April 12, 2023
"Bali is part of a growing number of popular travel destinations fed up with overtourism."
"Hawaii is considering a bill to dissolve its government-sponsored tourism marketing agency. Amsterdam has been trying to reduce rowdy tourist behavior in its Red Light District, rolling out a ban on pot-smoking on the streets there, reducing hours for restaurants and brothels, and tightening some alcohol restrictions. Italian authorities have been fining tourists in Rome, Florence and Venice for littering, camping, vandalism and traffic violations.... 'We have a lot of tolerance here … but it’s this behavior of I am the more important person. Look at me,' said Fatmawati, an Indonesian personal assistant... 'It’s disgusting — people are tired of it. I’m tired of it.'"
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44 comments:
net-zero immigration reform
Well, Amsterdam is trying to improve the quality of their tourist destination while the others...are proud places with low work ethic, expecting the luxury of the Congressional NGO slush money trillions signed into law by Joe Biden. Frankly, Joe is having a hard time spending it all...
Well, maybe the other Hawaiian islands are fed up, but Oahu is in the pocket of the hotel lobby. What they want, goes. And they want no more BnBs and BnB travelers.
Hawaii's number one source of State revenue is tourism.
They got greedy and ruined the place. and trust me - Hawaii is ruined.
(never mind the homeless camps, the dug camps, and the other various drunks and drug addicts galore.)
Hawaii used to export sugar and pineapple...
Not anymore.
Someday soon you will arrive in Hawaii yearning for a locally grown pineapple, and all you'll find is a flown-in pineapple from the Philippines.
(I won't mention the 16 million dollars they spent on a traffic circle on a two-lane each side mini-highway. It
's a cluster-fuck. and the new school cannot open until they make it safe for children to cross the street. so - they will more than likely need to rip-out the traffic circle and replace the entire intersection with something designed by someone with a brain. Democrats have a 100% lock on the state - so - no brains to be found.
Blowback in Barcelona for cruise ship stops.
There is a colonial aroma to tourism through the developing world undertaken by rich westerners. Yet I have been pleasantly surprised that, when I traveled in Bolivia and Peru, I was able to have genuinely friendly conversations (in my 6000 word vocabulary Spanish) with the locals about topics like food, sports, money, and politics.
When the tourists have social stature roughly equal to the locals, there is far less reason for friction. In such a situation (think Amsterdam), the problems that emerge come from the tourists' rude and naive perception that the place they are visiting is a theme park, instead of a "real" place.
Tourism exists because the toured community is made more prosperous by tourism. I've only heard of one destination cutting off potentially lucrative tourism because of the visitors' insufficiently respectful behavior -- Mecca.
I suspect that some of these people are going to regret killing their golden goose.
In their disdain for tourism the opinions of elites differ radically from the opinions of the vast majority of ordinary people.
I've sworn off Bali.
“What is really crazy is that they’re taking jobs like nannies, renting motor bikes. Can you imagine taking jobs from locals? Nannies?”
No comment.
i just hope that these tourists realize, that:
a) there are NO fish in the state of Iowa
b) there CERTAINLY are NO trout in the state of Iowa
c) Iowa is NOTHING but boring corn fields
d) even IF you 'like boring', you should STILL stay out of iowa
e) Nothing to see here. Try Minnesota... Or just go to hell (if you can figure out the difference)
"Bad" tourists are one of the reasons I avoid NYC during any of the tourist-heavy weeks. Central Europeans and Brits are NOT prepared for the August weather. Cranky, entitled, and rude.
It's hard to disagree with the Balinese about this. Increasingly, folks are consumed with their right to be self-absorbed and entitled. We see it every week in videos taken on airliners where some jackass thinks he or she owns the place. And then there are cultural differences that are sometimes in conflict. Just check out the outlet stores out in the middle of nowhere between LA and Las Vegas or Palm Springs. Tourism buses stuffed with Chinese visitors swarm the shops, and the personal space of other shoppers is an unknown concept.
Capitalism is a wonderful thing, and it has generally raised the standard of living of humans around the world....but now they can afford to travel.
- Krumhorn
They sound xenophobic. They're probably sexist and racist too, unless the have DEI officers.
Some years back, you blogged the obituary of a rich 1950's playboy and it included a line about how traveling was so much more fun when only the rich could do it.
If only we could return to that time, when the hoi polloi had to stay home. Maybe split the difference just have them send their money. That would be best for everyone. Well, everyone who matters.
Are we sure it isn't the Americans who are fault for all of this somehow? Haven't these people never read The Ugly American. It can't possibly be countries just resenting foreigners. Why, that would be prejudiced.
I suspect the most disgusted are not dependent on tourism for a living.
I was just in Denpasar in 2017. I'd been to Bali before years ago but I had more free time during that trip to explore. One of my bucket list items was traveling to the Northeast to see the great Hindu temple as Besakih at the foot of Gunung Agung. It was there in the 1970s that the only occurence of the Eka Dasa Rudra (Feast of the 11 Powers) occurred in modern memory, and certainly the only one known to have been extensively recorded (see video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFoG7xbx7n8).
I couldn't have been more disappointed in my life. Both the tourists and the locals were horrible. There were hawkers everywhere. Pickpockets. Prostitutes. Armies of Japanese and Chinese tourists with selfie-sticks and tourgroup flagbearers. I saw one Indonesian tourist rip the sarong off of one of the stone temple guardians and wrap it around himself for a photo. There was no temple life at all, and the number of real devotees and priests was zero. It felt more like visiting the Parthenon - a long dead religious center turned tourist trap - than visiting anything approaching an active religious center with a long and illustrious history.
When I got back to my hotel I asked some of the local staff what the deal was and many of them said that not only did smart people not go there anymore, but most definitely not any of the actual faithful.
The eat, pray, love crowd ruin everything. At home or abroad. It was a truly disenchanting experience.
"I saw it advertised one day
Bear Mountain picnic was comin’ my way
“Come along ’n’ take a trip
We’ll bring you up there on a ship
Bring the wife and kids
Bring the whole family”
Yippee!"
Maintaining a tourist agency for Hawaii is silly.
Kind of like having a bureau that promotes free, no-strings-attached sex with super models. Kind of sells itself.
As for Bali having an illegal worker problem. Really?
It's a tiny island out in the middle of nowhere.
Find illegal workers. Arrest them. Put them on a slow boat to anywhere...
Ugly: It's not just for Americans anymore.
Why no allegation of xenophobia?
No worker is illegal. We need to send in the Marines to straighten these racist yokels out. While they’re at it they can make sure the girls go to school too. Judging by past performance it shouldn’t take more than about 40-50 years and a billion bucks.
You might feel the same way too, if in a not-too-distant future the United States introduce drag shows for tots as an Olympic event.
I know some of you Sikos might say, I's watch that. 😂
I have a friend, professional photographer, who moved to Bali a few months ago. Semi-retired, building his stock (where he makes his $$). So far, he loves it there and, apologies to photographers of sunrises on Lake Mendota, posts some pretty spectacular shots of sunsets on the beach, a two minute walk from his home. No word if he’s planning to enter the nannie business,,
The Hawaii tourism agency will not be shuttered. Bet on it.
There is already a charge for visiting Bali, and any Indonesian state. It is a fee you pay when you leave the country. About $15 bucks as I remember.
Hawaii. Hilarious. They built their economy on tourism, now they want to end it?
FWIW I get mistaken for a native when I'm there. I am Asian, and I speak some Japanese.
"unless the have DEI officers."
Officer, this man is more fluent than me.
Don't worry miss, he will never see the light of day again.
I visited Bali as a tourist. You don't need to worry about me. I won't return.
We get a lot of snowbirds from NY, MI, WI, and Canada here in Naples. The biggest complaints from locals are the traffic, the terrible drivers, and the need to make restaurant reservations during the season.
Before you get too critical, the tourist visa to visit the U.S.A. is $160. In the past 2 years I have visited Istanbul (Turkey), Cairo (Egypt) and Bogota (Columbia), and the tourist visas were between $25 and $50. So lighten up.
In the U.S.A. the tourist VISA to come here is $160. In the past 2 years since I retired I have visited Istanbul (Turkey), Cairo (Egypt), and Bogota (Columbia) and the tourist VISA was between $25 and $50, so lighten up a little.
My quick internet search shows that 80% of Bali's GDP is based on tourism. I guess pickers can be choosers, but I'm not sure that the Balinese are pickers.
My take: backhanded travel shaming.
Yeah, I'm getting pretty tired of all these Hawaiians traipsing around Arkansas like they own the place.
Tourist can be such a pain. I know from personal experience. Just last weekend I stopped at one of my Lock and Dams on the Mississippi. There were 6 other people there. In the old days I had the place to myself. But don't go the locks, they are boring, Do the Old Threshers grounds any time except Labor Day weekend. Way better than than any of my Locks, (especially 19, and 15)
"Tourism exists because the toured community is made more prosperous by tourism. I've only heard of one destination cutting off potentially lucrative tourism because of the visitors' insufficiently respectful behavior -- Mecca."
And now Miami Beach.
I get it.
Charleston, SC when the cruise ships disgorge their flotsam to trample history. *eyeroll*
A wonderful place. Just check the cruise schedules.
The problem is that tourists are part of society & society is circling the drain.
Assistant Village Idiot said...
Haven't these people never read The Ugly American
Have you? 1950s novel.
I have, though a long time ago. Nothing at all to do with tourism.
The title character is a physically ugly American who goes around building water pumps from surplus jeep engines I SE Asia in the 50s.
The "ugly Americans" in the book might also refer metaphorically to the moral ugliness of us diplomatic policy of the time.
John Henry
Tourism/Travel/Hospitality probably supports more people than any other econmic activity in the world.
I own a travel agency (referral only), spend a month or two hosting and guiding 'groups' of two-six hikers in Swiss/Austrian/German alpine regions. I also have a bottomless bucket list of my own.
I find that meaningful and positive personal interaction with locals pretty much stops when group size exceeds four. Two is better. Solo is best.
Some groups, IMO, are far worse than others: Chinese, Orthodox Jews and young affluent Arabic men. "Others" simply do not exist to these herds/hordes. They always have the right-of-way; the first two by nature, the latter by intent, it seems (nothing says "FU" like young men walking six abreast down a crowded sidewalk - you can step into a doorway or off the curb or you can just let the collision happen...). Of course, adding alcohol to the mix can inspire 'colorful' behavior by groups of young American and Aussie men, too.
Unless you are pretty fluent, forget trying to get anything done in the local language.
Locals appreciate a greeting in their native tongue but grow impatient with most people who try to use it to prove they can - no matter how long the line of other people waiting to be served.
After the greeting, the best bet is using the local lingo to ask, "May I speak English, please?" This goes over way better than, "Can you speak English?"
The one good thing you can say about cruises is that the ships are adding so many more features (ways to get pax to spend their money on-board) that lots of people don't bother to get off in port, anymore.
Yesterday I happened to see a crime map of Hawaii (Honolulu). All along the shore, the incidents were so dense you couldn’t see the coastline. 567 incidents in one week, mostly larceny, theft from vehicles, theft OF vehicles, burglary, fraud,and robbery. If they cut back on tourism, how will these poor criminals ply their trade?
(To Hawaii’s credit, fewer than 10% were assault, 5% sex crimes, and 0% murders. It’s a very safe place to get robbed.)
It turns out that hipsters had a point about being into things before they were cool. Now Bali is trying to push back against being cool. But hipsters were into it before it was cool before being into it before it was cool was cool.
@ John Henry - fair. It was in the house when I was a boy, I read it on vacation once and it is as you said. I was referring to the common use of the phrase "Ugly American" and should not have related it directly to the book.
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