Tag Archives: tourism

short-sighted quick-fix high-risk “solutions”

05 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by in coronavirus, sevilla, tourism, travel, welcome

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

byebye

This was rather a cheering sight during my first (and probably last for some time) river walk since lockdown. Because upon seeing this very dead scooter on the river bank I realised that I hadn’t actually seen any of these annoying things these past couple of months, not from my balcony nor during quick trips to the supermarket. Obviously most were being (mis)used by tourists, riding them on pavements and leaving them just anywhere all over the city, so this has been one of the other positive aspects to getting our city back.

Then I read this morning that the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has named Sevilla (where they held their annual global summit last year) as one of the five travel destinations IN THE WORLD to receive their new Safe Travel Stamp, to “reassure and restore the confidence of travellers and make travel safe again”.

We are excited that Saudi Arabia, which is Chair of the G20 tourism group, as well as popular destinations such as Cancun, one of the biggest destinations in the world, Portugal, one of the fastest growing countries in Europe and the holiday cities of Barcelona and Seville, amongst others, are among the first destinations to back the stamp and implement global standard protocols to recover faster.

Continue reading →

enbhiga 2019

08 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by in galicia, gastronomy, getaways, spain

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

Next week I’ll be back in Galicia attending ENBHIGA in the province of Ourense, roughly in the south east of Galicia. You may recall that I spent a day in and around Ourense last July when I went up to do research for a Decanter article. This time I will be part of an international and national group of 40 journalists and 10 tour operators (not sure which category I fall into… both?) who have been invited by the Ourense tourist board to get to know this lesser known part of Galicia through its gastronomy.

Last summer I visited three of the five DO wine regions in Galicia – Rías Baixas, Ribeiro, and Ribeira Sacra – so I was very excited to learn that this week-long event would be taking in the other two – Valdorras and Monterrei (whose wines have actually become the new “house wines” at Casa Azahar).

My friends and Super Fixers Anna & Jorge @guitianmayer have organised the itinerary, which is so full-on I fear for, well, something. Hopefully not my life. Perhaps my sanity? We shall see. I actually almost backed out because of the ABDOMINAL PAIN, lest I explode somewhere in the northern countryside and die of sepsis. But last time this went on for over two months without incident, so I will be popping paracetamol and hoping for the best.

Including travel days to Madrid and back the whole trip will be from Monday to Sunday. Full day itineraries Tuesday to Friday, and a half day on Saturday before being taken back to Madrid. Ufff… wish me luck!

living the vida local

15 Thursday Aug 2019

Posted by in sevilla, tourism

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

A couple of weeks ago I got into trouble on Instagram when I posted that toilet brush photo with the hashtag #livinglikealocal, which resulted in me losing a whack of followers. This was to do with the ongoing ISSUE of over-tourism and how so many travel agents and websites are promoting the concept of LIVING LIKE A LOCAL.

This is both a misleading and, well, impossible concept to acheive. And it’s not even a desirable one. Because the truth is that locals are not actually out all day drinking on sunny terraces and eating tapas. Because we have jobs. We have our daily chores. And we actually cannot afford to go out every day, so many evenings and weekends are spent at home Netflixing with homemade snacks and a nice bottle of wine. Sorry guys.

Continue reading →

loo brush backlash!

23 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in culture, humour, instagram, sevilla, spain, tourism, travel

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

Soooooo… have been working on a blog post about tourism in Sevilla. Well, it applies pretty much everywhere I’m sure. Just putting some thoughts together about the effect of mass tourism on travel destinations, and also about how places are so often marketed in a misleading way. One of those horrid catchphrases that I’m sure you’ve all heard by now is LIVE LIKE A LOCAL.

To wit I’ve been capturing some photos of how I – a local – actually live in Sevilla. This was one of them. Funny, right? Well, apparently not. I got some serious verbal backlash when I posted this on Instagram a few days ago with #livinglikealocal and #livelikealocal hashtags. This was followed by a dozen or so “unfollows”. And I had been SO CLOSE to reaching 5000 followers  😉

I would have quoted the Divine Ms M – FUCK ‘EM IF THEY CAN’T TAKE A JOKE – but I’m sure that would have just got me into more trouble. Anyhoodle… will let you know when I finish.  🙂