‘Life is not all about making money’
Tourism accounts for 10% of the global GDP. The World Tourist Organisation (UNWTO) estimates the number of tourists at 1.5 billion this year. Sooner or later every popular tourist attraction will be confronted with protests from local residents.
After anti-tourism protests in Venice, on the Spanish island of Majorca and in Athens, the trendy capital of Greece, locals in Sintra – a World Heritage area on the Portuguese west coast – are calling for solutions to the annual rush of summer visitors, who make everyday life in the picturesque region a misery.
The association of residents QSintra, has launched an initiative this year to show how locals feel. Windows, balconies, cafes and restaurants are adorned with catchy posters, challenging the council to finally do something.
Just as Porto and Lisbon are starting to limit ‘tuk-tuks’ and hop on – hop off buses in their historic centre, Sintra too is calling for action.
Although the association points out that tourism is important, it should not downgrade the landscape, depopulate the area and jeopardize the daily lives of the inhabitants. ‘There are just too many visitors, and too many cars and buses winding their way along the narrow roads.
More than being against, we want to point out solutions’, declares Magdalena Martins, the president of QSintra. Sintra needs a lot of tourism but if we‘re not careful the chicken with the golden egg is being killed.’
The number of inhabitants in the historic centre of Sintra has been steadily decreasing from 3706 in 1991 to 2615 in 2021, whereas the amount of tourists – according to the number of visits at the Tourist Office – has increased to over half a million, while Parks de Sintra last year sold more than 3 million tickets to the various monuments in the area.
Martinho Pimentel, a resident who has lived in town for 24 years, has been noticing the increase in an uncontrolled way. ‘Tourism has had a brutal growth and is not minimally organized to live with residents’, he denounces looking at the many cars passing through his street. ‘Last week my front door was blocked because a car was parked there, I only managed to get into the house four hours later.’
He also notes that the vibration and air pollution caused by the vehicles are such that he is afraid they will cause damage, not only to people but also to historic buildings. ‘Tourism itself is not the problem but quality has fallen because of the uncontrollable increase in the number of tourists’, he sighs.
Enjoy the week Aproveite a semana (pic Público/Sapo)