Location
Switzerland
Name
Matt
Living in a town that is a major tourism destination in Switzerland (Lucerne) and being myself responsible for shepherding crowds through another capital city (Berlin) generally leave me in two minds about tourism and the increasingly common phenomenon of "over-tourism" (okay, the latter is a complete nuisance whereever it happens). However, tourists and their behaviour (which, mostly, I try to moderate within my own groups) force themselves onto me whenever I go into town - regardless of their interest, genuine or not, they manage to be in the way more often than not and make daily life considerably more unpleasant. In Berlin, at least in the past, you could pretty much manage without having to frequent major tourism locations - but now things are getting pretty tough in some parts of the city. In Lucerne, most tourism hits the heart of the old town, which in turn becomes much harder to access because of the crowds - and since many businesses and services are actually located there, that's a major issue for us locals.

Anyway, enough grumbling for now; here's one from today, which could be entitled: Another way of appreciating art ...

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M.
 
The town I'm in has switched from English (well, Canadian) back to Spanish in the couple weeks the Canadians have been gone. Holy Week is starting a n d the town has rapidly switched back to welcome Mexican tourists next.
That part is probably normal for any tourist spot; but the 10 high rises being built at the same time within a mile radius is the real bummer for me.
 
I can quite get where you're coming from, being similarly torn myself. I live in a small coastal town in Oregon which is seen as a haven for tourism, famous for its sunsets on the beach and for one of the "top 100" (whatever that means) golf courses in the world nearby. Of course, tourism is vital to the small businesses in town, but, aside from gift shops and a few more specialty stores, it's all restaurants and hotels. Kids here aren't raised to desire to get into the restaurant world (just my observation, from outside - not having gone to schools here) or indeed anywhere local - maybe largely still an American misconception of skilled labor and trades being not worth your while, and schools in Oregon as far as I can see are all very wrapped up with sending students to Oregon State University or the University of Oregon. So the flow of people through the town is: kids grow up and leave, retirees, often from other states, move in, and the ebb and flow of tourism demands only a certain kind of industry. Hospitality and restaurants are restricted industries for lenders, so financing for these places is very difficult. Meanwhile, necessary things like local banks, hospital, city infrastructure, is all chronically understaffed or else underfunded. Tax revenue doesn't come in from restaurants and hospitality which typically run with very low net profits. Something's pretty broken, but I have no idea how it can be fixed. But the feeling is really that, while tourism is necessary to keep the town afloat, it's also one of the main causes of the lack of sustainability.
 
I can quite get where you're coming from, being similarly torn myself. I live in a small coastal town in Oregon which is seen as a haven for tourism, famous for its sunsets on the beach and for one of the "top 100" (whatever that means) golf courses in the world nearby. Of course, tourism is vital to the small businesses in town, but, aside from gift shops and a few more specialty stores, it's all restaurants and hotels. Kids here aren't raised to desire to get into the restaurant world (just my observation, from outside - not having gone to schools here) or indeed anywhere local - maybe largely still an American misconception of skilled labor and trades being not worth your while, and schools in Oregon as far as I can see are all very wrapped up with sending students to Oregon State University or the University of Oregon. So the flow of people through the town is: kids grow up and leave, retirees, often from other states, move in, and the ebb and flow of tourism demands only a certain kind of industry. Hospitality and restaurants are restricted industries for lenders, so financing for these places is very difficult. Meanwhile, necessary things like local banks, hospital, city infrastructure, is all chronically understaffed or else underfunded. Tax revenue doesn't come in from restaurants and hospitality which typically run with very low net profits. Something's pretty broken, but I have no idea how it can be fixed. But the feeling is really that, while tourism is necessary to keep the town afloat, it's also one of the main causes of the lack of sustainability.
Very well put, Andrew! It's part of the vicious cycle we're witnessing as well. Apart from services (especially financial ones), Switzerland lives on its natural, cultural and historical heritage - and that's basically it, even though we have some major industries (pharmaceutical, chemical, bio-chemical, even speciality electronics), but they'd never be enough to sustain our economy. So, what do we do? We sell out the very assets and heritage to keep up the cash flow - which, specifically because of that, will ultimately completely break away as soon as there's nothing left.

In many of our towns (and even in some tiny villages!), small businesses or their premises, repectively, are taken over by souvenir shops, and in Lucerne, where I live, venerable old inns get bought out by Chinese eateries mostly frequented by Chinese tourists. And I'm not talking about nice Chinese or Asian restaurants here (which I love and frequent), but a kind of "feed them quickly and cheaply" places - more troughs than pubs ...

And to cap it off: Not enough snow in the winter for skiing and such? Pump up more of the dimishing water reserves to feed the snow canons, using absurd amounts of energy. Crucially, climate change is eating away at glaciers and even mountains - thus eroding the foundations of the image Switzerland projects, and not only that - we put literally the life of more and more people at jeopardy (in Switzerland, there's something called "red zones" - not fit for living, hazardous; they're expanding quickly - and many of them are inhabited because people have been living there for aeons!).

So, while global warming eats away at the very substance that keeps our mountains standing and the people in the valleys safe, we even help it along for the sake of - what? Making the turning point, the collapse come harder and sharper?

I see the value, even the need of tourism - it's the ever increasing *scale* that is so perilous, especially since it's paired with less and less respect for our resources.

It's always "their" problem if you are a tourist ...

M.
 
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