Tourism inflates the cost of living

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Following your article on the pressures created by the number of visitors in various national parks, I would also ask you about the common assumption that tourism makes on local communities and it gets richer. In reality, it doesn’t. Mostly, tourism provides low-paid and unrewarding jobs to people who fight hard to live in honeypot areas, even after growing up.

Artificially, tourism inflates the cost of living. Not for the middle or lower-income families, the sector provides revenue for high-stakes investors. Neither does it help in community cohesion, the provision of houses for those who can’t even afford one, let alone a second, or give space for other spheres of work.

The Lake District national park authority is labouring under a misapprehension. Since this is an amazingly charming place, people will naturally come here and access should be for all. However, it is a falsehood to think that visitors help communities. Who could differ with Richard Leafe, chief executive of the Lake District national park that something needs to be done about the fleet of cars in the area? But allowing – at the same time – motoring on fell tracks in the heart of the Lakes is jarringly inconsistent. We are aware that it impacts the environment and damages the pleasure of the walkers and the cyclists have. Why does the national park condone this destructive hobby of a small minority?

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