Recently , I read an article in one of the travel magazines that some countries were going to limit the number of tourists due to overcrowding . Some cities have even seen violence against tourists , telling them to ” Go Home ” , or even being physical with some of the tourists .
Rome has limited the number of visitors to some sites in the city , such as St. Mark’s Square and Trevi Fountain because some of them have waded into the water , rather than throwing coins in the fountain like you’re supposed to do .
There have been street protests in cities like Venice , Florence , Rome , Dubrovnik , and Barcelona most notably .
This fact not only saddens me, but it also has me thinking .
Could this happen here or in Canada ?
What would it be like to not be able to do a 30 Plus Teams Tour of New York City due to overcrowding ?
OK , I get it.
New York City is a bad example because if 8 million plus of us can live together in five boroughs , what’s a million or so visitors trying to pour into Yankee Stadium , the Empire State Building or One World Observatory ?
But let’s say that New York City Mayor DiBlasio suddenly said that Central Park would be closed due to overcrowding by tourists ?
Or that only a certain amount of people would be allowed in Times Square on New Years Eve ?
What about two somewhat “smaller ” cities like Miami and Las Vegas ?
Suppose the mayor of Miami said that they were going to limit the number of tourists that go into South Beach , Little Havana or Petite Haiti ?
Could you imagine the uproar if the mayor of Las Vegas were to limit the number of tourists on the Las Vegas Strip due to overcrowding ?
Could this even be a possibility here in this country or even in Canada?
Too many tourists in Montreal or Toronto ?
Is there really such a thing as too much tourism and too many tourists ?
Could it be due to some other reason that some these countries are taking such drastic measures ?
Could it be that maybe in spite of all that money that’s brought into certain countries , the local people aren’t really that fond of foreign tourists taking way too many pictures of things that they shouldn’t be taking pictures of ?
The tourists might even be taking selfies of places that are sacred and therefore basically interrupting the day to day lives of the locals .
Maybe these tourists aren’t even respecting the customs of the locals .
( See my two blog posts , sportsandtravelblog.wordpress.com / 2017/03/09 please-act-like-you’ve-been-there-before and sportsandtravelblog.wordpress.com / 2017/ 03/ 06 Capital -Journey -please – respect -the – monuments – and – memorials -when – you – visit -Washington -DC)
What’s really fueling this suddenly new phenomenon of “overcrowding by tourism “?
In defense of the local people , I can understand why you would want to limit the number of tourists just a little bit .
Some people just don’t know how to conduct themselves when they’re out of their own country .
That’s right , it’s the case of ” not acting like you’ve been there before “.
Why are you wading through Trevi Fountain like you’ve lost your fool mind?
Are you for real ?
That’s not only disrespectful , it’s wicked rude and it shows a lack of training on your part .
Everyone should be able to see the sights of a place whether they’re going to London to see Big Ben , Buckingham Palace , or the London Eye .
This also applies to Spain if people want to experience Flamenco dancing where it originated .
This even holds true if you’re going to see all those monuments , memorials , and museums on that 30 Plus Teams Tour of Washington DC .
There should be some kind of happy medium between tourists , locals , and the city you’re going to .
No tourist sites in a city should be off limits due to overcrowding .
How do you feel about some countries limiting the number of tourists visiting ?
Do you think this could happen in your own country ?
Why?
Tell me what you think by dropping me a line in the comments section .
Thanks
I can see that there are some places of natural beauty are being damaged by to many tourists. Cities, villages and small towns can also be overwhelmed. However controlling the numbers is difficult unless you build access points and oasis issue passes. It’s terrible that some idiots see this as a reason to attack people.
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I wouldn’t think that people would be doing that either but according to this travel magazine, not sure if it was Conde Nast Traveler or what, they said that some tourists in Palma De Majorca were pelted by confetti by some people while they were eating at one of the popular restaurants there . Crazy!
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