Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

Re:Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses by the_af on Saturday July 12, 2025 @11:32PM (#44547265)

Ok, I can get that. I've been to Florence and it does feel artificial to me. And it's indeed overcrowded with peddlers selling crap. But it's not the only city in Italy, and I don't particularly like it. Italy as a whole is an amazing country and a wonderful place to do tourism and sightseeing.

What I could do without is the sanctimonious attitude of "tourism is bad unless you do it exactly like I tell you to, which also happens to be a way that 90% of the middle class that can afford traveling cannot do, but hey, I can, and I've lived near many tourist hotspots anyway [sic], so I guess it sucks to be you!".

The backpacker that can go do volunteer work or rock climbing or living among the locals for 6 months is a tiny minority of those that can travel; saying it's the only valid way of traveling abroad is gatekeeping, plain and simple.

You can be a tourist and simply not be obnoxious, but apparently that's not enough for some people.

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Re:Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses by yupitsme123 on Sunday July 13, 2025 @02:00AM (#44547871)

The moralizing aspect comes in when we admit that we all made Florence (and Rome and Venice) the way they are, and that this is the inevitable end of any tourist destination.

Therefore an alternative is needed, that lets us visit a place without destroying it and stealing it from the locals. I think that's what was being proposed.

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