Sometimes I read here posts with disgust over visiting a place "with too many tourists" or "too touristy". Isn't that what we are doing, "touring"? If you are there visiting aren't you a tourist too?<BR><BR>If the people are there, there must be something there worth seeing or experiencing.<BR><BR>So, why is being with tourists so bad? You can still meet the public, it shouldn't stop you.<BR>

<BR>Speaking only for myself, I'm not opposed to being around tourists, per se. I just don't like being in places that are crowded with tourists. That's an important difference.<BR><BR>

Pilar I agree with you 100 %. When everything is said and done who really gives a flip....I am a tourist...so what???

Exactly!<BR>there is this snobbish way of thinking of oneself, as if the other people are not just the same. I guess some people need to think of themselves as better than others.

<BR>Is it "snobbish" for someone to say they don't want to go to a park, restaurant, shopping mall, or some other public place because it's too crowded?

dear xxx,<BR>not snobbish at all to want to avoid crowds.<BR>Although how does one go to any popular venue and have it not be crowded by only locals and not any tourists?<BR>It is snobbish though to say that one wants to avoid the "tourists", as if they are not a tourist themselves.<BR>the whole thing is silly.<BR>

<BR>I would say it is interesting, and perhaps snobbish, if a tourist wants to avoid all other tourists.<BR><BR>I would say it is understandable, and not snobbish, if a tourist wants to avoid "too many" other tourists.

Then perhaps that tourist should avoid those places that are crowded with others like himself.<BR> Stay home and hide from other tourists.<BR> Then the locals will enjoy being able to go out and about without all those pesky tourists!

I know!<BR>All tourists should be numbered. Then they will go sightseeing on odd or even days, keeping the numbers down to a controllable level and then they won't obsess over avoiding each other.

We've had this discussion before; about the difference between "travelers" and "tourists". There are those who visit a place and become a little more of a part of it. They take more away from the experience and sometimes leave a little more, too. Others might make a pass through a place like they were on their way through Disneyland. It is about attitude and interactions; not necessarily about being snobbish. The character of some places can be seriously altered or lost "with too many tourists" and it varies by the type of place or activity that it is.

Traveler vs Tourist is just another way someone wants to distinguish himself from the other tourists just like himself!<BR>Call yourself whatever you like, if you don't live there, and you are there on vacation, seeing the sights, going to the restaurants, plays, museums, you are just another tourist.<BR>Get used to the idea that you are also one of the folks that the locals dread seeing more than the other tourists!

<BR>I do think a case could be made for, if not tourist vs. traveler, at least different kinds of tourists. For example, on one hand there is the tourist who rides the train into Venice, rushes to St. Mark's Square, snaps a few photos, maybe visits a building or two, takes a peek at the Grand Canal, and then departs, confident that they can now say they've "done" Venice. On the other hand, there is the tourist who may decide to spend a few days in Venice, perhaps even a week or more, wandering around in parts of the city that few other tourists visit, not necessarily ticking off sights on a list. <BR><BR>The second tourist is certainly not a local, of course--and probably doesn't pretend to be--but, quite likely, does see the city with very different eyes.

There is also the tourist who goes to a city because he has always dreamed of being there.<BR>He stays wherever he can afford to stay.<BR>He wanders all over the city every day, drinking in the sights.<BR>He eats wherever he can afford to eat.<BR>He takes pictures so he can always remember this moment.<BR>He rides the bus and train because he cannot afford a cab.<BR>But mostly he just walks.<BR>He doesn't shop much because that will cost too much. <BR>But there is another just like him.<BR>This one can afford the really good hotel.<BR>This one can eat in really fine restaurants.<BR>This one shops for presents and souvenirs.<BR>This one also treasures every moment they are there.<BR>What is the difference, traveler? tourist? Are there too many of them? Should we not go there because they are there?

Nicely stated Traveling.<BR>

A tourist attraction attracts tourists. I once told a friend not to go someplace because there were too many tourists, she told me that they were there for a reason. It hit me then that I was no better and I was one of THEM, a TOURIST. It was a shock, but then I accepted that fact and quite worrying about be accepted as a local. It is quite silly really to want to pretend to be a local.<BR>If you want to stay someplace a while and get to know it, then you can act like a local, but breezing though town with a camera is being a tourist.<BR>I am rambling but I do agree that there can be too many PEOPLE at a place whether tourists or not.<BR>In Mexico I was one of few tourists at a national celebration, but it was too crowded with LOCALS. So you can't win.

It all depends on what you want. If you want to feel real freedom and individuality - often a reason to go on vacation - then you tend to avoid places and people that give the impression they're there because a brochure or tour company or everyone else in the world told them to do so... Guess the folks who do the "typical tourist thing" don't have any qualms about it. Me? Prefer showing pictures of "sharing a portion of cheese at a mountain hut on the Hahnenmoos" than "eating a Coupe Danemark on a terrasse in Interlaken".<BR><BR>

In the words of the great American philosopher Yogi Berra:<BR><BR>"No one goes there any more, it's too crowded"<BR><BR>Most places are popular for a reason.

Love it - you can turn Yogi any old way. Naively, he's right - the contrarian view is just that: who wants to do what everyone else does?

How trends start, no? Twiggie; Ursula Andress' bikini in the Bond film; the VW Bug. We start doing things that no one else has done. <BR><BR>Tourism industry, thank goodness for eco-this and wellness-that... Oops, now we need something new.

ttt