It’s something of a shame that the centre has now been surrendered to tourists"“It’s something of a shame that the centre has now been surrendered to tourists but even there, locals can find refuge and cheap-ish beers in places known mostly to university students,” said Charlie Neville, originally from London, who has lived in Prague since 2002 and works for custom tour operator JayWay Travel. “We enjoy a much less busy version of Prague in neighbourhoods like Letná with its beer garden with one of the best views of the city, tree-lined avenues of Vinohrady, trendy Karlin, and hipster Vrsovice.” To keep the effects of tourism in check, the Prague city council has worked to enforce night-quiet rules, has banned Segways and is currently working on a ban on traffic-impacting ‘beer-bikes’, popular pedal-powered trolley bikes that tour breweries and bars in the city centre. Much like in Amsterdam, the Czech tourism bureau is working on moving people out of the capital. “ÄŒeský Krumlov [a Bohemian castle town 170km south of Prague] is already too busy with day trips, but the [country’s] second largest city, Brno, is a pleasant tourist-free alternative, as is Olomouc,” Neville said. Barcelona Barcelona has struggled in recent years to manage the number of tourists descending on its sun-soaked streets, and ranked in the index’s highest quartile for overall ‘crunch’. With more than 30 million visitors last year, tourists can far outnumber the local population of 1.6 million, which puts a strain on city resources. “Tourists bother me when a group of eight or more take the neighbourhood bus – a small minibus that neighbours use to go uphill to their homes, especially for elderly and families with kids or strollers or people carrying heavy shopping bags,” said Barcelona native Marta Laurent Veciana, owner of tour company ForeverBarcelona.com. Big tourist groups also often block the subway ticket validating machines. “Leave at least one machine available for locals so they don’t have to wait until your entire group has validated their ticket to go in.” As a beach destination, Barcelona can sometimes attract badly behaved tourists. “It’s really annoying when you see tourists throwing garbage on the streets, or drunk gringos [foreigners] at night vomiting around,” said María José Castro, who moved here a year ago. Veciana also has a problem with people who feel like it’s OK to wander naked in the streets, a sight that is all too common. “There are two nudist beaches, if they want! Also, men shouldn’t go bare-chested outside of the beach area.” Residents say tourists could take basic steps of not littering and staying quieter at night to ease some of the burden on locals. The government has also worked in recent years on initiatives to reduce the strain. They recently implemented a new shuttle bus from Alfons X subway station (L4, yellow line) to Gaudi’s Park Güell, free of charge with a park ticket purchase; and worked to pedestrianise many of the streets around the Sagrada Família basilica. They’ve also passed laws restricting Segway and bike tours to certain areas, away from crowded areas like the waterfront. Toronto Not every city sees the growing number of visitors as a bad thing. “Personally, I love seeing more people flocking to our great city of Toronto,” said Kyle Collier, founder of tech startup Phaze. “I've lived in Shanghai, China, so from my standpoint Toronto has lots of space.” That doesn’t mean Toronto doesn’t face challenges ahead – the index ranks the city in the highest quartile for overall ‘crunch’. While the tourism industry seems ready to take on the influx of visitors, according to locals, it’s housing where residents are feeling the real pressure. “Toronto was already facing an affordable housing shortage. Especially in the downtown core, this has been exacerbated by the advent of holiday rentals (such as Airbnb),” said resident Eric Wychopen, who blogs about the province at Ontario Away. “It’s common now to see condo terms and conditions prohibiting renters from posting their properties for holiday rent. However, it’s also common knowledge that some tenants still illegally rent their properties.” For tourists, a little respect for the environment goes a long way for locals. “Littering is something that disappoints me,” Collier said. “You certainly wouldn't want people littering in your home, so why do it to everyone else? Respect the planet, and people, especially those you don't know.”
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