What happened to recognising the economic benefits a tourist can bring to a country? Sharing culture with curious others? Or even meeting and engaging with new people?
It appears as though SOME Europeans are just about done with visitors flocking to their countries every summer and they aren’t bring shy about expressing their disapproval to foreigners.
According to reports, there’s a growing anti-tourist sentiment in Europe at the moment, with locals complaining that the influx of arrivals is making life unbearable.
The Huffington Post says locals are acting out by hosting small protests, including one held in Venice last month where the group waved signs reading ‘My future is Venice’. This is expected to be followed by a similar protest organised by youth activists in northern Spain later this month.
Pent up anger is apparently so bad, that the words “Go Home” were flying over southern France last month, and “Why call it tourist season if we can’t shoot them” was seen graffitied to walls in Barcelona.
The publication says growing backlash has prompted European governments to act on citizen requests by introducing new regulations on tourism.
Among these countries is Rome, which is allegedly considering a limit to the number of people visiting the Trevi Fountain and Dubrovnik that may look at decreasing the number of cruise ship arrivals. Then there’s Barcelona that’s said to be planning a new tax on inbound visitors.
Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy commented on growing tourist resentment, saying activists are “going against common sense”.