I feel you lol. I wish less people came to Portugal, especially Lisbon and Porto. It’s a bit ridiculous sometimes. The culture people come looking for is slowly dying or becoming a fake version of itself because legit stuff is being pushed out of historical centers, in favor or tourist attracting alternatives. The issue of overpricing (because all the English, German, French, etc, visiting Portugal earn way better than us here in average) is ludicrous, it’s becoming harder to enjoy the places we used to go 15 or 20 years ago. sigh
It really is sad. For more than 25 years I’ve been visiting Portugal (so yes, I’m part of the problem…) and every year it gets a bit worse: endless new hotels destroying the beautiful views of the cliffs, villages mostly catering the needs of tourists, …
I just wish I hadn’t told everyone how amazing it is in Portugal 🥲
It is, the the fault isn’t entirely on the tourists (specially if they’re respecting and give two fucks about the places they’re visiting); the governments have been pushing tons of pro-tourism stuff everywhere for years, hence why we grew that industry so much, often without thinking of long term consequences and economic balance. So now, we have an economy overly dependent on tourism (with all the good but mostly bad stuff that brings), which, in addition to other shitty decisions like massive roadway investment instead of railway (we have one of the best road network in Europe, but a shitty railway one, significantly shrinked down in the last 40 years), have led to lots of serious issues preventing good development of a lot of other industry we could have and once had. The classic example is Algarve (the southernmost region) is so dependent on tourist they had a very hard time during COVID. Outside of Lisbon’s (<2M) and Porto’s (>1M) metro areas, every other city has less than 500k people, and the vast majority less than 100k, which presents obvious issues.
Actually, the traditional Jogo da Bolacha is also a thing. If you’re in Portugal and someone asks for you to join, YOU JOIN. It’s extremely rude for foreigners to refuse the Jogo da Bolacha. Specially if the inviter winks at you. It’s also good manners to announce you’ll loose the first few times, while you learn. If people are surprised by this just smile, lick your lips and say you’re the Cookie Monster. You’ll be accepted among us very quickly.
ΝΑΙ ΓΑΜΩ.
Even though my family works in the tourism industry (because my island literally only has that. Any sort of local economy was eradicated and everything is incredibly overpriced and imported), I have felt the negative effects deep in my soul, so much so I wish it would just dissolve even if that means they need to find another way to make a living. I’ll be damned if I ever willingly work for traditional tourism (ecotourism I will consider)
I don’t think there is any way right now to come without negatively affecting the locals. Essentially, the tourists to locals ratio is out of hand. A few of the problems we are facing:
Everything is overcrowded. Our public infrastructure is barely equipped to handle the population of 10M, on top of that add the 36M visitors we saw in 2023. It may be fun and exciting if you are here for a couple of days, but living through that all year long is exhausting.
Everything is overpriced. Most people coming to Greece have expendable income we don’t have, along with overcrowding, this sets prices we cannot afford. Airbnb has definitely exaggerated the housing crisis, but it’s not the only issue. When you are eating, drinking, visiting historical sights, or doing any activity, you are contributing to that.
Our economy is over-reliant on tourism. As someone else commented, no other type of industry can compete with tourism, every year more places lose their identity as they adapt to the ever-growing needs of the tourism industry.
Our history is being erased. Visiting a historical sight may a wonderful experience for you, but every step you make, every photo you take, every trash you throw, impacts the place you are visiting, destroying little by little thousands of years of history.
As a personal note, my income is a few times the national average, and yet I cannot afford to go on vacations this year…
As a (not) fun challenge you can try to limit your budget to around 30 eur per day per person. You will fail, probably won’t even find living accommodations within that budget, but it will give you an insight on our struggles.
Don’t come to Greece, over tourism is a huge problem here…
I feel you lol. I wish less people came to Portugal, especially Lisbon and Porto. It’s a bit ridiculous sometimes. The culture people come looking for is slowly dying or becoming a fake version of itself because legit stuff is being pushed out of historical centers, in favor or tourist attracting alternatives. The issue of overpricing (because all the English, German, French, etc, visiting Portugal earn way better than us here in average) is ludicrous, it’s becoming harder to enjoy the places we used to go 15 or 20 years ago.
sigh
It really is sad. For more than 25 years I’ve been visiting Portugal (so yes, I’m part of the problem…) and every year it gets a bit worse: endless new hotels destroying the beautiful views of the cliffs, villages mostly catering the needs of tourists, …
I just wish I hadn’t told everyone how amazing it is in Portugal 🥲
It is, the the fault isn’t entirely on the tourists (specially if they’re respecting and give two fucks about the places they’re visiting); the governments have been pushing tons of pro-tourism stuff everywhere for years, hence why we grew that industry so much, often without thinking of long term consequences and economic balance. So now, we have an economy overly dependent on tourism (with all the good but mostly bad stuff that brings), which, in addition to other shitty decisions like massive roadway investment instead of railway (we have one of the best road network in Europe, but a shitty railway one, significantly shrinked down in the last 40 years), have led to lots of serious issues preventing good development of a lot of other industry we could have and once had. The classic example is Algarve (the southernmost region) is so dependent on tourist they had a very hard time during COVID. Outside of Lisbon’s (<2M) and Porto’s (>1M) metro areas, every other city has less than 500k people, and the vast majority less than 100k, which presents obvious issues.
Anyway, sorry for the shit dump 😅
Thanks for the insight! I just hope that Porto and Lisbon don’t turn into another Paris or Rome…
Yeah, for sure 🙏
That’s really sad, because one day I wanted to go and learn Jogo do Pão. I hear it’s a dying art but they’re trying to keep it alive.
lol
I believe “jogo da bolacha” is a more common name here X)
Lmao I was confused but I think I see where I got it wrong. I said “bread game” instead of “stick game”. XD
Apologies for butchering the language. :)
…Lol the machine translation of “jogo do pau” appears to be…Less than polite? Hahaha.
So, clarification: I think rural stick fighting from Portugal would be really cool to learn. :) lol
Actually, the traditional Jogo da Bolacha is also a thing. If you’re in Portugal and someone asks for you to join, YOU JOIN. It’s extremely rude for foreigners to refuse the Jogo da Bolacha. Specially if the inviter winks at you. It’s also good manners to announce you’ll loose the first few times, while you learn. If people are surprised by this just smile, lick your lips and say you’re the Cookie Monster. You’ll be accepted among us very quickly.
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Oh, you’re a feisty one, aren’t you!
ΝΑΙ ΓΑΜΩ. Even though my family works in the tourism industry (because my island literally only has that. Any sort of local economy was eradicated and everything is incredibly overpriced and imported), I have felt the negative effects deep in my soul, so much so I wish it would just dissolve even if that means they need to find another way to make a living. I’ll be damned if I ever willingly work for traditional tourism (ecotourism I will consider)
Was about to say the same for Spain. Fuck you, tourists. Stay at home.
I got dragged to Málaga against my will (family stuff) and it was horrible. More pubs than tapas places to cater to the British crowds…
But Im planning a Honeymoon and want to enijoy your history. Can I go if I dont use airbnb?
I don’t think there is any way right now to come without negatively affecting the locals. Essentially, the tourists to locals ratio is out of hand. A few of the problems we are facing:
As a personal note, my income is a few times the national average, and yet I cannot afford to go on vacations this year…
As a (not) fun challenge you can try to limit your budget to around 30 eur per day per person. You will fail, probably won’t even find living accommodations within that budget, but it will give you an insight on our struggles.