"The next trend in travel is : don't"

[Kathy]

Another article on "overtourism," this one from the New York Times. The article focuses on how "technology" has helped create overtourism... worth a read.

‘Overtourism’ Worries Europe. How Much Did Technology Help Get Us There?

 

[joe]

A sentence from the article that pretty much sums it up for me :

“At the end, this story is just a numbers problem,” Mr. Tourtellot said. He noted that in 1960, when the jet age began, around 25 million international trips were taken. Last year, the number was 1.3 billion.
As for the cities that are the major destinations? They are “the same size they were back in 1959, and they’ll probably stay that way,” he said."

In short, go off-season, or look for new destinations that are less frequented. Things are not going to change for the better, at least in the popular destinations.
That said, to each his own - there's no such thing as "proper" travel, just travel that you enjoyed, or didn't.

 

[Ian Sutton]

A piece on the BBC website on Venice and the ongoing efforts to try and bring some sanity to the madness of mass tourism on the scale it sees
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45835906

In many ways this is nothing new, but the old vs. today video clips certainly do give the contrast between somewhere that was touristy, but now is something well beyond that.

 

[Eleanor]

That is so sad. I also wondr how many of the tourists arrive in Venice do so because it is on the tick list rather than for what it actually offerd in the way of history, culture etc. the tourist dollar speaks so loud that many places seem unable to ignore it and say "no, enough is enough...' Do we really want to turn the world into Disneyland?

 

[Fletch]

We are in Venice now.
Some of the tourists are very disrespectful especially on the vaporettos. One young worker organised everyone as they got on and most obeyed. She made people with large cases put them inside near the door, told people to take backpacks off ( my particular bugbear) and insisted that people move inside out of the way of people getting on and off. Some young able bodied people even sit on the seats reserved for over 70's. There are large signs on them so no mistakes can be made. I loved watching an elderly man stare at a young girl until she got up and offered him the seat.

 

[ellen]

I wonder if there's some kind of assertiveness training that comes along with a pension in Italy or it it's just cultural. I've seen some pretty in-your-face older folks on public transit, if you don't offer your seat willingly they make sure you do it anyway.

 

[Doug Phillips]

Very interesting article! Bali is off my list now.

Hi Pauline, Just catching up on this thread. Amazingly, we have a friend who lives on Bali & he has been suggesting that we visit. I've never been keen on visiting SE Asia for a few reasons. This article confirms my prejudices.

 

[Ian Sutton]

Somewhat bizarelly, a similar message forms the pretext for the new Prodigy album "No tourists"!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46049254 (read about 3/4 of the page down).

 

[mortlipp]

A great thread that I have read with interest. When we did our ST 12 weeks in Italy & France in 2012 the notion of staying a week in an apartment (gite, agriturismo or VRBO) was still the main focus. People asking for advice on the ST forums were advised to spend more than a couple of nights in a place and I for one took that advice and had a wonderful trip. We did go to some of the touristy places (Bellagio, Venice, Paris) but on the whole we stayed in small villages or less popular towns (Spoleto for example), shopped at the one grocery store, the one bakery, the one butcher. Even in Bellagio where we stayed right up on the hill away from the expensive hotels, we were able to find little local shops where we bought food and wine daily and got to know the owners. That's what I loved about the ST. When the girl behind the counter recognises you, and asks you what you are cooking tonight and helps you find what you need, or the wine shop owner loans you nice glasses because your apartment only has water glasses - that's what can happen when you spend more than two nights somewhere.

We used Airbnb in Japan but stayed in places where we had a room and the owners were around. But it was not luxury and we had to be a bit less fussy than usual with bathrooms and kitchens which were not as we would have them. The interactions with the hosts made up for these inconveniences and we had some experiences we would not have had with an apartment where you don't see the owner, such as directions for getting to a small local bar that served Japanese tapas - we were the only non Japanese people there and all the menus were in Japanese. Loved it.

The issue with mass tourism is something that does put me off future travel and makes me think about just going somewhere not touristy and spending a month being in a place.I've begun looking into house sitting and workshare opportunities as a way of travelling differently. Has anyone on this forum had any experience in this area?
Michelle

 

[joe]

I've begun looking into house sitting and workshare opportunities as a way of travelling differently. Has anyone on this forum had any experience in this area?

Hello Michelle and welcome here -
What exactly is "worksharing"?
We've had experience doing some volunteer work on a farm ("wwoofing"), which we really liked. Doing farm work in a foreign country that you love is not the same as doing work at home. Being on a vacation also changes the mindset with respect to how you look at the work. It also makes you feel part of your surroundings.
We've never done any house-sitting, although that might happen in the future, when we might want to tour less and just enjoy some relaxation in a favorite destination.

Both options are rather restricting if your main objective is to travel (even slowly) in the surroundings you are vacationing in.

 

[mortlipp]

Hi Joe,
Worksharing is like wwoffing but not just about working on a farm. There are opportunities to "work" for around 25 hours a week with people who would like "help" with things like gardening, renovating, maintaining old castles/chateaus including the grounds, helping out with gites and rentals etc. Some could be a bit dodgy but others look quite interesting. It really is sharing your skills and labour in exchange for accommodation and often meals. Some accommodation is homestay where you might have your own room and bathroom but some involve self contained accommodation. HelpX has been around a long time. There is now Workaway but quite a bit of critique of this platform.

I think I am beginning to be less enamoured of touring around, seeing historical ruins, scenery etc. Day trips for us now involve one place for the entire day rather than stopping off at 2-3 places. It all merges into one and you can't remember where you've been. The best day trip my sisters and I did in 2016 was to Bagni di Lucca on the train from Lucca where we spent the day at the public pool.

 

[veronicafrance]

We've done house-exchange a few times and it works well. You need to be the sort of person who is comfortable letting strangers occupy your home! On the occasions we've done it we've always managed to meet our exchangers by overlapping for at least a few hours on the first day. I'd do it more but most people only want to exchange for 1-2 weeks and we like staying in places for months.

 

[joe]

And yet another form of trying to re-invent tourism in order for it to be more "authentic", this time trying to create "anti-tours" that engage tourists and locals with the less-popular aspects of their surroundings :
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/...kes-being-a-tourist-the-rise-of-the-anti-tour

From the article :
"With the tourism explosion affecting even smaller cities such as Porto, visitors and locals alike are looking for more ‘authentic’ days out. But is that possible?"

"In one way or another, all pledge to pierce the marketing blurb, unveil the real side of their cities and provide an “authentic” experience.
“It’s obvious, no?” says Castro when asked why the format appeals. “No one likes being a tourist.” "

"He considers the experiential aspect of anti-tours to be essential. “It’s all about overturning our normal perceptions and interactions with urban spaces,” he says. “With these walks, you can never really know where they’re going to take you.” "

 

[DragansDen]

Travel is not only one industry. So many other industries are inside the travel. Travel culture will only grow.

The only problem with this world is unbalanced tax systems. Some people pay high tax making small money and some billionaires saving with tax millions of dollars.

 

[Parigi]

"The only problem with this world"
1. It is not the onlh problme with this world.
2. It does not concern this thread of this site.