Tourists in your hometown

[Jan Mattys]

duoble post sorry

[Jan Mattys]

Hahahahaha!
Way to go champ! You just lost every credibility with a single sentence in the middle of an overall well thought out post!

By the way, I wouldn't agree anyway, just because a place relies on tourism doesn't mean that it has to be fine with rude tourists.
It's called having dignity.

That was obviously an hyperbole by my part. I thought it was pretty self evident.

Anyway, what I meant stands: Venice is more or less sustained by tourism. Hell, half of Italy is. Complaining for the (of course annoying, but ca va sans dire...) occasional rude tourist is forgetting how important tourism in itself is.

(and by the way, I've been around the world and italian tourists are some of the worst kinnd you can ever find... so it's pretty ironic that we complain when others are half as obnoxious as we are when we visit other countries...)

Also, to respond to another poster: OF COURSE there are more important things than money. But try to live in Venice without the cashflow brought by tourism.

I have nothing against Venice, btw. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. But seriously, to ignore the fact that almost everything runs on tourism is just foolish.

[pffh]

I don't mind tourists (except when they ask stupid questions like "Where are the polar bears?" or "Why are the police stopping us from hiking up an erupting volcano" or "Why are the police stopping us from driving over this mountain road in our little rented prius in the middle of the winter when even people in specially modified jeeps aren't even using it because of the bloody blizzard?") but for the love of something when you visit Reykjavík in the middle of the summer do not walk around it wearing full glacial hiking gear. It´s over 15-25°C outside and it's a modern city! You don't need spiked shoes, three layers of wool and a jacket.

[Howler Dagger]

People assume tourists are insane. In fact, the so-called insane ones are "normal" tourists. Trust me, where I live (points at location), I know how insane tourists acts.

[ForzaFiori]

We don't get many tourists here, but we get something WAY worse. The southeast is one of the top retirement spots in the nation, AND Clemson is a college town. Especially during the school year, the population is probably at least 50% people who don't actually LIVE in Clemson.

The worst of it? after South Carolina (obviously), New Jersey and Massachusetts are the top to states sending students to Clemson. I'm not sure what it is about these places, but the people you export are freaking horrid. The vast majority spend all day complaining about how it's not like home. OF COURSE ITS NOT! If you wanted to live in Boston, or Princeton, NYC, then more power to you. But don't flood my perfect, small, southern town, and complain that we don't have "frappes", whatever those are, or that it's too hot, or too hilly, or the thousands of other things. If you don't like it, GO TO COLLEGE AND RETIRE SOMEWHERE ELSE! It's not like Clemson is some uber academic school, or incredibly cheap.

And don't even get me started on the accents. Even the few yankees that come here and aren't annoying grate on my ears so much that I want to gag them. I know it's not your fault, but it's still just... grating and nasally and ugh.

[JCarter426]

But don't flood my perfect, small, southern town, and complain that we don't have "frappes", whatever those are

It's a milkshake; milkshakes here are milkshakes without ice cream. I think. Personally, I'd rather just have ice cream than drink it and pretend it's milk.

Oh, and if anyone told you they're from Boston, they're probably lying. I'm not saying people from Boston aren't horrid, just that people from Massachusetts are liars. They say they're from Boston because no one's heard of wherever the hell they're really from.

Especially if they're complaining about it being hilly. Boston is like 60% hill, and that's only because they used the other 40% as landfill.

[Elemental]

We don't seem to have a tourist problem in Brisbane.
Sure, we have tourists, but they're usually Japanese and very polite, and I've never been bothered by them.
And anyway, after they've come to look at the old buildings in the city, they usually go to the beach.
Admittedly, I'm rarely in the CBD and I never go to the beach, so I would have very few interactions with tourists anyway.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

I grew up in a little tourist town, Durango, CO. We had the Durango-Silverton train in the spring, summer and fall (and a few special winter runs), hunting in the fall, skiing in the winter, motorcycle rallies and art... stuff... in the spring.

The only thing that bugged me was people wanting to know the entire history of everything, everywhere down in the Historical District.

Look, it's a hotel, built by General Straiter when he got out of the Army after the Civil War. I don't know who all stayed there, and I really don't care. Also, the train always has the right of way. It will squash you. Flat. Get out of the way.

Unfortunately, now Durango is the most expensive town in Colorado, worse than Vail or Aspen. So there is no going home for me anymore. At least for the long term.

[SweetLikeLemons]

The only tourism we really get up here is the Chinese and Japanese, due to the belief that concieving under the northern lights empowers their children.

Yes.

I've heard that that was popularized, if not entirely made up, by an episode of Northern Exposure. I think it is more just a general fascination with the aurora. Although, I did read an article once that claimed the belief was catching on in Japan because of the tv episode. Fairbanks, AK definitely sees an influx of Japanese tourists in the winter, but I was usually more bemused by their behavior than annoyed by it. They took pictures of the strangest things, like the grocery store, but they were always very polite and respectful, so no complaints there.

The tourists who annoyed me in Alaska were the RV tours. RVs are annoying enough to begin with, but huge convoys of people in rented RVs that they do not know how to drive are the worst. They would take up both lanes of the highway because all the ones going four MPH under the speed limit would just have to pass the ones going five under. Getting stuck behind them on my way to work always made my blood boil. Grr.

[Juggling Goth]

One of my city's claims to fame is the "more canals than Venice" thing. But they're not pretty canals. They're full of condoms, cans of special brew, shopping trolleys and dead bikes. Also the geese are seriously territorial in springtime; I had one launch herself at my head three times because her stupid babies ran at my bike after I'd swerved, stopped, and dismounted to avoid them. (That was probably a mistake. I should probably have just pedalled off as fast as I could. I've had them chase me biting my ankles while I was jogging before, too.) Canada geese are surprisingly large and frightening when they're on a kamikaze mission for your face. The towpath in springtime is like a survival horror video game where you have no ammo and all you can do is run the gauntlet of hissing, flapping monsters.

Our major exports were the industrial revolution and heavy metal. We had a (fittingly) hideous fiberglass statue to the former, but (equally fittingly) someone set it on fire. And, well, we shipped Ozzy off to America to be in a reality TV show. Oh, and our manufacturing industry is now basically guns and jewellery, so if you have gang warfare or human rights violations, we're probably keeping it going.

*Shrug* So not so much with the widespread tourist problem.

[Kalmageddon]

One of my city's claims to fame is the "more canals than Venice" thing. But they're not pretty canals. They're full of condoms, cans of special brew, shopping trolleys and dead bikes. Also the geese are seriously territorial in springtime; I had one launch herself at my head three times because her stupid babies ran at my bike after I'd swerved, stopped, and dismounted to avoid them. (That was probably a mistake. I should probably have just pedalled off as fast as I could. I've had them chase me biting my ankles while I was jogging before, too.) Canada geese are surprisingly large and frightening when they're on a kamikaze mission for your face. The towpath in springtime is like a survival horror video game where you have no ammo and all you can do is run the gauntlet of hissing, flapping monsters.

You just made my day, one of the funniest mental images of this year!

[dehro]

it would have made a lot more sense (and still be believable) if you'd substituted goslings with hoodies...but it wouldn't have been half as funny

[Juggling Goth]

The only time in my life I've used my karate training was in blocking that goose from my face. She bounced off my jodan age uke, hit the floor, got up, and came back for two more attempts.

And it's not like she gave up at that point. I just grabbed my bike and ran.

She was fine, and her babies got to find out that their mom was badass. I was traumatised.

[The_Admiral]

I live in a city known for industry and ..... management. Tourist go the the capital which is right next to PJ.

[Manga Shoggoth]

And the next time you see a foreign tourist walking at a slow pace down the road while you're in a hurry, just try and remember that he's bringing money to your place.

Not bringing money into my place. At all. There is an awful lot of London, and comparitively little of it makes money from tourism. (If I recall correctly, Tourism is about 4% of the London economy, but concentrated in a failly small area).

If it were simply "a foreign tourist walking at a slow pace down the road while you're in a hurry" I wouldn't mind. There are plenty of people who walk slowly. Some of them even have sound medical reasons for doing so.

However, I am moving around during the rush hour. This is when most of the people who work in London are trying to get in or out. 20 years ago, British Rail used to refer to the rush hour as a daily operation 5 times bigger than d-day (possibly hyperbolie). Unless you are in it it is really impossible to describe.

And yet you have:

• A small knot of tourists gathering at the very top of an escalator. Dangerous enough at the best of times, but they do it in the middle of the rush hour.
• A gaggle of tourists taking pictures of Tower Bridge from London Bridge. This is at a time when the bridge is so flooded with people crossing in one direction that the people crossing in the other direction can barely get a single file against the side of the bridge.

And that's under normal conditions. I am really not going to enjoy the Olympics.

[Fredaintdead]

I live in Stoke, a city famous for its failing pottery industry (and amazingly, Motorhead)... the closest thing I am going to get to a tourist around here is the regulars at Alton Towers, or people who know that this is where Robbie Williams is from (who are few).
I'm originally from Wolverhampton... we don't have tourists in Wolverhampton. I imagine that A) there isn't anything there for them to see, B) I don't think Wolvo would receive them well if there was and C) If there WAS something to see in Wolvo, we'd have destroyed it by now. Because that is what we do to our city, we break it and then complain how it's always broken.

So yeah, I don't have to deal with tourists. I'm sure if they were being annoying they would annoy me, but annoying people are annoying no matter the reason they are in the country.

[Elemental]

And that's under normal conditions. I am really not going to enjoy the Olympics.

Now I feel guilty for looking forward to watching the gymnastics on television.

[Coidzor]

But don't flood my perfect, small, southern town, and complain that we don't have "frappes"

Eh? Is Clemson the only college town in the country to avoid getting a Starbucks?

[Traab]

Im lucky, I live in ct, which is fairly low on tourist attractions. We have a few things close by like madison square garden and beaches, and a couple big casinos, but they are far enough away from me that I dont have to deal with the bus tours, and close enough that if I want to go I can get there easily. (yes, I know madison square garden is in new york city, but its a fairly easy drive from my house, so is getting to a redsox game.) I honestly think im perfectly placed in that regard.

[dehro]

I was traumatised.

I feel for you... (no I don't.. it's still funny as hell)

[Manga Shoggoth]

Now I feel guilty for looking forward to watching the gymnastics on television.

No reason to be, unless you are watching it on London Bridge at 8:30am or 6:00pm.

Actually, I wouldn't put it past someone to hang a giant screen on Tower Bridge...

[Triscuitable]

I've heard about the tourists from Japan who visit the US, asking anyone they meet if they own a gun. You've heard what their reasoning is, I won't bother with that.

Point is, I met a Japanese tourist (my town is a sister city with a town in Japan), who asked me said question. Stereotypes be damned, I actually just got a rifle for Christmas . My question to him was the usual one Americans ask in turn: "Do you own a Samurai Sword?" Or something along those lines.

He did. I know he did, because in shock, he turned around, and walked away in mild frustration, leading his son and wife with him.

Best moment of my teenage life. Besides that debacle, however, we haven't gotten any visitors lately.

[Moff Chumley]

I live just up north of tourist country. If they're in Marin, they're not going anywhere that doesn't have a view of San Francisco, and frankly, those South Marin snobs deserve all the tourists on earth.

San Francisco tourists generally stay in the very north part of the city, in the financial district and pier areas, so that's nicely out of the way. But then you have the geniuses who think that no visit to San Francisco is complete without loitering in Castro or Mission or Haight. Haight is fine, it's a giant amusement park already, and the average Haight-dweller is even more obnoxious than most of the tourists.

Damn hippies.

But seriously, Mission has the best burritos in the city, the country, and quite possibly, the world. And tourists complain about how big they are. They're burritos, they should have enough calories to sustain a small village for a month. No, Chipotle does not make real burritos. Chipotle makes mockeries. A real burrito is more than a meal, it's an investment.

[GolemsVoice]

The town I'm currently studying in, Passau, gets a lot of tourists, especially old people. Many of them are German, though, so there isn't much of a language barrier, except the natural one between bavarians and the rest of Germany, as God intended it to be. (But seriously, I have seen conversations between students from Northern Germany and locals fail completely)

As a student, I don't have much to do with tourists except for the occasional one asking for the way, but the throngs of elderly tourists clog the main of the cities three roads, and the sidewalks are sometimes really small. For this, you have to understand that Passau is situated between two rivers, so there's not much room to go anywhere else. And damn, people, I have places to go!

[Need_A_Life]

Well, since the tourists in my hometown (or my childhood town) are people who live in hotels and walk to the station to get to somewhere interesting, it isn't much of a hassle here.

Other places, I've been asked to explain the local history of an area (strangest place: Residential area, which had been an industrial area 20 years prior. Before that? Nothing).

[Note: Long, ranting]
When I was in the Royal Guard (soldiers who protect the royal family and their properties) tourists didn't treat me like a guard, armed with live rounds who, while on duty, answered only to three people in the country (the Queen, my sergeant and the officer on duty). Instead, they treated me like a phone directory, a museum-piece and a guide.

Yes, I know the uniform hasn't changed (considerably, at least) for 250 years, but you don't get to be there if you can't reliably hit your target six out of seven times at distances more than double the area you're guarding.
Seems like people should give us some respect.

Oh, and we get to talk, make faces or tell people to GTFO. Guards, not lawn ornaments. No, I don't care what you saw in the movies, if you try to take something from us/plant something on us, we first tell you to stop.
If you persist, you get knocked into the ground and possibly arrested (depending on whether the sergeant takes pity on you and your newly-broken nose).

That came out... bitter.
Still, it was a fun gig. Not one-tenth as funny as stopping by, looking at the people on guard duty, smiling that it isn't you and then leaving.

[ForzaFiori]

Eh? Is Clemson the only college town in the country to avoid getting a Starbucks?

We have one, but it's pretty new (it's been there for maybe a year and a half), and not a whole lot of locals go to it. The chain is associated with all the people who have been constantly complaining that we don't have one for years (AKA, the northern/western students), and that makes you not really wanna be seen going there.

[Moff Chumley]

We have one, but it's pretty new (it's been there for maybe a year and a half), and not a whole lot of locals go to it. The chain is associated with all the people who have been constantly complaining that we don't have one for years (AKA, the northern/western students), and that makes you not really wanna be seen going there.

Emphasis mine.
May I submit for the record that suburban California kids can whine about literally anything? That is, the ones who never venture out of their suburbs. Once they start taking less for granted they tend to get better in that regard.

I think this is one of those topics where it's easy to just say, "oh, kids everywhere do that", but California is worse than usual, for some reason.

[An Enemy Spy]

We don't get many tourists here, but we get something WAY worse. The southeast is one of the top retirement spots in the nation, AND Clemson is a college town. Especially during the school year, the population is probably at least 50% people who don't actually LIVE in Clemson.

The worst of it? after South Carolina (obviously), New Jersey and Massachusetts are the top to states sending students to Clemson. I'm not sure what it is about these places, but the people you export are freaking horrid. The vast majority spend all day complaining about how it's not like home. OF COURSE ITS NOT! If you wanted to live in Boston, or Princeton, NYC, then more power to you. But don't flood my perfect, small, southern town, and complain that we don't have "frappes", whatever those are, or that it's too hot, or too hilly, or the thousands of other things. If you don't like it, GO TO COLLEGE AND RETIRE SOMEWHERE ELSE! It's not like Clemson is some uber academic school, or incredibly cheap.

And don't even get me started on the accents. Even the few yankees that come here and aren't annoying grate on my ears so much that I want to gag them. I know it's not your fault, but it's still just... grating and nasally and ugh.

"I'm glad nobody has an annoying accent where I live"- Everybody everywhere.

[Elemental]

You know... As an Australian, I am quite aware of the stereotypical Australian accent, yet no one I know sounds like that.
And whenever the stereotypical accent is on television it sounds so strange. I think it must be either faked or exaggerated.

[Knaight]

I've heard about the tourists from Japan who visit the US, asking anyone they meet if they own a gun. You've heard what their reasoning is, I won't bother with that.

Enough people do that this isn't unreasonable, at least in some parts of the country. Granted, if you are in San Francisco or something it probably isn't worth asking, but it isn't completely unreasonable. And I say this as someone in the US, who doesn't own a gun.