The harmful effects of too much tourism:

- A lot of houses become vacation homes, where the owners stay in another place, and rent their property to tourists for short lets.
- As a place gets full of tourists, the local community is outnumbered.
- Mostly, only the service industry flourishes
- (I'd probably write more later)

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

I'm not sure which is more damaging: homes becoming holiday-lets as you say, or their owners' second-homes - a problem in my part of the world.

Other effects:

Direct tourist developments including hotels, static-caravan sites, golf-courses and large car-parks destroying the scenery that attracts the tourists in the first place. (So do big camping and touring-caravan sites, but those are occupied temporarily.)

Cheapskate "attractions" like fun-fairs and amusement-arcades.

Tourist trades offering only largely-seasonal work on poor pay and conditions.

Over-crowding of town-centres, beaches, etc.; very heavy road traffic.

Heavy strains on the utilities and other public services.

Ironically many tourist "honey-pots" are in very deprived areas. For example, the County of Cornwall, in SW England, is all very picturesque and does have wild, beautiful scenery, fills with tourists and second-home owners (the latter skying house prices beyond local salaries), but is one of the poorest areas of Britain.

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MethDozer · M

@ArishMell a midway is where the game booths are at a boardwalk or carnival as opposed to the rides and side shows.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

@MethDozer Ah, I see.Thankyou!

Re your other message - I suppose they want what makes more money for the town.

Round my part of the world the ugly new buildings are not hotels but awful-looking blocks of very expensive flats whose style seems to reflect 1960s office-blocks or factories.

We are not short of American chain coffee-shops though!

smiler2012 · 56-60

@Riemann 🤔sadly if you are in a part of the world that is a tourist attraction / area of natural beauty this is the result .it may make it intolerable for local residence but it is bringing in money too the local economy

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@smiler2012 Very true. The difficult part is balancing the tourism, protecting what they come to see, and local needs, but many areas of the world are being badly damaged.

smiler2012 · 56-60

@ArishMell 😞which is worst of the two evils basically

Riemann · 31-35, M

@smiler2012 A restriction of the amount of tourists could be placed.

exchrist · 31-35

Schools lose out bc of short term students.

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Riemann · 31-35, M

@exchrist I heard that in one university, they let tourists stay in student accomodation. You just reminded me of that.

exchrist · 31-35

@Riemann cost savings i assume students arent still there too?

MethDozer · M

@exchrist Ummm actually the schools usually are on the winning end because the tourist season residents who bring their kids are doing so when school isn't in session but as landowners are paying a school tax on a school system they don't use.

I don't know where you get this idea that seasonal residents send their kids to the local tourist town schools.

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