Global travel erases places we love

Venice is drowning — not just in rising waters but also in tourists.

- RICHARD FLORIDA CARLO RATTI

The city is charging a day-tripper fee and has banned large tour groups and loudspeakers in an effort to curb the crush. Barcelona residents march with squirt guns and "Tourists go home" signs to protest rising rents and crowds. Amsterdam is moving to cap and eventually ban oceangoing cruise ships to reduce pollution and visitor pressure.What began in Europe is now increasingly visible in the United States. In New York, once bohemian neighbourhoods like the West Village and SoHo are now so overrun on weekends that tourists stand in long lines outside global designer flagships and big chain stores, then crowd the sidewalks to photograph their shopping bags against branded facades that could be anywhere.

More than a half century ago the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur warned of a world where "the same bad movie, the same slot machines, the same plastic or aluminium atrocities" would spread across cultures. His fears resonate today as tourism-driven economies push cities to stage their distinctiveness, overlaying local life with standardised, tourist-facing layers.

This is the paradox of overtourism: The more people seek out distinctive places, the more they invite standardised, visitorfriendly layers to grow on top of them. But how deep does that homogenisation really go? Does it erase local ways of living or mostly reshape what visitors see?