00:00Why do locals hate tourists?
00:02We've seen people in Barcelona spraying visitors with water guns
00:05and anti-tourism protests in Mexico that turned violent.
00:09Similar ideas have been picking up in other European cities too.
00:12But tourism contributes a lot to economies around the world
00:14and some countries are desperate for more visitors.
00:17So what's going on and why is this backlash growing?
00:20It's not surprising Barcelona had major protests.
00:2315 million people visited the city last year.
00:25That number is almost 10 times its population
00:28and they were greeted by this.
00:32Tourists go home.
00:33It's not just crowded streets that bothers locals.
00:36More tourists means more demand for short-term rentals.
00:39Online short-term letting companies like Airbnb
00:41have taken over the market too
00:43with people able to charge whatever they want without any regulation.
00:46And the housing that is left gets pricey.
00:49The cost of an average rental in Barcelona has doubled over the last decade.
00:52The average monthly rent there costs €1,500
00:55and the average monthly income is also €1,500.
00:59So it's just not feasible.
01:00And having that many extra people puts a huge strain on local resources too.
01:05Simon went to Mallorca recently to see the impact.
01:07So many people means so much more traffic on the road.
01:10It means problems with water.
01:11It means problems with power.
01:13It means problems with waste.
01:14What do you mean by the water and power?
01:16We go on holiday.
01:17We might want a shower in the morning.
01:18We might want a shower in the evening.
01:19We want to drink water.
01:20So we want to use the toilet.
01:22Spain is a hot country.
01:23It regularly goes through droughts.
01:24So yes, there's pressures on the water table.
01:27We're buying things from the shop.
01:28That creates waste.
01:29And then there's just the vibe of a place.
01:31If most of the houses near yours turn into an Airbnb,
01:33the area loses a sense of community.
01:35Local amenities turn into gift shops
01:37and local workers into tour guides.
01:39It is important to say though,
01:40there are lots of people in Spain and other countries
01:43who still really want to welcome tourists.
01:44And that is a message that the ambassador to,
01:47the Spain's ambassador to the UK also wanted to reinforce.
01:50That the protests are a small minority.
01:53They do not represent the voice of the Spanish people.
01:55And in many places, this hate for tourists just doesn't exist.
01:58Countries like Greenland, Morocco and Georgia
02:00are all crying out for more visitors.
02:02And despite France being the most visited country in the world
02:06and a country famously not afraid to protest,
02:08it just hasn't seen the same backlash.
02:10France is a much bigger country
02:12and it's got a much wider spread of its pretty towns,
02:16its pretty cities.
02:17It's only really got the south coast of France,
02:19whereas Spain has got really tight core destinations
02:23that are literally having a surge of visitors flooding.
02:27Many countries in Southeast Asia believe the more tourists, the merrier.
02:30In Thailand, the level of visitors peaked just before COVID
02:33and people there are working hard to get that back.
02:35Over tourism isn't even a debate.
02:37The real debate is how the hell do we get them back?
02:39We need the money back.
02:41Vietnam, frankly, you'd be hard pushed to find a single Vietnamese
02:44who would put sustainability of tourism
02:46anywhere on their top 30 or 40 list of things to be worried about.
02:50Sometimes it's even to the detriment of their own environment.
02:53Maya Bay in Thailand had so many people going up and down in boats
02:56that the coral got completely destroyed.
02:58But it was a rare occasion where officials chose to protect the land
03:01over making profit.
03:02They shut down the island completely for three years to let it recover.
03:06So back to the backlash.
03:07Why is this an issue now?
03:08What's behind this sudden tourist hate
03:10in areas which have welcomed them for decades?
03:13Well, firstly, more people can afford to travel now.
03:15And the COVID-19 pandemic meant that some people
03:18were just desperate to get away as soon as they could.
03:20But for others, the pandemic had a different impact.
03:24For the first time, Spanish people saw their homes without tourists.
03:29They saw their beaches without tourists.
03:31They could go to local cafes and bars without being covered in tourists.
03:34And they started to react to the fact that,
03:37does this have to be a lightness all the time?
03:38Do we have to cope with this level of tourism?
03:40So we really missed them and they didn't miss us at all.
03:44No comment.
03:45While most things are getting more expensive,
03:47flights are actually getting cheaper with budget airlines
03:49like EasyJet, Ryanair and Jet2.
03:51And then there's social media,
03:53which means tourists are concentrated in certain areas,
03:56all to get the same photo for their Insta dump.
03:58Like this iconic site in Japan
03:59where Mount Fuji is peeking out from behind a shop.
04:02Well, if I didn't have social media, I wouldn't come here.
04:04I wouldn't even know that it existed, this place.
04:07So many people were crowding the area,
04:09getting in the way of traffic and causing blockages
04:11to take the same photo that officials actually put up a screen
04:14to block the view.
04:15But Jonathan says this herd mentality when we're travelling isn't new.
04:19It's just speeding up.
04:20We used to complain about the same bloody thing.
04:21Everyone went to the same place.
04:22Certain places come into fashion.
04:24Everyone has to go there.
04:25It gets ruined because everyone's there.
04:27Then somebody discovers something else.
04:29And it just happens much faster now.
04:30So what can be done about it then?
04:32Venice brought in this €5 tourist tax
04:34for day trippers at the busiest times of the year,
04:36which it says has been a success.
04:38It's now increased the number of days that that tax applies.
04:40Barcelona announced a total ban on all short-term holiday lets by 2029.
04:44And when Simon spoke to the Spanish ambassador,
04:47he said they're planning to build more homes for Spanish locals.
04:50But it is a fine balance.
04:51Governments need to keep their residents happy
04:53without losing the income they get from tourism.
04:55So how can we be better tourists?
04:57If you still want to travel, this shouldn't put you off.
04:59But there are some ways to be less annoying.
05:01This is a very difficult question.
05:03And I asked this to an MP in Mallorca last week.
05:06And we need to consider ourselves as tourists
05:08and the demands that we're putting on resources where we're going.
05:13So do we need to have two showers?
05:15What about the waste that you're creating?
05:17Do you really need to hire a car?
05:18Can you use local transport?
05:22Could you potentially have a longer holiday in the place where you live?
05:25Those short trips present acute pressure on destinations.
05:30They are the points that the MP in Mallorca said we need to be thinking of.
05:35Because in his words and his words in cell,
05:37he said sometimes we're starting to feel like strangers in our own home here.
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