Singapore, my family mainly stay around the Shopping belt which is pretty crowded but imo Singapore managed to balance the needs of tourists and citizens
@I love Angelique Yeah, americans tend to be like that. Latinos and europeans tend to be quite polite as they approach a trendy store or walk through the main avenue
As someone who lives in NYC. Tourism can definitely have a negative impact on places in the city. Times Square for example is generally avoided by city residents as it's flooded with tourists and all the shops and restaurants there cater to their needs almost exclusively. The same is true for parts of Lower Manhattan including the Financial District. The amount of crowding around that bull is insane.
Funny story I came to New York with the mindset to not act like a tourist. Youd be surprised at the people you meet when you blend yourself in. I loved New York City. Went to all the great spots my buddy told me about that's not Mainstream, especially street spots for food (you guys serve great street food btw)
I pass through Times Square all the time... on the subway. I exit the station at Times Square about as frequently as I exit the station at Broad Channel - IE once or twice a year. It really sucks when you can't even walk down the avenue because tourists clog literally everything.
I live in the netherlands and there is this beach we visit a lot. Then somebody put this beach in a travel magazine as a not so busy beach near amsterdam. Now it isn't quite as not so busy anymore.
my ex gf was in Europe tour....... in 16 days 16 European citys she claims; she knows Europe because she was half a day in Switzerland !?! i was Barcelona 5 days and was not enough !
What´s even the point of that? Other than posting tons of pictures on instagram of the Eifel Tower and Buckingham Palace you are just constantly on a rush to see some basic tourist attractions while spending the most time riding the train/bus.
that's ridiculous. What cities did she go to? I did 10 countries in 33 days (Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece), but I didn't do multiple destinations in every place. I went to Skopje in Macedonia, Thessaloniki in Greece, Sarajevo only in Bosnia, etc. It was a bit rushed, but I went solo, so it was different. Belgium was just a stopover, thanks Ryanair for flying to stupid Charleroi. But 16 in 16 is horrendous. You don't even have a relaxed day. That's just checking cities off a list.
Not just cities but national parks....Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Canyon. This time of year (spring/summer) it is like Disneyland.
It's almost been even more dramatic with the national parks in the last 5 years. I used to go to Arches and Zion every year, but even going on days that normally no one would be there (eg 100 degrees or so), it's still super packed and you can't enjoy it like you used to be able to.
Yeah tell me about it. I live in Prague, right in the most tourist part of the city. Most of the problems are the tourist oriented businesses which are always ugly, overpriced and don't care about quality since tourist are not likely to return there anyway. It's almost impossible to find a good restaurant in the historical centre or convenience store. There is also a problem with with the lack of regulation of the advertisement in the city center and the most touristy part of the city is basically ruined by the visual pollution. There are many other problems like the stag parties (god I hate those), huge tourist groups, tourist busses in the streets of medieval city. Btw, today in Prague city centre there lives about half as many people as it did in the 14th century in the same area.
I have a question, why did you still choose to live right in the center? I live in Amsterdam right now but nobody I know would voluntarily live in the center 😅
I don't live in a very touristy area, but we do get a handful of tourists in Celje. Most of them arrive at the train station, and just walk around the old part of Celje, and visit the castle I suppose. Our old town isn't that big, and most buildings surrounding it are residential, so I don't know if a tourist might stumble it's way into Nova vas, Lava, Hudinja (there are two malls for them and a hypermarket), Ostrožno, any residential part of Celje, and be like "Ooo this is NAICE **takes pictures** ". Ehh... I don't know if it fits here.
@@henrynarkiewicz8778 It's obviously not determined by population. The Hague probably qualifies as first-tier in terms of tourism, but its population is smaller than Sheffield, which I don't readily see large numbers of international tourists visit.
Quintinohthree your absolutely right about population not being a factor. For example, San Francisco is for some reason like the 3rd most visited city in the US, while Philadelphia is barely visited by anyone.
Elizabeth Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Agent 001 MI6/SIS so would a city like Saint Louis be a second tier city but a city of similar size such as Orlando that gets much more tourism be a first class city?
Venice was awful. I was there for half a day and hated it. Mainly due to the crowds. As for Chinese tourists..... I've been to China, and have nothing against the people whatsoever, but it is extremely frustrating to deal with the endless stream of selfies and the overwhelming lack of respect is painful..... talking to locals, I've heard the same thing in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Netherlands, etc.
We have rude Chinese tourists in Slovenia? I don't know exactly where I can find them (Bled I suppose?), but I can't imagine them eating the dough part of blejska kremšnita with CHOPSTICKS, and somehow eating the rest of it with sticks.
@@seragaldinbadr Machu Picchu has different prices for foreigners compared to Andes countries' citizens. Something like that. I actually met a bunch of people who told me that their American friends would put maple leaves on their back packs to make people think they were Canadian, and be friendlier.
I've been doing an exchange semester for the last 6 months in Florence, Italy. And I can definetly tell you, that there are a lot of tourists just visiting the city centre with the dome, the gallery to see David and that's it more or less. When my family came to visit me, we didn't even visited those sights, as they are simply overcrowded and you lose time queueing up. Instead, I took them to some "2nd tier" sights, where hardly any tourists were and that was a very nice stay for them. However, most tourists, I've spoken to, do just the classical Venice-Florence-Rome tour in 4 days total, which is in my oppinion just not enough time to get a feel for the culture and is only symptomatic for the selfie-tourism.
I think we can all blame Instagram (and social media as a whole) for the tourist problem. I used to (and sometimes still) visit many national parks all across the US and since the beginning of the 2010s the crowds in some areas nowadays are pretty much Times Square in the Woods. These parks used to be places for people and families to go and explore with no need to brag about their moments online. Since people now have the ability to share and post pictures of these places, everyone will like and share, and repeat. Just like many PSAs mention, once its on the web, the entire world sees it, same with the tourist destinations. Its sad how these significant places and enjoying mother nature has become so integrated into social media. At the same time, I am sort of glad it has made people opt outside and enjoy the outdoors, but it has gone too far.
I was thinking the same thing before I read this comment. What's annoying is when a celebrity visits a place that isn't really known to tourists, whether it be a small restaurant or a secluded area or a beach, and they share it on their social media. Then suddenly those places that used to be nice for locals to visit become flooded by tourists.
It varies, but really the best options are to sleep where you are going. In Yellowstone in 2017, I had the experience of being behind a group of Chinese tourists (two or three buses.) Sit back and wait it out or camp and then go back later. If you want to see the thing you have come to see (and not the crowd of gawkers) the best thing to do is to let the gawkers go away. Same thing in Europe: get a hotel room (in one of the tiny hotels) in the cities you want to see. The cruise ships all leave at 4pm and the buses shuttle everyone out.
This is why I'm a huge fan of long term tourism. Cities should just charge hefty taxes for anyone saying less than 7 days. $8 taxes aren't enough, it needs to be an $280 tax to discourage people from coming for just a day or two or less.
Venice is the most obvious on this. I'm amazed they have not implemented need to stay overnight and hefty prices. The place is full of people coming for 7 hours or big cruise ships docking for 5 hours, and destroying the place faster and faster. Nobody is benefitting from it, not the tourists, locals or the sinking city itself.
The problem is not the fact that traveling has become more affordable, or the the growth of chinese middle class. Those are good things. The real problem is the way tourism idustry has grown and marketed into the general public who are not interested in those desitinations for any reason other than taking selfies or trying food. Most people who travel don't have a deep rooted interest in the places they travel to. If that was the case, people would choose different places to travel, instead of the places marketed as the 'must visit places.'
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I wouldn't even care if it didn't cause crowds or problems in the rental market. I don't really care about their motivations, but please, behave, don't be annoying to locals, don't litter, etc. I even had an argument with a tourist guide because his group was blocking the entrance of the town hall, and I had to get in because of my job. I said, "please", tried to make my way and one guy even had the audacity of telling me what the fuck I was doing. This gets more than annoying if you have to deal with this for more than a week.Thankfully my city is not as touristy so I only have to deal with this BS on August, when Cruisers come and they flood us with Chavs and some other idiots.
That is why I hated travelling in groups. As an individual, I can enjoy the history or the arts or the food in all its beauty. But everyone else looked at as a wierdo.
yeah i think traveling has become this thing you must do and there are so many lists of places you absolutely have to visit but a lot of people who do all this traveling don't really have any interest in the places they're visiting. they just want to be able to tell people they did/saw/experienced xyz thing. this is even true for my mom. we've been to a lot of places because we've thankfully been able to afford it and i always loved going to the museums (my absolute favourite thing to do while traveling) and try to experience a bit of the culture but my mom just wants to take photos to show other people. she doesn't really care about where we're going, she's never excited about trying the food, she doesn't try to learn anything about the history or culture, she doesn't even enjoy the beautiful sights much. she (and many people like her, imo) want photos to show their friends/social circle so that they can brag about visiting xyz place. not that i think there's anything wrong with taking photos or telling people you've been somewhere, but if that's your only motivation for being a tourist, i think that's pretty flimsy. i think the places you go should change you, even if it's only a little bit and even if that change is just "wow, i had an amazing experience"
what vienna needs is more mozart vendors, fake beggars, chinese tourist groups, electric "oldtimer cars", segways, rikshaw drivers, and souvenir shops. 7/10
@@happyllama4153 - if you have friends or relatives in the city, let them show you around, but _keep clear off the sights,_ unless you want to be trampled to death by hoards of people with guides and smartphones. I recommend to take trams and traverse the city from one end to the other, if possible a couple of times, to understand its geography and character, keep away from the sights, this will only be a waste of time. Yeah, and, also, walk through Vienna alone at night. It is possible. Vienna is one of the safest cities in the world. Have a nice stay.
Recently went there for a trip. You guys handle tourists pretty well. Schönbrunn place was rough. All the Chinese and Muslim tourists. The packs of boomers and Chinese are just as bad in the states as in Europe. One old guy was refusing to speak German and demanded a store accept American dollars. I felt so bad for the lady.
I live on an island off the gulf coast that has seen its tourism industry explode in recent years, and honestly, I'm very split on tourists. On the one hand, it's nearly impossible to drive during the summer, crowds and drunks downtown and on the beach are really annoying, and the tourists really have no respect for the city or its history. However, I also remember when there were no tourists at all, and remember the poverty the city was in. You couldnt walk down the main boulevard because of crime, schools were awful, roads were in such bad condition you couldn't drive on some. But since becoming a tourist city all that has changed for the better, our city services are finally getting the funding that they need, and citizens are getting jobs. Hell, I've seen ghettos shrink block by block. And not all tourists are bad; yes, the spring breakers from Louisiana usually and the ones here for the cruise ships are, but others, usually the older folk can be quite pleasant. If you go to the fishing pier a few blocks from my apartment, you can meet fishermen from all over the us, and sometimes even Europe, and most of them are quite friendly and eager to talk. Sometimes I'll meet a group of friendly Europeans downtown which will give me a chance to practice my Russian or German, which is always nice. Ok I know this is getting rambly so I'll sum up, basically seeing tourism rise in my city was a mixed bag, it brought in a lot of money to the city and a lot of great people to talk to, but also brought in a lot of crowds and not so great people to talk to
@@chris2610 I feel bad for you guys though. You guys live right smack-dab at hurricane harbour. I don't want to be that one downer, but without any proper disaster planning that could go back to square one.
Little correction for the Barcelona Park Güell part. For the residents of the city the 'new' solution did not take away a public asset. Residents of the surrounding neighbourhoods can access the "restricted" part always via a special card and for the rest of us Barcelana's residents, we can get tickets without queuing for free :)
As someone that lives in the Netherlands the whole Amsterdam thing really gets on me. Whenever a foreigner talks about The Netherlands and the only thing they have seen and mention is things in Amsterdam it really annoys me. The country is not that big, one hour or two in a train and you are in a completely different place, many places with just as amazing if not better than some places in Amsterdam. If you are a visitor to another country and the only places you visit are the tourist spots you are missing the point, those tourist places have been modified and altered to give you a a certain experience that is far removed from the country you are living in. Just imagine a foreigner going to Disney world, staying on Disney property and never leaving the Disney property but thinking they have experience the USA and know what the USA is about. No, it's such a controlled and faked environment and is nothing like the country. If you are going on vacation, do like he says that cities are promoting, instead of staying just a day or a weekend, stay a week. Stay a week, pick a couple of tourist places that you REALLY want to see (Let's be honest if went to Amsterdam with a family or have a partner, do you really need to go to the red light district to go look at ladies? Is it really that special?), do the tourist things for a day or two, then for the rest of your stay go around the country, visit neighboring cities, find some local events going on and just enjoy the local culture. Not only will your experience be better, it will also be different from everyone else that Went to Amsterdam and went to the red light district and smoked pot. You will actually have a more unique story to tell when you go back home, but you will also save a lot of money. Those tourist places are highly overpriced and the quality is very hit and miss, if you go away from the tourist places the prices will be much better and the quality will also usually be better, because if it wasn't the locals wouldn't stand for it. Who cares if a couple of tourist think the food at this one tourist place is terrible and overpriced, for every dissatisfied tourist there are 100 tourist behind them that don't know any better. When it comes to local restaurants on the other hand if the place is terrible and overpriced, the locals live right there and they will talk to each other about it and word will spread and soon enough the place will have to either improve or go out of business.
Went to The Netherlands on part of a roadtrip. Stayed in Meppel and visited Giethoorn (very touristic though) but then continued driving around the countryside looking for tulip fields (we knew we were in the wrong season but still fun). Went through a small village and were invited to a grill party in the local restaurant. People were so nice and happy we wanted to see the whole country and we ended up having an amazing time. Stayed for two days in Amsterdam but really it was the beautiful countryside that I remember.
The only place I've been to in the Netherlands is Amsterdam, but in my defense my visit to the country was constrained by my needing to get back to Schipol after about six hours. I would love to go back and see more, though, it looks like the country has a lovely countryside and some interesting smaller cities and towns.
I arrived by ferry into rotterdam and then went to the hague, spent a week in Groningen during kai week and then went to Amsterdam to do the Amsterdam things. Even then Dutch people think all I did was go to Amsterdam
YES!!!!! I grew up in a beautiful little town with lakes, rivers, beaches and fishing. Then, we became a tourist hotspot. Property values multiplied 10x, driving all the people i grew up with out of town. I can no longer enjoy solitude on the river, the beach, or the trails. I work 70 hours a week to pay for the right to stay where i was born. more and more rules about aesthetics and properties have driven up the government imposed cost of holding my property to 20% of my income. That doesn't include the mortgage. It's drawn in a huge upper crust of coffee slurping yuppies, and a class of low income drifters paid to provide services to these yuppies. Meanwhile, they all complain that the rent is too high, and impose punitive taxes and rules against property holders in order to provide "low income housing" which just allows the billionaires who own the tourist hot spots pay their people even less because i am subsidizing them. Then there are all the "locals" and "experts" telling me bullcrap histories of my own town. They get hurt and lost in the forest and now all the roads are closed, the search and rescue respond hundreds of times per year, the yuppies find and destroy every bit of the old culture they can. Saying "our town doesn't support things like this". Thanks to them, i can no longer go shooting wherever i please, i have police pulling me over on the river while i am on my floatie, i don;t fish anymore because there are more fishermen than fish now. It's all big city idiots fleeing the city and turning my town into another big city. Then all the yuppies work real hard to destroy any business or industry that actually built the town and keeps the lights on. It's like they think the entire economy can simply consist of people serving soy lattes to each other and travel blogging about the exotic soy lattes they have had. If I do find a quiet spot somewhere miles away from everyone in the forest to camp, by the time i wake up there are 3 rv's blocking me in and one parked in my firepit with an idiot lighting a fire 3' from my tent. All while these people studiously ignore me. they are too unoriginal and stupid to find their own damn spot so they roll up on mine, but at the same time are from the city and so want nothing to do with me and studiously ignore me or even drive me out. Then there are the idiots who bought a walking stick and compass and walk lost into my yard to lecture me on how "unprepared" i am to be in the forest with only my shorts and sandals on. This despite the fact i am within sight of a road and also in my freaking yard. Meanwhile they bring their dogs which invade my space, kill my pet ducks, chase the deer away and sometimes injure them and attempt to get into my garage to get my cat food. tourism SUCKS- it has stolen my home from me.
@@Atlantjan i think it is gone. Sadly, this place belongs to the latte suckers now. I think i may move up north. Perhaps the yukon or northern BC. Maybe even rural saskatchewan. A house there is worth 8-10% of what my house here is worth. I guess that is the thing with being a destination- everyone wants to live there and money talks.
My favourite thing to do when visiting other places is just to walk around the city. Sure I visit some of the touristy parts but the most interesting thing to me is just to explore the streets. I find a lot of interesting places and people that way, and I get to avoid crowds.
Low cost air travel is the blessing and the curse of Europe tourism. It's a bless because you can visit a city every weekend if you book in advance, but is a curse for the reason shown in the video. So if the goal is to promote long time vacation I think that the tourist tax for the hotel should be tuned to a system where the more you stay the less you pay
back in 2015 i went to japan. I did do the touristy thing in tokyo and went to the landmarks, but over the course of the trip i found some amazing spots that weren't crowded. my absolute favorite was lake towada. This isolated tiny community inside a volcanic caldera. absolutely stunning beauty. There were some tourists in the day but when the bus left at 5pm the tiny place was so quiet and tranquil. Would totally recommend.
I went in 2015 and also last year (2018) and I noticed a big change in the amount of people - going in a few weeks too so I'm interested how much of a change Tokyo's had since a year ago - but I always go to places I find on google maps rather than tourist spots and often end up places surprisingly quiet or beautiful.
You live in Hawaii? I don't even want to imagine how many tourists you guys deal with. There are already enough where I live. (I also live on an island in the Pacific ocean)
Cabalen Games and Hobbies The Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) are still alive, albeit their numbers are decimated (European diseases and all). Even the non-native people have gripes with tourism, but the Kanaka Maoli especially feel the brunt of tourism because their culture is being used for corporate gain by a government some believe is illegally occupying the Kingdom of Hawai'i. It's complicated. Watch Jennifer Lawrence's interview on Graham Norton's show about scratching her butt on sacred rocks. I imagine that cringe on Chis Pratt's (former Hawaiian resident) is what Hawaiians feel on a regular basis.
Tourist cities often go hand in hand with expats too. I've tried to order food in Amsterdam by speaking Dutch plenty of times only to get the same reply time and time again in English: Could you please repeat that in English. As a result Amsterdam feels more foreign to me than any less tourist-y Belgian city.
Yeah, Amsterdam _looks_ Dutch but it doesn't _feel_ Dutch. I guess its history is all based on globalization but it's gone a bit too far when you have to speak a foreign language to get by.
Ik ben Amerikaans en ik had te vechten om Nederlands te spreken in Amsterdamse restaurant's en winkelen. De stad heeft nu zoveel toeristen dat niemand probeert te praten in hun moedertaal! Nu is het meer gezellig als je bezoek is aan Utrecht, Maastricht, of overal ergens anders eigenlijk.
It's not so much that they can, but that they are willing to and the businesses in those areas apart from wanting to make money also need to make up for tourists usually being a only a one time customer. If it's a local business that serves locals, they can afford to charge less for each transaction because they know that in general the local customer will be a repeat customer. So they earn less on each transaction but end up making more in the long run because of repeat visits.
When I visit a city for a weekend usually my program is the same; Day 1 (Friday afternoon): City centre Day 2 (Saturday): A tour around the city by public transport Day 3 (Sunday): A tour at the countryside by public transport (near towns or villages) I've used the same concept in Stockholm, Madrid, Prague, Oslo and Budapest and I think it's best way to know a city.
And that's why Kyoto residents and businesses are pissed.. and recently tourists chasing & taking pictures of geishas and maikos without their consent. Perhaps Kyoto city council and tourism board should try the Venice tourism number limits..
The wave of tourists in Kyoto seems to calm down in like the spring and autumn (or any time other than people's summer/winter vacations) at least. But then again, I live in Kita-ku which is pretty far from all the touristy locations, so I don't really have to put up with many tourists to begin with.
@@iammrbeat Yeah that's true, and I have seen a lot of lesser known places as well. Still, sometimes there really is no real substitute for the "real" thing, as is the case with Venice for example.
You're not a hypocrite; just like the video says there's a way to be a good tourist - see the top sights but give yourself more time to explore the city and see the more than just the beaten path. That way you naturally spend your money on ways that contribute to more of a city's economics than on the tourist trail
It's hard not to be torn on this. Yesterday I came back from Vienna after my first ever solo trip abroad and compared to many of the other cities I've visited with other people over the years it really felt like more of a 'true' city than a living museum (cough Barcelona cough). Unfortunately, because I didn't know the language that also meant that I was treated with serious disrespect way more often than I would've liked, despite me doing my best to not be a 'bad' tourist. I can't blame them for it and Vienna was great in spite of that, but it has definitely put a damper on my desire to travel again for the foreseeable future.
eastern europe: u see 80% of what you see in Western Europe but with much less tourists. Timisoara, Sibiu, Krakow, Kiev, etc all are beautiful and have loads of history
Same thing over here. Smart Belgians who want a quiet and empty beach without apartment buildings everywhere go to Cadzand, just over the border in the Netherlands. Now they are building apartments for the rich there too, destroying the exact thing that made them so attractive.
I don't even get the appeal of beaches. As cheesy as Anakin's infamous pick-up line was, it's absolutely true, sand is coarse and rough and it basically teleports into your clothing. Also sunburns are agonizing
@@blitzn00dle50 The sand around here is pure white quartz powder that stays cool under the worst summer sun. You do have to refrain from rolling around in it though, and I preach sunscreen.
@@kilroy1976 Well the only time I have ever swam in the ocean I got sunscreen in my eyes. I have been to Florida before in the winter, and let me tell you, I am so so so thankful I don't live there because I can't put up with even 3 months of locking myself indoors just so I can stay clean. I live in Missouri where we get the worst of both worlds but the ultra insanely windy 20 degree non-snowy winter days are much much better than the Floridian microwave oven weather
I live in Memphis, and while we are not a "major" tourist destination, we have lost our local culture to tourism. The people who run the city (including tourism) are not Memphis natives. They are transplants from other parts of the country who find our local culture not only boring but undesirable. So the slow-paced, relaxed Southern atmosphere, which is traditional for Memphis, has been displaced with "Delta Blues" theming. By the way, the song, "Walking in Memphis," was written by a New Yorker in New York City. It's a perfect example of how the "Delta Blues" culture has been imposed on the local population by outsiders.
@Cabalen Journeys The situation in Nashville is fierce. I hate to be a downer. I like seeing progress. I really do, but I find it terrible that progress pushes out people who have lived in an area for most of their life. There are so many hotels/condos/expensive apartments/mixed development that are either in the the process of being built or planned. You can see why many people cannot afford to live in the areas where they work thus long commute times.
Outsiders never respect your culture. Especially trransplants, They wan't to bring their old culture to your city and force it into your living room. People from the mid west do, but the coastal transplants don't. They have an aversion to differing cultures they don't agree with. Yet preach about love of culture and diversity. But you'll lose yours to make them feel at home. I live here in Denver and I've heard coastal transplants say that it was good that Denver got rid of it's cowtown roots. What does that tell you.
Living in Kamakura, Japan I can yes. Yes, it does. When locals can't use the (notoriously crowded) bus/trains, playing music in residential areas with those stereo backpacks, and a host of other reasons, it's a problem.
Here in Madrid, our mayor is trying to ban airbnb and other companies like the first one, because here tourist density is so high and demanding, that the house prices have risen a lot, becoming unaffordable to local people.
I live in Myrtle Beach, SC, which was built as a tourist destination. The economy dependent on tourism, which is not a bad thing, but the area doesn't really have a character, it's just a jumbled bunch of over-priced attractions. During the winter/off-season, the Myrtle Beach area is practically a ghost town. Many of the houses here, including a majority of the housing along the ocean is own by vacation rentals, so affordable housing in the area is difficult to find. In fact, many of the locals who work in the beach communities live 15-20+ miles inland.
A modest hotel around this FL coast city might be $100 a night, off-season. If the average rent is $1,000 then you would stay ten days, not seven, for the equivalent amount.
@@stevepowsinger733 wow. Average rent around here is between $700-$900. More for a fancy place. Hotel prices per night is anywhere from $76-$125. I guess you do have a point about the 10 day thing.
Here in Mexico when a town/city gets absorbed by tourism, it practically disappears as an actual town in order to become a touristic park. For example, in the college where I use to live, the closest town was about 20 minutes away, but it was a touristic town, so it was awful to go there because there was absolutely nothing for normal people and there were just services for tourists. The whole town was just expensive boutique hotels, fancy restaurants, craft stores, art galleries and jewelries. No supermarkets, no stores, no drug stores, no medical services, not even a cheap place to eat or take drinks. If you needed anything, you had to go to a real town that was 40 minutes away and it was a waste of time. Exactly the same happened with all the towns in the Riviera Maya, with places like Tulum, Bacalar, Playa del Carmen or Akumal, that use to be such nice and quite sea towns aside from the Caribbean, and now are just massive amusement parks for masses and masses of tourists and now you can´t even enter to the beaches because they have all been absorbed by enormous all inclusive resorts. Such a sad thing, I really think there´s a way to make tourism without invading and abusing in such a destructive way.
Here in Kyoto we have a special tourist tax , it’s like one dollar for day if you stay in a small hostel or hotel . Kyoto use this money for make better transposition system 😇
Oh my God, the Chinese tourists are out! I was traveling to Montréal and visiting the St. Joseph Oratory early morning, using Montréal’s public transit, when suddenly two buses filled with Chinese tourists arrived, overcrowding the place, it was less pleasant after that. And most of the places I visit I could see Chinese tourists by a bunch. I was all by myself, a Caribbean guy traveling solo.
Guillermo Serra Chinese tourists seem to visit Canada more than any other country I’ve noticed. Maybe the Canadians are the only ones that don’t give them shit for being awful lol.
Well for me the big downside of mass tourism is overcrowding of regional and national transports. Because my gf is french and living near coast in France and I'm Belgian, I need to go first to Paris with 943 people who's litteraly screaming in chinese, and after take an another Car full of tourist to go the Big coastal city, for 13h of traveling. At least I can see my love one after that
@@rollingthunderinho Well Canada also has large immigrant populations (Toronto, Canada's largest city boasts 40% of its inhabitants not born in the country) so you could argue there's probably some "family visit" type tourism skewing the numbers.
I live in the Montreal area. I'd say the tourism problem isn't that bad here. Makes the city streets busy and lively. The appeal of the city is also festivals, restaurants and night life, so people tend to not congregate in a very specific spot.
I don't even go to capitol cities anymore and avoid them like the plague except for arrivals and departures, or one or two days to see the main sights, if that.. The real "experience" is staying in provincial cities and towns. These places are much more authentic, not over run by tourists therefore less touristy, less expensive and your tourist money goes much farther. Your presence and contributions to the local economy are much more valued by the locals as well....
currently in Paris right now and the Lourve was so crowded we didn't even go in, and there are shitty trinket shops everywhere that sell the exact same thing. these shops slowly replace the restaurants one by one
@@winnd44 Avoid eiffel tower. You can see if from the seine cruise and that's good enough. There are so many street peddlers trying to sell trinkets and scam you out of money at all the main tourist areas. Montmarte is super touristy but there's actually nice views so its worth it to fight the crowds. Avoid the Louvre unless you're really dying to get in to see something and spend all day in line and bumping shoulders with people. When I went, we were able to prepay our tickets online and didn't have to wait in the line, I'm not sure though if that option is still available. Do that if you want to go to the catacombs as well if you don't wanna spend an hour or more in line. Pont Alexander III is now pretty much an instagram bridge so if you go there you will see lots of girls taking fashion photos. Shopping around Le Marais is nice, a lot of good restaurants and little boutiques mixed in with brand name shops. Some touristy stuff but its a little bit less crowded/annoying than the main hotspots around 1er and 7e arrondissement. Be prepared in the main areas that if you want to use a washroom most places make you pay.
I was living in Byron Bay for a while, schoolies and the music festivals unleashed thousands of disrespectful drunkards into the town... can't imagine how much more crowded and worse it would be on the gold coast.
After visiting family in Croatia we had to get to France to see other family. My grandma who had been to Venice sometime in the 60s or 70s and loved it wanted to visit again and use it as our transfer point from boat to train. It was so packed with tourist it felt fake and almost if it lost its identity. We regretted going at all and contributing to the problem. I truly feel bad for the people of Venice.
Tourism is environmentally UNSUSTAINABLE. The amount of fuel used that could be saved for the future is the issue. People who live in 'tourist' destinations also lose quality of life and are forced to contribute through their taxes to facilities for non-residents. There are simply too many people involved in an unproductive industry that does so much damage. There are too many people on the planet.
You can hear the exact time this transitions from video to sponsorship right at 8:25. It's amazing to hear that little tone switch where you can tell the video ends.
Those who are surprised Mona Lisa is so small never knew the stress and struggle of painting an extremely detailed portrait with the only references being either your notes or someone standing in front of you.
As a resident of such a tourist attraction city the problem wasn't blocked views, but rather blocked paths. Some of the tourists get mad when you just keep on walking, crossing their camera's view while taking pictures. On the other side we simply wouldn't get anywhere in a reasonable time if we'd constantly stop and let them make their picture without obstructing it...
@@franwex Rome is still beautiful. Of course the tourist attractions are packed. But it is beautiful to walk around the area by the Vatican (atleast where I stayed) it's not too over crowded it actually really nice.
I was in Utrecht, Netherlands five years ago and visited Amsterdam for a day. Although Utrecht was not quite as beautiful, it was still beautiful and really authentic. In Amsterdam, in the central part of the city, I had hard time to find a grocery store to buy a bottle water, there were souvenir stores all around, selling cheap and meaningless souvenirs. Imagine living in that area, without grocery stores.
I live in a city that usually does not get many tourists, but there was one instance before summer break started that irked me. A huge cruise ship came into town, and as I go to a school in the middle of the city, it was the first time I saw huge tourist groups of east Asian tourists. It was a bit surprising since I never saw that in my own city before. When I took the bus home I also saw tourist groups outside of the city center; that’s when I thought that tourism will only get worse in my city in the time to come. Throughout summer now I’ve seen a lot of tourist busses. I bet tourism throughout places will only get worse in the 2020’s, which is sad. Inhabitants should be prioritised before tourists. I think a good idea would be to travel less and save money for then to travel somewhere; stay a lot longer and see more, and use the money you saved. I dread to think how it’ll be in the far future with a rising middle-class and higher population and a probable larger rise of social media (a big factor in mass tourism). More airplanes; more tourists; more CO2 emissions...
I live in Orlando, the #1 tourist city in the USA, but the tourists go to Walt Disney World, Universal, Sea World, International Drive, and Kissimmee. We are lucky Downtown Orlando and most of the residential parts are pretty much devoid of tourists. At this point cities like Venice, Paris, and Barcelona basically are theme parks, there is no way a normal person could afford to live there...honestly I think the working class people that do live there live pretty sh*tty lives.
As a Floridian. The answer is absolutely yes. Especially the snowbirds who trash our wildlife area and Harass the animals; particularly our alligators.
I can see Amsterdam's plans (Solution 4) conflicting with some of the ideas in Solution 2. The reduced number of hotels and Airbnbs encourage people to stay for shorter periods of time due to cost or visit by cruise ship...which in turn results in the most popular sites becoming more crowded!
When I went I didn't go for the straight shot of the painting, since I couldn't appreciate it anyway. I took a picture of the crowds trying to take a picture of the painting, because that was truly amusing (and says something about our times)
@@Eric149162536 Best thing on Louvre is finding some random art piece, staying around it with your friends and waiting for the inevitable crowd of tourists blindly taking pictures of it to form :). (But seriously, the best parts of the museum are the French artist parts.)
I watched a video recently about the effect of covid on tourism in Japan. People who admitted that tourists annoyed them before covid were saying that they couldn't wait for them to return. I had close connections with Stratford upon Avon (William Shakespeare) and used to shop there regularly. However, over the years the "ordinary" shops began to close, replaced by "tourist" shops. The heart of the town died as locals travelled to a shopping complex on the edge of town. The last time I ventured into the town centre the only locals I saw were working in shops and food outlets. So it's not just cities that are negatively impacted.
honestly I love traveling off the beaten path. I'm currently visiting Vilnius and having a great time. It's a beautiful, very old european city, but there are practically no tourists here, and it's quite cheap. It's vibrant with locals every night, and I've had such a good time going out and meeting Lithuanians. Only problem is that most bars close rather early.
As a developing country, we can easily be dependent on tourists to grow the local economy. The sad thing is, the sites tourists are visiting are becoming more and more expensive for a local and becoming tailor fitted to cater to foreigners. Essentially, the places citizens should enjoy are now becoming exclusive for foreigners who, for the most part, don't really care about the value of the place. They just want to enjoy and they have the resources to do so.
The great thing about London in this regard is its size: because it's so big, even though there are shitloads of tourists in certain places, overall the city doesn't feel overrun with them. Venice, Barcelona, and even to an extent Paris (inside the Périphérique) are more compact, so the tourists seem like they're everywhere. Btw, I know a lovely part of central Barcelona which is mostly tourist free and very authentically Catalan - but I'm not telling where ;-)
I adore Barcelona and It's a shame with the problems they have with tourism. Thankfully they have started limiting available beds for tourists in the city. Kind of amazing considering the population of Barcelona is 5 million.
A bit unfair to only count the inside of the Périphérique, as there are some stuff to see outside of it (far less than inside admittedly). The urban area of Paris is similar in size to London's. Are maybe the major attractions of London more spread out ? That would be an explanation for that feeling.
I went to Barcelona in the summer of 2018. It was surprisingly not as crowded as I expected. The beach was the most crowded place we went. If you are going there and looking for somewhere away from any crowds, go to the Olympic plaza and if you like swimming, the pool. When I got to the plaza, there were only about 5 people there and the place is huge. Its like a European Taj Mahal without the crowds.
Harajuku has been suffering from this, the tourists don't respect the boundaries of the people that frequent there and corporations are displacing designer stores.
Not only harajuku, Shibuya suffered so much as well. It has completely lost its charm. It changed so much in a span of 8 years that I had my first and last visit.
I'm glad a video like this. I have "friends" who always put me down, telling me to get out more, I'm not outgoing and I'm crap and etc. They like dragging me along for their wild rides, I even had someone who told me that he wanted to fly to any capital city in a country in Asia like it's a thrill ride like I'm missing out because he maybe was bored of the routine but just wanted a safeguard for himself. I haven't talked to him for almost a decade and I got fed up. I decided to go out, go to another country, by myself, that wasn't an English speaking country and it was a 2nd tier city (because if it was 1st tier, like the capital city itself, it wasn't a challenge for me to get around) and just soak in the culture and sights and feel like I got around. I seriously believe people really are missing out travelling to a minor city and just sitting around and aren't going far rushing to the major cities when they feel like they are missing out. They're not and I'm glad those major cities are raising prices, putting crowd control, adding fees and whatever because there's too many people who are rushing in for the wrong reasons and I also think they don't get it.
Travelling is a funny thing. The more people that do it the less interesting it is. Everyone thinks everyone else should travel less. Not a city, but I live an hour away from an amusement park. There's no off season there anymore. What's now the off season is busier than the normal season was 10 years ago. If you go to the park on the weekend in the summer you're paying to stand in line all day. Don't know why anyone would do that, but many do for some reason.
Portugal is becoming more and more crowded Lisbon is insane, Porto a little less but still becoming crowded. Also You said you like art/history you should look up "Nadir Afonso" (was distant relative of mine) hes a pretty famous Portuguese artist, and they built this wild looking museum for him in Boticas Portugal, in the region of Tras-os-Montes. Not too many tourists out there, its almost like in the middle of nowhere but man between his art and ancient roman style bridges in Chaves, there is so much history in that little corner of Portugal its insane. They recently found an ancient stronghold from the iron age by the celtics all on top of the hills.
i went to new york a few years ago. i've been there before so it wasn't a completely new experience but i did go to some of the "toursity" spots. but since i was there for a week, i spent a lot of time just walking around. literally, i would wake up in the morning, leave the apartment (i was staying at a friend's place) and just pick a direction and start walking. when i got hungry i would just look around for somewhere to eat, like an affordable restaurant or cafe. and i would just walk around the whole day and then go home at night after getting dinner. once i even found some people playing some beautiful classical music in a park (can't remember, but i think it was a string quartet). this is my new favourite way of exploring a city. i haven't gotten the chance to do this anywhere else but this is definitely the kind of approach i'm going to take in the future. go for a week, set aside two or three days to do all the touristy stuff, and then spend the rest of the time just walking around the city (or using whatever other mode of transportation thats convenient) and just enjoy myself. you never know what great experiences you can have.
Penang, Malaysia. In the last 10 years after the recognition of George Town as a UNESCO heritage site, the town is 'dead' - residents are forced to move out so landlords can turn all the old shophouses into boutique hotels - and whatever traditional shops that used to be have now become a million different cafes or bakeries. its ridiculous. theres nothing much for me as a resident anymore - everything is plastic.
As a European I only think of Venice and Barcelona as tourist cities I’ve found part of the appeal of those cities to be being surrounded by foreigners and just don’t expect to see locals at all. It’s a sad reality for the locals for certain I think Amsterdam is the city most at risk of becoming like these places, it helps when a city is large, geographically or population wide or ideally both. As a Londoner I feel like even if there are a lot of tourists other than a few squares and streets and the landmarks/museums themselves you can still go into the centre or inner city and be surrounded by other residents as well as tourists. I’ve got similar vibes in Madrid, Berlin and Vienna as well but if you’re in a small city with loads of sights you’ll only get a tourist experience
I lived in the Florida Keys for several years and had a similar experience. My school was on a road that led to the beach. No big deal, most tourists go to the beach in the afternoon and it doesn't cause much problems. Cue the years 2016-2017 and some developer has the brilliant idea to build a few dozen overpriced weekly rental duplexes on the road. I forget to mention that this road is the only possible route to the school because island. The construction was so incompetent that they would cock block the road with their equipment and broke the water main twice, causing millions in damages. Traffic was horrible, instead of taking 5 minutes, it now took 15. It gets worse, that damage to the water main forced the town to rip out the mile long road piece by piece this year (2019). Because it was the only road, traffic completely broke and now the commute to school could be as long as 30-40 minutes. I can bet most of those million dollar rentals will foreclose when the next recession inevitably happens.
What shocked me the most in Amsterdam is how absurdly entitled the cyclists feel. It's like they feel that everyone should follow the law except for themselves! All the cars stop at zebra crossings, where the right is for the pedestrian to cross, but the cyclists don't and even look at you pedestrian with rage for wanting to practice your right to cross the street with priority. The pedestrian is a priority all around the world and not respecting that is not understanding the law of the strongest to protect the weakest since cyclists are at an advantage in strength for being on top of a vehicle. Now try and stand in one of the cycling lanes! They will scream at you and curse your entire family. But then when it's their time to stop for the pedestrians to cross they don't! Summing up: The cyclists of Amsterdam need an attitude check ASAP so they stop feeling like the owners of the street.
I’m not complaining about being cursed for standing on the bike lane, cause that’s obvious it will happen and I think it’s actually fair to have my family cursed for this haha What I’m complaining about is people braking the law for not stopping at designated pedestrian crossings and getting angry when you try to make them respect it. I thought The Netherlands was one of the most civilized places in the world? I guess you’re selective when choosing the laws you will respect and the ones you will ignore...
Although I live about two hours away from NYC and visit it frequently, I love to visit Niagara Falls and Montreal. Beautiful cities, the state park on the NY side isn't as busy as the Canadian side which is more touristy. The culture of Montreal is exceptional. It was the second Olympic host city that I visited after Lake Placid (which I did on one big trip, although Lake Placid is a town not a city). I’ve seen tourism ruin cities like Venice
It seems like New Zealand is promoting tourism well, since most of it is culture and nature forward, you have to spread out and travel through remote areas to get to the stunning sights.
Also, the lord of the rings movies where helping quite a bit to promote the nature sites. Nature tourism works well in NZ, since it has a lot of barely touched nature to offer, and barely anyone outside Oceania will travel halfway around the world just to see a city like Wellington.
@@dutchess2121 Bali every year is overrun with Australians and it makes a 'relaxing beach holiday' into a crowded shit place to visit. Don't go to Bali unless your insane.
Great video! Amsterdam (where I live) is trying hard to spread out tourists. A castle in a nearby town of Muiden, called Muiderslot, started being promoted everywhere as "Amsterdam Castle Muiderslot", to make people more likely to visit it (which worked). I've heard that the city was in negotiations with the national rail company to rename a train station of a nearby beach town from "Zandvoort" (name of the town) to "Amsterdam Beach", also to divert some tourists away from the city. Might sound like a scam now, but I definitely recommend visiting both. :)
@City Beautiful, with all the craziness going on in Blacksburg, Virginia with Virginia Tech accepting an extra 1100 students this year, I'd love to see a video on Town vs Gown relations and how college towns differ from other places of similar size, and the economic and other impacts of student housing, faculty and townie affordability of home ownership, public transport, etc...
More alarming than city based tourism is the rise of people who go to mountain trekking to places like Mt. Everest without adequate training and putting their lives and the emergency responders lives at risk.
8:12 I always set aside some time to do some “Métro-ing” in the cities I visit. Transit is also the best way to get to those unsung museums, monuments and authentic and cheap restaurants. One example in Paris: Versailles is totally overcrowded. Solution: take the train to Fontainebleau! It’s just as beautiful, more interesting historically, and there are no queues even on weekends! In Montreal the best restaurants are in our many local neighborhoods. And maybe taking transit as a tourist you might even enjoy it so much you’ll start taking it once you get home too! 😜 The ultimate irony is that to get to the Montreal Formula 1 Grand Prix automobile race track, there is no other solution than to take the Métro. I always imagine the SUV driver from Peoria taking a subway for the first time... And liking it! Maybe you’ll even get to see some great artwork on the way because many metro systems are like underground galleries.
I used to do conservation work with the Galápagos National Park, and as a result I’ve grown to really hate cruise ships. The cruise ship approach to the Galapagos is very common, but it’s extremely harmful to the unique nature and overall biodiversity of the islands. It contributes nothing to the local economy or the national park, and it’s destroying the culture and harbor fronts in the coastal towns.
Before I watch the whole video - Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes Tourists ruin tourism even for other tourists, never even mind the locals. From simple things like going to attractions/museums just to have them full of tourists to the point where you can’t really experience the experiences or to how the locals treat you when they realise you’re another tourist. I’m from Dublin, Ireland and speak pretty decent German. I’ve been to Germany ~10 times and absolutely love it there. The more I go, the less I feel like a tourist and I can go under the radar without people realising I’m either a tourist or foreign in general. When I go to a new city I like to see the big attractions of course. I try to keep in mind how I would go about seeing these attractions if they were in Dublin and how to not make myself stand out from the locals. This whole charade works quite well for me in Germany, but as I only speak 2 foreign languages(English and German) - it’s a bit of an issue when I’m not in a country that speaks these languages or even in Austria/Switzerland where the general way of doing things is slightly different from Germany. The worst experience I’ve had for this was in Budapest, Hungary. I don’t speak a word of Hungarian so everything has to be done through English. I feel like I’m being unbelievably arrogant by going to a foreign country and expecting them to speak my first language in any way as good as I speak it. I’m grateful that I do speak a widely spoken language for this reason, but I just think it’s really disrespectful to assume that other people speak it as well as having to rely on them speaking it.
I work/ Volunteer at a Tourism hotspot (puffing Billy in AUS) and I have seen the good and bad of toursists, the good things are they keep the line alive, and ironcially help preserve a lot of nature (PBR gets rid of weeds and plants naturally found seeds, and helps pay for new infrastructure, the Bad bits some of the Aisian tour groups only go as far as one station, and not further which is far better, another down bit is we have a language barrier too
Even without watching the video I already knew what the answer is Most of the big tourist destinations are really overrated imo, mainly because there are just to many tourists
Being a person who visited Amsterdam a couple of times (I live in the Netherlands after all.), I can say that most tourists who visit Amsterdam aren't there for the culture. They're just there because of the drugs, and I guess the buildings look nice. If you're a tourist and you wanna visit the Netherlands, stay far away from Amsterdam. Go instead to cities like Rotterdam, The Hague, Nijmegen and Maastricht. Yes, they're a bit distant from the airport, but I think it's worth it if you consider that your other option is the smell of weed and the large crowds squeezed into tiny streets.
In Amsterdam we have the spreading approach. The Castle in Muiden (Muiderslot) is now called Amsterdam Castle, and the windmills at the Zaanse Schans are now called Amsterdam Windmills. Both locations are outside Amsterdam.
What's your favorite city to visit? Does it get crowded?
NYC is the only one i can regularly visit. the area around times square is a nightmare.
Yeah, when I lived in NYC I would purposely avoid Times Square.
Singapore, my family mainly stay around the Shopping belt which is pretty crowded but imo Singapore managed to balance the needs of tourists and citizens
Copenhagen! It isn't too crowded I guess, it's the Danish capital after all
My city thinks it is touristic and builds all kinds of touristic facility's. Meanwhile nobody is using them. I live in Zeist, NL.
Come to Greece guys we don't care ,our economy literally depends on you
I went last year, loved it ^o^
thank you i will one day!
Was also there two years ago, loved it :D
is Athens a safe city? Just wondering because I might visit soon!
panos tech like you have the option to care LOL
It hasn’t ruined my beautiful city yet, tourism is restricted in my country. Take notes, Western world
Trump promised beautiful beachfront condos.
When I can wear my KIM SUX t-shirt without jail time I'll be right over.
Plus you have a guide for each tourist! Very clever.
Yes but watch out for the mean ole tourists stealing wall posters. Definitely a threat to NK.
No one want to visit your autocratic dictatorship anyway. your 5 star restaurants probably serve spaghetti with ketchup.
"Trends don't show tourism slowing down anytime soon."
COVID-19 enters the chat
Nah London is awesome now without all the tourists
@@jamesgeary9895 the tourist shops, hotels and museums would like to differ
lol
Came here to say that.
It’s probably going to be a massive explosion once the pandemic is over though. Even worse than before, at least in the short term I think.
Be smooth when you travel: Blend in. Disappear. Leave no trace.
exactly...
That's how we try to do it :)
@I love Angelique Yeah, americans tend to be like that. Latinos and europeans tend to be quite polite as they approach a trendy store or walk through the main avenue
Icespoon I take it you’ve never met British tourists?
Icespoon Or Chinese tourists.
As someone who lives in NYC. Tourism can definitely have a negative impact on places in the city. Times Square for example is generally avoided by city residents as it's flooded with tourists and all the shops and restaurants there cater to their needs almost exclusively. The same is true for parts of Lower Manhattan including the Financial District. The amount of crowding around that bull is insane.
This not only tourism also Wall Str.
Funny story I came to New York with the mindset to not act like a tourist. Youd be surprised at the people you meet when you blend yourself in. I loved New York City. Went to all the great spots my buddy told me about that's not Mainstream, especially street spots for food (you guys serve great street food btw)
Solomon Boukai I avoid Time Square and go out of the way to walk around tourist traps in NYC.
I live in union square and refuse to go within an Avenue’s block of Times Square
I pass through Times Square all the time... on the subway. I exit the station at Times Square about as frequently as I exit the station at Broad Channel - IE once or twice a year.
It really sucks when you can't even walk down the avenue because tourists clog literally everything.
I live in the netherlands and there is this beach we visit a lot. Then somebody put this beach in a travel magazine as a not so busy beach near amsterdam. Now it isn't quite as not so busy anymore.
Yeah I used to go to this nice quiet beach resort in Mexico, but in recent years the tourists have flooded it.
Really makes places less unique
@@A_WC_C Serious: plot twist, what if you were the tourist?
@@unassumingaccount395 plot twist: what if I was?
@@A_WC_C what if we all are just tourists to our own world?
Don't tell them about our Beaches in Belgium, Walloons and Brusseller are already too much
my ex gf was in Europe tour.......
in 16 days 16 European citys
she claims; she knows Europe because she was half a day in Switzerland !?!
i was Barcelona 5 days and was not enough !
First First to understand you must read 5 books and spend 1 year
@Planespotting Nürnberg i know Amsterdam, the Hague and Rotterdam + my city i was born in
@@kk0704 Compared to international standards (London, Berlin, Paris) you only know just one city called the Randstad.
What´s even the point of that? Other than posting tons of pictures on instagram of the Eifel Tower and Buckingham Palace you are just constantly on a rush to see some basic tourist attractions while spending the most time riding the train/bus.
that's ridiculous. What cities did she go to?
I did 10 countries in 33 days (Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece), but I didn't do multiple destinations in every place. I went to Skopje in Macedonia, Thessaloniki in Greece, Sarajevo only in Bosnia, etc. It was a bit rushed, but I went solo, so it was different. Belgium was just a stopover, thanks Ryanair for flying to stupid Charleroi. But 16 in 16 is horrendous. You don't even have a relaxed day. That's just checking cities off a list.
Not just cities but national parks....Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Canyon. This time of year (spring/summer) it is like Disneyland.
It's almost been even more dramatic with the national parks in the last 5 years. I used to go to Arches and Zion every year, but even going on days that normally no one would be there (eg 100 degrees or so), it's still super packed and you can't enjoy it like you used to be able to.
Glacier is terrible now.
Can we still kill people without breaking the law in some place in Yellowstone?
@Cabalen Journeys Nice
@@Valandix The rule still stands unless you're Austrian.
“Can’t forsee a drop in tourists any time soon”
Great ending, this aged magnificently.
@Obnoxious Commenter having a bad day?
Yeah tell me about it. I live in Prague, right in the most tourist part of the city. Most of the problems are the tourist oriented businesses which are always ugly, overpriced and don't care about quality since tourist are not likely to return there anyway. It's almost impossible to find a good restaurant in the historical centre or convenience store. There is also a problem with with the lack of regulation of the advertisement in the city center and the most touristy part of the city is basically ruined by the visual pollution. There are many other problems like the stag parties (god I hate those), huge tourist groups, tourist busses in the streets of medieval city. Btw, today in Prague city centre there lives about half as many people as it did in the 14th century in the same area.
I have a question, why did you still choose to live right in the center? I live in Amsterdam right now but nobody I know would voluntarily live in the center 😅
@@MsJassi13 Maybe because their family has been living in the city center for years???
If you live in Europe you know the answer to this video is yes
I don't live in a very touristy area, but we do get a handful of tourists in Celje. Most of them arrive at the train station, and just walk around the old part of Celje, and visit the castle I suppose. Our old town isn't that big, and most buildings surrounding it are residential, so I don't know if a tourist might stumble it's way into Nova vas, Lava, Hudinja (there are two malls for them and a hypermarket), Ostrožno, any residential part of Celje, and be like "Ooo this is NAICE **takes pictures** ".
Ehh... I don't know if it fits here.
Well I live in a German town that's 50 minutes from the nearest city, so I don't see many tourists.
@@SaintJust1214 50min walking ????
@@kk0704 driving
50 minutes flying?
The joys of living in a second-tier city... culture, infrastructure, jobs, but none of the crowds
Andrew K what qualifies as a second tier city? How many people?
@@henrynarkiewicz8778 It's obviously not determined by population. The Hague probably qualifies as first-tier in terms of tourism, but its population is smaller than Sheffield, which I don't readily see large numbers of international tourists visit.
Quintinohthree your absolutely right about population not being a factor. For example, San Francisco is for some reason like the 3rd most visited city in the US, while Philadelphia is barely visited by anyone.
Elizabeth Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Agent 001 MI6/SIS so would a city like Saint Louis be a second tier city but a city of similar size such as Orlando that gets much more tourism be a first class city?
@@henrynarkiewicz8778 Yup
Venice was awful. I was there for half a day and hated it. Mainly due to the crowds.
As for Chinese tourists..... I've been to China, and have nothing against the people whatsoever, but it is extremely frustrating to deal with the endless stream of selfies and the overwhelming lack of respect is painful..... talking to locals, I've heard the same thing in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Netherlands, etc.
@CommandoDude I was there in early May, so not much later than you were there.
Chinese and American are the worst i agree. Very few have interest in the culture. Chinese just want pictures and americans party.
We have rude Chinese tourists in Slovenia? I don't know exactly where I can find them (Bled I suppose?), but I can't imagine them eating the dough part of blejska kremšnita with CHOPSTICKS, and somehow eating the rest of it with sticks.
@@seragaldinbadr Machu Picchu has different prices for foreigners compared to Andes countries' citizens. Something like that. I actually met a bunch of people who told me that their American friends would put maple leaves on their back packs to make people think they were Canadian, and be friendlier.
Does anyone actually live in Venice anymore? I’d imagine the rent there is horrendous
I've been doing an exchange semester for the last 6 months in Florence, Italy. And I can definetly tell you, that there are a lot of tourists just visiting the city centre with the dome, the gallery to see David and that's it more or less. When my family came to visit me, we didn't even visited those sights, as they are simply overcrowded and you lose time queueing up. Instead, I took them to some "2nd tier" sights, where hardly any tourists were and that was a very nice stay for them.
However, most tourists, I've spoken to, do just the classical Venice-Florence-Rome tour in 4 days total, which is in my oppinion just not enough time to get a feel for the culture and is only symptomatic for the selfie-tourism.
I like that word you’ve created: “selfie tourism.” I’ll keep that in mind.
@@lawrencekumar293 I appreciate it :)
That comment made me sad..
I think we can all blame Instagram (and social media as a whole) for the tourist problem. I used to (and sometimes still) visit many national parks all across the US and since the beginning of the 2010s the crowds in some areas nowadays are pretty much Times Square in the Woods. These parks used to be places for people and families to go and explore with no need to brag about their moments online. Since people now have the ability to share and post pictures of these places, everyone will like and share, and repeat. Just like many PSAs mention, once its on the web, the entire world sees it, same with the tourist destinations. Its sad how these significant places and enjoying mother nature has become so integrated into social media. At the same time, I am sort of glad it has made people opt outside and enjoy the outdoors, but it has gone too far.
I was thinking the same thing before I read this comment. What's annoying is when a celebrity visits a place that isn't really known to tourists, whether it be a small restaurant or a secluded area or a beach, and they share it on their social media. Then suddenly those places that used to be nice for locals to visit become flooded by tourists.
It varies, but really the best options are to sleep where you are going. In Yellowstone in 2017, I had the experience of being behind a group of Chinese tourists (two or three buses.) Sit back and wait it out or camp and then go back later. If you want to see the thing you have come to see (and not the crowd of gawkers) the best thing to do is to let the gawkers go away. Same thing in Europe: get a hotel room (in one of the tiny hotels) in the cities you want to see. The cruise ships all leave at 4pm and the buses shuttle everyone out.
This is why I'm a huge fan of long term tourism. Cities should just charge hefty taxes for anyone saying less than 7 days. $8 taxes aren't enough, it needs to be an $280 tax to discourage people from coming for just a day or two or less.
Venice is the most obvious on this. I'm amazed they have not implemented need to stay overnight and hefty prices. The place is full of people coming for 7 hours or big cruise ships docking for 5 hours, and destroying the place faster and faster. Nobody is benefitting from it, not the tourists, locals or the sinking city itself.
The problem is not the fact that traveling has become more affordable, or the the growth of chinese middle class. Those are good things. The real problem is the way tourism idustry has grown and marketed into the general public who are not interested in those desitinations for any reason other than taking selfies or trying food. Most people who travel don't have a deep rooted interest in the places they travel to. If that was the case, people would choose different places to travel, instead of the places marketed as the 'must visit places.'
I wouldn't even care if it didn't cause crowds or problems in the rental market. I don't really care about their motivations, but please, behave, don't be annoying to locals, don't litter, etc. I even had an argument with a tourist guide because his group was blocking the entrance of the town hall, and I had to get in because of my job. I said, "please", tried to make my way and one guy even had the audacity of telling me what the fuck I was doing. This gets more than annoying if you have to deal with this for more than a week.Thankfully my city is not as touristy so I only have to deal with this BS on August, when Cruisers come and they flood us with Chavs and some other idiots.
But if travelling wasn't as affordable, would those people still pay to visit places they don't really care about? Some of them would but not as many.
That is why I hated travelling in groups. As an individual, I can enjoy the history or the arts or the food in all its beauty. But everyone else looked at as a wierdo.
yeah i think traveling has become this thing you must do and there are so many lists of places you absolutely have to visit but a lot of people who do all this traveling don't really have any interest in the places they're visiting. they just want to be able to tell people they did/saw/experienced xyz thing. this is even true for my mom. we've been to a lot of places because we've thankfully been able to afford it and i always loved going to the museums (my absolute favourite thing to do while traveling) and try to experience a bit of the culture but my mom just wants to take photos to show other people. she doesn't really care about where we're going, she's never excited about trying the food, she doesn't try to learn anything about the history or culture, she doesn't even enjoy the beautiful sights much. she (and many people like her, imo) want photos to show their friends/social circle so that they can brag about visiting xyz place. not that i think there's anything wrong with taking photos or telling people you've been somewhere, but if that's your only motivation for being a tourist, i think that's pretty flimsy. i think the places you go should change you, even if it's only a little bit and even if that change is just "wow, i had an amazing experience"
Can tourism ruin cities? As a citizen of Vienna, I knew the answer even before watching this video.
mediocre man i am going to visit Vienna soon 🙈
what vienna needs is more mozart vendors, fake beggars, chinese tourist groups, electric "oldtimer cars", segways, rikshaw drivers, and souvenir shops. 7/10
@@happyllama4153 - if you have friends or relatives in the city, let them show you around, but _keep clear off the sights,_ unless you want to be trampled to death by hoards of people with guides and smartphones. I recommend to take trams and traverse the city from one end to the other, if possible a couple of times, to understand its geography and character, keep away from the sights, this will only be a waste of time.
Yeah, and, also, walk through Vienna alone at night. It is possible. Vienna is one of the safest cities in the world. Have a nice stay.
Vienna’s not too bad if you keep out of the 1st district in my opinion. Now Salzburg, that’s overrun by tourists...
Recently went there for a trip. You guys handle tourists pretty well. Schönbrunn place was rough. All the Chinese and Muslim tourists. The packs of boomers and Chinese are just as bad in the states as in Europe. One old guy was refusing to speak German and demanded a store accept American dollars. I felt so bad for the lady.
I live on an island off the gulf coast that has seen its tourism industry explode in recent years, and honestly, I'm very split on tourists. On the one hand, it's nearly impossible to drive during the summer, crowds and drunks downtown and on the beach are really annoying, and the tourists really have no respect for the city or its history.
However, I also remember when there were no tourists at all, and remember the poverty the city was in. You couldnt walk down the main boulevard because of crime, schools were awful, roads were in such bad condition you couldn't drive on some. But since becoming a tourist city all that has changed for the better, our city services are finally getting the funding that they need, and citizens are getting jobs. Hell, I've seen ghettos shrink block by block. And not all tourists are bad; yes, the spring breakers from Louisiana usually and the ones here for the cruise ships are, but others, usually the older folk can be quite pleasant. If you go to the fishing pier a few blocks from my apartment, you can meet fishermen from all over the us, and sometimes even Europe, and most of them are quite friendly and eager to talk. Sometimes I'll meet a group of friendly Europeans downtown which will give me a chance to practice my Russian or German, which is always nice.
Ok I know this is getting rambly so I'll sum up, basically seeing tourism rise in my city was a mixed bag, it brought in a lot of money to the city and a lot of great people to talk to, but also brought in a lot of crowds and not so great people to talk to
Do you happen to live near Panama City FL?
@@floridianrailauto9032 nah, other side of the gulf. Galveston, Texas
@@chris2610 I feel bad for you guys though. You guys live right smack-dab at hurricane harbour. I don't want to be that one downer, but without any proper disaster planning that could go back to square one.
Little correction for the Barcelona Park Güell part. For the residents of the city the 'new' solution did not take away a public asset. Residents of the surrounding neighbourhoods can access the "restricted" part always via a special card and for the rest of us Barcelana's residents, we can get tickets without queuing for free :)
Why would you want to go to a theme park filled with tourists? I'm from Barcelona and just never go there de tanta mandra que fa
As someone that lives in the Netherlands the whole Amsterdam thing really gets on me. Whenever a foreigner talks about The Netherlands and the only thing they have seen and mention is things in Amsterdam it really annoys me. The country is not that big, one hour or two in a train and you are in a completely different place, many places with just as amazing if not better than some places in Amsterdam. If you are a visitor to another country and the only places you visit are the tourist spots you are missing the point, those tourist places have been modified and altered to give you a a certain experience that is far removed from the country you are living in.
Just imagine a foreigner going to Disney world, staying on Disney property and never leaving the Disney property but thinking they have experience the USA and know what the USA is about. No, it's such a controlled and faked environment and is nothing like the country.
If you are going on vacation, do like he says that cities are promoting, instead of staying just a day or a weekend, stay a week. Stay a week, pick a couple of tourist places that you REALLY want to see (Let's be honest if went to Amsterdam with a family or have a partner, do you really need to go to the red light district to go look at ladies? Is it really that special?), do the tourist things for a day or two, then for the rest of your stay go around the country, visit neighboring cities, find some local events going on and just enjoy the local culture. Not only will your experience be better, it will also be different from everyone else that Went to Amsterdam and went to the red light district and smoked pot. You will actually have a more unique story to tell when you go back home, but you will also save a lot of money. Those tourist places are highly overpriced and the quality is very hit and miss, if you go away from the tourist places the prices will be much better and the quality will also usually be better, because if it wasn't the locals wouldn't stand for it.
Who cares if a couple of tourist think the food at this one tourist place is terrible and overpriced, for every dissatisfied tourist there are 100 tourist behind them that don't know any better. When it comes to local restaurants on the other hand if the place is terrible and overpriced, the locals live right there and they will talk to each other about it and word will spread and soon enough the place will have to either improve or go out of business.
I’m going to the Netherlands this summer but plan on just skimming Amsterdam and going mostly to areas outside the city where it’s quieter
Went to The Netherlands on part of a roadtrip. Stayed in Meppel and visited Giethoorn (very touristic though) but then continued driving around the countryside looking for tulip fields (we knew we were in the wrong season but still fun). Went through a small village and were invited to a grill party in the local restaurant. People were so nice and happy we wanted to see the whole country and we ended up having an amazing time. Stayed for two days in Amsterdam but really it was the beautiful countryside that I remember.
The only place I've been to in the Netherlands is Amsterdam, but in my defense my visit to the country was constrained by my needing to get back to Schipol after about six hours. I would love to go back and see more, though, it looks like the country has a lovely countryside and some interesting smaller cities and towns.
I arrived by ferry into rotterdam and then went to the hague, spent a week in Groningen during kai week and then went to Amsterdam to do the Amsterdam things. Even then Dutch people think all I did was go to Amsterdam
Amsterdam has, and promotes, drugs. Guess where all the backpackers are going to go.
YES!!!!! I grew up in a beautiful little town with lakes, rivers, beaches and fishing. Then, we became a tourist hotspot. Property values multiplied 10x, driving all the people i grew up with out of town. I can no longer enjoy solitude on the river, the beach, or the trails. I work 70 hours a week to pay for the right to stay where i was born. more and more rules about aesthetics and properties have driven up the government imposed cost of holding my property to 20% of my income. That doesn't include the mortgage.
It's drawn in a huge upper crust of coffee slurping yuppies, and a class of low income drifters paid to provide services to these yuppies. Meanwhile, they all complain that the rent is too high, and impose punitive taxes and rules against property holders in order to provide "low income housing" which just allows the billionaires who own the tourist hot spots pay their people even less because i am subsidizing them.
Then there are all the "locals" and "experts" telling me bullcrap histories of my own town. They get hurt and lost in the forest and now all the roads are closed, the search and rescue respond hundreds of times per year, the yuppies find and destroy every bit of the old culture they can. Saying "our town doesn't support things like this".
Thanks to them, i can no longer go shooting wherever i please, i have police pulling me over on the river while i am on my floatie, i don;t fish anymore because there are more fishermen than fish now. It's all big city idiots fleeing the city and turning my town into another big city. Then all the yuppies work real hard to destroy any business or industry that actually built the town and keeps the lights on. It's like they think the entire economy can simply consist of people serving soy lattes to each other and travel blogging about the exotic soy lattes they have had.
If I do find a quiet spot somewhere miles away from everyone in the forest to camp, by the time i wake up there are 3 rv's blocking me in and one parked in my firepit with an idiot lighting a fire 3' from my tent. All while these people studiously ignore me. they are too unoriginal and stupid to find their own damn spot so they roll up on mine, but at the same time are from the city and so want nothing to do with me and studiously ignore me or even drive me out.
Then there are the idiots who bought a walking stick and compass and walk lost into my yard to lecture me on how "unprepared" i am to be in the forest with only my shorts and sandals on. This despite the fact i am within sight of a road and also in my freaking yard.
Meanwhile they bring their dogs which invade my space, kill my pet ducks, chase the deer away and sometimes injure them and attempt to get into my garage to get my cat food.
tourism SUCKS- it has stolen my home from me.
@@Atlantjan i think it is gone. Sadly, this place belongs to the latte suckers now. I think i may move up north. Perhaps the yukon or northern BC. Maybe even rural saskatchewan. A house there is worth 8-10% of what my house here is worth. I guess that is the thing with being a destination- everyone wants to live there and money talks.
thisisn'tmyrealname what place is this? Billionaires are good
Oh
Wouldn't happen to Maine would it? If not, same here.
My favourite thing to do when visiting other places is just to walk around the city. Sure I visit some of the touristy parts but the most interesting thing to me is just to explore the streets. I find a lot of interesting places and people that way, and I get to avoid crowds.
Low cost air travel is the blessing and the curse of Europe tourism. It's a bless because you can visit a city every weekend if you book in advance, but is a curse for the reason shown in the video.
So if the goal is to promote long time vacation I think that the tourist tax for the hotel should be tuned to a system where the more you stay the less you pay
The first day costs the most, and every day after costs less
back in 2015 i went to japan. I did do the touristy thing in tokyo and went to the landmarks, but over the course of the trip i found some amazing spots that weren't crowded.
my absolute favorite was lake towada. This isolated tiny community inside a volcanic caldera. absolutely stunning beauty. There were some tourists in the day but when the bus left at 5pm the tiny place was so quiet and tranquil. Would totally recommend.
And now we all know muahahaha
thanks now the whole place will be flooded
I went in 2015 and also last year (2018) and I noticed a big change in the amount of people - going in a few weeks too so I'm interested how much of a change Tokyo's had since a year ago - but I always go to places I find on google maps rather than tourist spots and often end up places surprisingly quiet or beautiful.
Psst
When I used to live in Budapest, the worst kinds of tourists were stag parties. They basically just drink all weekend and leave.
And on Florida's coast the worst tourists are the partying "spring break" college kids.
That was one smooth transition into the skillshare sponsorship
It almost doesn't feel like he's advertising for it
Yeah I didn't even notice when the promotion started when I watched for the first time.
I live in Hawaii and all the tourists that come here crowd the beach and leave it dirty even the cities are getting much more bleak
You live in Hawaii? I don't even want to imagine how many tourists you guys deal with. There are already enough where I live. (I also live on an island in the Pacific ocean)
Cabalen Games and Hobbies The Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) are still alive, albeit their numbers are decimated (European diseases and all). Even the non-native people have gripes with tourism, but the Kanaka Maoli especially feel the brunt of tourism because their culture is being used for corporate gain by a government some believe is illegally occupying the Kingdom of Hawai'i. It's complicated.
Watch Jennifer Lawrence's interview on Graham Norton's show about scratching her butt on sacred rocks. I imagine that cringe on Chis Pratt's (former Hawaiian resident) is what Hawaiians feel on a regular basis.
Tourist cities often go hand in hand with expats too. I've tried to order food in Amsterdam by speaking Dutch plenty of times only to get the same reply time and time again in English: Could you please repeat that in English.
As a result Amsterdam feels more foreign to me than any less tourist-y Belgian city.
As a (Dutch) non-Amsterdammer I can tell you that Amsterdam is like a foreign nation to me as well
Yeah, Amsterdam _looks_ Dutch but it doesn't _feel_ Dutch. I guess its history is all based on globalization but it's gone a bit too far when you have to speak a foreign language to get by.
Ik ben Amerikaans en ik had te vechten om Nederlands te spreken in Amsterdamse restaurant's en winkelen. De stad heeft nu zoveel toeristen dat niemand probeert te praten in hun moedertaal!
Nu is het meer gezellig als je bezoek is aan Utrecht, Maastricht, of overal ergens anders eigenlijk.
Amsterdam feels to me like a part of the UK these days. Are they going to leave too when Brexit is going to happen?
@@hendrikdependrik1891 As a Belgian (A filthy walloon), if I want to go in a dutch city I will go to Maastricht or some towns in Noord-Brabant
The best part of my day is when city beautiful uploads a video
Really?
Really?
Maybe
Okay.
Alright
Additional to described problems, prices for everyday products go up in tourism areas, because tourists are able to spend more to purchase goods.
It's not so much that they can, but that they are willing to and the businesses in those areas apart from wanting to make money also need to make up for tourists usually being a only a one time customer.
If it's a local business that serves locals, they can afford to charge less for each transaction because they know that in general the local customer will be a repeat customer. So they earn less on each transaction but end up making more in the long run because of repeat visits.
When I visit a city for a weekend usually my program is the same;
Day 1 (Friday afternoon): City centre
Day 2 (Saturday): A tour around the city by public transport
Day 3 (Sunday): A tour at the countryside by public transport (near towns or villages)
I've used the same concept in Stockholm, Madrid, Prague, Oslo and Budapest and I think it's best way to know a city.
And that's why Kyoto residents and businesses are pissed.. and recently tourists chasing & taking pictures of geishas and maikos without their consent. Perhaps Kyoto city council and tourism board should try the Venice tourism number limits..
The wave of tourists in Kyoto seems to calm down in like the spring and autumn (or any time other than people's summer/winter vacations) at least.
But then again, I live in Kita-ku which is pretty far from all the touristy locations, so I don't really have to put up with many tourists to begin with.
It's called the Ryanair effect, not the southwest effect.
Calum Cooper depends on the country, I suppose
In China, we call it Spring effect lol
Ryan based their business on southwest. So it is still legit.
Arcadiez In Europe it’s not known as the Southwest effect it’s known as the Ryanair effect
@@meshio3060 im Swedish and a pilot, i think i know what im talking about.
Although I dislike tourists, I love to see all the sights...
Yes, I know that I'm a hypocrite
There are plenty of sites to see with few tourists.
@@iammrbeat Yeah that's true, and I have seen a lot of lesser known places as well. Still, sometimes there really is no real substitute for the "real" thing, as is the case with Venice for example.
@@iammrbeat love your videos!
You're not a hypocrite; just like the video says there's a way to be a good tourist - see the top sights but give yourself more time to explore the city and see the more than just the beaten path. That way you naturally spend your money on ways that contribute to more of a city's economics than on the tourist trail
You can't be a human if you aren't a hypocrite in some way.
It's hard not to be torn on this. Yesterday I came back from Vienna after my first ever solo trip abroad and compared to many of the other cities I've visited with other people over the years it really felt like more of a 'true' city than a living museum (cough Barcelona cough). Unfortunately, because I didn't know the language that also meant that I was treated with serious disrespect way more often than I would've liked, despite me doing my best to not be a 'bad' tourist. I can't blame them for it and Vienna was great in spite of that, but it has definitely put a damper on my desire to travel again for the foreseeable future.
eastern europe: u see 80% of what you see in Western Europe but with much less tourists. Timisoara, Sibiu, Krakow, Kiev, etc all are beautiful and have loads of history
careful what you wish for
Yes but if all the tourists come from western europe to eastern europe, the problem will be the same.
The internet has destroyed my favorite places. "Best deserted Florida beach." Yeah, they're anything but deserted now.
Same thing over here. Smart Belgians who want a quiet and empty beach without apartment buildings everywhere go to Cadzand, just over the border in the Netherlands. Now they are building apartments for the rich there too, destroying the exact thing that made them so attractive.
I don't even get the appeal of beaches. As cheesy as Anakin's infamous pick-up line was, it's absolutely true, sand is coarse and rough and it basically teleports into your clothing. Also sunburns are agonizing
@@blitzn00dle50 The sand around here is pure white quartz powder that stays cool under the worst summer sun. You do have to refrain from rolling around in it though, and I preach sunscreen.
@@kilroy1976 Well the only time I have ever swam in the ocean I got sunscreen in my eyes. I have been to Florida before in the winter, and let me tell you, I am so so so thankful I don't live there because I can't put up with even 3 months of locking myself indoors just so I can stay clean. I live in Missouri where we get the worst of both worlds but the ultra insanely windy 20 degree non-snowy winter days are much much better than the Floridian microwave oven weather
@@blitzn00dle50 Lmao I didn't get why people complained so much about FL weather until I left the state.
I live in Memphis, and while we are not a "major" tourist destination, we have lost our local culture to tourism. The people who run the city (including tourism) are not Memphis natives. They are transplants from other parts of the country who find our local culture not only boring but undesirable. So the slow-paced, relaxed Southern atmosphere, which is traditional for Memphis, has been displaced with "Delta Blues" theming.
By the way, the song, "Walking in Memphis," was written by a New Yorker in New York City. It's a perfect example of how the "Delta Blues" culture has been imposed on the local population by outsiders.
@Cabalen Journeys The situation in Nashville is fierce. I hate to be a downer. I like seeing progress. I really do, but I find it terrible that progress pushes out people who have lived in an area for most of their life. There are so many hotels/condos/expensive apartments/mixed development that are either in the the process of being built or planned. You can see why many people cannot afford to live in the areas where they work thus long commute times.
Outsiders never respect your culture. Especially trransplants, They wan't to bring their old culture to your city and force it into your living room. People from the mid west do, but the coastal transplants don't. They have an aversion to differing cultures they don't agree with. Yet preach about love of culture and diversity.
But you'll lose yours to make them feel at home. I live here in Denver and I've heard coastal transplants say that it was good that Denver got rid of it's cowtown roots. What does that tell you.
Living in Kamakura, Japan I can yes. Yes, it does. When locals can't use the (notoriously crowded) bus/trains, playing music in residential areas with those stereo backpacks, and a host of other reasons, it's a problem.
Sorry man, but enoshima was great.
Stereo backpacks are pretty bad anywhere.
Great video!
Here in Madrid, our mayor is trying to ban airbnb and other companies like the first one, because here tourist density is so high and demanding, that the house prices have risen a lot, becoming unaffordable to local people.
I live in Myrtle Beach, SC, which was built as a tourist destination. The economy dependent on tourism, which is not a bad thing, but the area doesn't really have a character, it's just a jumbled bunch of over-priced attractions. During the winter/off-season, the Myrtle Beach area is practically a ghost town. Many of the houses here, including a majority of the housing along the ocean is own by vacation rentals, so affordable housing in the area is difficult to find. In fact, many of the locals who work in the beach communities live 15-20+ miles inland.
Interesting..
At least the locals will be protected when climate change brings the shoreline to their houses
The cost of staying at a hotel for 7 days can be about the same as renting an apartment for a month. At least when I've looked it up online.
Which compounds the problem. Air-BNB attracts lower class tourist that have no regard for the neighbors that they're disturbing.
Quad8track that’s classist BS. Just because someone isn’t rich doesn’t mean they’re trash
What I was pointing out is, if your rich or not, if your smart your going to go for the better price/long term.
A modest hotel around this FL coast city might be $100 a night, off-season. If the average rent is $1,000 then you would stay ten days, not seven, for the equivalent amount.
@@stevepowsinger733 wow. Average rent around here is between $700-$900. More for a fancy place. Hotel prices per night is anywhere from $76-$125.
I guess you do have a point about the 10 day thing.
Here in Mexico when a town/city gets absorbed by tourism, it practically disappears as an actual town in order to become a touristic park. For example, in the college where I use to live, the closest town was about 20 minutes away, but it was a touristic town, so it was awful to go there because there was absolutely nothing for normal people and there were just services for tourists. The whole town was just expensive boutique hotels, fancy restaurants, craft stores, art galleries and jewelries. No supermarkets, no stores, no drug stores, no medical services, not even a cheap place to eat or take drinks. If you needed anything, you had to go to a real town that was 40 minutes away and it was a waste of time.
Exactly the same happened with all the towns in the Riviera Maya, with places like Tulum, Bacalar, Playa del Carmen or Akumal, that use to be such nice and quite sea towns aside from the Caribbean, and now are just massive amusement parks for masses and masses of tourists and now you can´t even enter to the beaches because they have all been absorbed by enormous all inclusive resorts. Such a sad thing, I really think there´s a way to make tourism without invading and abusing in such a destructive way.
Here in Kyoto we have a special tourist tax , it’s like one dollar for day if you stay in a small hostel or hotel . Kyoto use this money for make better transposition system 😇
Kyoto is so beautiful ! I was lucky to visit but we only had one day. I would like to visit again for one week or more
Oh my God, the Chinese tourists are out! I was traveling to Montréal and visiting the St. Joseph Oratory early morning, using Montréal’s public transit, when suddenly two buses filled with Chinese tourists arrived, overcrowding the place, it was less pleasant after that. And most of the places I visit I could see Chinese tourists by a bunch. I was all by myself, a Caribbean guy traveling solo.
Guillermo Serra Chinese tourists seem to visit Canada more than any other country I’ve noticed. Maybe the Canadians are the only ones that don’t give them shit for being awful lol.
Well for me the big downside of mass tourism is overcrowding of regional and national transports.
Because my gf is french and living near coast in France and I'm Belgian, I need to go first to Paris with 943 people who's litteraly screaming in chinese, and after take an another Car full of tourist to go the Big coastal city, for 13h of traveling.
At least I can see my love one after that
@@rollingthunderinho Well Canada also has large immigrant populations (Toronto, Canada's largest city boasts 40% of its inhabitants not born in the country) so you could argue there's probably some "family visit" type tourism skewing the numbers.
@@christodang It's crazy how Canada is currently trying to double its population by attracting immigrants.
I live in the Montreal area. I'd say the tourism problem isn't that bad here. Makes the city streets busy and lively. The appeal of the city is also festivals, restaurants and night life, so people tend to not congregate in a very specific spot.
I don't even go to capitol cities anymore and avoid them like the plague except for arrivals and departures, or one or two days to see the main sights, if that.. The real "experience" is staying in provincial cities and towns. These places are much more authentic, not over run by tourists therefore less touristy, less expensive and your tourist money goes much farther. Your presence and contributions to the local economy are much more valued by the locals as well....
currently in Paris right now and the Lourve was so crowded we didn't even go in, and there are shitty trinket shops everywhere that sell the exact same thing. these shops slowly replace the restaurants one by one
Im coming to Paris in September wish me luck.
im going this may.. any places i should avoid? or see?
@@winnd44 Avoid eiffel tower. You can see if from the seine cruise and that's good enough. There are so many street peddlers trying to sell trinkets and scam you out of money at all the main tourist areas. Montmarte is super touristy but there's actually nice views so its worth it to fight the crowds. Avoid the Louvre unless you're really dying to get in to see something and spend all day in line and bumping shoulders with people. When I went, we were able to prepay our tickets online and didn't have to wait in the line, I'm not sure though if that option is still available. Do that if you want to go to the catacombs as well if you don't wanna spend an hour or more in line. Pont Alexander III is now pretty much an instagram bridge so if you go there you will see lots of girls taking fashion photos.
Shopping around Le Marais is nice, a lot of good restaurants and little boutiques mixed in with brand name shops. Some touristy stuff but its a little bit less crowded/annoying than the main hotspots around 1er and 7e arrondissement. Be prepared in the main areas that if you want to use a washroom most places make you pay.
@@winnd44 If you go to the museums just avoid the obvious places. There are plenty of semi-deserted areas on the Louvre.
I live on The Gold Coast in Australia and we only have 591,000 residents but we have 13 Million tourists a year.
@@yerlocalpeanutdealer795 I have been to Surfers Paradise twice in last 15 years. Burleigh Heads area is far better but still getting crowded.
I was living in Byron Bay for a while, schoolies and the music festivals unleashed thousands of disrespectful drunkards into the town... can't imagine how much more crowded and worse it would be on the gold coast.
After visiting family in Croatia we had to get to France to see other family. My grandma who had been to Venice sometime in the 60s or 70s and loved it wanted to visit again and use it as our transfer point from boat to train. It was so packed with tourist it felt fake and almost if it lost its identity. We regretted going at all and contributing to the problem. I truly feel bad for the people of Venice.
Tourism is environmentally UNSUSTAINABLE. The amount of fuel used that could be saved for the future is the issue.
People who live in 'tourist' destinations also lose quality of life and are forced to contribute through their taxes to facilities for non-residents.
There are simply too many people involved in an unproductive industry that does so much damage.
There are too many people on the planet.
I live in a tourist city and can sympathize with much of this video.
Me too
You can hear the exact time this transitions from video to sponsorship right at 8:25. It's amazing to hear that little tone switch where you can tell the video ends.
Those who are surprised Mona Lisa is so small never knew the stress and struggle of painting an extremely detailed portrait with the only references being either your notes or someone standing in front of you.
As a resident of such a tourist attraction city the problem wasn't blocked views, but rather blocked paths. Some of the tourists get mad when you just keep on walking, crossing their camera's view while taking pictures. On the other side we simply wouldn't get anywhere in a reasonable time if we'd constantly stop and let them make their picture without obstructing it...
My parents were just complaining about this about Rome.
Mr. Beat I’m going to Rome in three weeks :0
@@franwex Rome is still beautiful. Of course the tourist attractions are packed. But it is beautiful to walk around the area by the Vatican (atleast where I stayed) it's not too over crowded it actually really nice.
In Melbourne we get a lot of Chinese tourists but it doesn’t get that crowded that much when compared to other cities
they've all probably gone to sydney
On tram route 35 I’ll all ways be full of tourist because how iconic the w class tram is in Melbourne 🚃
I was in Utrecht, Netherlands five years ago and visited Amsterdam for a day. Although Utrecht was not quite as beautiful, it was still beautiful and really authentic. In Amsterdam, in the central part of the city, I had hard time to find a grocery store to buy a bottle water, there were souvenir stores all around, selling cheap and meaningless souvenirs. Imagine living in that area, without grocery stores.
Another side effect of mass tourism: pickpockets, scammers, etc. at the major sites. Saw several of them in Rome.
I live in a city that usually does not get many tourists, but there was one instance before summer break started that irked me. A huge cruise ship came into town, and as I go to a school in the middle of the city, it was the first time I saw huge tourist groups of east Asian tourists. It was a bit surprising since I never saw that in my own city before. When I took the bus home I also saw tourist groups outside of the city center; that’s when I thought that tourism will only get worse in my city in the time to come. Throughout summer now I’ve seen a lot of tourist busses.
I bet tourism throughout places will only get worse in the 2020’s, which is sad. Inhabitants should be prioritised before tourists.
I think a good idea would be to travel less and save money for then to travel somewhere; stay a lot longer and see more, and use the money you saved.
I dread to think how it’ll be in the far future with a rising middle-class and higher population and a probable larger rise of social media (a big factor in mass tourism). More airplanes; more tourists; more CO2 emissions...
I live in Orlando, the #1 tourist city in the USA, but the tourists go to Walt Disney World, Universal, Sea World, International Drive, and Kissimmee. We are lucky Downtown Orlando and most of the residential parts are pretty much devoid of tourists.
At this point cities like Venice, Paris, and Barcelona basically are theme parks, there is no way a normal person could afford to live there...honestly I think the working class people that do live there live pretty sh*tty lives.
Hmm? Orlando isn’t the #1 tourist city in the USA that would be New York?
@@spenduh9866 Orlando gets more tourists than New York, last year Orlando got 72 million and New York got 62 million
As a Floridian. The answer is absolutely yes. Especially the snowbirds who trash our wildlife area and Harass the animals; particularly our alligators.
I can see Amsterdam's plans (Solution 4) conflicting with some of the ideas in Solution 2. The reduced number of hotels and Airbnbs encourage people to stay for shorter periods of time due to cost or visit by cruise ship...which in turn results in the most popular sites becoming more crowded!
Well. This happens when you let run a city by an ecologist-communist mayor.
That Mona Lisa is smaller than my TV. I was shocked! But the Lourve was awesome!
When I went I didn't go for the straight shot of the painting, since I couldn't appreciate it anyway. I took a picture of the crowds trying to take a picture of the painting, because that was truly amusing (and says something about our times)
@@Eric149162536 Best thing on Louvre is finding some random art piece, staying around it with your friends and waiting for the inevitable crowd of tourists blindly taking pictures of it to form :).
(But seriously, the best parts of the museum are the French artist parts.)
I watched a video recently about the effect of covid on tourism in Japan. People who admitted that tourists annoyed them before covid were saying that they couldn't wait for them to return.
I had close connections with Stratford upon Avon (William Shakespeare) and used to shop there regularly. However, over the years the "ordinary" shops began to close, replaced by "tourist" shops. The heart of the town died as locals travelled to a shopping complex on the edge of town. The last time I ventured into the town centre the only locals I saw were working in shops and food outlets. So it's not just cities that are negatively impacted.
honestly I love traveling off the beaten path. I'm currently visiting Vilnius and having a great time. It's a beautiful, very old european city, but there are practically no tourists here, and it's quite cheap. It's vibrant with locals every night, and I've had such a good time going out and meeting Lithuanians. Only problem is that most bars close rather early.
As a developing country, we can easily be dependent on tourists to grow the local economy. The sad thing is, the sites tourists are visiting are becoming more and more expensive for a local and becoming tailor fitted to cater to foreigners.
Essentially, the places citizens should enjoy are now becoming exclusive for foreigners who, for the most part, don't really care about the value of the place. They just want to enjoy and they have the resources to do so.
The great thing about London in this regard is its size: because it's so big, even though there are shitloads of tourists in certain places, overall the city doesn't feel overrun with them. Venice, Barcelona, and even to an extent Paris (inside the Périphérique) are more compact, so the tourists seem like they're everywhere.
Btw, I know a lovely part of central Barcelona which is mostly tourist free and very authentically Catalan - but I'm not telling where ;-)
I adore Barcelona and It's a shame with the problems they have with tourism. Thankfully they have started limiting available beds for tourists in the city. Kind of amazing considering the population of Barcelona is 5 million.
I agree. London is enormous. I went there last year to see The Who. First time I saw sky scrapers.
A bit unfair to only count the inside of the Périphérique, as there are some stuff to see outside of it (far less than inside admittedly). The urban area of Paris is similar in size to London's. Are maybe the major attractions of London more spread out ? That would be an explanation for that feeling.
I went to Barcelona in the summer of 2018. It was surprisingly not as crowded as I expected. The beach was the most crowded place we went. If you are going there and looking for somewhere away from any crowds, go to the Olympic plaza and if you like swimming, the pool. When I got to the plaza, there were only about 5 people there and the place is huge. Its like a European Taj Mahal without the crowds.
Harajuku has been suffering from this, the tourists don't respect the boundaries of the people that frequent there and corporations are displacing designer stores.
That's why I don't even go to Takeshita dori anymore, just too crowded and not like it used to be (plus my fav shop isn't even there anymore)
Not only harajuku, Shibuya suffered so much as well. It has completely lost its charm. It changed so much in a span of 8 years that I had my first and last visit.
I'm glad a video like this. I have "friends" who always put me down, telling me to get out more, I'm not outgoing and I'm crap and etc. They like dragging me along for their wild rides, I even had someone who told me that he wanted to fly to any capital city in a country in Asia like it's a thrill ride like I'm missing out because he maybe was bored of the routine but just wanted a safeguard for himself. I haven't talked to him for almost a decade and I got fed up. I decided to go out, go to another country, by myself, that wasn't an English speaking country and it was a 2nd tier city (because if it was 1st tier, like the capital city itself, it wasn't a challenge for me to get around) and just soak in the culture and sights and feel like I got around.
I seriously believe people really are missing out travelling to a minor city and just sitting around and aren't going far rushing to the major cities when they feel like they are missing out. They're not and I'm glad those major cities are raising prices, putting crowd control, adding fees and whatever because there's too many people who are rushing in for the wrong reasons and I also think they don't get it.
You must be a fan of two wheeled personal transports.
Because that Skillshare plug had one helluva Segway. 😎
Travelling is a funny thing. The more people that do it the less interesting it is. Everyone thinks everyone else should travel less.
Not a city, but I live an hour away from an amusement park. There's no off season there anymore. What's now the off season is busier than the normal season was 10 years ago. If you go to the park on the weekend in the summer you're paying to stand in line all day. Don't know why anyone would do that, but many do for some reason.
Portugal is becoming more and more crowded Lisbon is insane, Porto a little less but still becoming crowded.
Also You said you like art/history you should look up "Nadir Afonso" (was distant relative of mine) hes a pretty famous Portuguese artist, and they built this wild looking museum for him in Boticas Portugal, in the region of Tras-os-Montes. Not too many tourists out there, its almost like in the middle of nowhere but man between his art and ancient roman style bridges in Chaves, there is so much history in that little corner of Portugal its insane. They recently found an ancient stronghold from the iron age by the celtics all on top of the hills.
This channel is so underrated, such good content!!
Amazing video, as always.
I appreciate the Europe focused content. :)
i went to new york a few years ago. i've been there before so it wasn't a completely new experience but i did go to some of the "toursity" spots. but since i was there for a week, i spent a lot of time just walking around. literally, i would wake up in the morning, leave the apartment (i was staying at a friend's place) and just pick a direction and start walking. when i got hungry i would just look around for somewhere to eat, like an affordable restaurant or cafe. and i would just walk around the whole day and then go home at night after getting dinner. once i even found some people playing some beautiful classical music in a park (can't remember, but i think it was a string quartet). this is my new favourite way of exploring a city. i haven't gotten the chance to do this anywhere else but this is definitely the kind of approach i'm going to take in the future. go for a week, set aside two or three days to do all the touristy stuff, and then spend the rest of the time just walking around the city (or using whatever other mode of transportation thats convenient) and just enjoy myself. you never know what great experiences you can have.
City Beautiful: "Best way to get to know a new city? Use its transit."
Orlando: "Lol, what's that?"
Penang, Malaysia. In the last 10 years after the recognition of George Town as a UNESCO heritage site, the town is 'dead' - residents are forced to move out so landlords can turn all the old shophouses into boutique hotels - and whatever traditional shops that used to be have now become a million different cafes or bakeries. its ridiculous. theres nothing much for me as a resident anymore - everything is plastic.
I really missed new content last weeks, thank you!!
As a European I only think of Venice and Barcelona as tourist cities I’ve found part of the appeal of those cities to be being surrounded by foreigners and just don’t expect to see locals at all. It’s a sad reality for the locals for certain I think Amsterdam is the city most at risk of becoming like these places, it helps when a city is large, geographically or population wide or ideally both. As a Londoner I feel like even if there are a lot of tourists other than a few squares and streets and the landmarks/museums themselves you can still go into the centre or inner city and be surrounded by other residents as well as tourists. I’ve got similar vibes in Madrid, Berlin and Vienna as well but if you’re in a small city with loads of sights you’ll only get a tourist experience
I lived in the Florida Keys for several years and had a similar experience. My school was on a road that led to the beach. No big deal, most tourists go to the beach in the afternoon and it doesn't cause much problems. Cue the years 2016-2017 and some developer has the brilliant idea to build a few dozen overpriced weekly rental duplexes on the road. I forget to mention that this road is the only possible route to the school because island. The construction was so incompetent that they would cock block the road with their equipment and broke the water main twice, causing millions in damages. Traffic was horrible, instead of taking 5 minutes, it now took 15. It gets worse, that damage to the water main forced the town to rip out the mile long road piece by piece this year (2019). Because it was the only road, traffic completely broke and now the commute to school could be as long as 30-40 minutes. I can bet most of those million dollar rentals will foreclose when the next recession inevitably happens.
Wish granted
I live in Amsterdam and It's horrible its way overcrowded and people who can't bike are biking around It's Just bad
What shocked me the most in Amsterdam is how absurdly entitled the cyclists feel. It's like they feel that everyone should follow the law except for themselves! All the cars stop at zebra crossings, where the right is for the pedestrian to cross, but the cyclists don't and even look at you pedestrian with rage for wanting to practice your right to cross the street with priority. The pedestrian is a priority all around the world and not respecting that is not understanding the law of the strongest to protect the weakest since cyclists are at an advantage in strength for being on top of a vehicle. Now try and stand in one of the cycling lanes! They will scream at you and curse your entire family. But then when it's their time to stop for the pedestrians to cross they don't! Summing up: The cyclists of Amsterdam need an attitude check ASAP so they stop feeling like the owners of the street.
R degenerate do you know how popular bikes are?
So basically delusional entitled to ignore a universal law of respecting pedestrians above all. Good way to go, Amsterdam!
I’m not complaining about being cursed for standing on the bike lane, cause that’s obvious it will happen and I think it’s actually fair to have my family cursed for this haha What I’m complaining about is people braking the law for not stopping at designated pedestrian crossings and getting angry when you try to make them respect it. I thought The Netherlands was one of the most civilized places in the world? I guess you’re selective when choosing the laws you will respect and the ones you will ignore...
Although I live about two hours away from NYC and visit it frequently, I love to visit Niagara Falls and Montreal. Beautiful cities, the state park on the NY side isn't as busy as the Canadian side which is more touristy. The culture of Montreal is exceptional. It was the second Olympic host city that I visited after Lake Placid (which I did on one big trip, although Lake Placid is a town not a city). I’ve seen tourism ruin cities like Venice
It seems like New Zealand is promoting tourism well, since most of it is culture and nature forward, you have to spread out and travel through remote areas to get to the stunning sights.
It's impractical for anyone to take a quick trip to New Zealand.
@@benjaminkwhiskey further proving my point. Lengthy stays are how most people travel NZ
Also, the lord of the rings movies where helping quite a bit to promote the nature sites. Nature tourism works well in NZ, since it has a lot of barely touched nature to offer, and barely anyone outside Oceania will travel halfway around the world just to see a city like Wellington.
Of course, as i, an indonesian currently in osaka, have upset probably 20 japanese people
One word... Bali🙄 the amount of instagrammers at every cultural spot...
@@dutchess2121 Bali every year is overrun with Australians and it makes a 'relaxing beach holiday' into a crowded shit place to visit. Don't go to Bali unless your insane.
Great video! Amsterdam (where I live) is trying hard to spread out tourists. A castle in a nearby town of Muiden, called Muiderslot, started being promoted everywhere as "Amsterdam Castle Muiderslot", to make people more likely to visit it (which worked). I've heard that the city was in negotiations with the national rail company to rename a train station of a nearby beach town from "Zandvoort" (name of the town) to "Amsterdam Beach", also to divert some tourists away from the city. Might sound like a scam now, but I definitely recommend visiting both. :)
@City Beautiful, with all the craziness going on in Blacksburg, Virginia with Virginia Tech accepting an extra 1100 students this year, I'd love to see a video on Town vs Gown relations and how college towns differ from other places of similar size, and the economic and other impacts of student housing, faculty and townie affordability of home ownership, public transport, etc...
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More alarming than city based tourism is the rise of people who go to mountain trekking to places like Mt. Everest without adequate training and putting their lives and the emergency responders lives at risk.
8:12 I always set aside some time to do some “Métro-ing” in the cities I visit.
Transit is also the best way to get to those unsung museums, monuments and authentic and cheap restaurants.
One example in Paris: Versailles is totally overcrowded. Solution: take the train to Fontainebleau! It’s just as beautiful, more interesting historically, and there are no queues even on weekends!
In Montreal the best restaurants are in our many local neighborhoods.
And maybe taking transit as a tourist you might even enjoy it so much you’ll start taking it once you get home too! 😜
The ultimate irony is that to get to the Montreal Formula 1 Grand Prix automobile race track, there is no other solution than to take the Métro.
I always imagine the SUV driver from Peoria taking a subway for the first time... And liking it!
Maybe you’ll even get to see some great artwork on the way because many metro systems are like underground galleries.
I honestly have no idea how else you would travel in Paris. And I have seen (and given information to) tons of tourists on the subway.
I used to do conservation work with the Galápagos National Park, and as a result I’ve grown to really hate cruise ships. The cruise ship approach to the Galapagos is very common, but it’s extremely harmful to the unique nature and overall biodiversity of the islands. It contributes nothing to the local economy or the national park, and it’s destroying the culture and harbor fronts in the coastal towns.
Before I watch the whole video -
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
Tourists ruin tourism even for other tourists, never even mind the locals.
From simple things like going to attractions/museums just to have them full of tourists to the point where you can’t really experience the experiences or to how the locals treat you when they realise you’re another tourist.
I’m from Dublin, Ireland and speak pretty decent German. I’ve been to Germany ~10 times and absolutely love it there. The more I go, the less I feel like a tourist and I can go under the radar without people realising I’m either a tourist or foreign in general.
When I go to a new city I like to see the big attractions of course. I try to keep in mind how I would go about seeing these attractions if they were in Dublin and how to not make myself stand out from the locals.
This whole charade works quite well for me in Germany, but as I only speak 2 foreign languages(English and German) - it’s a bit of an issue when I’m not in a country that speaks these languages or even in Austria/Switzerland where the general way of doing things is slightly different from Germany.
The worst experience I’ve had for this was in Budapest, Hungary. I don’t speak a word of Hungarian so everything has to be done through English. I feel like I’m being unbelievably arrogant by going to a foreign country and expecting them to speak my first language in any way as good as I speak it.
I’m grateful that I do speak a widely spoken language for this reason, but I just think it’s really disrespectful to assume that other people speak it as well as having to rely on them speaking it.
I work/ Volunteer at a Tourism hotspot (puffing Billy in AUS) and I have seen the good and bad of toursists, the good things are they keep the line alive, and ironcially help preserve a lot of nature (PBR gets rid of weeds and plants naturally found seeds, and helps pay for new infrastructure, the Bad bits some of the Aisian tour groups only go as far as one station, and not further which is far better, another down bit is we have a language barrier too
Even without watching the video I already knew what the answer is
Most of the big tourist destinations are really overrated imo, mainly because there are just to many tourists
Being a person who visited Amsterdam a couple of times (I live in the Netherlands after all.), I can say that most tourists who visit Amsterdam aren't there for the culture. They're just there because of the drugs, and I guess the buildings look nice. If you're a tourist and you wanna visit the Netherlands, stay far away from Amsterdam. Go instead to cities like Rotterdam, The Hague, Nijmegen and Maastricht. Yes, they're a bit distant from the airport, but I think it's worth it if you consider that your other option is the smell of weed and the large crowds squeezed into tiny streets.
I remember the nice lady who took us around Rome complaining about Chinese tourists not caring about the history
In Amsterdam we have the spreading approach. The Castle in Muiden (Muiderslot) is now called Amsterdam Castle, and the windmills at the Zaanse Schans are now called Amsterdam Windmills. Both locations are outside Amsterdam.
I get that they do that to increase tourism but that’s sounds pretty stupid to change those names.
Don't they realise that even tourists need "local" shops like tailors and drugstores? Tourists get headaches too.