that you would ban, or would that extend to the numerous other booking platforms that people use to book a holiday rental?

Airbnb is no different from (say) booking dot com, VRBO, Sykes cottages etc etc. It is just somewhere to advertise your holiday property.

A very quick google for "holiday cottages lake district" brings up 8 different websites on the first page - none of them are Airbnb.

Properties advertised on Airbnb are often advertised on a number of other platforms, all of which are offering holiday accommodation. Is it somehow "OK" to rent the property as long as it isn't via Airbnb, or would you extend your ban to every single platform which advertises holiday properties to rent? Would you require the other platforms to pay extra taxes too? If not, why not?

Baby boomers didn’t have loads of kids.

And I’m not sure how they are responsible for an explosion of tourists in the last 3 years

@CormorantStrikesBack

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.

Parking, congestion and places being ridiculously busy WAS a problem 5-10 years ago. I live on the edge of the LD and have clients there so have been travelling to places like Windermere, Ambleside and Keswick for the last 30-40 years. For a decade or two, I've always tried to avoid travelling during the Summer months, school holidays, etc., as they've been insanely busy. It really isn't a "recent" thing at all. Yes, probably worse now than 5 years ago, but it really was still bad 5 years ago, as it was bad 10 years ago, and 20 years ago. Yes, it's getting worse, but it really was a problem 20-30 years ago in the main tourist honeypot spots like Bowness and Ambleside in particular. Even back in the 80s, when me and OH were "courting" and we'd drive up to lake Windermere for a Sunday walk or to hire a boat, we'd often end up not being able to park and having to go elsewhere on busy weekends, getting stuck in traffic congestion etc.

Yes it’s always been bad. But since lockdown it’s like the number of UK tourists in popular tourist spots has exploded.

We went to Cornwall in earlyJuly 2021. It was busier that the school holidays in 2019. Every road rammed. This used to be a school holiday thing.

And have been for years. It's an issue. But remember, the window for climbing Everest is one or two weeks in the middle of May and (possibly) another week in late September. So it's not like there's massed tourism all the time.

Ok it may have been a problem five or ten years ago but i didn’t go to Ambleside or windemere so didn’t see the busy areas I guess. Two years ago there was a 30 min queue for Greggs in Keswick, for takeaway sausage rolls!

the langstrath inn has just shut to non locals at weekends which I have never known before. I used to go swimming in black moss pot and there would be nobody there and now all I see on tiktok is videos of people there. I’ve heard the campsite down there was getting so swamped they’ve shut it last week with immediate effect.

i went to the Lingholme kitchen for lunch must have been right after lockdown ended and there were a 100 people queuing, they said it was about a 90 min wait to be seated. I left. 🤷‍♀️. No idea if there are still crazy queues but I’ve never queued to get in before.

I’m with you op, we holiday in a caravan, shop local and eat out at least once a day. I love local shops with local products. Yes it is more expensive but that’s expected and the quality of the food was lovely and breakfast was usually a real treat with local sourced sausages, honey and cakes made at a real bakery.

smaller shops are almost non existent now, priced out by big chains and the population is just too small outside of peak holiday season, because of air bnb/holiday let’s. hotels provide a lot more jobs and this really needs government to step in to regulate it.

zero hours contracts should be abolished imo, I don’t think they work other than for the employer.

Oh and it’s amazing how many people have the strength to carry full cans of drink, crisps etc to a lovely scenic place but are then too weak to carry the empty packets back to their car to take home.

That's down to capitalism not tourism- and even if the money goes to the owner it is still going to a local small business, which was my point.

If I just stay in my home town and buy my sandwiches from Pret it's going to a national chain and is not benefitting locals directly, only indirectly through jobs being provided.

Doesn't overpopulation also play a role? There are a lot more people on the planet now than 50 years ago!

I was born and still live in the Lake District. So were both my parents. It's always been over-touristy, very busy and all the concomitant problems that brings. It's not a new thing. But I don't resent the tourists. We need them, our local economy is very reliant on them, and everyone has a right to visit where they want. No one owns a place.

Yes, no excuse for littering

I agree. We've just spent the week close to a lovely Cotswolds village. We walked up and down the main street, but there was literally nowhere to buy groceries, only "posh" expensive pubs/restaurants open in the evening, no takeaways open after the daytime "tourists" have gone. It was all pretty bleak really. For groceries, we had to take the car to a petrol garage on the nearest main road a couple of miles away that had an Asda convenience store! For eating out in the evening, we had to go to a "chain" pub in the next village a few miles away as we really didn't want to have to pay £40-£50 for a main course in one of the posh/expensive village pub restaurants in our village. As for the shops on the main street in the village, they were basically antique shops, fashion shops and a naff gimmicky tourist tat gift shop. There were a couple of cafes/bakeries selling the usual tourist staples such as bacon baps, scones, pies, etc., but they all closed at 3pm! It really was more like some kind of "Cotswolds theme park" than a proper village which is a great shame. We drove through it most evenings and it was like a ghost town. Then the locals whinge that holiday cottage tourists don't buy their stuff in their village - well that's no surprise when everything shuts mid afternoon and there isn't even a grocery shop! It really put us off going to that kind of village again. We'll stick to being closer to bigger towns in future.

I empathise with them about the second home/Air B&B issue, but for everything else, they should be careful what they wish for.

While the Lakes itself has always been busy, the areas outside the National Park are definitely being hit with way more tourists than ever before.

However, we don't have the infrastructure of the Lakes (no bus service, very limited trains etc.) as well as poor roads, and since COVID, it's been really noticeable that we just can't cope with the massive influx of people. I'm on the coast and the increased traffic is really noticeable now.

DD did a project at school nearly 20 years ago about the numerous negative impacts of tourism in the Caribbean.

So it's hardly a new thing.

Just because something was bad, doesn’t mean people can’t point out that it’s now worse.

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/28/observer-view-overtourism-leave-hotspots-alone

Back in the 80s a flight to Faro from Manchester was £100 return each. A studio £30 for the week. In June.

Now flights are cheap, people go for long weekends, some friends have half a dozen breaks a year. Two proper holidays and four short breaks.

We're swamping tourist areas. No more a hotel for a week. Now it's two nights in an Airbnb in Wales, two in Ireland and two in Scotland.

It's head spinning how much moving around friends do.

I used to love airports now they're awful.

It's no longer an annual treat to save up for and enjoy.

The problem is that no one thinks it's them that are the problem. The people swamping that Cotswold town upthread are probably congratulating themselves for not flying and for supporting local businesses. The cruise passengers are probably congratulating themselves for not staying in an AirBnB and for going to six different destinations with only one return flight. Everyone thinks it's other people that are wrong and that what they are doing is better.

Yep! I am sitting in traffic but other people are traffic.

Well the same could be said for the overpopulation of the UK, but apparently that's racist.

I used to love airports now they're awful.

Yes. Whoever said “it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive” had obviously never experienced airports.
Hope goes out the window when the airport comes into view.

@justasking111 I agree.

And people's behaviour has changed. People drinking pints of lager at 6.30am, dragging vast 22kg luggage - how can anyone need that much stuff? Or determined to take all baggage in the cabin because it saves them 5 mins in Arrivals.

Airline behaviour too. Charge for checking, charge for a boarding card, charge for sitting together.

Now if I fly, I get the earliest flight possible, don't go near a departure lounge, check my bag because no-one else does. Choose small regional airports.

I used to love airports now they're awful.

Personally my experience is that it's the British side of it that's awful, particularly the hell-hole masquerading as Manchester which was appalling unfriendly and miserable long before covid.

I remember our first flight out of there with our infant son about 20 years ago, and we were fed up and miserable even before we got into the departure lounge. Waited for over an hour in the queue to check in, finally handed over bags and were given boarding cards by a miserable autotron behind the counter. Boarding cards wouldn't work at the scanner to go through security, so had to go back and were barked out by the queue control staff as we tried to get back to the counter by "jumping" the queue instead of having to wait another hour for them to sort out their failing system! Finally persuaded a supervisor that as it was their fault, they had to put us to front of queue - another miserable sod who acted like we were taking away her first born for ritual sacrifice. Finally got through the colditz security guy to get into the x-ray area to be shouted at for firstly not removing our belts (which wasn't specified on the posters!) and then they held back one of our bags for inspection and we were shouted out for not knowing that our son's pork pie from his packed lunch would set off the x-ray alerts! None of the staff have any customer service skills at all - all been trained at the Nazi training school! Things really havn't got better in the years since.

Contrast that with really nice/friendly/helpful staff at Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds, which is where we started going from instead. We also flew from Blackpool quite a lot which was probably the best ever airport experience as it was so small and friendly, such a shame it closed.

Most overseas airports have also been pretty pleasant experiences - quite often friendly staff who are happy to chat, make jokes, etc. Even at huge airports such as Amsterdam and certainly at American airports who are the friendliest of the lot.

There really is something seriously wrong with Manchester!