Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
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Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
#2Typo in title: should be "Icelanders".
Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
#3You see the same thing in Yellowstone--inattentive Instagrammers with selfie sticks hoping to snap the perfect pic next to the wildlife and scenery. Nothing quite as real as being scalded by a hot spring when you're used to viewing the world through a screen.
Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
#4At first they were just shitting up the Web - now it's the real world too :(
Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
#5I call this the 'Disney World' effect of nature tourism. Self-involved, entitled people who treat national parks and the wilderness like an amusement park that has been set aside for their entertainment. They expect the natural world to cater to their whims the same way a Disney world employee does, and they just do not understand that's not how the world works.
Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
#6I think this is a potential basically everywhere, unfortunately most people do not respect the environment and given access will treat nature like a city. Where it becomes an issue is more a matter of forces acting to encourage "normal" people with no previous interest in nature to go and e.g have their piece of the pie for their worthless facebook pic.
Anecdotally, I've seen this multiple times on smaller scales in nature reserves in the UK, social networking and selfies definitely play a big role. It's usually the places with easy access, almost no commitment or effort required, easy selfie opportunities... in these locations in recent years i've observed massive amounts of litter and disrespect, to add insult to injury these intruders tend to be ignorant of safety in general, hurling rocks, boulders and bottles into the path of walkers and climbers bellow from cliff tops.
The reaction from local authorities is to add more fences and gates, locking previously available easy access routes... basically keep the barrier for entry into nature reserves high enough for careless people to stay away.
Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
#7You see the same thing in Yellowstone--inattentive Instagrammers with selfie sticks hoping to snap the perfect pic next to the wildlife and scenery. Nothing quite as real as being scalded by a hot spring when you're used to viewing the world through a screen.
Mass tourism has ruined travel for me.
Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
#8Okay, so restrict their entrance and live without their tourism money. :')
Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
#9At first they were just shitting up the Web - now it's the real world too :( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
oh that old elitist complaint is still hanging around?
Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature
#10You see the same thing in Yellowstone--inattentive Instagrammers with selfie sticks hoping to snap the perfect pic next to the wildlife and scenery. Nothing quite as real as being scalded by a hot spring when you're used to viewing the world through a screen.
Same everywhere. I still remember going to the NY ball drop new year's eve - all I could see was camera flashes, hundreds of them every second. It was disgusting. I was one of the very few people who wanted to see stuff with naked eye :(
Do these super talented artistic photographers see the photos they take, even once, after they have taken it?