Discussion keeps the world's turning.
This is Roundtable. You're listening to Roundtable, myself, young.
I'm joined by Yushan and Steve Hatherley in the studio, coming up.
Europe has seen an increase in anti-tourism sentiment this summer, with demonstrations occurring in popular destinations such as Barcelona, Venice, and now Malorca.
This growing backlash against tourism highlights the need for a more nuanced approach to destination management, what can be done to address the concerns of local communities while still promoting the economic benefits of tourism.
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Now, on Roundtable, as we move on to, when we think of tourism, we always seem to think of it in a positive light.
From the tourist's point of view, they get to see a new part of the world, and experience new foods and new culture.
And from the local's point of view, it's a great way to boost the economy.
But what happens when a place becomes too popular?
What happens when the positives afford the local community turns into negatives?
Tourists, as it turns out, are not always welcome.
So, Steve, tell us what's going on here.
There's a lot going on here, and just like I said about students in summer vacation, those two things seem to go together quite happily, but sometimes they don't.
Tourists in summer vacation seem to go together quite happily, but sometimes they don't.
This is happening in Europe, and it's happening in the places that you mentioned to young, but it's not only in Spain, it's in Netherlands, it's in Greece, it's in Spain as well, we're going to focus on Spain a little bit today, talking about the anti-tourism protests that have been happening there and in other parts of Europe as well.
It started around early July when protesters were marching through popular tourist places in Barcelona, and I don't know if you saw the news, but what they were doing there was they were spraying tourists with water bottles, with water pistols chanting, tourist go home, tourist go home.
Quite serious, right? That's not even the most serious case.
The words kill a tourist, emerged across different locations in a town called Manacore.
That's in Malorca, and that was according to the local news there.
If you've not heard of Malorca before, it's part of this island group that's a part of Spain.
It's this really beautiful place that has a capital called Palma, beautiful coastlines, secluded coves, limestone mountains, all this gorgeous Spanish architecture as well, and of course, gorgeous beaches, really popular with the tourists, but the locals have had enough, and in a few different locations, they spray painted on the walls kill a tourist.
Before doing this show, I don't think I've heard of this place before, and this little Spanish island, and now our Chinese audience, I think more of our Chinese audience, will know this place.
By the sound of it, it's a pretty beautiful place to go to.
I showed you a picture of this place before the show today, just so you could know how gorgeous this location is.
Now, the local government, they've come out and said this graffiti does not represent the majority of people's feelings in the community.
This is a select group of people who have done this, but it's not representative of how we feel.
But that's the issue. Anti-tourism protests in Spain and other parts of Europe too.
Right. So, what is at the heart of these demonstrations and these actions?
In all the places, it's overtourism, and what has, what it's done to the local communities as a result.
The problem is the rising wrench, the problem is the house prices, the local communities are saying we can't afford to live in our homes anymore because of overtourism.
Barcelona. Were you telling me you had friends who came back from Barcelona or family members?
Yes, my parents just got back from Barcelona.
I do envy the lifestyle of retired folks.
Yes, they're right. Yeah.
Yeah, and two takeaways from their trip.
One, Barcelona is amazingly beautiful and breathtakingly cultured.
And that's something, I guess, is enough to attract tourists from all over the world.
Yeah, we'll get to the numbers in just a sec.
Barcelona is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
But what's happened there is that overtourism has caused the prices of homes to go up and rent prices to go up to the point where local people they just can't afford to live there anymore.
So here's how this all connects.
When a place becomes really popular with tourists, then of course hotel prices will go up and then you get gentrification happening.
You get bigger businesses coming in.
When bigger businesses come in, then you get rent prices going up.
This is all kind of the cycle of what happens when a place becomes really popular.
And now local residents in Barcelona are saying the only way we can afford to live in this city is if we share an apartment with two or three or four other people.
It's just too expensive.
Rent has increased in Barcelona by 68% over the past 10 years according to the mayor.
And it's not just Barcelona.
There are plenty of other European cities who have seen prices skyrocket as well.
Yeah, and I was reading just recently that speaking of rent and I think it was reported in Italy that as the summer approaches, more house owners are kicking their renters outside of their homes so that they can rent their houses at a much higher prices to tourists.
That's what's going on in Italy.
I suppose like over tourism is not really like a new term.
It was coined according to my reading about a decade ago.
But nowadays you're talking about people squeezing water at each at the tourist spaces as a sign of resentment.
That's by the way, that's what I do to my cat when he miss me.
Well, that's what they're doing there as well.
And I mentioned we would get to the numbers in just a second.
Spain recorded an additional 24 million tourists in the first quarter of this year, 2024 compared to the same period last year.
That's an annual increase of 14.5%.
So there are more and more and more tourists visiting the country.
And they already had an all time number in terms of international visitors last year.
The number of tourists skyrocketed in Malorca.
This number is really shocking.
So Malorca, that beautiful island place we were talking about.
In 2023, they had 1.3 million visitors.
Now 17.8 million visitors.
That's 60 imagine that 16 million more people visiting your local community.
And it's expected to keep rising by a further 2 million to almost 20 million people.
So you can imagine, I mean, just listening to those numbers, the people in the local community, it's just a massive influx of tourists.
And it's really stressful for them.
Right. And it's disrupting the local, the lives of the local people, unless you are fully engaged in tourism yourself.
You're absolutely right.
So also the examples that you've given so far by the sound of it, these are world renowned tourism destinations for decades.
And I suspect does it have something to do with for the fact that these areas are relatively small for Chinese standards.
And also because they've been so famous for so long.
And then you know, over tourism has gradually grown or blown, have blown into a big issue.
Yeah, it's that the reputation of these travel destinations has gotten to the point where everybody knows this is where we want to go for our summer vacation, Barcelona's an easy example, right.
And I just told you how many people are visiting there.
There become these locations are becoming a place that are almost exclusively for tourists.
Yeah, local homeowners are even renting out their apartments.
You said they're kicking out the residents because they want to do like a short term, short term rental.
Yeah, they want to do an Airbnb type of thing because they can charge so much money.
And they can make more money during the travel season.
Then they can making rent for a full year if they were to charge regular prices.
And we're looking at I suppose the development of the hills and the benefits of tourism.
And when it's overly developed, then you get this problem.
But this reminds me of maybe the other side of the coin the other day I was watching a Yuenjuo pie.
I've recommended this on the show before one of the episodes featured renowned writer, a new chunk, who's the author of a fan who or blossom Shanghai.
So this is a very popular book that's been made into a TV series.
And now it's well known nationwide.
It's so popular. And the author has decided to go back to his hometown.
I believe in sujo in this little town called lily.
And it sounds very similar to one of the main characters in the book.
So I guess you can sort of imagine where he got that inspiration from.
And he's made it a personal mission to turn his hometown, which is a dilapidated little town, losing talent.
Now putting it on the map as a wonderful cultured town.
And he has this fenghua shu feng, sort of like a very cultured institution and decorated beautifully in this little town and making his work the book, blossom Shanghai into sort of like a postcard to attract people to this little town using the popularity of the book to bring people.
And he's done such a brilliant job in doing so.
And then it's so important for that little town because it was pretty much worn out after all those years.
Well, you're talking about the positive sides of tourism.
And especially in the inception of it, it's so important.
It's bringing in the yuan.
It's bringing in tourism.
It's bringing in life. Otherwise, the place is path dead.
That's the positive side.
That's the good thing about tourism is that it can really inject a lot of money into the local community.
But then when it gets to a point where you have enough money in the local community, you have tourists coming in who are behaving badly sometimes.
There are plenty of examples of tourists doing inappropriate things in Italy.
There's a few different examples there.
That's what inspires these anti-Tourist demonstrations.
And in Mallorca, these are not, it's not like there's 100 people out there demonstrating 10,000 people at one demonstration.
So I'm sure that author's goal is he's coming from the right place.
And I'm sure it'll help out the community.
But Barcelona is not a new tourist destination.
Right. Mallorca is not a new tourist destination.
Right. And then it's not just happening in Europe in Japan, thanks to a week yen in the last few months.
It's attracted tourists from all over the world.
But now the exchange rate is going up a little bit.
Well, anyhow, in Japan, some restaurants have started charging tourists higher prices.
Yeah, they have. Is this something to do with over tourism as well?
I guess kind of yes and kind of no.
And you're right. Japan's become a really popular place.
They had almost 18 million people visit the country in the first half of 2024.
That surpassed the previous record of 16.6 million in 2019.
And there's a lot more people visiting the country.
And yes, they have, it was in the news recently.
They've been hiking up prices for foreigners at different restaurants.
And the owners of the restaurants say it's only because we don't have the staff to speak English or another language with these tourists.
So we have to hire staff that has that language ability to take care of them.
Some tourists have come out in Japan.
There was a woman from Australia who said that she didn't really have a problem with being overcharged as a tourist because it was helping out the local community.
But it was enough, it was enough of a story to make it into the news.
That's for sure. The foreigner price, the tourist price, and then the price for locals.
Yes, I mean, this could raise questions about just discrimination and fairness.
Just imagine this. You walk into a country and then European charge more.
Just because you're foreign.
I mean, this does not align with my Chinese hospitality, basic instincts.
Just imagine people would be furious.
Like in some parts of our country, I would imagine that let's not even say foreign visitors.
Let's say if you're, let's say if you're a Shanghai niece and you come to Beijing.
And then you're being charged more and vice versa.
I don't think people are going to be happy about this.
It wouldn't fly, right?
Yeah. And as a result of all of these different things, local governments are trying to do things.
Not in Japan. That's kind of a separate, separate issue, just something that's happening with tourists as well.
But in Barcelona, we talked about short-term rentals, right?
Air B and B. In Barcelona, the mayor pledged to ban.
Short-term apartment rentals in the city by the end of 2028.
And if they do that, that is expected to strip more than 10,000 apartments of their short-term rental licenses.
So you won't be in 2028. If this goes through, you will not be able to get an Air B and B in Barcelona.
They won't exist there anymore.
So what do you think should happen with these hot potato issues of tourism at hand?
How should the local government, businesses, individuals handle this situation?
Well, if we look to Italy, if we look to Venice and maybe we can use their model, it seems to have worked quite successfully for them.
They were very proud of their entrance fee that they were charging tourists.
We've heard about this, right?
You have to pay to go into the city.
Five euros, I think it was.
That's about $5.40. We're talking about like a five-year-old ticket to enter the city.
It began on April 25th and they wrapped it up on July 14th.
And it made for the city 2.4 million euros.
So they made a lot of money.
And even more than they expected.
So they will be doing it again.
I would assume. Did it work or did it not?
Some people say the crowds seem smaller in Venice.
Other people said no. And this is turning it into, and this is the term that they used, Venice land, like Disneyland, right?
Because you have to pay for a ticket to enter the, it's like a theme park almost.
That could be an idea. But to answer your question, what's my personal take?
I don't know. This is a really difficult problem to solve because obviously tourism can bring in a lot of money to your community.
But at the same time, your community is being driven out.
They can't afford to stay there anymore.
How do you fix the problem?
I don't really. I don't really know if there is an easy solution.
I don't think there is because they haven't come up with it yet.
They're still trying to figure it out.
Right. And I think now that we're talking about it, a lot of the economics, social, if not environmental benefits are off-loathing to the majority of the travel destination these days.
So maybe let's look outside of those hottest spots, folks.
Let's go to somewhere else.
And ruin another community.
Yeah, I know. I'm kidding.
I'm kidding. Yeah. Maybe have a booking system because just charging people more like Steve mentioned earlier could just bring up prices and then gentrified the place.
So I don't know. Book a spot before he can go.
But then it's treating to the wealthy only and then gentrification is going to be a bigger problem.
Book a space. So then that's has nothing to do with money.
It's like, you know, first come first serve.
Yeah, book a spot and then you can go when it sold out.
Yeah, if you care enough, then book early like a movie theater coming up next motivational Monday.
Oh, oh, oh, they show my days.
There's no way around a money only through it.
You shan, what do you have for us?
Well, I do prepare like one line from a movie that I was rewatching just yesterday.
And I'm sure all of you guys know it.
It's called the Lord of the Rings, the fellowship of the ring.
And in that movie at the beginning of it, there's this character called Samwise Gamji and sure like people just know him as Sam.
And as he was like leaving his country, there's one line that just inspired me so much is called if I take one more step, it'll be the farthest from home I've ever been.
And I was reading about some comments and analyze on the internet about this line, apparently a lot of people echoed on how I feel as well that in the movie he says that as it takes his first step out of the comfort zone to face just into a massive world that he had only heard and tells before.
But in reality, people are doing it every single day.
There are millions of people just taking that one more step to get out of their comfort zone and to embrace some new opportunities where there is to travel to a new place, live in a new place like Steve just did.
And also like for taking something that might inspire goosebumps on your on your skin, but in the meantime it just exhilarates you and in the meantime bring you just great experiences or new outcomes afterwards.
So yeah, that's something that I try to throw out here.
Just try something new today.
I like that. I like it. Yeah, new food, new hobby, new anything.
Right? Just try something new.
Yeah. And Steve, what do you have for us?
Socrates. All right. Greek philosopher.
He said, I am the wisest man alive.
For I know one thing. And that is I know nothing.
And what this quote means to me is that if you are humble and if you realize that there are far more things that you don't know compared to what you do know, it will inspire you to keep learning and keep trying new things like you just talked about.
But the more knowledge we can acquire as we go through life, the better.
And I think that's what this quote says to me.
All right. That's wonderful.
And we've seen that the Paris Olympics have finally concluded with China bringing home 40 gold medals and 91 total medals quite the achievement and wild stars athletes such as Zheng Qingwen, Pan Zhan Le Ma Long, shine brightly.
Most athletes, including Xu Shi Li, Xu Shi Qi, Zhang Zhiting, Long Shan Feng, and many others don't make headlines out of 405 Chinese athletes over 300 return home without medals despite being top contenders who trained tirelessly for at least those four years.
And these athletes struggles and dedication often go unnoticed, but their efforts are the heart of the Olympics where many achieve greatness through unselibrated perseverance.
And I really enjoy this quote.
The only way to prove that you are a good sport is to lose and it means that true sportsmanship is shown not in just winning and bring home a medal, but in how you handle losing.
A good sport shows grace, respect, and integrity, whether the win or lose demonstrating their character and attitude in face of defeat.
And I think that's what most of us face in our lives.
And as we wrap up this incredible Paris Olympics and pass the torch to Los Angeles, let's turn up the energy with a banger from the red hot jelly peppers.
It's by the way. The title track and first single from the Chili's eighth studio album released on June 24, 2002, and this was performed at the closing ceremony in Paris.
And as we dive into this new week, let by by the way, I hope it inspired you to chase those aspirations with all you've got and the vibrant beats and uplifting melodies are a celebration of resilience and creativity.
Reminding us that every ending is just a fresh start.
Let's kick off this week with passion and some good beats and make the best and the most of every opportunity ahead.
Here it is. The red hot chili peppers with by the way.
It is quintessentially L.A.
such good vibes that I hope to share with you.
And that brings us to the end of today's show.
So much Steve Hatherley and Yushan for joining the discussion is sharing your wonderful insights.
I'm Ha Young. Until next time.
We'll see you next time on Red Table.
