World Tourism Day >>> too many tourists?

Yesterday was World Tourism Day:
World Tourism Day 2015: Facts About The Day That Celebrates Going On Vacation



World Tourism Day | Tourism and Community Development

Tourists are looking for easier ways to stay in their destination - but not everyone is happy with the solution - whether it's in Paris or Berlin
Futures Forum: Airbnb: tourists, local residents and the sharing economy

... or Barcelona
As Barcelona has found, it’s possible for a city to have too many tourists - Comment - Voices - The Independent

... or Switzerland
Swiss resort launches special train for Chinese tourists due to 'cultural differences' - Europe - World - The Independent

... or Sidmouth, where there has been concern about what might be happening to the town:
Futures Forum: Sidmouth: a town of charity shops and coffee shops?

This recent thread is from the Streetlife forum:

I am all for geting a empty shop up but I would hate for the town to be run by people who do not know what being local actual means, who do not care and have no interest in the community they take their money from.

Shopping has changed.....
Years ago Honiton Street Market on a Tuesday used to be packed with traders and a draw to the town...now there are hardly any stalls. Saturday there are just a few more. Sidmouth not so long ago had lots of ladies shops like Lady Jane etc. Madam Leavesley etc.
We had Woolworths too, cheap bag shop (which sold everything) lots of gift shops....shopping habits have changed. We are lucky that anybody wants to come.

Our Town is very lucky in that it is popular with weekenders, and coach parties and we have a retirement community that keeps our shops maintained in the winter. Although the people who come here will tell you they like the 'little quaint shops and coffee shops, and fields, and the family shops because that's what they miss and no longer have in their towns. Ask the question why is Sidmouth such a desirable place to retire, is it because of Costa coffee, or because it holds on to what it always has been and offers. Encourage what works don't push to hard for bringing Sidmouth into line with so many other Seaside towns that are now struggling to keep shops open, we coped through lots of hard times without reaching out to the corporates I hope this continues and we don't allow a slow progression into something Sidmouth is not.

Streetlife | Re: Trumps shop

But, then, Sidmouth has always been ambivalent towards tourists, most residents having moved to the town themselves:
Top page for Sidmouth Folk Festival section
www.seered.co.uk/sidmouth tourism report.pdf
and:
Futures Forum: Sidmouth is "a lot livelier than it once was" with "lots to do despite the rural feel"

A final comment from yesterday:


Naked selfies, stolen penguins, and the many ways tourists are ruining everything


IMAGE: VANNI BASSETTI / GETTY IMAGES

BY CAILEY RIZZO 1 DAY AGO

Sunday is World Tourism Day, when the United Nations World Tourism Organization celebrates the best of tourism: the cultural exchanges, the economic stimulus and the new perspectives one can gain after visiting an area.

But the word "tourist" gets a bad rap, and for good reason: There are almost daily incidents of tourists behaving badly, of selfie-stick-toting people ruining things for everyone else, and visitors destroying the very thing they came to a place to see.

This is how some of the world's worst tourists are making headlines and eye rolls:

Breaking everything

Many artifacts survive hundreds of years, arriving to a museum in near pristine condition. But give a tourist a few minutes and watch history crumble.

In the past few years, a man broke a 600-year-old statue’s finger while trying to measure it, two men broke a statue after climbing on top of it to take a selfie in Italy, and one man decided to break off a souvenir from one of the heads at Easter Island.

And that's not even counting the pieces in museums that are slowly being destroyed just by tourists looking at them.

Leaving their mark

You know when you're walking around a beautiful, historical site and you can't stop marveling at the fact that this was made hundreds — if not thousands — of years ago, and all of a sudden you feel the irrepressible urge to leave your initials on a wall?

Because that seems to happen to a lot of people.

Tourists have left their mark on ancient Egyptian temples, at the Colosseum and even on bunks at Auschwitz.

"Love locks" have become a scourge in several cities — most notably Paris — because tourists have felt the need to prove their relationship by attaching a hunk of metal to a bridge.

Hurting animals

Most people love animals. Some tourists love them to death.

There was the family that only wanted to love a manatee, but ended up getting arrested for harassing it. Or the family that found an incredibly rare six-legged octopus while on vacation in Greece — and decided to eat it.

There are species dying out on the Galapagos Islands that can’t compete with the changes to their ecosystem brought by tourists.

And then there's Cecil the Lion.

Getting naked

For some reason beyond explanation, tourists can’t stop stripping down at places of historical import.

From Ankgor Wat to Machu Picchu, tourists are marking their bucket list trips in their birthday suits.

And then there was that one time Russian tourists decided to film a porno at the pyramids of Egypt.

Getting drunk

It's no surprise that many people drink a bit more than usual while on vacation — however these tourists take it too far.

While in Australia, two British tourists drunkenly snuck into SeaWorld to swim with dolphins and woke up the next morning to discover that they stole a penguin.

In Bordeaux, France, five young guys out on the town stumbled upon a circus, where they decided to steal a llama and bring him on the tram. Serge, the llama in question, followed the boys around "like a dog on a leash," before getting kicked off the tram and launched into internet stardom.

Drunken, naked tourists have even inspired organized resistance — at least in Barcelona, which has had enough with out-of-town visitors.

This World Tourism Day, do the world a favor, and pledge not to join the ranks of the tourists who make our whole species look bad.

Naked selfies, stolen penguins, and the many ways tourists are ruining everything

There is a more benign scenario:
Futures Forum: The Blue New Deal from the New Economics Foundation: 'delivering good jobs and economic sustainability for coastal communities through a healthier marine environment'
Futures Forum: Sidmouth Sea Fest: Bank Holiday weekend: Friday 1st May - Saturday 2nd May >>> a community event
Futures Forum: Sustainable Tourism

See also:
Futures Forum: Planning which is 'informed by the needs of humans rather than buildings, transport or politics.'

As a postscript, some (un)intended consequences of entry-level anarchism:
Banksy's Dismaland 'leaves £20m tourism boost' - BBC News
Banksy's anti-capitalist Dismaland theme park boosts Weston-super-Mare's economy by £20m | Western Morning News
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