Mass tourism is threatening the traditional neighborhoods and local culture of popular European cities like Venice and Barcelona. Residents are protesting the huge numbers of tourists that are driving up housing costs and forcing locals to move out. Cities that focus only on mass tourism will lose their local populations as residents can no longer afford basic necessities. Neighborhood communities are essential to southern European culture but are at risk of being replaced by tourist accommodations and shops as speculators raise rents. Uncontrolled mass tourism may end up destroying the very things that made these cities attractive to visitors in the first place.
Mass tourism is threatening the traditional neighborhoods and local culture of popular European cities like Venice and Barcelona. Residents are protesting the huge numbers of tourists that are driving up housing costs and forcing locals to move out. Cities that focus only on mass tourism will lose their local populations as residents can no longer afford basic necessities. Neighborhood communities are essential to southern European culture but are at risk of being replaced by tourist accommodations and shops as speculators raise rents. Uncontrolled mass tourism may end up destroying the very things that made these cities attractive to visitors in the first place.
Mass tourism is threatening the traditional neighborhoods and local culture of popular European cities like Venice and Barcelona. Residents are protesting the huge numbers of tourists that are driving up housing costs and forcing locals to move out. Cities that focus only on mass tourism will lose their local populations as residents can no longer afford basic necessities. Neighborhood communities are essential to southern European culture but are at risk of being replaced by tourist accommodations and shops as speculators raise rents. Uncontrolled mass tourism may end up destroying the very things that made these cities attractive to visitors in the first place.
Mass tourism is threatening the traditional neighborhoods and local culture of popular European cities like Venice and Barcelona. Residents are protesting the huge numbers of tourists that are driving up housing costs and forcing locals to move out. Cities that focus only on mass tourism will lose their local populations as residents can no longer afford basic necessities. Neighborhood communities are essential to southern European culture but are at risk of being replaced by tourist accommodations and shops as speculators raise rents. Uncontrolled mass tourism may end up destroying the very things that made these cities attractive to visitors in the first place.
marches spread across Europe. Demos in San Sebastián and crackdowns in Rome and Dubrovnik as locals vent frustration at city-breakers and cruise ships.
With the continent sweltering under a heatwave nicknamed Lucifer, tempers
have been boiling over, too, as a wave of anti-tourism protests take place in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. Yet, as “tourism-phobia” becomes a feature of the summer, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has defended the sector, calling on local authorities to do more to manage growth in a sustainable manner.
The focal point for much of this has been Spain, which had a record 75.6 million tourists last year, including 17.8 million from the UK. In Barcelona, where tensions have been rising for years over the unchecked surge in visitors and impact of sites such as Airbnb on the local housing market, Arran, the youth wing of the radical CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy), have been filmed slashing the tyres of rental bicycles and a tour bus. An Arran spokesperson told the BBC: “Today’s model of tourism expels people from their neighbourhoods and harms the environment.” Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy described the group as “extremists”.
There have also been protests in Mallorca and San Sebastián, where an anti- tourism march is planned for 17 August, to coincide with Semana Grande – a major festival of Basque culture.
Other demonstrations have taken place across southern Europe. Last month in Venice – which sees more than 20 million visitors a year and has just 55,000 residents – 2,000 locals marched through the city, voicing anger at rising rents and the impact of huge cruise ships and the pollution they cause to the city’s delicate environment.
Speaking to the Guardian, UNWTO secretary
general Taleb Rifai said the rise in anti- tourist sentiment is “a very serious situation that needs to be addressed in a serious way”. If managed correctly, he added, tourism can be the “best ally” to conservation, preservation and the community.
UNWTO recommends a number of proven methods for managing crowds in
destinations, such as encouraging tourists to visit beyond the central sights, diversifying tourist activities, reducing seasonality and, importantly, addressing the needs of the local community. The focus should not be, it says, on simply stopping tourists arriving.
Italy has also been cracking down on anti-social behaviour in other tourist hotspots. In Rome, this means a ban on people eating or paddling in the city’s fountains and drinking on the street at night. Similar measures have been put into place in Milan – which introduced a summer ban on everything from food trucks to selfie sticks in the Darsena neighbourhood.
In Dubrovnik, another city where cruise ships unload thousands of visitors at a
time, the mayor has introduced cameras to monitor the number of visitors in its Unesco-listed old town, so that the flow of people entering can be slowed – or even stopped – once a certain number is reached. Meanwhile, the mayor of popular Croatian party island Hvar has pledged to put an end to debauchery by mostly British tourists by slapping them with huge fines.
(Adapted from The Guardian by Will Coldwell. 10th August 2017 .)
VOCABULARY
Swelter: sudar la gota gorda.
Serge: ola, aluvión. Tyre: neumático. Crack down: tomar medidas enérgicas. Hotspot: foco, centro. Debauchery: libertinaje. MASS TOURISM CAN KILL A CITY
1 We have all been a tourist at some point, but citizens of great cities like Venice or 2 Barcelona are trying to defend their traditional neighbourhoods from the massive 3 invasion of tourists. The last local underwear shop in Venice closed a decade ago. 4 This means that residents of this city of islands have to go to the mainland for such 5 essential purchases. This is a warning sign. Any city that concentrates too much on 6 mass tourism will be abandoned by its people when they can no longer pay the cost 7 of housing, food and basic everyday necessities.
8 We’re starting to see Venice without Venetians. It’s also happening in Barcelona, a 9 city of 2 million inhabitants that received 7.5 million tourists last year. The local 10 authorities say that they want to increase this to 10 million visitors per year. These 11 figures have led to open conflict this summer. There have been neighbourhood 12 assemblies and protests against the situation, because in popular places of the 13 city the scale of visitor numbers is affecting not only residents’ quality of life, but 14 their very ability to live in the area.
15 Neighbourhood communities are essential to the culture of southern Europe. Yet,
16 people who live in popular tourist areas are at risk of being forced out by speculators 17 who raise the rents of apartments and shops. The people who have always lived in 18 these areas are forced to leave or, if they don’t, they suffer consequences such as 19 noise and pollution levels that are difficult to combine with daily life. It’s paradoxical, 20 but uncontrolled mass tourism ends up destroying the things that made a city 21 attractive to visitors in the first place: the unique atmosphere of the local culture.
