[Travel] Tourism Backlash

[Seagull58]

I am not sure I totally agree with this as I remember endless streams of EF students standing in the streets looking at maps as a teen in the 80s. Which infrastructure do you think is under pressure?

The bigger issue in Brighton is housing costs, both buying and renting, being distorted by London wages.

Not all standing in the streets though, many were lying in the gutters after having their first taste of affordable, accessible, alcohol. The vast majority, all kitted out identically in Lois jeans, would then spend their evenings in the Top Rank Suite.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Me too!
I met my German wife 50 years ago when she was one of these students and we are still together.

Well there you go!

Congratulations on your 50th anniversary (of when you first met).

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Not all standing in the streets though, many were lying in the gutters after having their first taste of affordable, accessible, alcohol. The vast majority, all kitted out identically in Lois jeans, would then spend their evenings in the Top Rank Suite.

Surely not even a person with a stone heart would begrudge a foreign student getting absolutely slaughtered and trying to pull an English lass in the Top Ranke. As they say, there is more which unites us than divides us!

 

[LamieRobertson]

2 weeks in a caravan near Durdle Door as a kid. Wore wellies most days as it rained most of the holiday. Never again!

I remember long sunny days on beaches ..building sand castles etc

Flip side over the last twenty years and into the future I’ve had various procedures because of basal cell carcinomas..probably linked to that period

 

[Seagull58]

Surely not even a person with a stone heart would begrudge a foreign student getting absolutely slaughtered and trying to pull an English lass in the Top Ranke. As they say, there is more which unites us than divides us!

It was mainly the girls lying in the gutters from my recollection

 

[Ali_rrr]

Since I have been living abroad, I have lost count of the people who have told me they spent time in Brighton learning English. The city has, without a single fail, left a postive impression on them. This has to be a good thing. Personally, it warms my heart to see youngsters, with those huge EF backpacks, enjoying our city.

Especially Germans funnily enough. I went to uni with a lot and loads had been to Brighton or Eastbourne.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Growing up as a child in Brighton during the late 80’s and 90’s, I have some sympathy. Watching a town become a city, prices go through the roof, pavements being dominated by endless streams of French schoolchildren walking 5 abreast… Brighton isn’t the place I grew up in, and I’m glad to be out of there.

The problems IMHO come when places get too big for the infrastructure in place to manage them. It’s a never ending game of trying to keep up, and eventually something’s gotta give.

Trying to enjoy Brighton in the summer, even in term times, is very akin to central London and it didn’t used to be this way.

I am not sure I totally agree with this as I remember endless streams of EF students standing in the streets looking at maps as a teen in the 80s. Which infrastructure do you think is under pressure?

The bigger issue in Brighton is housing costs, both buying and renting, being distorted by London wages.

I'm with HT on this one. I also grew up in the 80s and 90s and the great swarms of foreign students with their EF rucksacks is one of my strong memories of the time. We even used to play some of them in 'international' football matches down the park.*

It's something I've always liked about the town and also like HT I've met a load of people over the years who know Brighton because they studied English there and they loved the place.

I also love coming back to Brighton in the summer. The tourists - both domestic and international make the town feel alive. It's pretty bleak when you come back in winter and the seafront is shutdown, the sky and sea merging into one giant grey backdrop, the wind whipping in off the sea, the rain driving into your face.

But maybe that's because I've been away so long that I come back almost like a tourist myself rather than a local with things to do and places to go.

*FWIW, we used to beat the Italians, french and spanish but would struggle against the dutch and Germans.

 

[Vicar!]

Brother in law has moved to a Cornish village which still is mainly locals with a few day tripping tourists. Top night Saturday, watching the football with some genuine Cornish characters, in a very traditional pub.
10.30 pm Landlord instead of calling time, announced due to the takings already accumulated, it was now a free bar. We now have a local.

 

[Bakero]

Average rent for a 1 bed apartment in Lisbon is actually about €1,200 to €1,700, dependent on location, and the minimum eage is €820 for 2024, but your general point about rising prices and unaffordability for locals and long-term tenants is still valid.

https://www.idealista.pt/en/news/pr...gal-lisbon-is-the-3rd-most-expensive-european Many sources quote over 2000€. In the city centre obviously it's even higher https://www.portugalresident.com/lisbon-is-most-expensive-city-in-europe-for-rental-accommodation/

You're right that minimum wage has gone up by 80€ a month but that not going to help a lot when you consider rent prices.

Even if the headline grabbing "2000 euro" is an exaggeration, anything far in excess of minimum wage is not sustainable.

 

[£1.99]

Well there you go!

Congratulations on your 50th anniversary (of when you first met).

Thank you!

 

[maltaseagull]

I remember long sunny days on beaches ..building sand castles etc

Flip side over the last twenty years and into the future I’ve had various procedures because of basal cell carcinomas..probably linked to that period

Things we didn´t know then! Hope you are ok .
We go to a dermatologist every year for a check up and my wife had a case last year which was removed and hadn´t spread.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Things we didn´t know then! Hope you are ok .
We go to a dermatologist every year for a check up and my wife had a case last year which was removed and hadn´t spread.

Exactly….and sunscreen not so readily available….very sensible to get a check up each year and pleased to hear your wife’s procedure went well.

I’m on a yearly check up with the local hospital which i am pleased is happening …kind of got used to the almost yearly/twice yearly visit to a clinic to have something removed. Currently have three lesions that need sorting out …but all to be done by local anaesthetic…. i must be into three figures for the number of injections…..but apart from that i have good health so not complaining

 

[WATFORD zero]

Me too!
I met my German wife 50 years ago when she was one of these students and we are still together.

It was still called 'punching above your weight' even back then

 

[Seagull58]

https://www.idealista.pt/en/news/pr...gal-lisbon-is-the-3rd-most-expensive-european Many sources quote over 2000€. In the city centre obviously it's even higher https://www.portugalresident.com/lisbon-is-most-expensive-city-in-europe-for-rental-accommodation/

You're right that minimum wage has gone up by 80€ a month but that not going to help a lot when you consider rent prices.

Even if the headline grabbing "2000 euro" is an exaggeration, anything far in excess of minimum wage is not sustainable.

I agree that it's unsustainable but Lisbon is much bigger than the city centre.and the €2,500 figure is a gross exaggeration. The price range quoted for room rentals is accurate though.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

In Barcelona a month or so back, I was crossing a busy street pulling my suitcase along en route to my hotel and a well presented lady, dressed like she was on her lunch break from a office, shouted in my face “Tourist go home!” and then just carried on walking. Very bizarre. (although for the rest of my trip I had no further issues)

 

[Baldseagull]

I understand their frustration, Crawley is a nightmare in the summer, with swarms of one or two, sometimes even a family of four, descending on to the town and clogging up absolutely nothing. Its the price you have to pay though, for the beauty of the place.
We have moved on since the 80's, and no longer kick the shit out of anyone daring to visit from Horsham, or cross neighbourhood boundaries and drink in a pub that isn't their local, which has added to the problem.

 

[The Clamp]

Not all standing in the streets though, many were lying in the gutters after having their first taste of affordable, accessible, alcohol. The vast majority, all kitted out identically in Lois jeans, would then spend their evenings in the Top Rank Suite.

Used to work with this mob.

Chinese students were rarely out. Always in studying.

French. Spanish, and Italians all loved to get drunk but rarely over did it.

Middle Eastern boys all got pissed but can’t handle their booze. At all.

Without a doubt the ones who liked to get f***ed up more than anyone else? The Japanese. They drink like fish and can put it away.

They are also very, very, weird when they are pissed.

 

[Gwylan]

I'm with HT on this one. I also grew up in the 80s and 90s and the great swarms of foreign students with their EF rucksacks is one of my strong memories of the time. We even used to play some of them in 'international' football matches down the park.*

Goes back earlier than that - I was a teacher for EF back in the 70s. I actually played in one of those football matches as an honorary German against the French. I can't remember the score but I do remember 'we' won handsomely even though the French were probably more individually skilled. I also remember teaching some of the German lads rugby, which they took to with gusto.

But there was some definite resentment from locals even then - I remember some German girls really upset because they'd been spat at in the street. They may have brought income to the place but they weren't universally welcomed

 

[Titanic]

Brother in law has moved to a Cornish village which still is mainly locals with a few day tripping tourists. Top night Saturday, watching the football with some genuine Cornish characters, in a very traditional pub.
10.30 pm Landlord instead of calling time, announced due to the takings already accumulated, it was now a free bar. We now have a local.

They did well to find one!

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

I understand their frustration, Crawley is a nightmare in the summer, with swarms of one or two, sometimes even a family of four, descending on to the town and clogging up absolutely nothing. Its the price you have to pay though, for the beauty of the place.

Nice try but do you honestly expect us to believe that anyone visits Crawley by choice, let alone the ridiculously inflated numbers you are quoting