Tucked away: what happens when tourists discover "local and very typical spots"?
There is no place to hide
This is a post, once again, about the reckless gentrification that many - too many - of our towns, villages and cities are experimenting with.
In a sick twist of destiny, the post-pandemic era has brought even more low-level tourism, the tourism that prioritizes selfies over culture.
What happens when someone invents a way to bring tourists to places they could not find by themselves?
I give you an example. It is an example based on the company “Culinary Backstreets”, which is operating in various, heavily touristic, environments.
The case of the foodie tour for tourists to discover hidden places
The post above is from a company set up to offer, in various cities, “authentic food experiences and tours” to tourists.
Let us not fool ourselves. Most of us travel as tourists, not as travellers.
In the pictures, and geolocated, is a quiet eatery in a residential area of low-to-middle class Lisbon.
An area that is being quickly gentrified as we speak, however, as there are at least three building sites surrounding this restaurant, freshly refurbished and now on the market, selling apartments for 800K upwards.
We spoke extensively about the non-places popping up left and right. And not only in Lisbon, it’s a disease that is spreading in every social-media-worthy city, town or village.
Just broadcast any Stanley Tucci eating something “very typical” and you will have people flocking to “get the experience” and “live like a local”.
It is the bane of our times, I know.
But in this specific case, due to the turbulent present and future of this quiet neighbourhood, this post irritated me beyond measure, and I explain here why.
Rage and fury
So the core business of this guided tour company is that their people go around and scout for places that, paradoxically, have not yet been hit by tourism. The place of our example, in particular, is geographically far from Lisbon’s centre, and semantically far from tourism - still.
Benfica is a quiet neighbourhood where homes are still affordable and where locals live quietly. It has a popular market for groceries and an air of Testaccio, the old one.
A caveat. This company offering tours is not the only one, so here I am extrapolating - they are free to do as they please, but this does not mean we cannot have an opinion about their business model as we had with Enron.
Do you see how paradoxical this is?
This kind of business is for me a classic byproduct of reckless capitalism, whereby it is the same business that kills the means to sustain it.
The result is an influx of tourists that, by raising the prices or clogging the tables, actually and factually impedes the locals from going to that place.
Of course, the business that killed it all, as in any capitalistic tale we know, has the means to survive: like Alien, in the movie, it will find another host among the remaining local typical restaurants, to invade.
And so the cycle will continue with more tourists, fewer places, more non-places.
On Mashable, recently they said:
Dr. Marcus Collins, a marketing professor at the University of Michigan, says that some restaurants and local attractions "can’t handle the new demand" and do not hold the infrastructure for it, therefore feeling "a physical strain". Sarah Blocksidge, a marketing director, agrees: "The reality is that some businesses just aren’t suited for the influx of people an influencer can attract, which can wind up hurting the business more than helping it."
And the influencers, toor guides and so on?