BBC Learnings · Section 9

Is tourism harmful

So what's our interesting topic today, Rob? Something close to our heart, Sam.

Level: B2 · 110 sentences

Transcript

  1. So what's our interesting topic today, Rob?
  2. Something close to our heart, Sam.
  3. It's travel. Ah, great!
  4. But more and more of us
  5. are travelling to explore the world.
  6. Many of us have more leisure time
  7. and the cost of travelling has become relatively cheaper.
  8. But here lies the problem.
  9. The places we're visiting are becoming more crowded,
  10. sometimes spoiling the atmosphere and the beauty –
  11. the things we came to see in the first place.
  12. This is why we're going to be discussing
  13. how some cities around the world
  14. are putting restrictions on the tourists who visit.
  15. But that's after I challenge you to answer this question, Sam.
  16. Are you ready? Bring it on, Rob!
  17. According to Mastercard's Global Destination Cities Index,
  18. what was the most visited city in 2018?
  19. Was it a London, b New York or c Bangkok?
  20. All great places to visit, but I think
  21. I'll stay close to home and say a London.
  22. OK. Well, as always,
  23. I will reveal the answer later in the programme.
  24. Now let's start our journey in Italy's capital city, Rome,
  25. famous for its Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and many other things.
  26. Lots of people are visiting, Rob,
  27. and locals and tourists have differing attitudes towards
  28. the way they respect these beautiful and historic sites.
  29. Respect here is a verb to mean treat something with care.
  30. Well, the authorities in the city
  31. fear that some tourists are showing disrespect to the city
  32. and have introduced laws to clamp down on certain behaviour.
  33. Clamp down means officially trying to stop or limit people doing something.
  34. Sabina Castelfranco is a journalist in the city.
  35. She told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme
  36. why new restrictions have been introduced.
  37. The new rules are really to make
  38. sure that tourists do not misbehave
  39. when they are visiting tourist attractions in Rome.
  40. Romans don't like to see tourists walking around bare-chested.
  41. They don't like to see them waiting in their fountains.
  42. So really the objective is to improve the life
  43. of the city for residents and for tourists themselves.
  44. So the new rules are to stop tourists misbehaving –
  45. that's doing bad or inappropriate things.
  46. I'm sure not all visitors misbehave,
  47. but those who have been, have been wading –
  48. that's walking through water – in the famous fountains,
  49. and men have not been covering up the top half
  50. of their bodies, so going bare-chested.
  51. Not any more, Sam!
  52. These new laws have banned this with the objective of improving
  53. the life for the people of Rome, the Romans.
  54. An objective is a plan or aim to achieve something.
  55. Other laws introduced in Rome with the objective of improving the city
  56. include giving out severe fines to people who drop litter
  57. and to those who attach love padlocks to historic monuments.
  58. Well, I guess if it makes
  59. the city a nicer place to visit
  60. for everyone, then it's a good idea.
  61. Well, let's talk about another historic old city, Bruges in Belgium.
  62. The old and narrow streets are often packed with sightseers,
  63. so restrictions have been introduced there.
  64. Helen Coffey, deputy travel editor for the independent newspaper,
  65. also spoke to the You and Yours programme
  66. to explain what is going on.
  67. Bruges was the latest city to say
  68. we're going to introduce new regulations
  69. to crack down on what they call the Disneyfication of their city.
  70. A really key one is they're going to cap
  71. the number of cruises that can dock.
  72. And actually, this is a big one that lots of cities do.
  73. They basically don't like cruise visitors
  74. because cruise visitors don't spend money.
  75. So Helen mentioned a crackdown,
  76. which, like clamp down, means taking action
  77. to restrict or stop certain activities.
  78. And Bruges wants to crack down on the Disneyfication of the city.
  79. This term describes turning something into an artificial, not real,
  80. commercial environment, similar to a Walt Disney theme park.
  81. I'm not sure it's that similar yet,
  82. but one way to maintain the authentic feel
  83. of the city is to cap
  84. the number of cruises that can dock.
  85. Cap means restrict or limit.
  86. It's felt that visitors who come
  87. by cruise ship don't stay overnight
  88. and therefore don't bring much money into the city.
  89. The message from the city authorities
  90. is stay overnight or don't come.
  91. Well, one city that has people visiting
  92. for the day or staying longer
  93. is the most visited city in the world.
  94. But where is that, Sam?
  95. Earlier I asked you what the most visited city in 2018 was.
  96. Was it a London, b New York, or c Bangkok?
  97. And I said London. That was in second place.
  98. The most visited city last year was Bangkok in Thailand.
  99. OK, Rob. Well, maybe what I can get right
  100. is a recap of today's vocabulary, starting with respect.
  101. If you respect something, you treat it with care.
  102. We also discussed clampdown,
  103. which means officially trying to stop or limit people doing something.
  104. Crackdown is a similar phrase.
  105. To misbehave is to do something bad or inappropriate.
  106. And an objective is a plan or aim to achieve something.
  107. Our next word is Disneyfication,
  108. a term that describes turning something into an artificial,
  109. not real, commercial environment, similar to a Walt Disney theme park.
  110. And finally we had cap, which means restrict or limit.