Saturday Essay: I Hate Tourists

Except when I am one

Half my life I live in a tourist town, a seaside resort on the Kent Coast. Very near to me a local council, Thanet, is proposing a ‘tourist tax’ on visitors to places like Margate and Broadstairs. In this, they are following the example of authorities in Venice, Florence and Lisbon in trying to prevent ‘overtourism’

. Venice, for example, is so overwhelmed by the number of visitors that it has introduced an entrance fee ranging from €3 to €10 to access the city and its islands. To manage the crowds, Greece has implemented a time-slot system for visitors to the Acropolis One beach in Eraclea has even banned the building of sandcastles — maximum fine €250 — because they’re considered “unnecessary obstructions.”.The World Tourism Organization predicts that by the end of this decade, the flow of international tourists will surpass an astounding two billion.