Article Leaving Florence, radio talk about over tourism

[Pauline]

BBC Radio 4 - A Point of View - Leaving Florence
Sarah Dunant on the tourist overload that's led her to abandon her beloved city of Florence.

BBC Radio 4 - A Point of View, Leaving Florence

Sarah Dunant on why she's abandoned her beloved city of Florence.

www.bbc.co.uk

A very good short piece about over tourism in Florence, Italy and in general. It makes me despair about modern tourism. Maybe we really need to avoid the popular places and find the beauty in the places that are off the tourist track.

 

[JustTravel]

We have been spending three months in Venice and three months in Bruges every year. Bruges replaced Paris three years ago because we just didn't feel at home or comfortable in Paris anymore. Both Venice and Bruges receive millions of visitors a year, mostly day trippers.

Venice has been trying to spread the tourists to other parts of the city. It is getting harder to find quieter places in the city and there is no such thing as low season anymore. Tourists clog up the "calli" and too many times, there is no place to go. Many of the small shops has been replaced by Asian owners mostly selling tacky souvenirs and leather purses; or running restaurants and cafe/bars serving mediocre and/or frozen food. I am yet to find a decent Chinese restaurant in the city, however. The thought of going elsewhere has entered my mind last year but not this year, not yet.

Bruges, however, has a very good community. It has some strict rental property regulations. Also, the government is looking to limit day trippers. There's was talk to limit cruise ships at the nearby port to two/day although there are five "parking spots." It is still pretty easy to walk away from the masses. We feel at home there.

 

[Sharon J]

We always stay in apartments in Venice off the beaten tracks of the hoards of tourists. We have visited Venice, at least a dozen times over the span of twenty years. After our last trip this past May, we decided to abandon any future trips to Venice. There were four huge cruise ships in port, and it was truly miserable. The same thing happened to us in Rome last year. We will continue returning to Italy, but will only return to the countryside. We always stay near Montepulciano, and have discovered that most tour groups are gone by late afternoon, leaving the small towns as lovely and quiet as ever. When driving from Tuscany to Lake Como, we counted over 100 tour buses between Florence and Montepulciano where we entered the A-1. It was unbelievable. We can only travel in the Spring, as we live on the coast of South Carolina, and too many Hurricanes hit in the Fall, and we must prepare and/or evacuate. Too much worry, if we're that far away.

 

[Django]

I used to live in the Veneto region in Italy and I enjoyed many towns, but in the 2 years I was there I only visited Venice twice. The throngs of crowds were too much for me. If I wanted that bit of romanticism I preferred Verona. Still touristy but not bombastic touristy. Rather, places like Ferrara and Trieste were much, much preferred. Yes, there were the small towns, but I do like the larger towns as well.

 

[Pauline]

Another article about over tourism.

Washington Post - Nothing to See Here

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/nothing-to-see-here-popular-european-destinations-want-fewer-tourists/2019/08/07/5d2060f4-ac95-11e9-9411-a608f9d0c2d3_story.html

 

[kupus]

^ "Even in places where the local economy is largely dependent on tourism, resistance is growing — and there are burgeoning efforts to keep people away." - You really know that this is a problem if sentiments like these are now shared in places that depend on tourism, when the influx of money comes with other issues like increased expenses, destruction of sites

Another statement that made me shake my head: “So, many tourists only come here to quickly snap one or two photos and that’s it.” I am sad for people who do it for Internet clout and take nothing else out of that opportunity to travel.