How are Brits perceived abroad?

I think tourists from any nation are welcome anywhere if they are courteous and respectful of the locals and the environment. It's all a form of trade, after all, which spreads wealth. However, there is a huge shortage of housing for locals in all resorts - not just islands and beaches but places like the Lake District too. Unless that's fixed, there will be a shortage of staff in hotels, restaurants and so on to service all he tourists so there needs to be some political consensus and policy there.

As of thr tourists, nobody should parade about in beachware to go to the shops, supermarkets restaurants, cafés and tourist sites. Bikinis, cozzies and trunks are fine on the beach but not elsewhere. Whether or not they are believers, if visiting churches, cathedrals, mosques and synagogues, men should have their torso covered and wear shorts to their knees or trousers and women need to cover their arms and also their legs to the knee or risk offending both locals and clergy. I've been to churches in Italy where they have large scarves at the entrance to cover women.

As for drunkeness and drug intoxication, I wouldn't accept those at home, let alone from people just visiting to relax. They show a total lack of respect and consideration for others.

 

The population of Cumbria has not grown of any significance though, from 2001 to 2021 the population has only grown between 9-12k. Most of the constituencies in Cumbria have a higher median age than the national average, the median age for the south lakes in the 2021 census was 51 years old. Affordable housing will not address the shortage of staff in hotels etc etc in the lake district. We used to have a shop in Keswick, fruit and veg, plus also a florist, the reason we sold up was due to struggling with recruitment and we are going back 30+ years. The shop we had is now a charity shop, we used to supply George Firn which was a hardware shop in Keswick, again closed and is now Blacks or some other outdoor clothes shop. The shops in Keswick and the lake district have changed, they are not shops for the locals but for tourists, we call Windermere the Blackpool of the Lakes.

I am based on the west coast of Cumbria, the population of our parish was 380 in 2001, in 2021 it was 535. Of those 535 now living in the parish 266 are in the 60+ age group, the increase in population was down to retirees moving into the parish. It's the same in most rural areas, Cornwall has seen the population of the under 29 year olds increase by 3,459 from 2011 to 2021, yet in the 65+ age group, the population increased by 28,959. I doubt very much affordable homes will fix a staff shortage, it certainly won't in our area.

It was not long ago there was uproar in our area as they were talking about closing the local maternity ward at the hospital and have just a mobile ambulance. I understood the locals point of view, but I also seen the point of the NHS, live birth numbers have been in decline for a number of decades now, yet the resources needed to treat the elderly has seen a sharp rise.

 

Absolutely agree! Here in France, the bar and restaurant trade is in crisis because people simply don't want to put in the long hours and hard work involved. As for hotels, the rise and rise of AirB'n'B and numbers of camping cars is a huge factor.

 

In the Vendée, the economy is thriving with just about the lowest unemployment rate in France. People move her to work but also to retire. The latter group tend to have good pensions and a wealth pot from selling their home elsewhere. That, plus a shortage, has pushed up house prices to the point where young people just can't afford them and it's pretty hopeless for the seasonal workers.

There is now talk of increased taxation for second home which are occupied only part-time and controls on Air B&B. Brits who own second homes here aren't that common but Brexit means they can only come here for 180 days a year and not all at once. I suspect that may change their attitudes to France and vice versa.

 

You don't have to go as far as Koh Samui to see the effects of tourism. Back in the late '70s I went to Corfu for the first time and stayed in a beautifully peaceful and laid back village in the south of the island. That village was Kavos which, in the space of about 10 years, was converted into party central for the 18-30s. I can't imagine that change was welcomed by the vast majority of the population, but a few got rich!

 

Don't forget, there has been a huge increase in world population, so many places in Britain, which used to be quiet, The Lakes and Cornwall spring to mind, are now heaving.

 

But... But.... They're contributing to the local economy. That makes them heroes doesn't it?

At least that's the standard theme I see in discussions about all our local car parks and seafront facing roads being chock full of campervans these days, with locals unable to get parked, and massive delays as people try to inch their way through main roads that should have a lane in each direction but don't, because the seaward side is just full. It's all good though. We all love it. Because they're contributing to the local economy. I'm not sure how many of us see any benefit from that but we all must be, because someone said so.

Most of the hotels round here have either closed down in recent years or are in a pretty run down state. Most of the older pubs have closed. There's a few trendy micro pubs now but some of them fell by the wayside. But the local economy is booming, thanks to all the campervans parking all along the seafront.

 

I agree, but what was air passenger numbers back in the late 70's, the likes of Ryanair, Easy jet had not even been founded. I flew with Emirates on my first trip to Thailand 1999, the likes of Qatar where not even flying into the UK back then and Etihad was not founded till 2003. When they started operating the fares to the middle east and beyond dropped dramatically.

In 1980 air passenger numbers were about 800 million, by 2010 that had increased to 2.5 billion. If it was not for Covid, air passenger numbers would be already exceeding 5 billion. For there to be over tourism, the infrastructure needs to be there. Governments and local authorities have allowed the expansion of airports and passed planning for more and bigger hotels to be built. If over tourism is an issue, then governments, local authorities and tour operators need to shoulder most of the blame.

 

Beautiful places get trashed partly because, it seems to me, average IQ has dropped in recent years.

I was reading a news article about how Binnibecca Vel on Minorca has been overrun. Apparently it started when some social media influencer posted pics and described it as the Mikanos of Spain. All her disciples then descended en masse, keen to show the world how they'd been to this exotic place their social media deity had visited.

Quite apart from the fact that the locals weren't ready for a mass influx, or that the visitors apparently entered people's private properties to take selfies, there's a detail that none of them seem to have stopped to consider. I've passed through Binnibecca Vel while holidaying on Minorca. Sure it's pretty, as far as modern purpose built housing estates can be when planning regulations demand that the brand new development is not too far removed from the local character of the area, but that's all it is, a housing estate. If it had been the UK it would have been like walking into a newish Taylor Wimpy estate.

 

The problems with recruitment into the hospitality sector were greatly increased by Covid. Not directly, but by the way other sectors were allowed to reopen before hospitality. As a result, those desperate for work found it in the retail and supermarket sectors. They also realised that those areas required less working of antisocial hours. In the UK the exodus of EU workers made matters worse as they were prepared to work those hours as their main interest was in earning money (not criticising that) with specific aims in mind.

 

'Influencers' need to be taken out an shot (metaphorically speaking) and those gullible enough to buy into their claptrap should go with them.

 

Why only metaphorically?

 

Playing safe incase the 'Thought Police' come after me for inciting something or other.

 

OR, shoot an estate agent today, make someone happy.......remember that one??