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 feel very lucky to have moved to a desirable part of the UK and never having any negative experiences about me not being a local. Funnily the only time I’ve had that was going in to a village pub full of locals, the sort of place where everyone stops and stares at you 🫣 but that wasn’t here, just a country pub in a different county.

It's the whole argument around EDL / Reform UK, isn't it. They think that the migrants born in countries with horrific human right violations and no social security net should not be entitled to live in our country because they were unlucky enough to be born abroad.
I agree with you @Bumpitybumper being born somewhere does not give you more right to enjoy it

Another perspective:
We bought our holiday home 2 years ago from someone wanting to sell it as they needed funds for another project. We rent it out all year, and do have some voids. We stay in it ourselves around 6 times a year. We've looked at renting it out permanently, but unfortunately although it is fully up to spec for all safety requirements, it doesn't have a good enough epc rating (old cottage) to be let out to anyone on a tenancy agreement.
We don't make money we break even. We employ 8 different trades (agency, linen hire, cleaner, gardener, gas engineer, electrical inspection company, gas supplier, bin collection and buy local products for the welcome packs).
We eat out locally, use local transport and spend lots when we visit, and assume our visitors do too.
I understand frustration from locals with bad tourists and their ways. I think society in general everywhere is getting more entitled and bad behaviour seems more frequent.
Everyone should be able to visit and stay anywhere in our beautiful land without hostility if they behave well.
I don't know what the answer is bar building more affordable homes and local council planning officers approving such builds. I know there is a reluctancy in some areas to grant, which I cannot understand.

Christ, that was sad.

I agree with you op humans have always migrated to seek out a better life, no one owns the rights to an area just because it's nicer.

Not all holiday cottages are air bnbs - holiday cottages which have gone through the proper planning permission regime are fine as the impact of it is assessed and decided whether it is appropriate. The problem with air bnb is that they are supposed to be short term lets of homes (up to 90 days/yr) and used as a home the rest of the time. If you want to run a year round holiday let business you need to apply for change of use planning permission from residential dwelling to holiday let. This would then allow the council to assess if the loss of that dwelling as a home could in combination with other holiday lets lead to housing shortages or if the location is inappropriate for a holiday let (could it result in disruption for residents etc). In reality this doesn’t happen - people run them as year round holiday lets without the required permission contributing to housing shortages worldwide in tourist hotspots and issues for residents. There’s lots of news articles on this and Barcelona had banned air bnb as it’s been such an issue there (Edinburgh and York might follow next)…

I agree. Some places are starting to raise the council tax on second (and more) homes and I fully support this. AirBnBs started out innocently enough, a spare room or converted garage let out. Then of course people got greedy and started buying entire properties, removing them from the market for people who need all year round permanent homes and turning them into holiday lets.

Well you're hardly an asset to the local community if you literally 'detest' people concerned about over-tourism. It's a massive problem in certain 'hot spots' worldwide such as Barcelona and Venice. When every second property is an air b n b rather than the home of someone who actually contributes to the community it can hollow out the heart of a place.

Your talk of privilege and luck sounds really bitter and entitled. I don't see what's wrong with prioritising people who may have lived in a particular place for generations, have deep roots there over someone who just likes a place because it looks pretty to them.

Some people are born with more money than others, some people are born in more beautiful places than others. Them's the breaks.

I can't believe that anyone is comparing refugees fleeing war to Londoners coveting a beach house.

Sounds like the West Coast of Scotland! This is where I also live, and aging and deciding populations are a real problem. 90 years olds moving to remote islands away from their families who could look after them and unable to find carers because they've driven up house prices. Meanwhile very few people I grew up with have been able to figure out a way to stay here where their extended families live.

Sorry but this is absolutely ridiculous. Some places have natural advantages that will always make them more desirable than other places. It really isn't fair to expect people living in sink towns to somehow find a way to convert their town into an area of outstanding natural beauty so that those already living in nice areas can stay there forever.

They probably do that anyway. Partly because they are unemployed for half the year and secondly because the tourists are unlikely to be paying enough to make living in the local area affordable without help. Particularly where they have pushed the cost of living up.

Ten years was after AirBnB and the buy to let craze I think, OP. There’s a huge difference between living in a tourist area say 20 years ago and living in one now. Tourism is causing more harm to areas that it did because of the way it has changed. As much as some MNers might like to think they are doing us all a favour.

I do get your point on the outsider thing though. Although I don’t think you have to move from far away to be considered ‘outsider’ 😂.

The root of the issues has nothing to do with tourism though. It’s lack of housing stock, propping up the property bubble, and a weird U.K. interest in keeping the wealth in London and the SE while failing to invest in the rest of the country. More social housing and rent caps might go a long way to solving some of the issues.

The more people in an area, the higher the price will get. People in big cities get priced out too. Part of belonging to a country means that you get the bad bits (people from cities moving to your beauty spot) and the good bits (high earners in cities subsidising your life and you having the choice to move to someone else's area in the city).

There is no way to fairly distribute an oversubscribed resource like housing in a desirable area. You aren't being forced to move from anywhere as if you have the means then you can stay in your local area. I think what you actually mean is that you aren't being given preferential treatment which I fundamentally disagree with.

Not suggesting that you can make it in to an area on outstanding natural beauty but you can absolutely improve an area to make it nicer to live in.

If you built on all the areas of outstanding beauty to accommodate the people who have let the area they live in become a sink town move to there then you will end up with more sink towns.

I don't live in an area of outstanding beauty but it is nice enough, locals arrange litter picks and look after the place they live in so it doesn't become a sink town for example.

But what about people that are born and raised in areas that are less desirable and want to move to these desirable areas?

I think working in the area would be fair enough. The bias is more against second home owners and airbnbs - they contribute nothing to local community, apart from spoiling it for everyone.

I have always found it very frustrating the way this argument only ever seems to go one way. I was born in North London. I grew up in North London. Housing there is stupidly expensive because people from all over the world have chosen to move there for decades. Nobody ever says ‘it’s not fair that anyone can move to London and buy up property that locals now can’t afford’, yet people think it’s fine the other way around. Yes, London is bigger than tourist hotspots, but there are a lot more people wanting to buy property there. Nobody has a ‘right’ to own property where they were born.

Funny old world 😊

It took me a while to get used to here but I am now very happy. Glad you are too!

I will be moving from Rugby in around 10 years or so. I don’t know where but I am want rural land and pretty. So perhaps we will house swap! 🤣 You never know 🤣

I know what you mean. Its a sort locals attitude.

My parents live /lived in a non-beautiful village but there seems to be a sort of reverance towards those families who have always lived there, or have had generations living there.

We only moved there in 1977 - so are obviously losers.

This. Carol Vorderman has just put her second home in Wales on the market because the local council have more than doubled the council tax on second homes in an effort to stop property prices being pushed out of the reach of locals. I agree with the local tourism though. If it’s what drives the local economy why complain ?

I'm not asking for preferential treatment. How would that bloody work anyway? I'm just asking for the LA to manage housing supply better and stop too many air bnbs ruining the area. I did say before that a lot of the town have migrated here. I don't have issue with that, but my LA does not control second homes and builds too many flats, not houses, which is not what locals need.

I think we need some sort in control on second property and air bnb. It's out of control. Otherwise I have no issue with relocating if it's a permanent home.

That sounds reasonable. The problem is the holiday let thing has got wildly out of hand and lots of people are in it just to make a lot of money and there are many holiday home owners who are less responsible.

I'm not sure what your point is. You moved to a tourist spot and contributed to the lack of affordable housing and community. You're hardly going to think what you're doing was wrong.

You think you're entitled to do what you did because you had the cash. People born there think they're entitled to live near their families and support networks. Communities are decimated because people have more money than them. Tough.

That is a very good point! I’m in the middle on this, I moved from a City because I couldn’t afford to rent due to low wages, then lived in London for many years until I had to move because I couldn’t afford to buy a bigger place. Where I live now is, IMO a bit of shithole yet it’s considered touristy and the locals never stop whining about people moving there even though, as far as I can see most of the new comers are livening the place up and making it nice again. I can see the argument that the cheaper properties get bought up but what was stopping people buying before it got popular? If you couldn’t afford it then, you can’t now? I know there are other issues coming from that but still, you can’t stop people moving where they want really and it doesn’t only happen in picturesque areas.