[squozzer]

I appreciate Rick Steves and always enjoyed his shows.

But reading recent posts on HN about how tourists are ruining Europe (and other places) makes me wonder if his message has become obsolete.

After all, air travel contributes to climate change. And I for one do not relish jumping on the QM2 - which surely burns fossil fuels - to spend two weeks (one week each way) traversing the Atlantic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary_2

Cheap airfares contribute to overtourism. Just ask Dubrovnik.

AirBnB has priced locals out of their own housing markets. Just ask Venice.

That said, I hope he continues doing his thing.

[reidjs]

Perhaps ruining specific parts of Europe, but I think it’s unfair to say tourists have ever ruined an entire country or even city. Usually there’s just small easily avoidable areas if you don’t want to deal with crowds and overpriced food. That said I will never travel to Rome, the Bahamas, or Paris unless forced.

[Mediterraneo10]

> Usually there’s just small easily avoidable areas if you don’t want to deal with crowds

I recently visited Madrid, a city I lived in nearly 20 years ago. What struck me was not just the suffocating crowds of tourists in the very center of the city compared to back then. I also found that what used to be quiet residential neighborhoods (after all, they lack any particular sights) now had a distinct amount of tourists walking around with suitcases or backpacks – I assumed that AirBnB was now spreading tourists throughout the whole city.

[magduf]

For the ones in local neighborhoods, as long as they're not overcrowding the place, or committing crimes or something, you have to remember that all those tourists are pumping money into the local economy. They're eating food at the local eateries, they're paying for transport (probably helping fund the local public transit), they're giving money to local homeowners who then spend at least some of it locally and hopefully pay some extra taxes, etc. I fail to see how this is a problem, unless it's just too many of them of course.

[magduf]

>AirBnB has priced locals out of their own housing markets. Just ask Venice.

AirBnB can be good and bad. I used AirBnB in Germany last year because the hotel rates in Nuremberg were ridiculous because it was tourist season; I stayed at a private home, in an extra bedroom that used to be their kid's room (now moved out). It was a great experience: I saved a bunch of money, I got to see a small town outside the main city that I otherwise wouldn't have seen (not really much to see there, but it was good seeing someplace "normal" that tourists never see), and I got to talk to the homeowner with his broken English and my broken German. I wouldn't have had an experience like that in a hotel, and there was no negative effect on the housing for locals since I was only renting an unused bedroom, not a whole house. This, to me, is what AirBnB is really supposed to be about.

[Mediterraneo10]

The vast majority of AirBnB listings now are managed properties. You can still find a family renting out a spare room, but that is gradually disappearing and ever less what AirBnB is about.