This Is Why Locals Are Against Tourism
While tourists are responsible for generating a large portion of revenue for a city yearly, locals are beginning to show reservations towards them because they are noticing that the disadvantages of tourists are outweighing the advantages.
image © CZmarlin via Wikimedia Commons
In order for an area to become a successful tourism location it must establish a basic infrastructure system that includes roads, visitor centers and hotels. In order to accomplish this, usually the government of the area is responsible which means that the funding is essentially from tax revenues.
image © Jim G via Flickr
While the tourists provide revenue for the city to cover some of the costs of the expanding infrastructure, a lot of the money isn't going to the town - it is being spent at hotel chains which are traditionally international companies.
Since the surrounding areas become desirable to not only tourists but international companies, it causes the rent of surrounding local buildings to rise as they compete for business. Residents of Barcelona have noticed that prior family-run shops have been replaced with chained tourist shops and hotels because unfortunately they are the ones that have the financial stability over the locals.
image © Daniel Case via Wikimedia Commons
One of the issues that locals face with increased tourism is that they are forced to deal with crowding and congestion. While this may seem like a minor disadvantage, if the property becomes increasingly popular it can eventually lead to displacement of locals since hotels will fight for prime locations close to the popular destinations.
In addition to causing potential displacement of locals, tourism also poses a threat to a region's natural and cultural resources. The water supply, beaches, and heritage sites can all be affected by overuse.
image © Dietmar Rabich via Wikimedia Commons
Lastly, tourism causes increased pollution through additional traffic emissions, littering, and increased sewage production.
Perhaps one of the most infamous areas known for tourism pollution was the Pont des Arts in Paris France. Tourists would attach a combination lock to the bridge and then throw their key in the river. This evidently created a lot of pollution in the river and additionally caused structural problems for the bridge. Due to the weight of the locks, part of the bridge collapsed which forced Paris to make the decision to have all of the locks removed and the bridge restructured to prevent locks from being added.
