Tourists exodus today relieved

[justasking111]

Well it's over today the tsunami of tourists will be gone.

We have never experienced such, rudeness, aggressive behaviour from them as we have this summer. Our businesses have limped along short staffed, been abused, threatened as have locals. The littering has been something else.

I know everyone has had a bad year but so have the Welsh our lockdowns harder and longer than others.

We still wear masks in shops fgs

So hopefully you all had good holidays but glad of a bit of peace now

We’ve just been to Wales. Everyone we met was unanimously friendly, polite and welcoming. We’d expected an undertone of hostility perhaps in places but I certainly didn’t pick up on any of that. It just felt like people were happy to be open, have customers again. We do holiday in the UK normally, maybe alongside a European break, so not completely out of touch with what UK holidays are like…
Some things were frustrating due to covid eg an impenetrable pool booking system, lack of parking but we didn’t complain about any of it.

When I say I’d expected an undertone of hostility I meant due to the fact we could be spreading covid, not for any other reason … everyone was lovey though.

I hear you. It's been an awful 6 weeks, I'm only thankful I don't work in hospitality anymore and have basically been reclusive since the last week of July!

@Mirw

People have had and still have periods of real stress. They then go on holiday and get not so good service which stresses them out even more. If you think it is okay to call them knuckle draggers on here, there is a good chance that is what you think when dealing with people, and then you wonder why they react to your terrible attitude.

And the staff halos had many months of real stress, including not being sure they would have a job at the end of it. Maybe the issue is that the people offering ‘a poor service’ actually has been at the receiving end of very bad, obnoxious behaviour from said tourists. Like the type of behaviour you see in Spain (and explains the poor image of brits in some areas abroad).

No wonder they react to the very poor entitled attitude of the tourists isn’t it?

I didn't have a business near the coast. But lived near and worked in Mablethorpe.
It was horrible in the summer months, hordes of tourists, who treat shop workers, like dog s**t they stood in. Happily walking over the top of a mother's push chair, because she was taking too long, people walking into the road to cross, not using crossing's then moaning about nearly getting run over. 🤷‍♀️
Locals, hunkered down and only occasionally came out, for 6 weeks school holidays.
Sure it brought money in, but was very stressful and a huge relief, when the holidaymakers go home. We did have holiday makers out of the 6 school holidays. Who ate OK, but it just went Nutts in the holidays.
People think, living near the beach is nice, it is in the winter months, but pure hell in the summer months. Running a business, I can see how horrible it must be.

FWIW I think one big issue is that those areas (Wales, Cornwall etc…) just aren’t geared up to receive as many tourist as they have.
Put shortage of staff on the top of it, isolation periods etc….
Stress from the pandemic (on both sides)
And these areas seeing a type of tourists they don’t normally see

It was bound to create problems tbh.

Interesting. The Spanish usually treat english tourists with utter contempt. Seems they got their wish these past couple of years. I wonder if they will welcome them back with open arms next year ....

@mylifestory

Interesting. The Spanish usually treat english tourists with utter contempt. Seems they got their wish these past couple of years. I wonder if they will welcome them back with open arms next year ....

Always had a fabulous time in Spain, lovely friendly hosts!

London has many more hospitals than Cornwall easier to travel to as well

I’m a tourist. Does that make me rude, aggressive and unreasonable???

@justasking111

London has many more hospitals than Cornwall easier to travel to as well

So what? We get 1000s more tourists than anyone!

I love it!

We're multi cultural, welcoming and it's great!

Davygran Tue 31-Aug-21 19:23:47
beautifullymad

"I live in a very beautiful tourist area that sadly now has an extremely high rate of covid.

It's been chaotic with the volume of tightly packed, unmasked tourists combined with staff going off sick. Tents are pitched and tourists are camped out on every available field. There are hundreds upon hundreds.

I don't often venture out until after 7pm when most of the beaches are empty.

It's doubly busy this year with people trying to stay in the UK. The few times I've had to drive into town It's been hard to see the sand between families and it's impossible to walk in town without being bumped into and jostled.

As people return to their less infected counties, we now have been left to face extremely high covid numbers. Schools returning next week with no isolation rules for under 18's and minimal medical infrastructure should the elderly and vulnerable need assistance.

And yes to the person who pointed out it's a National Health Service, but that's not a lot of use when there is a single major hospital. Getting people moved to the next hospital would means hours of driving on poor roads to the next county, it's really not close or easy.

Who put this idiotic policy through? It's about as clever as the earlier advice saying masks are useless but you should wash your hands, for a virus with aerosol transmission.

I'm feeling quite upset today after following the huge rise in cases locally. The whole of the South West is dark purple on the covid maps. With school children taking this local infection into confined classrooms with no masks and no isolation, cases are about to quadruple.

A better solution would have been to extend restrictions for longer until the summer crush had finished.

Yes! This, exactly this!
Fantastic NATIONAL health service that has 1 major hospital in an entire county and the next nearest one in Plymouth (which could be a 2.5 hour drive away if you have a car to use) is struggling too.
But hey, I’m sure it’s great nationally when you can just nip to the next town for medical attention."

No it wasn't great for us months ago when numbers were at their peak ,no one was nipping to hospitals .Early on last year in places hard hit like London very little was understood and many many people were left at home because they were not deemed ill enough ( though they had blue lips and couldn't breathe ) .

Areas where there were low rates of infection are now seeing numbers rise .I believe it was what the gov.wanted ,a policy of get it over before winter .

But yes ,it's all us soft urbanites to blame .How dare people go on holiday .Personally I feel sorry for the holiday makers ,foolish though they may be .It's not actually much fun being squashed together ,unab;e to park and paying a lot of money for accomodation .

@Crummyfunnymummy

I’m a tourist. Does that make me rude, aggressive and unreasonable???

Only if you visit Wales, they're so bloody unwelcoming, but we can't stereotype them and say that, can we?

Europe’s loss is Wales’ gain. HashtagProudToBeBritish [Union Jack]

We went to Wales on holiday and had a lovely time. It wasn’t crowded where we were, which is an area we’ve visited several times before.

There’s no excuse for bad behaviour either from tourists or locals wherever you might be.

We found everyone we met to be courteous and respectful. We were happy to wear masks in shops and restaurants etc (adults only, as teen Dd is exempt) and had a lovely time.

@Toomuchtrouble4me - so we'd all be on benefits if it weren't for tourism would we? Wonder who you voted for??

And for your information the service here has not been up to par because there is no bloody accommodation for local workers to live in due to bastard second home owners and money grabbing Airbnb's.

Thank God people like you don't live here.

I find your post quite disrespectful to be honest. Don't tarnish us all with the same brush!
I've been going to beautiful Dorset every year for years (except last year) and this year I paid an extortionate price to go due to covid but we had an amazing time and we respected Dorset, as much as they respected us. These tourist areas rely on tourists to keep their businesses running. I for one, am more than happy to pay, when I am away. I don't condone the behaviour of those that are disrespectful but I for one, am not!
This year was all about helping local businesses with staycations, I like to think that's what the majority of us had in mind when holidaying.

Going to the beach tomorrow morning at 7.30am with the grandchildren. The only time we can get to dig in the sand without many many people around us ( dare I say tourists ). Like this every summer but this year we are supposed to be avoiding people to beat Covid aren't we? We are also in the SouthWest where our numbers have been low throughout but are now soaring up.

In many countries there is a tourist tax, per head, per night.

That tourist tax is what funds facilities and infrastructure to support mass tourism.

England doesn’t have a tourist tax.

Cornwall doesn’t have a tourist tax.

Second homes, holiday lets and air bnbs pay significantly less tax than year round residential properties.

Populations in heavily summer-visited areas experience massive spikes in season, and the infrastructure isn’t there.

Towns and villages do their best, but there isn’t the money to pay for more, because there is no tourist tax.

To keep the public toilets open, we fundraise all winter, and have a team of volunteers to clean them daily.

To keep the bins available, we fundraise to buy the bins, replace them when some fool sets them alight yet again with a disposable bbq, and have volunteers on a rota to empty them, several times per day.

The council does not pay for this stuff any more. The local residents do.

The council doesn’t empty the beach bins any more. The local residents do.

The council doesn’t pay for the upkeep and cleaning of public toilets any more. Yes, that’s the local residents too.

Literally, cleaning up the daily mess, putting out fires, replacing bins, clearing up broken glass from the rocks and sand.

For zero money. Volunteers.

The RNLI and coastguards have been called out vastly more than in a normal season. Yes, they’re volunteers too. Literally saving the lives of visitors every single day.

The notion that tourism is somehow the economic saviour of popular areas is massively flawed.

It breaks my heart to see posters on this thread telling us we’d be nothing without tourism, on benefits, and that we should be grateful, and suck up the huge increase in antisocial, disruptive and dangerous behaviours.

The systems of this country are not built for mass domestic tourism, and in particular the taxation and distribution systems aren’t set up for it.

This is not the fault of residents, and believe me, we’ve been trying to get better infrastructure and facilities, and fighting tooth and nail against things like the mass closure of public toilets.

But of course visitors don’t see that or know that, on the whole.

Meanwhile, the ones at the sharp end are the hospitality staff, working their butts off trying to keep everyone fed and happy and having the holiday of their dreams, and getting shouted and sworn at regularly.

Oh, and having to pay to rent a private driveway on the outskirts so they can even get to their work, because there is no parking at all, and they can’t walk to work because the only accommodation they can get is twenty miles away, and there’s no bus service.

And…. Breathe!

My point is, there’s a lot going on behind the postcard that visitors don’t see.

@justasking111

I do wonder if people who sell up to retire in Wales realise how poor our NHS is. Up to five years waiting list for a hip operation now. Our roads aren't great, our public transport scant in many areas we can't get consultants who have young children because they're still climbing the greasy pole of promotion so want to work at the better hospitals. Their wives look at our schools and say no thanks.

It's not all roses here can't speak for other tourism areas.

Their wives look at our schools and say no thanks. Has it occurred to you that hospital consultants may also have husbands?? Who may also be concerned about their offspring’s education.

Well said @BlinkyBlooTheSailor. Absolutely spot on!!

I agree with the op, the Welsh are a bit moany

Well said banana - I thought we'd left this ever day sexism in the 70s.

can't beleueb there are still people doing the old doctors are men nurses are women crap.

I'm a tourist, I'm not rude, offensive, hurl insults or anything else you mentioned. I visited Wales and was made to feel very unwelcome, even the Welsh person whose cottage I rented couldn't believe how rude we'd been spoken to. If your selling service you should offer the service not take the money and wish we weren't there and wish the tourist season away so you can have the place back for yourself. If your attitude is anything like your opening message I think your on the wrong business. No, you don't have to put up with insults etc but as I said I'm a tourist and I'm not rude but I've taken offence to your message.

Wow, we went holidayed in Shropshire a couple of weeks back but just on the border of Wales. Wherever we went we were definitely in the minority for wearing our masks, it was like mask wearing was never a thing 🤷 Found it very odd.
We are also very polite wherever we go, but did experience a bit if grumpiness not too much fortunately, I just presumed it's because they've had a hard year for takings etc. I'm struggling to see the reason for your post to be honest, no need for division, we're all the same, and we've all gone through and are going through the covid crap, let's be nice ☺️