Local Parisians comparing their neighborhoods to Disneyland

[hardcorestitch]

Apparently all the locals in Paris are fed up with foreign tourists, going as far as comparing their city to Disneyland. What are your thoughts on this?

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/loca...rges?msockid=1c0ecdd668ff65d719cbd9ab69ed6408

 

[Magical2017]

This is happening in a lot of cities in Europe (as well as Asia). In Barcelona, they squirted tourists with water guns and protestors used smoke bombs. I get why they are annoyed at the overtourism. It burdens the city. People are pushed out of apartments due to short-term renters. Locals have trouble using public transportation, and in the summer, some places are just wall to wall people.

We were in Paris in March and the crowds were not bad and the people were very kind (the Louvre was unbelievably crowded, of course). We do plan to visit again next April.

 

[Kennywood]

"We want your tourism money. Just not you."

 

[BrianL]

"We want your tourism money. Just not you."

Well, there is a balance to be had. They surely want tourism money, but there is also bandwidth. I mean, we all complain here about how crowded Disney has become - even they limit attendance for certian functions like After Hours (at increased prices of course). There is such a thing as being a victim of your own success. There was a commercial a while back where some young entrepreneurs were starting a business, made their website live - celebrated getting their first order...then 100 orders...then 1,000 orders...10,000 - they were no longer celebrating and about to scramble to figure out how to fill that much business.

 

[Moliphino]

This is happening in a lot of cities in Europe (as well as Asia). In Barcelona, they squirted tourists with water guns and protestors used smoke bombs. I get why they are annoyed at the overtourism. It burdens the city. People are pushed out of apartments due to short-term renters. Locals have trouble using public transportation, and in the summer, some places are just wall to wall people.

We were in Paris in March and the crowds were not bad and the people were very kind (the Louvre was unbelievably crowded, of course). We do plan to visit again next April.

AirBNBs and the like are causing/worsening housing issues in a lot of places, which understandably makes residents angry. I always stay in hotels, so I'm at least not contributing to that problem.
I was in Barcelona in April and didn't experience any issues or see any protests while we were there. I'll be in Paris in October. We try to travel in the shoulder seasons, though, when there aren't as many tourists.

 

[hardcorestitch]

AirBNBs and the like are causing/worsening housing issues in a lot of places, which understandably makes residents angry. I always stay in hotels, so I'm at least not contributing to that problem.
I was in Barcelona in April and didn't experience any issues or see any protests while we were there. I'll be in Paris in October. We try to travel in the shoulder seasons, though, when there aren't as many tourists.

Yeah, Airbnb and similar services may provide a higher quality or varying amenities. Balance is definitely key. We can have both hotel and non hotel accommodations, as long as we balance out the needs of both sides. Both hotels and rentals have their own charm respectively, especially with Disney hotels.

 

[Magical2017]

AirBNBs and the like are causing/worsening housing issues in a lot of places, which understandably makes residents angry. I always stay in hotels, so I'm at least not contributing to that problem.
I was in Barcelona in April and didn't experience any issues or see any protests while we were there. I'll be in Paris in October. We try to travel in the shoulder seasons, though, when there aren't as many tourists.

Same--hotels. Even with a family of four, we are planning to use hotels. To be fair, part of that is due to using our points for our stays, but even when I don't have enough points for two rooms/four people, I will turn to a locally owned hotel. There are some agencies that specifically rent out apartments vs the Air B and B/VRBO short term rentals by individuals. I think the limit on citizens who own rental units is 90 days now in Paris. I am not sure about Spain.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

In June, we spent 3 days at Disneyland Paris, then 5 days in Paris. I get what the locals are saying, but there are two sides to the issue.

Every tourist attraction in Paris was very crowded - The Lourve, Eiffel Tower, Paris Opera House, Notre Dame, and the dock area where the Seine river cruises launch. People aren't just concentrated in the attractions. They spill out into the surrounding streets, crowd into the shops and restaurants and clog the streets, sidewalks and metro stations. We stayed at an AirBnB which ended up being much less expensive for our party of 5 than hotel rooms. We had a 4-bedroom apartment in a prime location, about a 5-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower. Of course, that takes the unit off the market for locals.

On the other hand, tourism is obviously thriving in Paris, which is financially beneficial for the city. The industry creates tons of jobs for residents. Local business owners (gift shops, small bakeries, etc.) seemed to be thriving. We never waited for a table at a restaurant, but they were always busy and waitstaff was eager to provide a good experience. We heard that tipping wasn't really a thing in Europe, but several restaurants had a tipping table on their bills. A few servers pointed it out and mentioned that it's completely optional but if we enjoyed their service, we could tip if we chose to. We generally tip 20% for good service and the servers in Paris were very appreciative when we did that. They've obviously learned that Americans will tip well when the service is good, and they're capitalizing on it. I say good for them!

My overall assessment is that tourism is a positive thing. It brings in revenue and creates jobs. Paris has so much history and so many iconic landmarks that should be accessible to anyone who wants to see them. However, tourists need to behave. Be respectful and responsible when visiting another city or country. Act like an adult. Be polite. Don't throw your trash on the ground. Treat restaurant staff, shopkeepers and attraction workers with respect, kindness and patience. Plan ahead, do your research and buy your tickets ahead of time so you're not that person ranting at the Lourve entrance because all the entry times for the day are full (yeah, we saw that happen). Be flexible. We went to Notre Dame one day and it was closed for a private mass. So we carved out time to go back the next day. I felt sorry for the security guards who were turning people away outside. They were getting questioned and berated over and over by people who were ticked off that they couldn't get in. The event wasn't listed on the website, so it might have been a last minute thing. Stuff happens. Don't yell at people who have no control over it!

Living in a high tourism area definitely has it's pros and cons. My son lives in New York City. Whenever we visit, I want to walk through Times Square. It think it's weird and cool and crazy. My son, who has branded himself a local after 3 years, hates it! He said it's just a tourist trap and locals avoid it whenever possible. He knows the shortcuts around it to get to various theaters, restaurants and other places we like to go. He usually grants me one Times Square walk-through per trip. On the other hand, he works evenings as a tour guide. His company relies on tourists to fill the tours and several of the routes take them right through Times Square. When they're walking through to a certain location he tells his group, "OK people, elbows out! Stay alert! Eyes on prize!"

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yeah, Airbnb and similar services may provide a higher quality or varying amenities. Balance is definitely key. We can have both hotel and non hotel accommodations, as long as we balance out the needs of both sides. Both hotels and rentals have their own charm respectively, especially with Disney hotels.

There's little balance you can realistically have with airbnbs and whatnot as the scale mostly slides as to them being a negative to an area as a whole. They work best when they are sparingly used or used in a way out of touristy places. What happens with using them in big touristy places is they take actual housing away from locals or they cause the pricing demand for a particular unit or building that it becomes unaffordable thus driving the locals away.

Hotels normally become a problem when too many are built in a small enough area vs building houses but that is often a zoning thing meaning an area may not be zoned for residential but zoned instead to allow hotels. As a whole hotels are less detrimental to a place than airbnbs.

It's not really about charm nor is it about higher quality or varying amenities when talking about what you posted on and that "charm" is what drives the problem as people are often looking for that which fuels the demand. B&B's used to be that type of place you'd go to to get that charm, they weren't usually such a big deal especially when the homeowner lived there and was just having space in their home for guests. But what has exploded is units and residences bought out or simply rented out for cash in such high numbers that those units or residences never actually get to be actual homes for anyone just perpetually rented out.

 

[citruscurtis]

Well.... they tell us full time Yuma Arizona residents that we have the fantastic infrastructure because of the explosion of winter visitors

 

[jimmymc]

I definitely saw some of this in Seoul. Historic streets that are still filled with private homes were basically being used as phot sets by hundreds of loud tourists. I can see that being terrible if the house has been in your family for decades.

 

[kanne323]

My overall assessment is that tourism is a positive thing. It brings in revenue and creates jobs. Paris has so much history and so many iconic landmarks that should be accessible to anyone who wants to see them. However, tourists need to behave. Be respectful and responsible when visiting another city or country. Act like an adult. Be polite. Don't throw your trash on the ground. Treat restaurant staff, shopkeepers and attraction workers with respect, kindness and patience. Plan ahead, do your research and buy your tickets ahead of time so you're not that person ranting at the Lourve entrance because all the entry times for the day are full (yeah, we saw that happen). Be flexible.

This. I live in a very small but very touristy town. I feel for the Parisian locals, though they experience this on a whole different level. It's entirely possible to hold conflicting truths at once- that you are grateful for the tourist money, AND really frustrated with the overcrowding and some tourist behavior. It's hard to be a local in a heavily visited area. We know the tourist income is important. And it's really cool to see my town change completely from June-August. There's a completely different vibe in the summer and the energy is generally welcomed. But now it takes 45-60 minutes to get home from work instead of 15. The grocery store runs out of certain produce, chicken, water, etc. regularly. Families shop en masse and block the aisles. Fender benders are soooo common because people aren't paying attention to the driving. I don't ever go to my favorite coffee shop in the summer- the lines are too long and it takes forever. That said, I can understand Parisians being more frustrated as they don't have a short tourist season- they entertain way more tourists all year.

The one thing I'll add to your list of good tourist behavior is really, truly understand that where you are visiting is an actual lived-in town or city that has locals. I'm surprised by the amount of people who are surprised that we actually live here and conduct our day to day lives here. Not everyone you see walking around is here on vacation. Don't ever say to a random stranger, "Smile, you're on vacation!" And please don't ask me where to eat; the summer restaurants aren't for the locals. We can't find parking. Except this year... which is sad to watch.

And I will say conversely- it really does nothing for the locals to be rude to tourists without provocation. Yes, many days in the summer I mutter under my breath about the license plates from away and how badly the tourists are driving as I try to get to and from work. But I'm still going to smile and give some grace understanding that they don't necessarily know where they're going or the traffic flow of a problematic intersection. And I'm going to soak in the high energy and happiness I get to witness on the rare times I'll wander through the town square this time of year. But again, I can see how it would be different in a place like Paris, where the tourists are not limited to a short season.

 

[tcufrog]

We went to Spain this summer but avoided the coast and Barcelona because of the crowds. The places we went to weren't crowded with tourists and the locals were nice and friendly. We want to go back during the off season once we're empty nesters.

According to our local Visitor's Bureau, our city earned $3.5 billion from tourism last year and tourism was responsible for more than 30,000 jobs. Luckily, tourism is concentrated in certain parts of town away from most of the residential areas. Air BnBs aren't really a big problem here. Homes near the university being torn down and replaced with private college housing is a much bigger problem.

 

[barkley]

I grew up in what has become an over touristed destination-napa ca. it was one thing when it was rather low-key and tourists came to visit the area but it morphed into something entirely different when 'the powers that be' decided to focus everything on tourism. we had generations of families that lived there, worked there, raised their kids. you went to school with kids the same last name as the names you saw in your parents yearbooks, on grandparents school pictures. went to the same family owned businesses that passed down generation to generation....but when the focus so heavily shifted to tourism it drove up taxes and many of the old buisnesses went under. locals encountered such traffic trying to access basics that they would drive far out of town further shuttering local buisness. many of the traditional employers left the area and while it could be argued that the tourism industry brought in MANY more jobs-those are low paying minimum wage jobs that don't afford the ability to live there so the majority of the workers commute from outlying lower cost of living areas.

On the other hand, tourism is obviously thriving in Paris, which is financially beneficial for the city. The industry creates tons of jobs for residents.

What happens with using them in big touristy places is they take actual housing away from locals or they cause the pricing demand for a particular unit or building that it becomes unaffordable thus driving the locals away.

this is the big issue I saw and know people grappling with to this day. much of what had been traditional reasonably priced rental housing was transformed into much more costly housing. there was a time in the 70's and 80's when because a wealth of old victorian homes had sat neglected for decades the city decided to change some zoning to multi-unit to encourage sprucing those old painted ladies up. they figured it would benefit the rental housing market as well. it did-many of those houses could be transformed into 8-10 individual nicely sized apartments with little to no negative impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. those places now? b&b's that have taken the apartments and chopped them into upwards of 20 units and flood the neighborhoods with traffic and people battling for parking. the drive for tourism has extended to more zoning changes such that the privately owned mortuary in the heart of downtown that served families for generations was closed and the new owners lobbied for zoning exemptions such that they now operate a b&b. the old visitation rooms? bedrooms. the crematorium room? the walls were knocked out and where the 'ovens' sat now features an outdoor dining room with a BBQ feature and pizza ovens

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

One of my aunties friends lives in a "tourist" town in the south west of Ireland. She has lived there since the early 1980's and has seen the town change so much.

You can Google it, Dingle Co Kerry. It is a very old fishing village located in a natural harbour. For generations the local industry was fishing, the boats went out to the Atlantic and came back with all sorts of fish which were then sold in the town market. They would supply the hotels and restaurants in many parts of Ireland.

The town always had tourists as in the 1980's a wild male dolphin lived in the bay. In 1984 the local fishermen started seeing him on a regular basis and he would follow the boats in and out of the harbour.

But in 2014 Irish Tourism created The Wild Atlantic Way promotional campaign. This is a road trip route North / South along the west coast of Ireland.

Dingle is one of the towns on The Wild Atlantic Way road trip route. Around the same time AirBnB became popular. These two things have completely changed Dingle town.

The over tourism in the summer is insane. There are so many tourist cars doing the road trip route that the local authorities have to put in traffic and parking restrictions. This hugely impacts the locals. My aunties friend who is 80 had to buy a scooter as in the summer she cant park her car outside the Church or grocery store. I visited her in March and I have a standing invitation to visit at any time , except from the end of April to the middle of September, as the town is too crowded to do anything.

She told me that now most of the locals have moved out of the town. Families who for generations had shops, restaurants, pubs and lived above their commercial premises now all live outside the town and commute in for work. The family homes above the commercial premises are now all AirBnB.

In the summer the tourists are in all the AirBnB's above the commercial premises.

The town fish market closed, as the boats are not going out to fish any more. In the summer all the former fishing boats are full of tourists having a tour of the bay. A boat which would have generated fishing revenue for a crew is now just manned by one or two people.

But in the winter there are no tourists.

All the AirBnbs above the commercial premises are empty, which means there are no people living in the town. As a result there is not enough local economy to sustain many shops, pubs and restaurants so they close.

The fishing boats which used to fish all year round are now just moored in the harbour in the winter.

The local people have to find other work during the winter where as before the over tourism, there was a enough of a balance to sustain a year round local economy.

So yes the locals make money from tourists but the local economy has been totally changed and the quality of life for those who live there year round is severely impacted in all sorts of ways.