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The backlash against overtourism

economist.com

11–20 of 311 posts

Re: The backlash against overtourism

#11

Mass tourism is being treated as unique when really, we're discovering that everyone cannot have a "good" standard of living. We can't all go travelling, we won't fit in the same place and we'll boil the earth doing so. We can't all have a car because we'll boil the earth. If we develop EV's and don't boil the earth, they won't all fit downtown. We can't all live in the country, that's not sustainable either. We can'…

[deleted]

Re: The backlash against overtourism

#13

Mass tourism is being treated as unique when really, we're discovering that everyone cannot have a "good" standard of living. We can't all go travelling, we won't fit in the same place and we'll boil the earth doing so. We can't all have a car because we'll boil the earth. If we develop EV's and don't boil the earth, they won't all fit downtown. We can't all live in the country, that's not sustainable either. We can'…

>Mass tourism is being treated as unique when really, we're discovering that everyone cannot have a "good" standard of living. I've read this 5 times. I can't figure out the relation between tourism and everything else in your post. Are you just expounding on the fact that not everyone lives an equal life in the world or is there a greater point I'm missing?

A distilled form:

Tourism is not a special case. The same issue applies to tons of activities. We either limit these activities to a privileged few, or the activities cease to exist in their original form.

Everyone loses in the latter case.

Re: The backlash against overtourism

#14
I found the quote “tourists go home, refugees welcome” quite funny.

So what their basically saying is they would rather kick out tourists that bring in and spend quite a lot of money effectively boosting the economy in favour of some refugees the government will have to spend a large amount of money on... and you wonder why the contry's economy is in such a bad shape when the citizens advocate shooting themselves in the foot.

Re: The backlash against overtourism

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This view of things doesnt take into account that an absurdly higher number of people can travel and see multiple countries in their life, which was impossible 50 years ago. It is absolutely possible for every earth citizen to become a tourist, there is no economic impediment to do it.

I believe that I covered this in my comment. > We either eliminate these experiences, accept economic inequality, or watch the experiences be eliminated via attrition (e.g. cars devolving into gridlock, tourism devolving into queues and displacement, ...). Specifically, the last part. If everyone is a tourist, what it means to be a tourist is very, very different. Consider: We strictly have enough jet fuel and alumin…

You could take another method of transport instead of a plane. Bus, train, bike, boat

Re: The backlash against overtourism

#16
Honest to God, the best take on this theory was actually the Consul's tale in Hyperion explaining why he was against the Hegemony. The degradation of Maui-Covenant is just so very realistic and easy to visualize.

Reading that as a child actually led me to travel less than I really want to as an adult. Instead, I enjoy making my small part of the world 'mine' instead of trying to make the rest of the world 'mine'.

Re: The backlash against overtourism

#17
post #12

> Having spent decades trying to attract tourists This is what they designed for.

They really just need to search for ways to manage the crowds instead alienating them to be honest.

Tourist bring a lot of money to local businesses you really shouldn't be killing the goose who lays the golden eggs if you ask me.

Re: The backlash against overtourism

#18

Mass tourism is being treated as unique when really, we're discovering that everyone cannot have a "good" standard of living. We can't all go travelling, we won't fit in the same place and we'll boil the earth doing so. We can't all have a car because we'll boil the earth. If we develop EV's and don't boil the earth, they won't all fit downtown. We can't all live in the country, that's not sustainable either. We can'…

Well, we can certainly get better as a culture about promoting moderation and social consciousness over greed and winner-takes-all mentality.

Competition will always exist, and we should accept that, but it's not a binary thing, it's a spectrum. I for one would be happy to see our society move to a less competitive, more collaborative mode.

Re: The backlash against overtourism

#19
post #14

I found the quote “tourists go home, refugees welcome” quite funny. So what their basically saying is they would rather kick out tourists that bring in and spend quite a lot of money effectively boosting the economy in favour of some refugees the government will have to spend a large amount of money on... and you wonder why the contry's economy is in such a bad shape when the citizens advocate shooting themselves in…

What is good for the economy (short term) and what is good for people (long term) are frequently not the same things.

Re: The backlash against overtourism

#20
post #3

“To be a mass tourist, for me, is to become a pure late-date American: alien, ignorant, greedy for something you cannot ever have, disappointed in a way you can never admit. It is to spoil, by way of sheer ontology, the very unspoiledness you are there to experience, It is to impose yourself on places that in all non-economic ways would be better, realer, without you. It is, in lines and gridlock and transaction afte…

I will almost always upvote DFW
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