tourists

They don’t stop arriving tourists to swim with wild orcs

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That clamor in many enclaves that has ended up calling as “tourist” He had reached the most remote places on the planet. They were no longer just the paradisiacal beaches, the “adventurer” went much further entering into areas such as Afghanistan, Iraq either Albania. In fact, Even Antarctica He had been the subject of the hordes eager for new experiences. What surely few ventured was that swimming with Orcas was going to become “must.” Dancing with cetaceans. I told it in A report the Guardian this week. Every morning in the window, a quiet coastal town of Baja California Sur, dozens of tourists in neoprene costumes go up Guided boats by local fishermen or by tourist operators from large nearby cities such as Cabo San Lucas or La Paz. Your goal: swim with wild orcs. An ecological crisis: What began as a unique and inspiring experience has become, according to many veteran experts and operators, into an uncontrolled activity that threatens both the safety of people and the well -being of animals. In absence of formal regulationup to 40 vessels can converge on the same group of orcs, especially between May and June, the months of greatest activity. The popularity of the phenomenon has exploded since 2019driven by networks, and has exposed A legal vacuum In Mexican legislation: although there are laws that protect threatened marine species, none explicitly prohibits swimming with dentated cetaceans such as … orcs. Invisible risks. Although there has never been a wild orca attack on humans, marine biologists warn that excessive and messy contact can cause defensive reactions. Plus and even more worrying: the cumulative effect of engines’s noise and the constant human presence on resident orc interferred by tourist activity. According to He explained to the Guardian Captain Juan Vásquez, with more than two decades at sea, these animals “will remember being harassed” and could stop visiting the area. Despite this, economic pressure is high: marine life tourism is a crucial source of income and few wish to limit it. Even vessels without insurance or license participate in these excursions, competing with better established operators that even guarantee meetings with orcs to ensure reservations. A pioneering plan. Given the lack of clear regulations, a group of responsible scientists and operators (including the Marine Biologist Georgina Saad and the documentary filmmaker Erick Higuera) have proposed the First Management Plan of Orcas in Mexico based not only on numerical fees but on the behavior of animals. The plan, which expects government approval this summer, would limit the interaction to Three boats per group of Orcas, with a maximum of nine daily vessels, and would require official permits. In addition, it states that guides and captains learn to identify Stress signals In cetaceans to know when to retire. Each Orca can be recognized by its unique dorsal fin, which would facilitate a record of sightings and interactions. Plus: Part of permits income would finance local patrols and training, establishing a sustainable model that prioritizes both conservation and education. Local tensions. However, the implementation of the plan is not exempt from controversy. Many captains and local families feel that they have not taken into account. Accuse that permits will end favoring large companies of Cabo and La Paz, displacing those who have lived from marine tourism for generations. In addition, they criticize that the plan is focused exclusively on The windowwhen both orcs and tourists already move throughout the peninsula. For SaadHowever, concentrating the regulation on the window is key to establishing a legal and operational precedent. “We can send the message that this is the only place where you can swim with orcs, and that is how it should be done. Everything else would be illegal.” A fine line. In summary, and despite the divisions, in the report they concluded that a large majority agrees that the solution is not to prohibit, but educate. Evans Baudinpioneer in this type of experiences and critic with the current “circus”, insists that the essential thing is to do things well: protect the orcs and continue offering respectful and safe encounters. For its part, the window is at a crossroads: either it becomes responsible tourism model or symbol of how a viral fashion can even damage the most imposing giants of the ocean. The success of the plan will depend not only on the rules imposed, but on the collective will to take care of what everyone says they want: creatures. Image | CICESE, Rennett Stowe In Xataka | Gladis orcas have been “attacking” ships in the waters of Spain since 2020. There is a new hypothesis: they get bored In Xataka | After expanding throughout the planet, touristification has reached Antarctica. And it is already taking its toll

Only 20,000 tourists can use the car

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Ibiza as a reference and Ibiza as a mirror where to look at. For the good and also not to make the same mistakes. The Balearic Island has long been drowning with mass tourism and, in fact, is set as a negative example of the risk that runs when the wings are not cut to tourism. The pressure to which the Neighbors of the island It reaches every corner. From those who decide live in a caravan in summer To rent your home to the Lack of water to supply all those who arrive on the island. Going through the neighborhood fights to prevent a cliff from becoming a dump and a continuous congestion of cars. With a tourism that seems unstoppable, the authorities have begun to take action in the increasingly radical matter. One of them, put fines so high to illegal tourist rental that some houses are selling. The second, limit the number of access with car. As of June 1, just over 4,000 visitors will be able to enter their car to the island. A saturated island The objective of the measure is clear: reduce congestion on the island. To understand the problem of the matter, it must be taken into account that only in 2024 were almost counted 3.3 million visitors in the Pitusas Islands (Ibiza-Formera). The massive arrival of tourists is a problem on the road. So much that Some surveys They point out that more than 70% of participants claim that jams They are more common in recent years. And that without counting the constant problems that are counted in Hot points of the island Every day with the arrival of good weather. Seeking to reduce, at least, the volume of vehicles on the road, Ibiza has put a red line: 20,168 cars for tourists. This is the maximum number of daily vehicles, which will be allowed within the island for visitors between June 1 and September 30. Of that number, 16,000 cars will correspond to vehicles of rental fleets. The rest, the 4,108 cars are the ones that can enter via boat. The limit, evidently, does not apply to resident vehicles. Only vehicles arrived from the outside are put from. How is it controlled? Those who want to access by boat their own will have to fill in a form to leave their “reserved” place. Full the quota, the entry of more cars will not be allowed. Those who will be saved will be the motorists, who will continue to have the doors open to the island without restrictions but, nevertheless, the motorhomas will have to demonstrate that they have a reserve already confirmed in a campsite because sleeping outside that area is illegal. The flow of vehicles that can enter the island, therefore, is variable. As in a parking lot, if the little more than 4,000 seats are full of cars that circulate on the island, they will not be able to access more cars until there is a new notice. At the moment, those who had a ticket purchased before May 20, 2025 will not be applied to them but as of June 1 until September 30, access to the island by car will be limited. Photo | Jose Llamas and Kathy In Xataka | The fear of being “La Ibiza del Norte” has opened the great tourist melon in Cantabria: shielding a rate for visitors

Japan does not want to run out of its abundant offer of cheap graphics cards. So they have been forbidden to tourists

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Time flies. PS5 and Xbox Series They already touch the five years in the market, and Nintendo Switch 2 It is at the corner. Meanwhile, the world of the PC follows another rhythm: every year New components arrive And, with them, increasingly exorbitant prices. An example is that of Nvidia graphics cards with some RTX 5000 that had risen in price (and They keep doing it). And it is not only a price problem, but also of scarcity. Because there are some markets in which the high demand for these high -end cards It has become a problem. But it is a market that goes to two speeds. In Japan the TEMPORARY OF THE SCARKbecoming an ideal country for foreigners to buy a GPU if they go on vacation. Your solution? Prohibit sale of graphics cards to tourists. But let’s see why you can find high -end graphics in Japan to prices that are not absurd And why these measures seem more deterrent than high feasible. Japan does not want to run out of graphics cards The reason for that scarcity has several explanations. The Last generation GPU They are ideal to enjoy the games, but also for setting up pointers for the Artificial Intelligence Training. It seems that the market does not give a respite to the GPUs, since a few years ago the shortage problem was due to the cryptocurrency mining and semiconductor crisis. There is Other factors that can alter the availability in the market, such as more recent tariffsbut the truth is that the problem of finding one in stores at a price without inflates due to that scarcity It is something that has dragged Nvidia for some time. But this, as we say, is something that does not affect everyone and it is a situation that is hittingabove all, to the United States. And, as we see in Redditwhen someone from a country in which prices are in the clouds or, directly, there are no units of certain models of graphics go to a country like Japan where there are, they wonder why. The answer is complex and I consider that it goes beyond the simple “because in other countries we are not willing to pay for a GPU which costs a second -hand car”, as has been given in the same Reddit thread. The first, some Japanese retailers know that there is a problem of scarcity in other territories and that tourists can take advantage of the trip to take a graphics card. That is why, in some stores, posters have been hung by warning that Only certain resident models in Japan are sold. The effectiveness of this measure has been discussed and it is said that there are stores that only show the poster as a deterrent, but also that others are Starting to ask that buyers demonstrate that they are residents in the country. Reddit image. Link by clicking on it The red poster says something as “the purchase of this product is limited to residents in Japan. The purchase for resale is strictly prohibited.” But this does not go so much against the tourist who takes the opportunity to take a GPU, but against which he buys units systematically for the resale, and here China is put in the spotlight. Due to the impossibility of buying the latest Nvidia graphics in the Asian giant for the Commercial War with the United States and the different vetoesand thanks to the proximity between China and Japan, a practice seems to be visiting and filling the suitcase with graphics that They are shown in the Asian giant. Question of cultural preferences That is one of the reasons why there are graphics in Japan, but another can directly be cultural and preferably of Japanese players. The size of the housing is a huge condition for certain hobbys, and playing on a PC is one of those affected. A laptop enters anywhere, but these graphs are used to mount towers and a space is needed for the entire Setup. It seems like a drawer, but we are talking about the average house size in Japan has reached its lowest level in 30 years. The average is 92 square meters and, in the cities where more population is concentrated, talk later of 50 square meters. It is a space incompatible with mounting a pC of desktop and, although it is a fact that the number of PC players has grown Significantly in the last decade, it is not known how many correspond to the match in laptop and how many atmosphere. In 2015 it is estimated that there were 11 million PC players, a figure that increase up to 16 million in 2023, and AMD is also contributing To this. It is a fact that is not bad, but the console market is still above, representing about 20% of the total video game market. Here has a lot to do with Nintendo Switch which has been sold as hot bread in Japan. Since its launch, of the total 152 million units worldwide, I know esteem that only in Japan more than 35 million have been sold. In fact, in 2021, of 100% of consoles sold in Japan, Calculate that Switch represented just over 78%, which clearly shows the preference for portable game. Now, the system that really dominates in the country is the mobile as a game device, with a My dear 66% of the total. Here, as we said, cultural preferences are mixed, that taste for portable platforms and the little space in the houses of the cities in which The bulk of the country accumulates. And all that can give us the answer of why there are high -end graphics cards available in Japan and why the price is not inflated. Or everything may be much simpler and, as they commented on Reddit, in many countries there is no shortage because they are not going to pay for a GPU the same as because … Read more

What neighbors and tourists do not live in the same buildings

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In Spain, for a long time, talking about housing is doing it upward prices and a pressure increasing For the pocket of families. Especially in big cities, such as Madrid, Barcelona either Malagawhere drawing is further complicated by The pressure that exercises tourist rent in the market. To tackle that challenge the capital has just endowed with A new tool: A plan that aspires to decentralize tourist floors, favor that they leave residential buildings and prevent commercial lows from being converted into vacation floors. The question is … how will theory go from the facts? What happened? That Madrid has just been equipped with which from now on will be its new roadmap to face one of its greatest challenges: the Tourist and Its impact in the housing market. The municipal plenary approved Wednesday, in a anger session And with the solo votes of the PP, the Plan residesthat marks a series of guidelines on where and how tourist floors can be opened from now on. From the outset, its key idea is very simple: the holiday rental will go on the one hand and the residential use for another, so that both uses do not match in the buildings of the center. Click on the image to go to Tweet. What does the plan propose? To understand it before, you have to keep in mind a key: the plan divides the capital into two. On the one hand is the central almond, The most pressured For the floors for tourists and therefore the one that most affected sees its residential market. And on the other is the outer zone, located outside the historic center. The difference is important because each area is regulated differently. It also simplifies the Special Host Plan Previous, 2019, which works on a map with three “rings”. The changes of greater draft will be given in the first circle, that of the central almond of Madrid. The main one is that the City Council wants that from now on in that area the tourist floors will go on the one hand and those of traditional homes on the other. The plan resides expressly prohibits “dispersed tourist floors in residential buildings”, even on low floors. In short, they will not share building in the center. In the blocks that are not destined for residential use, the thing is different. In those cases, tourist floors “without limitations” will be admitted. Are there more news? Yes. The main one is that tourist apartments must concentrate on blocks that are dedicated exclusively to that purpose (I would not affect to the floors that already exist and have a license), but the plan resides includes more novelties. The previous norm, of 2019, allowed convert low floors In tourist apartments, which has led many center stores dedicating themselves to that use, much more profitable than commercial. The City Council Calculate that only between 2015 and 2024 have been converted into homes and tourist floors 3,306 bass. The new municipal plan wants to end that trend. “With the plan resides, the transformation of commercial premises into tourist floors in the historic center and the transformation of premises into homes into the main tertiary roads is not allowed,” They point From the town hall, which requires that outside the historic center there will also be streets and avenues in which the reconversion of premises will be restricted in apartments for holiday rental. And what about the offer? The idea of ​​the plan is to concentrate the tourist offer in blocks dedicated to that purpose, “decentralize” the activity and take it to areas tertiarywhere the impact on homes is therefore lower. Another of its objectives is to “recover and increase” the supply of residential housing in the city center. For that purpose preside includes some strategies to recover buildings now in disuse. For example, it will allow “private, cataloging and obsolete” giving equipment “to affordable rental housing or Coliving as long as its restoration is guaranteed. The City Council estimates that the measure could benefit 210 buildings distributed throughout the city center. The plan will also allow to pass residential buildings classified and located outside commercial areas to tourist use, but with a small print: “only use can be changed for 15 years, with a direct license linked to the rehabilitation and restoration of the building.” “Subsequently, it will return to residential use”, duck. And beyond the center of Madrid? The main change affects the historic center of Madrid, where the City Council will cease to grant licenses for dispersed tourist floors in residential buildings; But the Plan resides It also includes some novelties that affect the neighborhoods located outside that central almond. The most important is that the municipal permits for tourist rental will be granted only to the floors that meet certain characteristics. “Outside the historic center, the City Council allows the implementation of tourist floors under current conditions in both complete buildings and in dispersed homes that live with residential use,” details the Consistory. “In the latter case, the obligation that these tourist floors have independent access on the first floor and ground floor is included as a novelty.” Does plan reside or speculate? Despite the optimism of the government, not everyone believes that the plan will serve to “order” the supply of tourist rental and reduce the pressure it has been exerting on the housing market for years. On the contrary. The opposition already He has warned of the risk that the new regulations end up having a fairly different effect: that buildings in the center of Madrid that are now residential end up converted into blocks of tourist floors. In fact, more Madrid has even renowned the plan: instead of “resides” he speaks of “expels.” Similar notice gave the PSOE, worried that the new plan further worsen the radiography of tourist rent in Madrid. His fear is that, instead of supporting basically in particular That they buy floors with their savings to lease them to tourists and achieve … Read more

In 1999, a manga predicted that Japan would suffer a great cataclysm in 2025. And now there are tourists canceling their trips

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Samantha Tang is a yoga teacher, is 34 years old, resides in Hong Kong and is in love with Japan. So much so that since the Pandemia ended, he tries to visit the country once a year. Until recently, August was planned on the beaches of Wakayama80 km from Osaka. “I had,” in the past. Despite his passion for Japanese culture, Tang has recognized the CNN that he will postpone his plans for a peculiar reason: “Everyone talks about an earthquake.” Your case is not unique. Japan has found that a surprising number of tourists are canceling their trips to the country for fear of suffering a natural disaster. The most curious thing is not that “frightened” of tourists, but what has unleashed it. Behind psychosis is not the government, a seismological organism, a team of physicists and geologists or a revolution, but a manga comic. THE KEY: A 1999 comic. If Tang has rethink his next trip to Japan, just like others Assiduous and passionate travelers of Japanese culture is largely by a comic released a few years ago. To understand it you have to go back to 1999, when Ryo Tatsuki published ‘WATHI GA MITA MIRAI’ (‘The future I saw’), a manga in which the author talks about prophetic dreams. The work could pass without sorrow or glory through the libraries of the country if it were not because in it Tatsuki predicted a great disaster that would occur in March 2011, month and year in which Japan suffered A great earthquake With thousands of dead and injured. That coincidence gave a huge reputation to the comic. He began to talk about him on social networks, he commented on TV programs and his specimens were revalued. And why does it matter now? The work ended up becoming so famous that the Asta Shinsha publishing house signed Tatsuki to publish a new version, a “complete edition” that was launched in 2021 and ended up becoming a bombing. The company ensures that in total more than 960,000 copies. The book has also been published in Chino and has reached other points in Asia in which it has become popular, such as Thailand or Hong Kong. The point is that this new enlarged version includes a prediction that has shaken Japanese tourism and has put on guard not a few travelers in Asia, especially superstitious. 2025. The comic ensures that “the real disaster will arrive in July 2025” (an idea that includes on its own cover) and leaves Sound passages as the following: “I dreamed with a great disaster. The waters of the Pacific Ocean south of the Japanese archipelago will rise.” Such prophecy (of course) has no scientific support and the author herself has recognized in An interview with Mainichi Shimbun that people should act “taking into account the opinion of experts”; But that has not avoided that the influence of manga (and its prophecy) has spread. A manga … And something else. Although Tatsuki’s comic has played a decisive role is not the only thing that explains that the fear of a natural disaster has downed (and remote) apart from tourists who planned to travel to Japan this year. The ball has been enlarged after an alleged “psychic” Japanese predicted that an earthquake would hit Tokyo’s bay April 26 (something that obviously did not happen) and Qi Xian Yua Feng Shui teacher with some impact on Hongkonese TV, will advise people to stay away from Japan. If that is added the social networks speaker, the result that I commented Tang With the CNN: “Everyone talks a lot about an earthquake.” “It is better to avoid it. It will be very problematic if an earthquake occurs,” coincides Oscar Chu, another Hong Kong traveler, who usually visits the country of the rising sun several times a year but has decided to rethink his 2025 trip. Beyond the prophecies. Predictions and prophecies on the margin, the truth is that Japan is located in an area of ​​special seismic activity, the Fire belt Del Pacífico, already throughout the last decades, has suffered earthquakes such as the one that hit the Kanto region in September 1923, the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji, Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku (2008) or that of 2011, which caused damage mainly at the northern end of the country. At the beginning From this same year he suffered another in the southwest area, although with a rather lower intensity, of magnitude 6.9. Not long ago Japan issued Another alert and the government He has recognized that there is a high probability that an earthquake shakes the Nankai pit (located to the south of the country) throughout the next three decades. TO mid -April Even the Chinese embassy encouraged its travelers to take precautions. Reality, like They recognize the authorities Japanese, is that “with current knowledge it is difficult to predict an earthquake specifying date, time and place.” How has it affected tourism? Although it is difficult to anticipate the Ladies, the fear climate largely fed by the Tatsuki comic, it is being felt in the Japanese tourism sector. Especially in demand from other points in Asia, such as China, Thailand or Vietnam, important markets for the country. WWPKG travel agency, based in Hong Kong, He has assured to the CNN that the reservations to visit Japan during Holy Week fell to half. And forecasts for the coming months are not better. Greater Bay Airlines, an Hong Kong airline, He has chosen directly For reducing their services with the Japanese region of Sendai and the city of Tokushima, cutting both in a weekly frequency. The reason: a drop in demand between rumors of an upcoming disaster in Japan that add to the economic uncertainty generated by the tariff war initiated by the United States. A BOOM SECTOR. The big background question is how this suspicion will affect the growing tourism sector of Japan, which has been moving in historical figures and has even generated tensions in the busiest points, such as the surroundings of the Mount … Read more

Wine and beer have been moving tourists from all over the world for years. Now also the bread

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It doesn’t matter if we talk about Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Zaragoza, Oviedo or Vigo. In any moderately large city in Spain (as in many other countries) it is difficult to go out and not find a place to buy A bread barbuns or a cross at a reasonable distance. They sell it in the neighborhood pastries, but also in supermarkets (grades and small) and of course in chains such as Starbucks or Dunkin. That does not mean that there are people willing to take the car or even get on a plane to try a special bread. In a world in which more and more travel And it is no longer surprising to speak oenological tourism and gastronomic excursions or dedicated to handmade beer (Craft Beer-Tourism) A new modality opens up: the Bakery tourism. Traveling with the palate. There is nothing written about trips. Nor about tourism or vacations. There are those who plan their getaways thinking about Paradisiac beacheswho prefers to spend their days free climbing mountainswho opts for cities, who prioritizes Quiet places To rest … and who directly decides his destination “listening” to his palate and the belly. It is nothing new. He wine tourismhe Beer-Tourism and the Gastronomic Tourism In general, it has been practicing for years and has become a business that moves billions of euros. According to Turespaña, only in 2022 (an exercise still marked by the pandemic) the tourists who visited Spain 22.7 billion of euros in en-gastronomic activities, which makes them one of the main sources of income for the sector. And of those that grow the most. @Nat.Majira Is called #LANNAN And it is in Edinburgh, it always has a tail and the #Croissant and #Painauchocolat They are your specialty 💖 #Edinburgh ♬ Original Sound – Nat.Maquirira Objective: Good bakeries. Not all travelers (and that includes from visitors from other countries to locals who plan small escapes) are looking for wineries, breweries or Michelin star restaurants. There are those who prefer sweet flavors and what they demand are handmade cupcakes or bakeries. A special bread. A brioche with its cream filling. A Babka particularly appetizing. A honey croissant. A Pain Au Chocolat. A cinnamon bun. The list adds and continues with pastry that travelers are looking for guided by Instagram or Tiktokspecialized forums or guides such as ‘Britain’s Best Bakeries’. Welcome to “Bakery Tourism”. The trend is extended enough to The Guardian I just dedicated A wide report in which he speaks of the “extraordinary boom of the Bakery Tourism“, a term that could be translated as” bakery tourism “or” pastry. As an example, he quotes an Edinburgh bakery, Lannan Bakerythat despite carrying open only a couple of years has managed to become a mecca of Bakery Tourism. “We had just received a person who came from Canada. And last year there was another from New Zealand who booked his trip to come,” says his pastry. Your Instagram profile adds around 103,000 followers And in Tiktok they can be found A good handful of publications about their buns and tartlets. @kimchiarepa Most famous bakery of Korea🇰🇷. #korea #Korea #성심당 #koreanbakery #Bakery ♬ Magnetic – Illit Does it happen only in the United Kingdom? Not at all. Arrives A quick search In Google to see how Pan and Bun tourism has its space share in other countries, including Morocco, Japan, the United States, Portugal, Türkiye, Germany or Argentina, such as I quoted recently The specialized website Travel and Tour World. Its logic is simple: cities take advantage of the attractiveness of pastry and traditional sweets to boost as a tourist destination. Nothing that did not have been doing wine warehouses, breweries and localities with Michelin star restaurants or culinary fairs for years. In the case of Portugal, for example, he quotes the popular ones Nata or Belem pasteswhich have already inspired several Guides and Routes By Lisbon focused right on that: show tourists where they can try them. Another word: “bbangjisullae”. Another country in which bread and tourism have marinated well is South Korea. Recently Korea Joongang Dailyk It echoed How there are Koreans traveling hundreds of kilometers, taking trains or spending the night away from home, in Airbnbs, to enjoy the best local refuel. There the trend has its own name: bbangjisullaea mixture of words BBANG (“bread”) and Seongjisullae (“pilgrimage”). And that does in some way those who practice it: a kind of “pilgrimage of bread.” The phenomenon also connects with an upward business in the country, that of the bakery, valued in around 5,500 million dollars and that according to the forecasts handled by the sector in mid -2024 faces a growth horizon. The data The food statistical information system also shows that the number of bakeries has grown clearly in the country: from 24,777 in 2020 to 28,070 in 2022. The franchisee premises however stagnated. Promoting the economy. That last nuance is interesting. Bread, buns and crosss can be bought in many businesses, from large pastmarkets baking chains; But the “bread pilgrims” look for a certain type of product. And how it reveals The report of The Guardian, They often resort to local businesses that can be far from the big cities. In Daejeon, the fifth largest metropolitan area of ​​Korea, stands out for example Sungsimdagfounded as a small bakery specialized in buns In 1956 and that has expanded since then until becoming a local icon. So much so that, according to the local tourism office, it was The most visited place by tourists who arrived in the city throughout 2022 and 2023. A good part of the surveyed travelers say that the pastry was one of the reasons that led them to know Daejeon. It is not a unique case. Something similar has happened in other locations of the US or of Australia. Images | Mark Ramsay (Flickr) and WEI (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | More and more people are going on vacation simply to sleep

The Canary Islands have seven islands, but only one has escaped from the hordes of tourists. His secret is on earth, literally

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The Canarian archipelago is officially seven islands: Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. In addition, we have four islets and a series of Roques (next to a centenary dispute for tiny lands, although that It is another story). The curious thing about the islands is that almost all, to a greater or lesser extent, have ended under the influence of mass tourism. With the exception of one, whose nature gave an “advantage” over the rest: iron. Shine without looking for it. Ironthe smallest, western, less visited and better preserved from all the Canary Islands, has begun to attract the attention of a time to this part, although surely, despite many stores. First was the Netflix series Iron in 2019 the one that put it on the audiovisual map. Later, during the pandemic, he once again occupied headlines in half the world. The reasons: to be one of the first territories of Spain in get out of confinement In June 2020, and for having registered alone A COVID-19 case during the health crisis. Thus came the international recommendations that placed it between the Best destinations in Europe In 2021, but the island continues as is, it has barely changed its leisurely way of life, or its resistance to the transformations that did shape the rest of the archipelago in recent decades. His secret is a paradox: What does not have He does it more strong to the hordes. The island of “No”. The peculiarity of the island resides in what it has decided Do not have: Without chain hotels, without tourist complexes, without elevators or buildings of more than two floors, the island also does not have extensive beaches, although it possesses A network of puddles (natural pools) of an incomparable beauty. Here its geography is key, since reaching it outside the archipelago already implies at least two journeys (by plane, via Tenerife or Gran Canaria, or in Ferry, via Tenerife), since there are no direct international flights or maritime connections from the peninsula or abroad. With just 11,000 inhabitants And a surface that is equivalent to half of Ibiza, the traffic is very small and the sensation remains to be in a territory where modernity has barely touched essential things. And yet, since 2018, iron almost completely self-abused with renewable energies, thanks to its hydro-eolic power plant Gorona del Vientoconsolidating itself as a world reference in sustainability. Indomitable nature. While the major islands of the Canarian archipelago face a growing social resistance to the Mass tourismIron has deliberately adopted a radically different model. Instead of joining the urbanization spiral, direct flights and mass tourism, the island has opted for a strategy of leisurely growthintegral sustainability and an intimate bond with nature. Arising from the ocean 1.2 million years ago For violent underwater eruptions, the island displays an abrupt and wild geography where impressive cliffs, volcanic boilers and dense laurisilva forests coexist with undulating meadows, centenary pine forests and abrupt black rock costs that make it a paradise for hiking, contemplation and, ultimately, an unstable instance. To get an idea, in 2023 Just 20,300 visitors They arrived on the island (in contrast to the more than 6.5 million that Tenerife receivedFor example). Sabinar Tourism to last. There is more, of course. As we said before, since 1997, iron develops an ambitious Sustainable Development Plan which has oriented its tourist model towards a way of traveling with limited impact, focused on the valuation of the natural environment and local culture. They have been created Seven Visitors and Museums CentersInfrastructure has been improved without breaking the landscape balance (the first asphalted road came in 1962 and even today there is only one traffic light), and activities that privilege contact with the environment have been encouraged. In this regard, Davinia Suárez Armas, insular director of Tourism and Transportation, summed up the BBC The spirit of the island: grow without deteriorating the quality of life of residents or compromising their natural resources. In fact, it is possible to travel in less than an hour from the warm coast of the South to the Capital of Valverdecrossing microclimates ranging from arid plains to humid fog forests, where more than a hundred endemic species thrive, including criticism El Hierro giant lizardwhich motivated the entire island to be declared Biosphere Reserve in 2000 and Geoparque in 2014 for Unesco. Resistance symbols. Among closed curves, volcanic landscapes and pastures whipped by the wind, it appears The pasturewhere the most famous trees of the enclave grow: the Sabinares twisted for centuries of Alisios winds, turned into living symbols of the Herreña resistance. In that sense, self -sufficiency has been part of the island DNA since the arrival of The bimbachesBerber people settled around 120. Without rivers or natural lakes, they learned to collect water from the fog, especially from legendary tree Garoéwhose location is traveled today through the Water route. Plus: this 16 -kilometer circular path San Andrés connectsthe tallest town on the island, with deposits, aljibes and remains of primitive hydraulic technologies, all witnesses of a history marked by water scarcity and migratory waves, especially towards Venezuela. The Virgin Downfour -year party dedicated to the Virgen de los Reyes (who, according to tradition, ended the Great drought from 1741), keeps that spiritual legacy that mixes need and faith alive. Self -sufficiency. In 2014, the island opened Gorona del Vientothe pioneer central that combines wind and hydraulic energy thanks to its privileged geography. The system pumps desalted water from a coastal deposit to a volcanic boiler at 700 meters of altitude when there is a surplus of wind, and releases that flow in times without wind to generate electricity with hydraulic turbines. In August 2015, he first managed to supply the entire island for four hours. In 2024, he beat a global record: 24 consecutive days operating exclusively with clean energy, which avoided the emission of 13,708 tons of CO₂ and the consumption of more than 4,500 tons of diesel. Yet, Climate change … Read more

When tourists discover what are back traumatized

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In the broad (and increasingly disputed) international tourism map a few points are more iconic than the Guiza necropolisin Egypt. And it’s normal. After all, his great pyramid Seven wonders of the ancient world and an archaeological jewel that attracts every year to millions of tourists. The problem is that, as they know Other great destinations distributed By AsiaAmerica or Europe (including Spain), in tourism there is nothing easier than dying successful. And that is what Egypt wants to avoid. A huge business. A few months ago, when taking stock of 2024, the government of Egypt I took chest for its ability to attract tourists from other countries. According to its data last year the country achieved a “record” of 17.5 million of visitors, almost one million more than in 2023 despite the fact that, as Remember your minister From the bouquet, Sherif Fathy, the area is affected by “the geopolitical situation of the region.” His goal is to shoot that short -term figure until reaching 30 million visitors before the decade ends. Egypt’s data may be far from other destinations, such as Spain either Japanbut it is enough for tourism to be one of the great economic pillars of the country of pyramids and pharaohs. Only during the first semester of 2024 the industry generated income from 6,600 million of dollars (some sources speak of a global impact much greater) and the government itself recognizes that its contribution to the national GDP Approaches 10%although there were years in which this percentage reached either exceeded 20%. The sector It is key also as a source of foreign exchange. THE GREAT CLATING: Giza. Throughout its Egypt geography it has important claims, such as Karnakhe Valle de los Reyes, Abu Simbel or the temple of Luxor. However, if there is an iconic (and photographed) point it is The necropolis of the Guiza Plateau, with its Famous Celebrrimas pyramids, just a few kilometers from Cairo. Every year they visit them millions of touristswhich in turn generates an important transfer of buses chartered by tour operators, cars, tourists and professional guides. The result: collapse, long lines and the movement of street vendors. To avoid it, the government has drawn a plan with which it wants to improve the organization on the plateau and end the chaos, as reported A few days ago News Week. Among other measures he has decided to set a new access on the Cairo-Fayum road, reorder the environment and The presence of animals Shot, open a visiting center, restore several graves, boost online ticket sales and also bet on ecological transport in the deposit. “Rooted problems”. One of the key figures behind the changes is the Orascom Pyramids firm, which is investing millions of dollars in the transformation of the area to make it a tourist reference. “This is the world’s largest monument, the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world,” Amin Gazzarin claimspresident of Orascom Pyramis Enerinment (OPE). “The process is complex and challenging due to the need to address deeply rooted problems in the area.” The authorities have already launched A first phase Pilot, as a test, so that the renewed area in the surroundings of the pyramids opens at the beginning of July, coinciding with the implementation of the Great Egyptian museum. The country want to end In addition, end the image of horses and camels in bad conditions in the necropolis. The goal: better manage the flow of visitors, reduce congestion and influence your sustainable destination message. New times, new approach. That Egypt has decided to modernize the script plateau to Improve experience Of its millions of visitors, planting face to chaos, the unusual street sale, congestion in access and betting on ecological transport, with electric buses instead of the traditional Horses and camelsIt is no accident. Egypt is no stranger to something that Spain has proven Already in its own meats: to be an attractive tourist destination it does not arrive with having a great heritage and paradisiacal landscapes. Massification and poor management may make a destination simply end up dying of success. And in recent years, Egypt has found criticism of certain aspects that tarnish the experience of tourists and excursions to places like Guiza or Luxor. “They ruin the experience”. In networks They can be found Tourist complaints about the resale, attitude and harassment of certain vendors, pressures to accept services or poor infrastructure. Not long ago, in A Reddit thread On places that travelers would not return, a user cited Cairo. The reason? “Of course the pyramids are beautiful, but scammers and resellers ruin the experience.” In February Egyptian Streets warned that these problems have become more pressing for Egyptian tourism now than networks such as Tiktok amplify the bad experiences of visitors. Beyond the pyramids. Moreover, in his article Mohamed Khairat warns of negative comments on aggressive sellers, poorly illuminated deposits, women who claim to have felt harassed or even problems at Cairo’s own airport. “Terminal 1, used by airlines Low Costis outdated and chaotic “, Khairat warns. “There is no clear guide on where to go, which leaves disoriented tourists.” The problem is aggravated because at certain points only cash payments are accepted in dollars or euros, which is an extra difficulty for foreigners. The treatment of animals, in the focus. Another key issue is the treatment of animals. In the tourist areas of Egypt it is usual to meet merchants that offer rides in carriages thrown by horses, donkeys or camels. Your figure It has generated controversy In some cities in southern Spain. And of course he also does in Egypt, where Peta has already raised the voice To denounce the situation of at least part of these animals, “sick, injured or hungry” and that their owners deal with “if they were tools.” His criticisms have had an effect. Both institutional and in the sector itself. In autumn the Egyptian government He presented a program Focused precisely on “animal welfare” in its main tourist points, including … Read more

The millions of tourists receiving Rome are uploading the price of the carbonara. And the neighbors have tired

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In Italy La Carbonara it’s a Gastronomic emblem. Now also a symbol against Tourist massification. Before the perspective that Rome is filled this year of millions of visitors attracted to the 2025 jubilee and that this avalanche triggers (even more) the prices of certain services, such as the menus of the treatments, An association of consumers has proposed to institutions and hoteliers to seal a ‘carbonara pact’ that guarantees that they will apply “fair” rates To the dishes. And they have a figure in mind: 12 euros. A figure: 35 million. Rome is a enormous gigantic tourist destination. Probably one of the largest on the planet. That is no novelty. Your City Council Calculate that last year he received 51.4 million visitors, a historical record that leads local authorities to refer to its city as “the capital of tourism” (capital letters are yours). A new element will be added to that interest in the eternal city: the 2025 jubilee, an appointment that according to the Italian Ministry of Tourism will attract More than 35 million of visitors. And how will it affect prices? That is the question that was asked A few months ago Consumerismo no Profit, an association of consumer -based consumer. In An open letter Its president, Luigi Gabriele, recalls the forecasts of visitors to the jubilee and shows his concern to the perspective that this tide of tourists and pilgrims raises prices in the shops and restaurants of the capital. It is not a minor issue if one takes into account that in March the Year -on -year IPC of non -alcoholic foods and drinks was in Italy of 2.6%. “It is undeniable that the increase in demand for goods and services determined by the jubilee runs the risk of provoking deep changes in current price lists, some of which are already underway, taking companies in the area to maximize their profits in 2025,” says Gabriele in Your letterin which he warns of the damage to the image of Rome and the impact for the pockets of both foreign visitors and residents. Objective: Dishes at “righteous” prices. To avoid the association proposed to late 2024 Address the issue at a round table in which both administrations and consumers and businessmen participated. The objective: set a “controlled” or “fair” price for certain typical dishes that have become an emblem of Italian cuisine. Which is it? Gabriele quotes the pasta to the Amatrician and the Carbonara, which “are among the most consumed by tourists.” For that reason, insiststhey are the ones that run the greatest risk of becoming more expensive in 2025. “Our proposal is to define a ‘fair price’ for those dishes, shared with trade associations, recognizing with a special seal or logo those premises who decide to join the initiative,” raises Consumerism not profit. The idea was well received by the City Council, As needed The repubblicaand resulted in what is now known as ‘Carbonara Pact’a “voluntary agreement” for which certain establishments undertake to charge their clients reasonable rates. But … What is reasonable? That is the key. Consumerism does not go into details or Your letter nor in The section of its website dedicated to the ‘Patto della Carbonara’, but over the last months of the Italian press and Foreign It has repeated a figure: 12 euros, a sum for which carbonara pasta dishes could be found in restaurants in the center at the end of 2024, remember Corriere della will. It is not sought that the price drops. But he wants to avoid being shot. “Overcome 11 or 12 euros is not fair for the client. It loses the identity of what Roman cuisine is, which is the dish itself and what it wants to represent,” Explain to The country The owner of a place in Rome. The reasoning is very simple. The defenders of the measure They estimate That preparing a carbonara paste dish is relatively cheap, so taking into account raw materials could be charged for 6.5 euros. To that amount add other extra costs until reaching 12 euros, a price that in its opinion already includes the “margins”. And has it served? One thing is the theory. Another very different facts. Although consumerismo is He has committed To identify the businesses that have been assigned to the ‘Carbonara Pact’ and invites customers has denounced those who do not respect it, there are those who look at the initiative with skepticism. Marina García, journalist and correspondent in Rome, I recently recognized to The country that the pact has not worked too much. “It serves more to open a tourism debate than to have a real impact,” he adds. There are those who, after probe the city’s businesses, He found himself A few months ago, prices already ranged between 12.5 and 19 euros. Or even who speaks that in just a few years the dish has shot from eight to 16 euros. For now, what the agreement has helped is to influence the effect that massive tourism has on a day -to -day basis (And the pocket) of the population, a debate that has occurred in other parts from Italy (Venice, for example) and whom Spain It is not foreign. Images | Sarah (Flickr) and Pinar Kucuk (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | Japan is suffering a bankruptcy record from Ramen. And in part it is the result of the “1,000 yen barrier”

Barcelona erased a Google bus line so that tourists do not satura. Tourists have told him “good attempt”

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Barcelona’s metropolitan transport service has discovered something that The real estate market of the city knows from A long time ago: Tourist pressure is not always easy to combine with residents day to day. In a desperate attempt to end the saturation of bus 116, a route used by neighbors, but also by thousands of tourists who used it to visit Park Güell, a year ago the City Council got that the line disappeared from the recommended itineraries of Google Maps. And it worked. Without visibility in networks, demand seemed to relax. The problem is that at least part of the tourists who previously crowded bus 116 It seems to have an impact on other routes with which they can also reach Park Güell. Neighbors who use them to go to work or school are already warning that saturation affects their day to day. Delete a map bus. Sounds drastic, but that’s what he did last year The Barcelona City Council: it made bus 116 disappear from the map for the millions of tourists that visit the city every year. Or what is the same, that it ceases to appear in the recommended itineraries of Google Maps. The reason: although 116 is a small neighborhood bus, with capacity for about 20 people, its route passes very close to Park Güellan icon from Barcelona that receives per year More than four million of visitors. The combination of scarce capacity and high demand caused 116 to be often saturated to the astonishment of tourists and anger of residents, who need the bus to go to work, university or make the purchase. The City Council proved to increase the frequencies and reinforce the number of buses that covered the route, but it served. In the end he opted for another trick: “Invisible it” in Google Maps. And did it serve? More or less. The influx of tourists fell clearly. So much, that I recognized it The bus driver itself: “It has been to disappear from Google and change radically.” Even the neighbors, skeptics at the beginning with that strategy, verified the change. The problem is that the tourist pressure on the urban transport service does not seem to have been solved. Rather, it has been redistributed towards other alternative lines. Or that is at least what is pretending The data who has just published eldiario.es. Pending of 24 and V19. His information, based on the passenger balances of Transports Metropolitans of Barcelona (TMB), shows that while the influx of travelers fell on bus 116 was increased on other routes that can also be used to reach Park Güell, as 24 and V19. The percentages are of course eloquent. While between 2023 and 2024 the title “Hello Barcelona” (the payment for visitors) scored A 86% drop In bus 116, on line 24 the validations of that ticket increased by 32%. With regard to V19, in 2024 it transported more than six million people, 10% more than in 2023, with more than 19,000 validations on working days. Precisely to avoid saturation and improve the TMB service reinforced several sections on weekends. Has the problem moved? TMB Discard That there has been a passenger transfer, although there are neighbors who complain about that: that the pressure that was previously suffocated by bus 116 has moved to lines like 24. “Many times I have not been able to climb because when there are so many tourists they don’t even open the doors,” he acknowledged A few days ago To Eldiario.es a Barcelona student who takes the bus daily to go to college. “In the morning it is already full. Sometimes I arrive late because, with so many people, I can not get on the bus,” says another neighbor of La Salut on the itinerary 24. There are those who clarify that the problem actually comes from behind. A complex equation. Beyond the possible transfer of tourists who until last year resorted to 116 to visit Park Güell, at play other factors enter, such as the increase in the general demand for urban transport or tourism. Atm data show that in 2024 the use of public transport in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Barcelona grew by 7%. The year was also good for tourism, with 15.5 million of visitors. The data is practically identical to that of 2023 (he scored a very slight fall of 0.7%), but came accompanied by a remarkable rebound of 8.7% in spending per person. The great threat. The saturation on his day of bus 116 and the pressure in other lines used by tourists to visit Park Güell, such as 24 or V19, is a double departure. First for the impact on the service and for the residents of the city. Second, because that pressure has an impact on the attractiveness of Barcelona as a destination. Eldiario.es spoke A few days ago With a family of Bulgarian travelers who recognized their surprise after getting on 24 in Plaza de Catalunya: “It is very filled, what a burden.” If in spite they resorted to the service, they explained, it was for their “comfort” to get to Park Güell. The massification of points such as Mallorca, the Canary Islands or Barcelona itself has led to the popular Fodor´s travel guide To quote them In its “no list 2025”, a kind of OLD in which his experts cite destinations that risk dying of success. Images | Stay Grouted (Flickr) and M.peinado (Flickr) In Xataka | If the question is whether tourist floors take the price of rentals, we already have the answer: more than 30%

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