What's it like to live with tourists?

[Marilyn]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Marielle</div><div class="ubbcode-body">a FFF drag when you are in a rush and have to move thru a wave of shuffling crowds of them!!!

need a loud bell on your bike cos they're wandering all over the bike path looking up at the buildings.....

watch out!! there´s tourists (stoned ) on bikes about!!

I could go on.... </div></div>

Yep, try getting down Elvis Presley BLVD&gt; when this going on....NOT

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[Seveen]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

i travel to get the cultural vibrations of the place i am visiting and steer clear of most tour buses and sometimes even other tourists

there are some places i've taken off my list due to the lack of cultural integrity - hawaii and the bahamas (at first thought)

it never ceases to amaze me - the complaints some tourists have when visiting new places - they want food like home, housing like home, the locals to speak english

in kenya i met tourists that seemed amazed at all the black people (this happens in jamaica too)- in the UK i saw folks that wanted ice tea

i have even had confrontations with tourists that treat and talk to the locals like slaves

some folks need to stay home


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="font-style: italic">What's it like to live with tourists?As part of a new two-part documentary series, Living With Tourists, Ros Atkins travelled back to the three places where he grew up, to explore the relationship between tourist and host</span>

When I started making the Living With Tourists series for the World Have Your Say programme on BBC World Service, I wanted to understand two things: whether mass tourism is inherently a threat to local culture, and why different people and places react so differently to the experience of hosting tourists.

I spent most of my childhood in Cornwall, but my Dad's work as a fisherman also took us to the Bahamas, and on two occasions, to Trinidad and Tobago. Watching these three places evolve as their tourist industries grew ever bigger prompted me to make the programmes.

The most simple way of measuring tourism's impact anywhere in the world, is that more visitors, mean more jobs and more money spent. But the relationship between visitor and host is rarely that simple.

One crab fisherman in Cadgwith, on Cornwall's Lizard peninsula, told me that there are now so many tourists that it's, &quot;almost changed the place to a point where it isn't the same place&quot;. Another woman who lives near the village where I grew up, told me she feels that Cornwall's way of life is being &quot;obliterated&quot;.

To many, Cornish tourism sees the locals as merely a source of labour, and at worst threatens who they are and how they live.

<span style="font-weight: bold">But if we go back 35 years to the Bahamas, culture and tourism could not have been more closely intertwined.</span> The tourist board started paying the country's biggest calypso stars to travel abroad to encourage people to visit. One of the best known of these stars was King Eric (and his Knights). When I met up with King Eric in the building that was once his club, the stardust had lost a little of it its sparkle, but his belief in the idea that Bahamian culture must support tourism remained.

&quot;I had an obligation to the part I could play. I knew where my power was,&quot; he said as his partner served me rice and beans. Did he feel compromised, touring the world singing songs like Island in the Sun, that explicitly encourage visitors? &quot;Not at all. It was my duty to the Bahamas.&quot;

A couple of months ago, my dad dug out a box of treasures that we'd kept from our time living in Nassau. One was a guide to Nassau, and inside was an advert inviting the tourist to visit King Eric's club to hear &quot;his native band&quot;. And people did, in their droves. The turn-of-phrase may jar, but this was culture feeding tourism feeding culture. And if you ask musicians plying their trade in the Bahamas today, they all celebrate how local music flourished because it worked with the tourist industry.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Now though, Bahamian tourism focusses primarily on giving Americans what they want – and Bahamian culture isn't on that list.</span> Something the culture minister Charles Maynard acknowledged when I spoke to him.

&quot;<span style="font-weight: bold">One of the mistakes we made</span>,&quot; he told me from an office with a Junkanoo parade costume on the wall,&quot; is that we watered down our product too much. <span style="font-weight: bold">We should have tried to stick more closely to what was culturally ours, and sell that to the tourists, rather than making sure that the Burger Kings and the McDonald's were readily available.&quot;</span>

But to what extent do you give tourists what they want? Clearly the Bahamas decided that American bars and restaurants, along with its idyllic beaches, were the order of the day. It worked in the short term, but it's now busy trying to put culture back into the &quot;offer&quot;.

That's a long way off though. Hours before the extraordinary Junkanoo parade in the early hours of New Year's Day, I couldn't find any signs telling visitors what was about to happen. A visit to the Bahamian tourism website also provided very little information. When I asked tourists just metres from what was about to become the parade route, the majority didn't even know that it was taking place. This for an event which I'd rate as one of the most exhilarating and euphoric experiences of my life. You can't help but wonder if this most tourist-friendly of countries is keeping the jewel in its cultural crown away from the pressures that tourism brings.


I suspect though, that it's more to do with a belief that American tourists in Nassau just aren't interested.

While in Cornwall I travelled to Land's End. With its clothes and curio shops, restaurant and hotel, for many years it symbolised the battle for control of Cornish tourism. When I visited, it was hosting a major Dr Who exhibition. Some people find it offensive that such a dramatic natural landscape should need something &quot;extra&quot; to keep tourists entertained. Others point to the local jobs provided, the full car park and the happy families.

Philippa Kinden Brand is the marketing manager for Land's End, and was forthright in her defence. Sitting on a bench with the churning sea just behind her and a three storey-high Dalek to the right, she argued that, &quot;We are a private company, we have to generate profit. We got approached and asked if we'd like to have the [Dr. Who] exhibition here ... and we jumped at the chance. At this time of year, especially, the family market's here and children want to be entertained.&quot;

And she was right. I spent 30 minutes asking visitors what they thought of the Dr Who attraction, and every single person said they were going to check it out.

So if a tourist wants something, should they be given it?

<span style="font-weight: bold">In Trinidad indifference to tourists has existed since the 1960s and independence</span>. As one local sitting on the glorious Maracas beach on the island's north coast told me: &quot;<span style="font-weight: bold">We're not going be number two in our own country&quot;. He went on to explain that &quot;Trinis&quot; will do exactly as they please, and if the visitor wants to come along then fine, but they should expect ambivalence, and certainly not the servility which Bahamians promise.</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">What I've found while making this series is that if tourism ends up having more power than the people and place playing host, the result is resentment, and often an erosion of identity</span>. Trinis and Bahamians do things very differently but they certainly feel more in control of their tourism industry than the Cornish, and this in turn appears to mean they are more at ease with it.

But one gripe existed everywhere. People in Cornwall, the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago told me that they want tourists to take more interest in their culture and way of life. I couldn't help but wonder how realistic that idea is when there's easier money in family attractions, bars and beaches.

<span style="font-weight: bold">I also met a lot of holiday-makers who scoffed at the idea that they should feel obliged to pay attention to the people and places around them. If tourists are spending their money, that's enough, several people told me.</span>

All three places of my childhood now seem convinced that culture needs to be built into the heart of the tourist industry. Whether they can make it pay, and whether fragile traditions can survive in the glare of mass tourism remains keenly debated.

But surely tourism in the 21st century must mean building an industry around what exists, and not just what tourists want. The alternative is using countries and counties as little more than venues, and hostility is guaranteed. I wouldn't have thought that is in anyone's interests.

There's a lot more besides that I could mention from the making of this series, but on worldhaveyoursay.com, we always say that a blog post should be the opening of a discussion rather than a speech. So I'll leave it there, but will happily chip in other examples as your comments come in.

• <span style="font-style: italic">Ros Atkins is the presenter of World Have Your Say on BBC World Service. Part One of Living With Tourists broadcasts at 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 8pm on Wednesday 7 April on BBC World Service. Part Two broadcasts at the same times the following week. You can also listen back to both programmes after transmission at bbcworldservice.com. World Have Your Say broadcasts at 6pm weekdays on the BBC World Service.</span>
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[Peasie]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Seveen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">there are some places i've taken off my list due to the lack of cultural integrity - hawaii and the bahamas (at first thought)</div></div>
You're missing out on a lot of culture if you avoid these two places. As with all tourist traps, you have to get off the beaten path - but you already know that .

Hawaii is more than Waikiki and The Bahamas is more than Freeport or Nassau.

[loops]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

so i can't get an iced tea in the UK? hrmphhhhhhhhh....

[loops]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

so would it be a huge cultural faux pas to ask for a cup of hot tea and a glass of ice????

[Seveen]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Peasie</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Seveen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">there are some places i've taken off my list due to the lack of cultural integrity - hawaii and the bahamas (at first thought)</div></div>
You're missing out on a lot of culture if you avoid these two places. As with all tourist traps, you have to get off the beaten path - but you already know that .

Hawaii is more than Waikiki and The Bahamas is more than Freeport or Nassau. </div></div>

been to every island in hawaii - more than once - hawaiians only make up 12% of the population and a lot of them are on welfare

and i'd rather go to miami than the bahamas (used to own a home there with ex-2)

just my humble opinion

[Seveen]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: loops</div><div class="ubbcode-body">so would it be a huge cultural faux pas to ask for a cup of hot tea and a glass of ice????
</div></div>

tea time and preparing tea is quite a ritual there - we even stopped work to have tea - the &quot;tea lady&quot; was an employee

of course you can probably get ice tea - but it's kinda like getting curry goat and rice and peas

[kia027]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">some folks need to stay home</div></div>

that is true to a certain degree unless they take the time to actually explore maybe the tourist will learn something other than the end of the trip

I remember one time hearing two young people talking about how Jamaica was on Central time

[Marilyn]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: loops</div><div class="ubbcode-body">so i can't get an iced tea in the UK? hrmphhhhhhhhh.... </div></div>When my Mom went to Europe (which I am putting off for my old age), she said asking for an ice cube was like saying &quot;say, hand me that knife so I can cut your mother's throat.&quot;

[Marilyn]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kia</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">some folks need to stay home</div></div>

that is true to a certain degree unless they take the time to actually explore maybe the tourist will learn something other than the end of the trip

I remember one time hearing two young people talking about how Jamaica was on Central time </div></div> would you believe I heard this just this past trip as well.

[Marilyn]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

Front page of this morning's paper...they finally sold the pyramid
(used to be the sports arena for the Grizzles and University of Memphis) to Bass Pro shops. Now we will have the world's largest bait and tackle shop complete with international fishing competitions....now I will be over run with yahooos with fishing lines



and
#2

They want to use Memphis to shoot a remake of FOOTLOOSE no less



You think YOU got tourist woes???

[DiamondDave]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

[loops]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

and WHAT pray tell is the matter with yahoos with fishing lines? you'd rather they packed weapons?

just cause you don't dweet....don't make it a bad thing.

[Q3210]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Seveen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">define &quot;tourist&quot; - most of us are no longer where we started out </div></div>

u mean as opposed to migration, slavery , human trafficking...surely u jest because i would tink u know di nuances not to mention di definition of wat u ask... </div></div>

You and Seveen I might say are Jamaicans once having set foot and wing on the tarmac at Donald Sangster, transmigratory geese for many years past and hopefully many more to come.

[Q3210]

Re: What's it like to live with tourists?

You too Loops, aint it.