To detest people that think they own beautiful parts of the world?

[Bumpitybumper]

I grew up in a very ugly and undesirable part of the country and now live in a tourist hotspot. I am becoming increasingly frustrated by people that are born and raised here trying to restrict tourism or stop 'outsiders' moving here. The houses are expensive here because it's such a lovely place to live but there isn't much employment except for from tourism. Despite this many locals that I know feel that tourism should be restricted as it makes the town extremely busy in high season. They also think housing should be subsidised for locals.

I feel that there are only so many beautiful places and those lucky enough to be born in them are no more entitled to live and enjoy them than the rest of us who by luck were born elsewhere. This would effectively condemn future people like me to live and visit only the less desirable of areas whilst my children could stay in this lovely area and be subsidised for doing so. It just feels incredibly unfair!

I disagree, housing and holiday lets should be controlled so that locals can afford to live in the area they were born.
But I think "outsiders" who want to move to the area full time and contribute should be welcome.
People also do welcome tourists but tourists are becoming increasingly rude, inconsiderate and messy - respectful tourists have always been welcomed

Then why should people coming from places with more employment/higher wages be able to outbid locals for property? Luck of birth comes in all kinds of ways.

Me too, born and bred in Cumbria.

We know it's not all glitz and glamour especially when it's raining, but tourism is a lot of businesses bread and butter round here and that's fine.

I generally agree with the idea that just because you were born somewhere doesn't mean you deserve to live there forever. Strangely nobody seems to complain when it's the other way and people move to big cities for work.

But sometimes it's not just 'a beautiful part' of the country it's a specific way of life and heritage. A few people have mentioned the very high ctax in part of wales, but when you get to a point where welsh-speaking locals can't afford to live in those areas anymore so the area goes from 90% welsh speaking, to 50% to 10%, you risk a language and way of life that has been in place for hundreds of years dying out completely - and once it's gone it's almost impossible to bring back.

Also without enough locals living nearby to staff the facilities and support them through the off season, eventually the things that make the places desirable for tourists won't be viable (shops, restaurants, takeaways, surfing lessons) and then it will just be a 'beautiful place' without any resources.

Like everything else, surely it's balance?

@Pyroleus

While I support your desire to live here, if pushed to choose between you (who likes looking at the pretty mountains) and John from down the road (whose entire family is here and who grew up here and lives and contributes to his native culture) I'm choosing John.

That's your right, although you don't necessarily know how much an incomer would contribute (there are certainly some bloodlines in this country that could do with a bit of dilution).

But the fact is, John and the pretty mountain people are unlikely to be equal applicants and when it comes down to it. When they can sell for 3 or 4 times what John can pay, a lot of people decide the cash can be of more use to their kids than keeping the culture and area pure. No one's obligated to take the higher offer.

Phrases like 'contributes to his native culture' sound frighteningly close to the Farage/Reform script of 'indigenous people of Britain' to me.

We live in a tourist hot spot. Within our post code and the neighbouring one there are multi-million pound beach houses to small terrace houses costing <100K. A few of the multi-milion pound houses are second homes, most are owned by locals. A few of the cheap terraces are second homes, most are owned by locals. Same for the houses between.

In the summer it is busy with tourists. There is no other industry here, so I welcome, and profit from them. In the winter the facilities, the nice cafes, etc are quite and I visit them and make the most of them. They would not be here with out the tourists in summer.

Most of the locals who own expensive houses left, 'earned their fortune' and returned. I expect my children will do the same. None of the seasonal cleaners on minimum wage are homeless, but they don't live in multi-million pound beach houses. If the local nationalist papers are to be believed, that is what they seem to think they are entitled to.......

Not necessarily because we are one country. I think it's reasonable to assume that one would have a lot more freedom of movement and employment etc in their own country than any other. It's hardly a groundbreaking concept.

I was actually thinking of the people who stand up in the audience on question time supporting Farage-think when I referred to bloodlines that could use some outside dilution 😅

A lot of these jobs are probably done by young people who are still living at home with their parents who were lucky enough to buy a house before it went crazy but they have very little chance of being able to buy or even rent a place of their own so eventually have to move out of the area. It may collapse one day, it certainly doesn’t seem sustainable.

The bigger issue is that so many properties are second homes, or are holiday cottages of various types, some of which are empty for tranches of time.

If tourism is what keeps the economy going, then it’s churlish to want to curtail that though.

This is the issue to be honest, it's about keeping the balance between keeping the local residents happy, and keeping the local economy glowing if tourism it's it's biggest source of income. I think they have a bigger problem with tourists not respecting the area, than people wanting to move to the area and be an active part of its economy.

Responsible tourism is key in these kinds of areas, and not people buying houses and then letting them out to holiday makers. Staying on holiday parks, in hotels and B&Bs is a way of people getting to enjoy the area without pricing locals out of the housing market.

The local people can move to the places with high employment and wages and come back and buy a house. There is absolutely no restriction on them doing this in the same way most other people have to do this.

There is such a thing as native culture on the British Isles however. My father is from a Gaelic speaking rural region, where sean-nós singing and dancing are practiced (you dont see this on tv).

I live in Cornwall.

I actually find it’s people who have moved down here, all of a sudden think they own it and want to stop others from moving down too.

I am very much in the mindset of no one owns any part of the world and it is all there for us to enjoy and appreciate, as long as it’s in a respectful way.

I’ve encouraged my DC to live somewhere completely different when they grow up, even if it’s just temporarily and I hope to one day do the same or just travel extensively.

OK........so who looks after their elderly relatives? Who serves the tourists in bars? Who cleans the holiday lets?

Yup, I get what you're saying and may well live in the same area! However, the market town I was born and bred in went way out of my price range back in the late 80s and I couldn't afford to live there due to Londonders using it as a commuting town, so I think it's a bit rich that we get these comments 40 years later when it's a new phenomenon for them! It was ever thus.... just different time frames.

I live in a rural/ desirable place and have always lived here. The more people that move in from outside the area, the shitter it gets. They make it into what they want it to be and want to introduce the comforts they had in a town, rather than embracing the area for the reasons they probably liked it in the first place. We don’t want more people here, we want less.

Housing benefit keeps things propped up. Where my family live in Cornwall, the allowances actually cover local rents. Whereas where I live, they're hundreds short. Might not be the case everywhere of course.

It will go the same way as other areas with high house prices and a high demand for cheap unskilled labour. It's hardly a unique issue to tourist hotspots.

Importantly though I never said there shouldn't be any affordable housing for essential workers but that this shouldn't ear marked for locals. If it's all about keeping essential services going then surely you wouldn't object to this? Get the best people to do the required jobs in as opposed to who happens to live there.

This is exactly the attitude I dislike!

I do sympathise. I'm a southerner living in a beautiful tourist area in the north east, and every time somewhere local makes the news local people say 'shh don't tell anyone' and 'god's own country'.

My kids could not stay in this county because there is only tourism here and neither of them wanted a career involving tourism.

The early populations of Ireland likely came over from Great Britain. The early populations of Great Britain likely descended from people who came over from northern France. The early populations of continental Europe likely descended from people who came from Anatolia… How far back are we going?

The problem is rapidly becoming volume.

Skye is a perfect example. The population of Skye is just over 10,000. The island gets 1 million visitors a year, mostly between April and September. This leads to absolute bedlam as the infrastructure just can't cope with thousands of cars on wee single track roads, driven often by people who have no clue about driving on the left, and even less of a clue about how to use passing places.

Nobody wants people not to visit Skye, ever. But too many tourists is a HUGE problem. The tourist tax will help a bit but will only cover people staying overnight on the island. Personally I'd prefer to see a £50 tax on each non-resident vehicle crossing the bridge.

Over-tourism is ruining the beauty spots everyone wants to see. That and Instagram - every sodding tourist wants to do the same as eleven billion other tourists in Scotland which is Edinburgh - Glencoe - Skye - Inverness - Edinburgh and nowhere else gets a look in. They are a bit like sheep.

I agree and hope that everyone who also agrees sees that the exact same logic applies to international migration. Why should people born in Britain get more rights to enjoy all the benefits from living in Britain more than someone born in much worse circumstances? Why shouldn't they come here to enjoy what this location can offer them? And it gets even more radical if you really follow the logic though. As according to this argument no one should be able to inherit wealth, property etc from their parents, if their parents themselves inherited it. Why should someone born into money get to enjoy that money all for themselves while the person who wasn't born into it has to be poor? That's not fair either.