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…
The backlash against overtourism
21–30 of 311 posts
Re: The backlash against overtourism
#22Tourism sucks and the suck percolates through the entire local economy and everybody who has to participate in it (i.e. everyone who lives there). Even if you don't sell grossly overpriced goods or services to the tourists you make your living off of those that do. The non-repetitive nature of transactions means shady people get rewarded shady business practices and everyone develops this world view in which everyone else is a lying scumbag who will screw you for a quick gain until proven otherwise. Of course many people bury their head in the sand from a young age and convince themselves that wherever they live really is special (protip: it's really not). Drugs are rampant in whatever the off season is. People get all bent out of shape over "branding" issues (e.g. the color you paint your house, what kind of business you run, etc, etc) because your local "brand" is what attracts tourists and money. I could go on and on and on about specific downsides to having an economy dependent on tourism.
By trying to curtail tourism I think these cities are doing the right thing in the long term even if they could make a few dollars in the short term by selling out. This isn't a pro business/anti-business issue. It's a "what kind of business are we ok with" issue. Tourism unconstrained poisons local society the way a chemical plant will poison local waterways if left unchecked.
Also, FWIW all the negative predictions about cost of living in this article are correct in my observation.
Re: The backlash against overtourism
#23“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…
Re: The backlash against overtourism
#24I 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.
So I don't get what you mean.
Re: The backlash against overtourism
#25Mass 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'…
You could implement a fair system giving everyone the equal opportunity to access (e.g. a tourist destination), even if not everyone gains access (via some sort of lottery).
There's also enough places and opportunities on the planet that not everyone will want to do everything, certainly not all at once. So you could implement cap and trade.
Re: The backlash against overtourism
#26“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…
Re: The backlash against overtourism
#27I 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…
If you're not 14 or completely driven by greed you can understand the reasoning behind this.
Re: The backlash against overtourism
#28I 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…
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05507-0
Stop repeating this lie.
Re: The backlash against overtourism
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
#30I 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…
I can tell you that loud AirBnB hosts or the foreigners using my country as a landfill for their money, pricing people out of the inner cities, are not welcome.