I’m sure there’s some people who hate. More likely,
for most residents of over-touristed locations the word is irritated.
I usually only travel off-season and have found the best places are where not many people go and so they’re happy to see you.
If there’s a lot of information about that place on the Internet, it’s over touristed. If you’ve even heard of it, it’s probably over touristed.
Lisbon is one of the poster cities for this. But I was there in January a couple years ago. Sure it was coldish, But the hotel was only a third full and they seemed really happy I was there.
I couldn’t help with smile when you mentioned Switzerland. It’s not just about the tourists. We lived there for five years. They say the old service waiters in Paris are the worst, but I don’t think they can beat the ones in the French parts of Switzerland. We also lived in Paris for six years.
I work in Tourism in Rome and no, it's not just the internet. It's the anglophone's sense of entitlement that makes us turn sour. Consumers of travel have seemed to forgotten that we offer a service not servitude. The dollars or pounds don't entitle people to treat us badly or make demands. Last year was the year I started giving people back their energy while working. I'm not a servant. How many times have I heard something something I paid a lot of money something something and then a full blown tantrum.
No one likes a rude jerk. Maintaining your composure when faced with rudeness and aggression is the hardest thing in the world. I often fail spectacularly at it, but promise myself to do better next time. The rise of awfulness and the disappearance of empathy are real problems for all of us, especially in the US, where cruelty is the hallmark of the new regime, but I don't know if adding to it is the answer. One should not be abused, but I think there is a way to have boundaries without rudeness. Maybe I'm naive, but that is my hope. Either way, your job description should not include tolerating abuse.
I dont think I said I was rude. I just match energy and if someone is abusive towards me-and it's ALWAYS anglophones-i just match their energy and don't let them treat me or other service people like shit. A simple NO, that British people have never heard, is often enough and I will cancel contracts with people who treat me, servers and guides like shit.
Your disappointment is palpable Elizabeth. I think your piece skirts an important topic: Why do the locals hate us? It's more than long lines, disruptive noise and busy restaurants. They are tired of being treated like shit. I live in Belize and see it here; tourists visit with a chip on their shoulder and are often irrational or over demanding to the staff of hotels, restaurants and tour operators. Just because someone has a service industry job, doesn't mean they should be treated badly. There is a culture in North America which places the patron on a higher level, à la “the customer is always right.” It's total bullshit. I ran a residential renovation business for over a decade and I can tell you this, most of the time, the customer doesn't know shit, even when they think they do. This attitude needs to change. Tourists seem to forget, no doubt blinded by the fact they are spending a lot of money, that they are guests where they visit. They should treat the locals with respect, even if they are fetching them a cocktail poolside.
I'm sorry to hear about your sargassum experience. It's in Belize too. It's one of the many subseasons: cashew season, mango season, lobster season, sargassum season. Before moving here, we hadn't heard of it. It takes a lot of tourists off guard, too. It isn't something the Belize Tourism Board advertises and the only way you learn about it, if you don't happen to stumble across an article from a Caribbean news outlet while searching the depths of the internet, is by experiencing it. As nasty as the stuff is, it's a vital ecosystem for many marine species that use it as a nursery. I also have an anecdotal theory that it's one of Mother Nature's strategies for protecting herself: the amount of trash that sargassum skims out of the ocean/sea is astounding.
I had no idea about the cleaning properties of sargassum. Wonderful! I think good manners are not an option, but some people think it makes them look weak to be kind. Shame. It’s the strong who keep their cool when faced with rudeness. That said, what is true for the customer is also true for the service provider. It’s not easy, but it’s the minimum we owe one another.
Appreciated your account of the visit to Barbados. The circumstances you describe are unfortunate and sad. The influence of social media and the various cottage industries it supports are clearly part of it; as you point out, so is the global struggle for economic supremacy.
I moved to Ireland for work years ago, retired in Nice, France more than three years ago. I've wondered from time to time when one ceases to be a tourist and instead becomes a resident. I think it might not have to do with just issues of legal status such as citizenship; economic privilege is part of a tourist's identity, too.
I have a lot of conversations with local residents--most of whom are French but who have also come to Nice from different parts of the country. These days I hear less concern about tourism than of affluent individuals from elsewhere taking advantage of social services without having paid social charges in the E.U.; or of driving up property values and displacing long-time residents. Americans seem to be the object of concern, adding to existing concerns and prejudices regarding immigration.
Elizabeth, great article. I appreciated the nuance and sensitivity (your forte, IMHO).
John- " These days I hear less concern about tourism than of affluent individuals from elsewhere taking advantage of social services without having paid social charges in the E.U.; or of driving up property values and displacing long-time residents. Americans seem to be the object of concern, adding to existing concerns and prejudices regarding immigration."
I write about this a lot (and get yelled at). Americans love waxing poetic about the "cheap" housing and "cheap" medical care. But, the prices are usually lower due to lower wages and government regulation. Moreover, the French have *paid into a system* their entire working lives and even outlets like the WSJ act like it is Disneyland. I begrudge no one their happiness. But, there are externalities to the influx of Americans looking for cheap healthcare and la vie en rose.
I recently saw this on Sunday Morning (a US weekend breakfast show), which I think of as a smart show, and yet... not one mention of why Malta, the segment's focus, was "so cheap" for Americans. The total lack of regard for the lives of the local people and the tone deafness was appalling. (https://youtu.be/_794CQHC_Qo?si=AI1JHxBmkTIpjMlW)
This is so interesting, John. Thanks for sharing your perspective. It's such a complicated issue: When do we stop being the problem (immigrant/tourist/outsider) and start being locals? I can understand the concerns of regular Niçois about Americans coming in ever greater numbers. Reverse US immigration is real now, and the rest of the world isn't used to having quite so many of us living next door. How do you feel in Nice, like a local?
I sometimes say I feel like neither fish nor fowl, at least that's how I felt living and working in Ireland, in spite of being a citizen. Much of it had to do with workplace culture, which was extraordinarily rule-bound, from my foreigner perspective. I feel more at home in France and seldom feel as much an outsider as I did in Ireland; but as a "local," no. I think the many French people who have moved here for retirement would feel the same way. "Locals" are the people who grew up here, whose families are here, who know how things were when they were kids and have stories to tell about all the politicians.
Nice is something of a border town, so there are lots of people here whose lives started elsewhere, in Italy, North Africa, all over really. And people tend to get along, at least in the central neighbourhoods. We also live in a working class neighbourhood which is quite diverse, and I think that makes a difference.
There are residents and then there are locals, I suppose. My husband's Aunt adores Nice and goes often. I was always on the fence about it (I felt it would be too hot for me in the summer months), but you're giving me pause, and perhaps I should reconsider. I laughed when you mentioned that France was less rule-bound than its Anglo-Saxon neighbour to the east. Quite true!
Remember, part of Ireland's heritage is the Catholic Church as well ... and part of its heritage is the constipating social hierarchy that was the gift of British domination. It's alive and functioning, too. My Irish countrymen might also prefer being characterised as the "Celtic-Norman-Viking" neighbour to the east than the Anglo-Saxon :)
And Nice has been hot in the summers, indeed. We had air-conditioning installed two years ago and sometimes talk about renting a cottage in Kerry or Donegal for either July or August. Some local residents take off for summer homes in Normandy or Brittany. We're sticking it out here this year, and expecting fewer tourists from the US, given the amazing shrinking dollar and the peril tourists have of passing twice through US customs & immigration to make the trip.
Such a great point, Elizabeth! Thanks for sharing your story. Though I've never been to barbados, I have totally been in that situation before. And it's awful, you're so right. There's nothing worse than feeling completely unwelcome when you are trying to enjoy your time in a new destination. I feel like this a lot of the time in thailand — despite having lives here for 15 years — and it's a big reason why we're leaving.
That's so interesting to me, Kaila. You are a long-term resident of Thailand, yet you have grown less and less welcome as the years have passed. Why is that, do you think? Is it just a greater influx of people to the region, or is it something about the kinds of people coming that creates the unwelcoming vibe?
That's a big part of it. Since Covid, Thailand -- and particularly where I live on Koh Phangan -- has had a massive influx of people coming here to live (and escape war -- from Israelis to Russians to Ukrainians and beyond). A few years ago, there began a string of incidents where farang (as non-Thais are called here) were rude or even abusive to Thais and it was widely reported in the Thai media. While the incidents were absolutely unacceptable, they are the kinds of things that happen everywhere. There are always bad eggs. But the Thais are very prideful people and they are very proud of the fact that they've never been colonised, and yet there is a form of economic colonialisation that happens in Thailand since the country lives off tourism income and foreign investment. And these incidents being reported so widely turned many Thais even more against farangs than they were before, and now there is a strong feeling that we are not welcome, and indeed resented, for the fact that the country relies on us but they'd prefer we come for a 2-week holiday and leave, realistically. I have a LOT to say about this. I may write a post about it!
I used to spend all my Summers in Bathsheba by St Lawrence's Gap. On the South Coast, where my mom would rent a cottage near where my aunt Yola lived, it came with an amazing cook. We ate delicious fried flying fish, rice and peas etc. I remember those glorious paradisiacal summers as the highlight of my happy childhood years. Would come back to Caracas brown as a nut, hair bleached platinum white, we explored, swam, and couldn't get enough of Barbados. I went back on 2014 to celebrate my birthday. ( You can read my post"Goodchilde's Garden") I was of course thrilled to be back there obvs I knew and assumed it would be very different from my childhood memories. I was shocked to get on a bus to get to the next town up from Mullins Bay and not one Bajan even looked at us. I wasn't expecting smiles or embraces. But not that absolute rejection stony wall. It was upsetting 11 yrs ago. 🥺
At the time never, or on the West Coast at least on 2014 no Sargassum either, only resentful unhappy Bajans on that bus.
Your childhood summers are the stuff of my dreams! What glorious memories to cherish—and how sad when that's all we are left with. I felt the wall: nearly every interaction was transactional and hostile, which is a damn shame. The country needs a shift away from a tourist-dependent economy, but with the government now getting into bed with the Chinese, going into debt to fund large infrastructure projects (a new airport) built with Chinese workers and contracts, the burden of this new national debt will weigh on Barbados for decades, and lock them into tourism as the primary source of income.
Unfortunately it's a two way street. The tourist population mostly behaving entitled as if Barbados was an amusement park. And the Bajans having "to serve" them. Plus years and years of British colonization, creating a classist society added to that mix. I was amazed to learn that the older plantation families looked down even at the poorer white scottish/irish immigrants who came as workers. Calling them "ecky beckys" at school etc- which is a slur meaning the whitish underbelly of a gecko. You can repeat that scenario throughout most of the most visited Colonies. And you'll find the same attitude.
Hi Elizabeth! Loved this. Great and sad and necessary—it’s a question us globehopping, first-person-writing ‘stackers don’t address enough, or even see. Check out Jamaica Kincaid’s skinny little book A Small Place, which is a magnificent blowtorch of this local anger & exhaustion (she grew up in Antigua.)
I know we all hate Facebook for very good reasons, but I belong to several closed Facebook travel groups where the comments are moderated and self-promotion isn't allowed. I find those to be very good sources of information as travelers share their experiences. You would definitely be told about something like the sargassum.
We are currently in San Miguel de Allende for two months, which is ground zero for a lot of the issues you discuss. I'm going to write as honestly as possible about it by talking to as many folks as possible because the topic is incredibly complicated.
Thanks for the tip about closed FB groups, Michael. I confess to not using the platform much, but it has its advantages. Looking forward to your article. There’s a lot to unpack, and you’re the guy to do it!
Thank you for the post. I think that it really depends where and when. There are places that I crossed off my list, like Venice, because I have read and seen what mass tourism has done to the locals who just wanted to live in the same place they were born in. There are a lot of countries with a lot to see and to do without causing harm to the locals. People do need to get off instagram when they are planning their trip. Get a book, take advice multiple sources, or- find a good local guide to built their itinerary. We are going to Tuscany this year, we’ve been there before. I am using a 20 year old book of a local woman who lives there for many years.
I love that you found an old book from a local. That’s fantastic, I think it’s also important to acknowledge the thoughtfulness in taking Venice off your list due to the impact tourism has on locals—it’s a hard call when a place depends on tourists for its survival, but also needs to put the brakes on. As Ruth mentioned about Maui after the fires: it’s hard to know what to do.
I was lucky that my first visit to Venice, from England, was when Covid restrictions were lifted but before major tourism (cruise ships, Chinese and American visitors) could resume. Even with only 30% of usual numbers, Venice was busy. But so beautiful, it takes your breath away.
The problems of Venice (local residents forced out by foreign investment in properties for tourist lets, local businesses replaced by tourist shops staffed/owned by foreigners, complacent /corrupt local government that does little about any of this) are the problems of many beautiful places around the world, and I am not surprised that the local populations mostly resent us - while also needing our money more than ever, as tourism has replaced all other industries.
I do hope to go back to Venice, but I will research first (I read any blogs by locals, and find Reddit good for candid comments). And I will stay in an Italian-owned hotel (not self-catering), for several nights. It's more costly, but a fairer exchange than giving money to an anonymous Airbnb owner (likely a Chinese investor) and I won't feel I am making the problems worse.
COVID was a fantastic time to travel. Sure, it was sad and awful, but the privilege of being alone on planes and in magical places was something--I had a friend who had a similar experience in Florence. You've raised some important considerations for how to travel post-pandemic, Billy. Being a mindful traveller in places that both resent us and need our tourist dollars is one way to mitigate some of the harmful effects of tourism.
I appreciate your article — and the thoughtful commentary. Speaks to why I feel a bit queasy about traveling in order to tour. I shouldn’t be so afraid to go experience the amazement of beautiful places where I do not live. Yet, I am, sigh.
And.
Finding what is real (especially, particularly, on electronic media) has become a communication challenge of our time, hasn’t it?
Back when Clubhouse was experiencing an expansive flush, the term “Content Creator” emerged, and really stuck in my craw (sorry to admit I have a craw), on both counts:
- Have thoughts and opinions been demoted to “content”? Every e-platform becomes a container desperate to be filled with… stuff?
- Am I godlike for supplying “content”, am I a creator? Yes?, ~blush~, why thank you! I suppose I am!
Now with AI, “content” becomes alluring, flashy, cheap and plentiful, untruthful, misleading, dangerous, flowery, distracting, boring, dreadful. A bane. A burden.
What a conundrum all this has become: step away, and lose connection. Step into connection, and be connected with hooey.
(Yeah, I sound like I do have a craw, and that it’s all stuck.)
"welcomed everywhere" is nonsense. Have a stroll around Barcelona, for example. Or highly-overtouristed Portugal (where I've been living for a few years). Kind-and-thoughtful is great, but if people hate you for being 50x richer than they are, loud, demanding, and can't drive a manual transmission... you should stay home and go to the Walmart while they still have things to sell you.
I have been visiting this island for 40 years as a Canadian and have never encountered your experiences. However I will comment that U.S. tourists are not the critical mass, and the current administration has amplified sensitivities. Don't throw the island under the bus with a '1 off' visit.
Your article is well taken. We have lived abroad for five years, and have had to back WAY OFF doing things with other expats. The main reason is their attitudes toward the people here. Many are so critical and gossip constantly about one thing or another that they don’t like (granted, we understand them and it’s easy to overhear when they are so loud). No wonder many dislike the expats here, and social media has had an impact. As a neighbor told me years ago, many of us understand some English, like you do our language. So it’s a good practice to be kind and respectful to EVERYONE!
I just got back from 12 nights in Puerto Vallarta Mexico with my 3 yro daughter and most people were super welcoming and friendly. It helps to have a 3 yro with you to get smiles. The Mexican families in the playground were welcoming. The town is definitely gentrifying super quickly and many people seemed not to benefit from this. I made a mistake on the first day telling someone staying in the hotel that I found the poverty in the city shocking, and I did it too loudly and later realized it was disrespectful to Mexicans working in hotel. How and when to be honest about impressions is a skill I don’t have. And I got used to this form of poverty by end of my stay. And poverty is complex because yes I didn’t see people sleeping on the street much at all but I’m not used to kids playing in roads without shoes or extremely crowded living quarters or how so many people seem to scrape by by selling a few wares that they lug around in blazing heat. In general a traveler is expected not to be too honest about his/her impressions to locals it seems.
Please don't be hard on yourself for seeing something and being upset or surprised by it--many tourists don't notice the locals at all. I think there needs to be a more open discussion about travel in the developing world and what it means to be an observer of human misery; I think most people don't want to acknowledge their discomfort around the issue because it's an admission of privilege, although plenty of other people are clueless and fail to see the reality of the locals. I think we all need to get more comfortable talking about it and understanding our role when we visit.
Would you have felt better or more "at home" if the evidence of poverty and gentrification combined that you saw had been a more US-like pattern of homelessness?
I think the facts listed below weren’t in the front of my mind when I came to Mexico and this reality becomes clear if one leaves touristy areas.
I wasn’t looking to feel better or at home. I like to try to see what is going on around me, but one always brings what one knows from the past.
I was struck also that if I saw this poverty in the US there is no way I would feel safe walking in the streets after sundown as a gay man with my 3 yro daughter, but I did in Puerto Vallarta. I didn’t sense anger or lack of hope there, nor did I see drug/alcohol problems or aggression that one can see in NY poor neighborhoods sometimes.
“Mexico has the second-highest number of people living in poverty in Latin America, after Brazil. It also ranks 8th among the top 10 most populous countries in the world in terms of the number of people living in poverty. “
I’m sure there’s some people who hate. More likely,
for most residents of over-touristed locations the word is irritated.
I usually only travel off-season and have found the best places are where not many people go and so they’re happy to see you.
If there’s a lot of information about that place on the Internet, it’s over touristed. If you’ve even heard of it, it’s probably over touristed.
Lisbon is one of the poster cities for this. But I was there in January a couple years ago. Sure it was coldish, But the hotel was only a third full and they seemed really happy I was there.
It was a liberation when our son went off to college, and we were no longer tethered to school holidays—off season is the best!
I couldn’t help with smile when you mentioned Switzerland. It’s not just about the tourists. We lived there for five years. They say the old service waiters in Paris are the worst, but I don’t think they can beat the ones in the French parts of Switzerland. We also lived in Paris for six years.
Reminder not to bother traveling abroad.
The US has plenty of stuff to see anyways
More than enough!
I work in Tourism in Rome and no, it's not just the internet. It's the anglophone's sense of entitlement that makes us turn sour. Consumers of travel have seemed to forgotten that we offer a service not servitude. The dollars or pounds don't entitle people to treat us badly or make demands. Last year was the year I started giving people back their energy while working. I'm not a servant. How many times have I heard something something I paid a lot of money something something and then a full blown tantrum.
No one likes a rude jerk. Maintaining your composure when faced with rudeness and aggression is the hardest thing in the world. I often fail spectacularly at it, but promise myself to do better next time. The rise of awfulness and the disappearance of empathy are real problems for all of us, especially in the US, where cruelty is the hallmark of the new regime, but I don't know if adding to it is the answer. One should not be abused, but I think there is a way to have boundaries without rudeness. Maybe I'm naive, but that is my hope. Either way, your job description should not include tolerating abuse.
I dont think I said I was rude. I just match energy and if someone is abusive towards me-and it's ALWAYS anglophones-i just match their energy and don't let them treat me or other service people like shit. A simple NO, that British people have never heard, is often enough and I will cancel contracts with people who treat me, servers and guides like shit.
As you should.
Your disappointment is palpable Elizabeth. I think your piece skirts an important topic: Why do the locals hate us? It's more than long lines, disruptive noise and busy restaurants. They are tired of being treated like shit. I live in Belize and see it here; tourists visit with a chip on their shoulder and are often irrational or over demanding to the staff of hotels, restaurants and tour operators. Just because someone has a service industry job, doesn't mean they should be treated badly. There is a culture in North America which places the patron on a higher level, à la “the customer is always right.” It's total bullshit. I ran a residential renovation business for over a decade and I can tell you this, most of the time, the customer doesn't know shit, even when they think they do. This attitude needs to change. Tourists seem to forget, no doubt blinded by the fact they are spending a lot of money, that they are guests where they visit. They should treat the locals with respect, even if they are fetching them a cocktail poolside.
I'm sorry to hear about your sargassum experience. It's in Belize too. It's one of the many subseasons: cashew season, mango season, lobster season, sargassum season. Before moving here, we hadn't heard of it. It takes a lot of tourists off guard, too. It isn't something the Belize Tourism Board advertises and the only way you learn about it, if you don't happen to stumble across an article from a Caribbean news outlet while searching the depths of the internet, is by experiencing it. As nasty as the stuff is, it's a vital ecosystem for many marine species that use it as a nursery. I also have an anecdotal theory that it's one of Mother Nature's strategies for protecting herself: the amount of trash that sargassum skims out of the ocean/sea is astounding.
I had no idea about the cleaning properties of sargassum. Wonderful! I think good manners are not an option, but some people think it makes them look weak to be kind. Shame. It’s the strong who keep their cool when faced with rudeness. That said, what is true for the customer is also true for the service provider. It’s not easy, but it’s the minimum we owe one another.
Appreciated your account of the visit to Barbados. The circumstances you describe are unfortunate and sad. The influence of social media and the various cottage industries it supports are clearly part of it; as you point out, so is the global struggle for economic supremacy.
I moved to Ireland for work years ago, retired in Nice, France more than three years ago. I've wondered from time to time when one ceases to be a tourist and instead becomes a resident. I think it might not have to do with just issues of legal status such as citizenship; economic privilege is part of a tourist's identity, too.
I have a lot of conversations with local residents--most of whom are French but who have also come to Nice from different parts of the country. These days I hear less concern about tourism than of affluent individuals from elsewhere taking advantage of social services without having paid social charges in the E.U.; or of driving up property values and displacing long-time residents. Americans seem to be the object of concern, adding to existing concerns and prejudices regarding immigration.
Interesting recent piece about Nice in Le Monde (the comments are as interesting to read as the article itself): https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2025/04/08/l-engouement-des-americains-qui-voyagent-ou-s-expatrient-a-nice-on-a-trouve-notre-ville-francaise-ideale_6592435_3234.html
Elizabeth, great article. I appreciated the nuance and sensitivity (your forte, IMHO).
John- " These days I hear less concern about tourism than of affluent individuals from elsewhere taking advantage of social services without having paid social charges in the E.U.; or of driving up property values and displacing long-time residents. Americans seem to be the object of concern, adding to existing concerns and prejudices regarding immigration."
I write about this a lot (and get yelled at). Americans love waxing poetic about the "cheap" housing and "cheap" medical care. But, the prices are usually lower due to lower wages and government regulation. Moreover, the French have *paid into a system* their entire working lives and even outlets like the WSJ act like it is Disneyland. I begrudge no one their happiness. But, there are externalities to the influx of Americans looking for cheap healthcare and la vie en rose.
Oh, and this is right on topic. Lucy Pepper just wrote about hostility to immigrants in Portugal, https://substack.com/home/post/p-161798134?selection=efe3fa3e-777f-4437-8751-a402932c3a1e
I recently saw this on Sunday Morning (a US weekend breakfast show), which I think of as a smart show, and yet... not one mention of why Malta, the segment's focus, was "so cheap" for Americans. The total lack of regard for the lives of the local people and the tone deafness was appalling. (https://youtu.be/_794CQHC_Qo?si=AI1JHxBmkTIpjMlW)
This is so interesting, John. Thanks for sharing your perspective. It's such a complicated issue: When do we stop being the problem (immigrant/tourist/outsider) and start being locals? I can understand the concerns of regular Niçois about Americans coming in ever greater numbers. Reverse US immigration is real now, and the rest of the world isn't used to having quite so many of us living next door. How do you feel in Nice, like a local?
I sometimes say I feel like neither fish nor fowl, at least that's how I felt living and working in Ireland, in spite of being a citizen. Much of it had to do with workplace culture, which was extraordinarily rule-bound, from my foreigner perspective. I feel more at home in France and seldom feel as much an outsider as I did in Ireland; but as a "local," no. I think the many French people who have moved here for retirement would feel the same way. "Locals" are the people who grew up here, whose families are here, who know how things were when they were kids and have stories to tell about all the politicians.
Nice is something of a border town, so there are lots of people here whose lives started elsewhere, in Italy, North Africa, all over really. And people tend to get along, at least in the central neighbourhoods. We also live in a working class neighbourhood which is quite diverse, and I think that makes a difference.
There are residents and then there are locals, I suppose. My husband's Aunt adores Nice and goes often. I was always on the fence about it (I felt it would be too hot for me in the summer months), but you're giving me pause, and perhaps I should reconsider. I laughed when you mentioned that France was less rule-bound than its Anglo-Saxon neighbour to the east. Quite true!
Remember, part of Ireland's heritage is the Catholic Church as well ... and part of its heritage is the constipating social hierarchy that was the gift of British domination. It's alive and functioning, too. My Irish countrymen might also prefer being characterised as the "Celtic-Norman-Viking" neighbour to the east than the Anglo-Saxon :)
And Nice has been hot in the summers, indeed. We had air-conditioning installed two years ago and sometimes talk about renting a cottage in Kerry or Donegal for either July or August. Some local residents take off for summer homes in Normandy or Brittany. We're sticking it out here this year, and expecting fewer tourists from the US, given the amazing shrinking dollar and the peril tourists have of passing twice through US customs & immigration to make the trip.
Such a great point, Elizabeth! Thanks for sharing your story. Though I've never been to barbados, I have totally been in that situation before. And it's awful, you're so right. There's nothing worse than feeling completely unwelcome when you are trying to enjoy your time in a new destination. I feel like this a lot of the time in thailand — despite having lives here for 15 years — and it's a big reason why we're leaving.
That's so interesting to me, Kaila. You are a long-term resident of Thailand, yet you have grown less and less welcome as the years have passed. Why is that, do you think? Is it just a greater influx of people to the region, or is it something about the kinds of people coming that creates the unwelcoming vibe?
That's a big part of it. Since Covid, Thailand -- and particularly where I live on Koh Phangan -- has had a massive influx of people coming here to live (and escape war -- from Israelis to Russians to Ukrainians and beyond). A few years ago, there began a string of incidents where farang (as non-Thais are called here) were rude or even abusive to Thais and it was widely reported in the Thai media. While the incidents were absolutely unacceptable, they are the kinds of things that happen everywhere. There are always bad eggs. But the Thais are very prideful people and they are very proud of the fact that they've never been colonised, and yet there is a form of economic colonialisation that happens in Thailand since the country lives off tourism income and foreign investment. And these incidents being reported so widely turned many Thais even more against farangs than they were before, and now there is a strong feeling that we are not welcome, and indeed resented, for the fact that the country relies on us but they'd prefer we come for a 2-week holiday and leave, realistically. I have a LOT to say about this. I may write a post about it!
Thanks for this. It's super interesting. You have such a unique and in-depth perspective on that part of the world. Can't wait to read your post!
Thanks Elizabeth! I'm also writing about it in my interview for you, coming soooon! (Working on it as we speak)
Yay! Can't wait to read it!
I used to spend all my Summers in Bathsheba by St Lawrence's Gap. On the South Coast, where my mom would rent a cottage near where my aunt Yola lived, it came with an amazing cook. We ate delicious fried flying fish, rice and peas etc. I remember those glorious paradisiacal summers as the highlight of my happy childhood years. Would come back to Caracas brown as a nut, hair bleached platinum white, we explored, swam, and couldn't get enough of Barbados. I went back on 2014 to celebrate my birthday. ( You can read my post"Goodchilde's Garden") I was of course thrilled to be back there obvs I knew and assumed it would be very different from my childhood memories. I was shocked to get on a bus to get to the next town up from Mullins Bay and not one Bajan even looked at us. I wasn't expecting smiles or embraces. But not that absolute rejection stony wall. It was upsetting 11 yrs ago. 🥺
At the time never, or on the West Coast at least on 2014 no Sargassum either, only resentful unhappy Bajans on that bus.
Here is my Bajan Speculative Fiction post, hope you like it:
https://open.substack.com/pub/janinevicicampbell/p/20-goodchildes-gardens?r=ez84n&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for sharing!
Your childhood summers are the stuff of my dreams! What glorious memories to cherish—and how sad when that's all we are left with. I felt the wall: nearly every interaction was transactional and hostile, which is a damn shame. The country needs a shift away from a tourist-dependent economy, but with the government now getting into bed with the Chinese, going into debt to fund large infrastructure projects (a new airport) built with Chinese workers and contracts, the burden of this new national debt will weigh on Barbados for decades, and lock them into tourism as the primary source of income.
Unfortunately it's a two way street. The tourist population mostly behaving entitled as if Barbados was an amusement park. And the Bajans having "to serve" them. Plus years and years of British colonization, creating a classist society added to that mix. I was amazed to learn that the older plantation families looked down even at the poorer white scottish/irish immigrants who came as workers. Calling them "ecky beckys" at school etc- which is a slur meaning the whitish underbelly of a gecko. You can repeat that scenario throughout most of the most visited Colonies. And you'll find the same attitude.
Hi Elizabeth! Loved this. Great and sad and necessary—it’s a question us globehopping, first-person-writing ‘stackers don’t address enough, or even see. Check out Jamaica Kincaid’s skinny little book A Small Place, which is a magnificent blowtorch of this local anger & exhaustion (she grew up in Antigua.)
Thanks, Dan! I will. Although, I'm a bit worried about how I'll feel after I read it.
I know we all hate Facebook for very good reasons, but I belong to several closed Facebook travel groups where the comments are moderated and self-promotion isn't allowed. I find those to be very good sources of information as travelers share their experiences. You would definitely be told about something like the sargassum.
We are currently in San Miguel de Allende for two months, which is ground zero for a lot of the issues you discuss. I'm going to write as honestly as possible about it by talking to as many folks as possible because the topic is incredibly complicated.
I hint/hinted at it when I wrote about the sadness seeping under the san miguelinos eyelids...
Maybe it’s the curse of being a UNESCO world heritage site…
HA! Right?!
Thanks for the tip about closed FB groups, Michael. I confess to not using the platform much, but it has its advantages. Looking forward to your article. There’s a lot to unpack, and you’re the guy to do it!
Thank you for the post. I think that it really depends where and when. There are places that I crossed off my list, like Venice, because I have read and seen what mass tourism has done to the locals who just wanted to live in the same place they were born in. There are a lot of countries with a lot to see and to do without causing harm to the locals. People do need to get off instagram when they are planning their trip. Get a book, take advice multiple sources, or- find a good local guide to built their itinerary. We are going to Tuscany this year, we’ve been there before. I am using a 20 year old book of a local woman who lives there for many years.
I love that you found an old book from a local. That’s fantastic, I think it’s also important to acknowledge the thoughtfulness in taking Venice off your list due to the impact tourism has on locals—it’s a hard call when a place depends on tourists for its survival, but also needs to put the brakes on. As Ruth mentioned about Maui after the fires: it’s hard to know what to do.
I was lucky that my first visit to Venice, from England, was when Covid restrictions were lifted but before major tourism (cruise ships, Chinese and American visitors) could resume. Even with only 30% of usual numbers, Venice was busy. But so beautiful, it takes your breath away.
The problems of Venice (local residents forced out by foreign investment in properties for tourist lets, local businesses replaced by tourist shops staffed/owned by foreigners, complacent /corrupt local government that does little about any of this) are the problems of many beautiful places around the world, and I am not surprised that the local populations mostly resent us - while also needing our money more than ever, as tourism has replaced all other industries.
I do hope to go back to Venice, but I will research first (I read any blogs by locals, and find Reddit good for candid comments). And I will stay in an Italian-owned hotel (not self-catering), for several nights. It's more costly, but a fairer exchange than giving money to an anonymous Airbnb owner (likely a Chinese investor) and I won't feel I am making the problems worse.
COVID was a fantastic time to travel. Sure, it was sad and awful, but the privilege of being alone on planes and in magical places was something--I had a friend who had a similar experience in Florence. You've raised some important considerations for how to travel post-pandemic, Billy. Being a mindful traveller in places that both resent us and need our tourist dollars is one way to mitigate some of the harmful effects of tourism.
I appreciate your article — and the thoughtful commentary. Speaks to why I feel a bit queasy about traveling in order to tour. I shouldn’t be so afraid to go experience the amazement of beautiful places where I do not live. Yet, I am, sigh.
And.
Finding what is real (especially, particularly, on electronic media) has become a communication challenge of our time, hasn’t it?
Back when Clubhouse was experiencing an expansive flush, the term “Content Creator” emerged, and really stuck in my craw (sorry to admit I have a craw), on both counts:
- Have thoughts and opinions been demoted to “content”? Every e-platform becomes a container desperate to be filled with… stuff?
- Am I godlike for supplying “content”, am I a creator? Yes?, ~blush~, why thank you! I suppose I am!
Now with AI, “content” becomes alluring, flashy, cheap and plentiful, untruthful, misleading, dangerous, flowery, distracting, boring, dreadful. A bane. A burden.
What a conundrum all this has become: step away, and lose connection. Step into connection, and be connected with hooey.
(Yeah, I sound like I do have a craw, and that it’s all stuck.)
Kind and thoughtful travelers are welcomed everywhere. 💖
I wish that were true. I’m not sure it is. Maybe I’m jaded.
I think maybe we've all been a tad overhwhelmed by the not so thoughtful ones.
If you say so, it must be true, just like cows are blue.
Max, I love a cryptic comment as much as the next girl, but could you elaborate?
"welcomed everywhere" is nonsense. Have a stroll around Barcelona, for example. Or highly-overtouristed Portugal (where I've been living for a few years). Kind-and-thoughtful is great, but if people hate you for being 50x richer than they are, loud, demanding, and can't drive a manual transmission... you should stay home and go to the Walmart while they still have things to sell you.
Okay, thanks for that.
I have been visiting this island for 40 years as a Canadian and have never encountered your experiences. However I will comment that U.S. tourists are not the critical mass, and the current administration has amplified sensitivities. Don't throw the island under the bus with a '1 off' visit.
Well said.
It’s also very confusing-do you visit Hawaii or not? They say stay away then say please come we need the tourism dollars.
Ruthie, you’re a professional travel writer—thoughts on the amateurs out there ruining places by over hyping just one or two?
Great article! I’m going to the UK and Italy in May and afraid how they will treat Americans due to Trump.
No one cares about it. They don’t judge people based on their presidents. Well, most of the time.
Agreed. I think most Europeans feel sorry for us, not mad.
Your article is well taken. We have lived abroad for five years, and have had to back WAY OFF doing things with other expats. The main reason is their attitudes toward the people here. Many are so critical and gossip constantly about one thing or another that they don’t like (granted, we understand them and it’s easy to overhear when they are so loud). No wonder many dislike the expats here, and social media has had an impact. As a neighbor told me years ago, many of us understand some English, like you do our language. So it’s a good practice to be kind and respectful to EVERYONE!
Kindness would fix most of what ails us. I really believe that.
I just got back from 12 nights in Puerto Vallarta Mexico with my 3 yro daughter and most people were super welcoming and friendly. It helps to have a 3 yro with you to get smiles. The Mexican families in the playground were welcoming. The town is definitely gentrifying super quickly and many people seemed not to benefit from this. I made a mistake on the first day telling someone staying in the hotel that I found the poverty in the city shocking, and I did it too loudly and later realized it was disrespectful to Mexicans working in hotel. How and when to be honest about impressions is a skill I don’t have. And I got used to this form of poverty by end of my stay. And poverty is complex because yes I didn’t see people sleeping on the street much at all but I’m not used to kids playing in roads without shoes or extremely crowded living quarters or how so many people seem to scrape by by selling a few wares that they lug around in blazing heat. In general a traveler is expected not to be too honest about his/her impressions to locals it seems.
Please don't be hard on yourself for seeing something and being upset or surprised by it--many tourists don't notice the locals at all. I think there needs to be a more open discussion about travel in the developing world and what it means to be an observer of human misery; I think most people don't want to acknowledge their discomfort around the issue because it's an admission of privilege, although plenty of other people are clueless and fail to see the reality of the locals. I think we all need to get more comfortable talking about it and understanding our role when we visit.
Would you have felt better or more "at home" if the evidence of poverty and gentrification combined that you saw had been a more US-like pattern of homelessness?
I think the facts listed below weren’t in the front of my mind when I came to Mexico and this reality becomes clear if one leaves touristy areas.
I wasn’t looking to feel better or at home. I like to try to see what is going on around me, but one always brings what one knows from the past.
I was struck also that if I saw this poverty in the US there is no way I would feel safe walking in the streets after sundown as a gay man with my 3 yro daughter, but I did in Puerto Vallarta. I didn’t sense anger or lack of hope there, nor did I see drug/alcohol problems or aggression that one can see in NY poor neighborhoods sometimes.
“Mexico has the second-highest number of people living in poverty in Latin America, after Brazil. It also ranks 8th among the top 10 most populous countries in the world in terms of the number of people living in poverty. “
Did this experience in Mexico maybe cause you to reflect on the very high cost of housing in the United States?
No, how does it for you? I thought about disparities and how Puerto Vallarta had an aliveness that NYC used to have downtown.