A picturesque village is prone to being ruined by “TikTok vacationers” who’re “exploiting the vacation spot’s heritage for clicks”, a councillor has stated.
Cotswold district councillor Jon Wareing stated Bourton-on-the-Water, referred to as the Venice of the Cotswolds, had confronted challenges in recent times.
The councillor stated individuals visited the village to shoot video for his or her Instagram reels or TikTok and took selfies with the gorgeous surroundings as a backdrop.
“This sort of customer tends to have little actual curiosity within the heritage, tradition or pure surroundings they’re exploiting for clicks. They’re the final word hit-and-run vacationer,” Wareing stated.
He stated he had seen stories of residents being subjected to verbal and bodily abuse and visitors congestion.
Garbage has additionally piled up in Bourton, Wareing stated, “particularly on the inexperienced”.
However it’s not tourism itself that’s the downside, he added, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“It is a mixture of over-tourism and quick tourism, which refers to individuals flocking to honeypot areas for the only goal of content material creation,” he stated.
Wareing tabled a movement to get the council to just accept that tourism was an issue for the village in Might 2024, which was rejected by six voted to four.
“The latest financial institution vacation weekend offered an illustration of risky public sentiment on this matter on social media,” Wareing stated.
“That is so damaging for our group and is deeply worrying.”
