tourism
“There’s too many people on this earth. We need a new plague.” - Dwight Schrute
What’s being said
Governments around the globe have been having conversations about reducing or seriously restricting tourism in their overpopulated sites. This has been happening for a few months, if not the past year - relatively recent. It’s mostly people complaining back and forth, as always. And I have some thoughts on how this became a problem, and why we’ll never fully solve it.
The problems reported
There have been an influx of articles posted on major news outlets about governments taking radical anti-tourism action for some of the most famous destinations in the world. This is in response to reports that post-COVID life features new obstacles like “overtourism.” One story that stole my heart in particular was the town of Mt. Fuji.
The locals were complaining about tourists being disrespectful, littering and trespassing on their property and their sacred sites.
So, the town of Fujikawaguchiko in Japan erected an 8 foot tall, 70 foot wide screen to completely block the view of Mount Fuji from it’s streets.
The first thing I did was scrutinize the article URL so I could see wether this was a joke account and I hadn’t noticed one of the letters was incorrect.
The second thing I did was cackle aloud. This screen is 100% real, and the residents say it’s been incredibly effective.
I fear they haven’t thought about their next problem though - that shit is so hilarious in fact, it’s probably going to now draw in tourists itself! I can just smell the faint whiff of Axe-soaked YouTubers on their way.
Off the cuff, it feels like an emotional decision, not a practical deterrent. There’s a lot of issues with it. And since the article was published (April of this year), they're now reporting massive holes in the screen.
Shows to go you. I don’t know that this town understood their enemy well enough to find a perfect solution in one fell swoop.
Example 2 features my ancestral home, Amsterdam.
The long and short of it is they’re sick and tired of everyone coming to Amsterdam for their stag nights and crazy trips.
People obviously associate Amsterdam with drugs, prostitutes and wild partying. (Also feels like a thinly veiled jab at the English.)
Now, the English are obviously not the only ones coming to Amsterdam to get f*cked up, people come from everywhere, which is why I worry this one will be harder to curb than the view of Mount Fuji.
When people come to your city specifically to be….not sober shall I say, (see Ibiza, see Mallorca, see Mykonos), they get rowdy. They let loose and behave sub-human because “I’m on vacation!” And they want a release.
Well Amsterdam wants a release from them.
We’re going to stop fishing all the drunkards out of the canals at 3am, you’ll have to adapt and start wearing a life vest to the bars.
My initial thoughts
I see a lot of over-correcting here in search of a “perfect” solution. And I just don’t believe one exists.
To be clear - I believe traveling and experiencing other countries and cultures is incredibly valuable to a person, to their mind and to their overall demeanor. Travel is priceless. It’s so healthy for us to intermingle and experience our similarities. And I want to travel too!
But I don’t believe there exists a bandaid solution for this. We shouldn’t search for one-fell-swoop solutions to kinetic problems. People will find cheats and workarounds and bribes, the problem will continue to be in motion - a kinetic problem, if you will. This is not a vehicle we can pull the keys out of, this is a river.
Trevor Noah had a strong idea on his podcast the other day, recommending a lottery system for international entry. I think that’s a solution with real legs.
But if you’re really looking for a single, fool-proof answer it’s to adapt.
Adapt, governments. Adapt, tourists, adapt. To be clear, I won’t defend mindless, child-like behavior in adults on vacation, or anyone who violates a law or sacred site. That is a crime and they should be punished.
And hey, maybe that’s it!
Punish the shit out of disrespectful tourists. Throw them in jail, inflate their bail for being a dangerous foreigner, and share the bail profit with the community. Done.
Well…..not done. If you know me, you know I don’t believe in over-policing either. I don’t believe in overdoing anything.
So I encourage governments to find kinetic solutions that have the stamina to withstand the many more decades of tourism you’ll endure. Adapt. There’s solutions there, the ways in which you can control this are many. But it’s a problem that requires regular adjustments. It’s a tap you can never turn off.
Fujikawaguchiko had the right idea to get creative with it; but I’d say delivery needs work.
And I can’t, in good faith, recommend price hikes because (see above) I think everyone should travel and it shouldn’t be too expensive. Travel can create joy and release, something we should stop making so unaffordable.
On the other hand
Now, I need to address the tourists themselves. And I’ll include myself in this group.
We gotta be better. And that’s it.
Tourists need to behave in a much more respectful, situationally-aware manner than where they currently are at. And careful you’re not creating a false narrative in your head that somehow you’re not a tourist, just other people. If you find yourself ever in a land you’ve never been before - you are a tourist and must understand your place.
The catalyst that keeps this problem active, however, is what I like to call “vacation brain.”
It’s the term I use to affectionately refer to anyone walking around without a head. They’re everywhere, especially in high-tourism areas. They frequently bump into people, often get asked to move aside, and are generally unaware of how in-the-way they are.
It is also associated with supremely dick-like behavior from tourists who believe they’re the exception to this classification. You, me, we are all guilty of asshole tourist behavior simply from lack of forethought.
This is excellently depicted in this viral TikTok taken here in New York, where I am.
Essentially, a group of tourists is trying to take a group TikTok video. Then, to make sure they’re all visible in frame, they start backing up all at once into the middle of pedestrian traffic.
The reason this nothing-burger went viral is because one of the pedestrians called them out: “all right, you all just walked backwards while people are trying to walk f**king forwards.”
A sentiment I’m all too familiar with as a New Yorker.
Classic case of vacation brain. They could have simply looked both ways, like we were taught to do in elementary school, and then hit record. It’s not hard at all to make a TikTok in New York.
It’s so frequent in fact, I now often just walk around them - adapt.
But this group made the critical mistakes of not even caring to look if they’d disturb someone - and then posting this altercation on the internet for validation. Validation they did not get.
Just as governments must adapt to people having more access to each others’ lands, tourists ourselves must also adapt and re-fasten our heads back onto our shoulders.
And I argue, all it would take is a simple: “Hmm..I wonder if this action will disrupt anyone in my vicinity.” And by all means if the answer’s no, go for it.
But good lord, have some wherewithal. Have some forethought. Any lack of it is unbecoming of grown adults. And perhaps there lies the bandaid solution everyone’s looking for: we all somehow agree to be nicer.
I rest my case.