It is a fine balance - the class who have taken retirement by the thousand at 50 or 55, as they are entitled to do, followed by 'must see' tours. The flip side is tourist destinations need the visitors and their cash.
I suspect greed is the source of the friction. For ticket sales it is the apparent norm to sell off blocks to third parties - even for events with almost no risk of failure - and then pass on via at least one further layer of profit to the public.
I live close to the Cotswolds, a typical tourist attraction. For all it's beauty, and scattering of good places to visit, I fear anyone not aware of the pitfalls will be short changed. Again, this appears to be the norm, enabled by social media which routinely promotes false images (deserted vistas in full sun shine) to encourage more to come. An unhappy experience for all, and a good reason to re-visit.
Yes. too much money to splurge and too avaricious intermediaries at every step along the way. Even the ways that were once supposed to make travelling cheaper (Airbnb) have rocketed up in price. Tourism is largely a marketing con (as you say - highly edited Instragram videos of 'must see' places that, in reality, are so widely different from their presentation as to be utterly unrecognisable).
Unless you speak the lingo or do vast amounts of research before, you are on the fast path to being swindled!
Part of this problem is due to the greed of galleries to make as much money as possible. In the UK when galleries have pay for entry exhibitions they allow entry to too many people and it is impossible to enjoy the art.
Firstly, you should have gone by train - no early morning alarm clock and wasted hours in an airport!
Secondly, why would you go to Rome in May? The whole frigging world of morons goes in May. Go out of season and wear a jumper.
I went to Granada in Spain back in about 1988. I went 2 days running because it was so lovely. Only about 6 people wandering around. I went back around 2005 and discovered I was meant to buy tickets before I left the UK! We started queuing up for the wander round the outside but there were thousands of people so we left.
Tourism has ruined most places and people - my daughter's boyfriend is Greek and he says it has turned the Greeks into lazy people who just rent out their properties in the season and sit around all winter moaning about how poor they are. His grandfather farmed land in Corfu. His aunt simply rents out the farmhouse and lives off the income.
And don't forget - holidays is why most people took the toxic jabs!!!
Travelling by train is much better, but more costly. Planes are evil but cheap. And although I actually went in April I had assumed that it wouldn't be completely heaving. Lesson learnt.
And indeed - these countries with massive tourism incomes have no incentive to actually do anything whatsoever. Good work if you can get it.
The same can be said for so many nice places. Perhaps this is the result of making so many towns utter dumps through post-war town-planning: everyone floods to the few places that are not absolutely dreadful.
It is a fine balance - the class who have taken retirement by the thousand at 50 or 55, as they are entitled to do, followed by 'must see' tours. The flip side is tourist destinations need the visitors and their cash.
I suspect greed is the source of the friction. For ticket sales it is the apparent norm to sell off blocks to third parties - even for events with almost no risk of failure - and then pass on via at least one further layer of profit to the public.
I live close to the Cotswolds, a typical tourist attraction. For all it's beauty, and scattering of good places to visit, I fear anyone not aware of the pitfalls will be short changed. Again, this appears to be the norm, enabled by social media which routinely promotes false images (deserted vistas in full sun shine) to encourage more to come. An unhappy experience for all, and a good reason to re-visit.
Yes. too much money to splurge and too avaricious intermediaries at every step along the way. Even the ways that were once supposed to make travelling cheaper (Airbnb) have rocketed up in price. Tourism is largely a marketing con (as you say - highly edited Instragram videos of 'must see' places that, in reality, are so widely different from their presentation as to be utterly unrecognisable).
Unless you speak the lingo or do vast amounts of research before, you are on the fast path to being swindled!
Part of this problem is due to the greed of galleries to make as much money as possible. In the UK when galleries have pay for entry exhibitions they allow entry to too many people and it is impossible to enjoy the art.
Firstly, you should have gone by train - no early morning alarm clock and wasted hours in an airport!
Secondly, why would you go to Rome in May? The whole frigging world of morons goes in May. Go out of season and wear a jumper.
I went to Granada in Spain back in about 1988. I went 2 days running because it was so lovely. Only about 6 people wandering around. I went back around 2005 and discovered I was meant to buy tickets before I left the UK! We started queuing up for the wander round the outside but there were thousands of people so we left.
Tourism has ruined most places and people - my daughter's boyfriend is Greek and he says it has turned the Greeks into lazy people who just rent out their properties in the season and sit around all winter moaning about how poor they are. His grandfather farmed land in Corfu. His aunt simply rents out the farmhouse and lives off the income.
And don't forget - holidays is why most people took the toxic jabs!!!
Travelling by train is much better, but more costly. Planes are evil but cheap. And although I actually went in April I had assumed that it wouldn't be completely heaving. Lesson learnt.
And indeed - these countries with massive tourism incomes have no incentive to actually do anything whatsoever. Good work if you can get it.
You need to look at www.seat61.com to find cheap and comfy train tickets!
Certainly will do that. Thanks.
God bless the guiri.
The same can be said for so many nice places. Perhaps this is the result of making so many towns utter dumps through post-war town-planning: everyone floods to the few places that are not absolutely dreadful.
No, it's good advice. When I was in Russia during Covid there were absolutely zero tourists, making everything far more tolerable.