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.

Cruise ships are an issue, they disgorge loads of people all at once who then dutifully traipse round all the famous sites, they don't feel they have time to find hidden gems on a days visit.
There are also countries where the middle class have discovered tourism relatively recently launched like India and China and that had added to the number of visitors. My main experience of this is Edinburgh. To be fair, if I went to China I would probably not have the confidence to go off the beaten track and miss the big sites after going all that way.
Instagram has a lot to answer for, Skye is rammed with people getting the famous views in shot but Mull is much quieter as it's not on the Instagram radar so much.
I think cooler spots like Scotland are only going to get more popular as it gets too hot elsewhere, it's going to be tricky to manage.

i have one big suitcase which is full of all the things i need for a 2 week stay at my mum's without having to spend quality time with her washing machine hoping the weather will be ok to dry it, thanks.

I also bring things over for here, and then take things back for my family.

I hope that's ok with you?

I will say, though, that Eurostar is among the better trains for luggage space. EMR and LNER are intercity trains with nearly zero space for luggage. Drives me bonkers.

Our council money issues are closing another 20 public toilets some of them for good, some will be summer season only. The locals like to Reclaim their beauty spots off season. Now we're going to need to cross our legs for six months.

There's a Lidl near us I shop at. Lots of overseas campervans stop there to buy things. You hear different languages being spoken when going round.

Campervans are in the main very respectful, on the other hand Airbnb folks can be very unpleasant.

Maybe the solution is to properly tax air travel, so what people pay reflects the environmental cost. That will deter some of the international tourism. That said, it will surely just mean people travel more within their own country

Yes, I think you’re right, Covid made people reassess. Lots are also more climate conscious now and choosing not to fly.

It is already taxed I think

I'm aware of that. I said "properly tax".

What's your idea of properly

And as per usual it will mean only the wealthy travelling

And make it even more out of reach for those less well off?

They'll like their week in a grotty caravan in the rain, or lump it, I suppose?

Many just go where Instagram tells them to go. So many people can't think for themselves anymore.

I live in the Caribbean, in a tourist hotspot and we do notice a big increase in tourists. Mainly the AI hotels and some tour operators benefit from it, as jobs in this sector are badly paid. As a local we notice that tourists pay less attention on the road, making driving more dangerous. The times that they stopped just ahead of me on the road because they saw flamingo's are countless. Also lots of beaches are now partly inaccessible as part is reserved for tourists, always the best parts with shade etc which makes it for us locals more difficult to go to the beach like we used to. During Covid the island was in lockdown and locals could actually enjoy the tranquility and the amenities for themselves. Was fun for some time. The amount of tourists currently and type of tourists has become completely different than pre covid.

This is kind of what it comes down to really.

We now have a society where travel is valued, seen as a positive for people's lives and development. There've been a number of posts on this thread about how things were better when it was less crowded a few decades back, ie when people were more likely to be priced out. I look at those posts and realise they're reminiscing about when me and mine were excluded. I can go now though. Unsurprisingly, I'm not very interested in a solution that means the likes of my family a few decades back shouldn't have access.

When we set travel up as an inherently positive thing, and so many people value and enjoy it, any sustainable solution is likely to have to factor in more equitable access.

Don't get me wrong, I'm fully on the side of the residents, I live in a tourist place and whenever I've moaned about it, I'm told to shut up, they are on holiday, they are enjoying themselves, how are businesses supposed to make any money. But what about those of us that live there permanently and need to get up for work the next day?

I had someone shit on my driveway last week and then someone else parked on it when I went out, another day. I've been kept up all night with music and shouting. I've had people winding my dogs up.

Until people can be more respectful, there should be some kind of crackdown on behaviour, and possibly numbers (our lovely beaches and promenades etc are out of bounds during the summer due to the number of tourists, we pay taxes and charges, and can barely use our amenties) but that doesn't mean increasing prices. It means teaching people manners and respectfulness and self discipline again.

The solution is culturally we all need to accept that travelling and also staying in a new place for fun comes at environmental and social and economic burden to other people.
Everyone’s holidays contribute to that. We can’t take out the disparity in what people can afford but we can expect that everyone will holiday as responsibly as possible. For some people that’s holidaying as they always have done because it’s lower impact, and for others that would look like making a massive change. It’s really quite depressing but also, that’s the reality of an unaddressed climate crisis.

Apart from that I seriously think AirBNB should be banned, like immediately. It’s taking residential accommodation out of circulation in swathes of the UK and other countries when there is already a crisis in rental affordability and availability. People and governments should not be supporting that.

You can't ban Airbnb but you can licence, regulate and tax them. All rental properties residential in Wales have now done this. You have to sit exams online every four years to retain your licence. Use Welsh government tenancy agreements.

Wales are now intending to do the same thing with holiday let's as well as taxing them.

When they brought in the rental rules, houses came back on the market. Similar will happen I think.

@SummerBarbecues yes I had this exact same thought yesterday. My 15 year DD is constantly on about places she seen on TIkTok. She wants to go to zante where we have already been and weren't keen on. We went to Santorini a while ago before all the hype and now all her friends are desperate to go! Social media is a big driver of what becomes popular.

As a PP said I don't think the solution is just 'ban AirBnB' given the other sites available and the fact that if you ban one another will just pop up to replace it. These sites have a wide range of accommodation available including purpose build tourist properties that would not be suitable for local residents.

It's interesting to read some of the comments here and the recent protests have made me think about the way we holiday, in particular the frequent reference to 'stay in a hotel instead'. For the past 25 years since the one and only package holiday DH and I went on, we have booked a cottage/villa etc and our flights/car hire. The vast majority of properties we have stayed in have been purpose built holiday accommodation - often houses that the owners have built or bought as their own holiday home and then let out at other times. They are often semi-rural and I can only think of one or two that were in more local residential areas. While I appreciate that hotels bring local employment, I don't actually like staying in hotels so we are unlikely to change our holiday habits going forward. We eat out in local restaurants every night on holiday and shop in local supermarkets for basics and breakfasts, so contribute to the local economy that way, alongside visiting beauty spots and attractions.

I think that governments are the ones to blame along with rising populations and disposable income in countries like China and that some form of limitation on numbers or regulation is the only way to solve the problem. A tourist tax is not going to put that many people off and the additional investment in the area still isn't going to stop the overcrowding. I would love to visit some of the places that have been highlighted recently for example Santorini but won't because it looks like a nightmare right now having seen some photos in the press. having 10,000 people decent on your tiny island, take some pictures and then leave is not sustainable.

"Airb&b should be banned immediately" - really? I take it the poster is using it as a generic term for a short term furnished holiday let- like the word "hoover" just means any vacuum cleaner.
Many farmers, encouraged by the government, diversified into holiday lets by converting disused barns and farm buildings. These are normally explicitly prevented from full time occupancy by the terms of their planning conditions.
There are many people who let out part of their main home - like an annex or who move out during the summer months to let their main home. In many rural areas there are small cottages with little or no gardens which make good holiday homes, but not so good to actually live in.

The answer lies in more local control, not a blanket ban. Above a certain % of the housing stock being used as holiday accommodation would be subject to control and restrictions. A tourist tax (similar to the taxe de sejour in France) invested back into the local community.
Make it more attractive to be a landlord- rather than a host for Air or Verbo or Booking...

The problems caused by mass tourism are not caused so much by the type of accommodation, but by the behaviour of the tourists. The mass brawl in Dovedale this weekend wasn't because they were staying in a self catering cottage, but because they behaved like a gang of thuggish louts. The problems on the NC500 are not caused by camper vans, but because too many of the occupants behave like ignorant idiots leaving rubbish and toilet contents behind them, drive like morons on single track roads and make absolute nuisances of themselves by parking camping where they shouldn't.

The problems caused by mass tourism are not caused so much by the type of accommodation, but by the behaviour of the tourists

Hmm, depends on the particular problem being discussed. If a tourist is staying in a property that could be used to house local people but has instead become a holiday let, they're part of a problem regardless of how well they behave. I say this as someone who has done just that. I realised I was part of that particular problem and no longer stay in that kind of property.

Equally, there are people who may not even be staying in an area and therefore have displaced nobody, but could cause massive trouble with anti social behaviour on a day trip.

As said there's been a bit more in the media recently where over tourism is beginning to pip people off and my first thoughts are do all those people that are anti tourism never holiday out of their own area.

Always the way. You are traffic and I am sitting in traffic!

I live just on the edge of the Lake District National Park. The Covid years and one or two afterwards were absolutely insane During the time when it was impossible or difficult to go abroad it really was awful. Even where I live which is much quieter than the central Lakes was absolutely rammed.People seemed to lose their collective mind too and behaviour was far worse for a while - terrible parking, littering, noise etc.
But so far this year feels more like a normal Summer to me. Of course it is busy, it always is in the school holidays, but it isn't like the Covid/immediately post Covid years.
One thing I have noticed though is that it seems busier year round nowadays than it used to. It's still quite busy even in the Winter months. I think that is something to with a lot of people taking up more outdoor pursuits and discovering new places during Covid. I think the current popularity of things like paddleboarding and wild swimming has increased the number of out of season weekend visitors quite a bit. It is good for the local economy of course, and probably the nation's health, but I do miss the really quiet months.
Some of the perceived busyness is due to staff shortages too though. You might find yourself waiting in a pub or restaurant not because there are more people waiting to be served but because there are less people to serve them, and the reasons for that are multiple.
I think most people round here have fairly mixed feelings about tourism. There are definite downsides but the economy depends on it. People have always moaned about tourists and probably always will, yet we know they're needed. And let's face it, those of us who live in holiday areas also like to holiday elsewhere too so it's rather unreasonable to oppose other people doing the same! I think most people just want there to be controls to ensure that the negative effects on local communities and the environment are minimised as much as possible.
That said, we don't get much antisocial behaviour here. If I lived somewhere like Benidorm I might feel differently.

I live in the edge of the Peak District.

Its been crazy here since lockdown and continues. Traffic jams at Mam Tor at midnight to see the Northern Lights, traffic jams in Castleton ( never before)

And now a brawl in Dovedale. I’m not sure people who brawl used to visit the Peak District much pre lockdown. It was more grey haired NT types or hikers.

We have an issue with day trippers which is worse than overnighters. They arrive in vehicles designed safely for five people and ten pile out. There were two vehicles and around 20 people of all ages.

They then proceed to unpack many bottles of soft drinks, put disposable BBQs on our recycled plastic picnic tables. Cook up their food, drink their pop. All back in the vehicle leaving all their crap behind, melting our picnic tables.

Husband walking dogs in the evening asked them politely to put rubbish in the designated bins. They ignored him. When he walked back an hour later trippers gone, mess left. He cleaned up what he could but the BBQs were still too hot. There was also piles of 💩 and loo roll in the long grass which he wasn't prepared to pick up.

There was no excuse they weren't drunk kids but three generations.

What can anyone do