"Hi, Andrea! Hi Isabella!" I shouted when I saw my best friends sitting outside the restaurant. It had only been 2 weeks since we had last seen each other, but that was a long time for us.

"How was your trip to Cape Town Maddie?" Andrea asked me.

"It was great, but please tell me how was Thailand first!"

"Ok, so after I landed in Bangkok, I spent about 3 days there; I mean it's Bangkok so why wouldn't you. But then after that, I heard of this really cool place called "Maya Bay"; that is where Leonardo DiCaprio filmed "The Beach! (Robbins) But when I got there, I found that it was closed temporarily! When I read the signs about why it was unbelievable!"

"What did it say?" Isabella asked.

"It said that the Bay was closed due to the environmental damage that the coral there had suffered. I was shocked to find out a little later after some researching that one report said that 80% of the coral there had died (Robbins). Furthermore, in my research, I read that apparently, there were too many tourists who were stepping on the coral, boats leaving their trash in the water, and more (Robbins). Apparently, it was going to open in about three months, but if it's honestly that bad, shouldn't it be closed for at least six?".

"Wow, that's terrible," I said in response. "I can't believe that tourists did that stuff".

"In Venice, it was worse, trust me," Isabella said.

"What happened?" Andrea asked.

"So, when I got to Venice, it was not only hot but also super-crowded too. It was also weird since a lot of people were in their bathing suits. Literally, every corner I turned, everyone was sitting down and eating a bagged lunch. When I was eating at a local restaurant later that day, I was talking to this waiter who told me the reality of it all."

"He said that Venice is treated like a beach, and that is why everyone is wearing their bathing suits. Furthermore, what makes it worse is that they don't spend any money at the local places either. Like, they literally buy all the stuff from those cheesy tourist shops, and also don't buy lunch from local places, and instead bring those brown bag lunches." (Buckley).

"Well, can't they just charge the tourists more in like taxes or something?" I replied.

"I had that same question, but they told me that they couldn't do that because both the Italian Constitution and the EU Freedom of Movement Rules prevent that. They're doing a behavior awareness campaign to combat the problem now, but I don't know if it'll help" (Buckley).

"Wow," both Andrea and I remarked.

"Yeah, but what about you Maddie? We want to hear about Cape Town."

"Ok, so my experience to Cape Town was amazing compared to what you guys went through. I visited places like Table Mountain, the Wharf, had a little wine; but when I went to Robben Island, I encountered the same problem that you guys had. There were simply too many tourists"

"Basically what happened was that after I had gotten off of the boat from the wharf to the Island itself, the tourists and I were taken on buses around the island, which was great. However, when we were later given a walking tour of the prison by one of the former prisoners, this one tourist had the audacity to ask him if he had ever met Mandela, or heard about him. Let me say that this was after he told his life story. Anyway, he was actually a little irritated to be asked this question, said no, then explained how Mandela was not a worshipped figure in the prison. This made me realize how little tourists knew of the influential South African figures during Apartheid. I mean, Tambo originally was supposed to be President first, not Mandela."

"Anyway, when the tour guide then showed us Mandela's cell, many of the tourists ignored the other cells, and only began to take pictures, and actually huddled around his. They really held up the line for those of us in the back. After that, the tour went back to normal but having that many tourists really did take me out of the setting of the place. Instead of feeling the isolation and pain from the work and sufferings that the prisoners experienced on the island, I felt very little to nothing. It was like I was just walking around on an island with people taking pictures. It really just took away a lot of the experience for me"

Andrea and Isabella looked at each other after I had said this.

"Good morning ladies, what would you like to order?" the waiter asked.

We all then ordered our drinks and meals shortly after. We didn't speak of our trips again, but rather discussed the current assignments and projects that we were working on.

The Empire State Building and Chrysler Building looked over us when we received and enjoyed our meals.

References:

Julia Buckley "VENICE DURING THE SUMMER IS 'LIKE WAR', ACCORDING TO TOURISM CHIEF PAOLA MAR"

Siobhan Robbins "Thai efforts to protect location for DiCaprio film The Beach from tourist damage"

For Further Reading:

Elle Hunt " 'Tourism kills neighbourhoods': how do we save cities from the city break?"

"Overcrowding causes tourism nightmares"

"Overtourism: a growing global problem"