Crowding Out the Locals: Are Weekend Trips Ruining Cities?

Many tourists try to squeeze as many possible experiences as possible into a few days, and quick weekend jaunts are common. Communities and businesses target visitors with sporting events and festivals; less savory are pub crawls and binge-drinking activities. “Tourists are conquerors who disguise themselves as friends, which often makes them difficult to deal with, no matter how much money they spend,” write Dinah Deckstein and Alexander Kühn for Spiegel International. “Ever since short trips to nearby or faraway cities have become a national pastime, city dwellers around the globe have complained about the growing inhospitality of their cities.” The writers suggest that additional low-cost accommodations like Airbnb have contributed to the growth in weekend travel around the globe, and add that cities lose their charm as souvenir shops and bars supplant bakeries and other favorite businesses that serve locals. As once warned by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, tourists destroy the local and individual cultures they seek. Activists organize protests and seek to limit rentals – YaleGlobal