Mass tourism is taking its toll - not only in the attractive regions of Southern Europe that attract vacationers like a magnet, but increasingly in our country as well. Gdansk is another city that will instruct tourists in public spaces on how they should behave so as not to get under the skin of the locals.
Venice, Barcelona, Mallorca, Malaga, Seville - these are just some of the places where locals have been demonstrating their discontent against excessive tourism in recent weeks. Protesting locals agree that the massive influx of tourists deteriorates their quality of life, leads to environmental degradation, fuels short-term rentals, drives up housing prices and pushes out permanent residents.
vacationers, respect the locals!
The flurry of tourists is also becoming an increasing nuisance in our cities as well. That's why more local governments are choosing to educate vacationers in public spaces. For several years, actions: "Tourist respect Sopot" and "Stop naked in the street" have been conducted by Sopot. Among other things, the resort asks vacationers to respect the peace of their neighbors, to park properly, and instructs them not to parade their bare bellies on the street and in pubs.
Now the city of Gdansk has decided to take similar steps, with 4.1 million tourists in 2023 - 400,000 more than the year before (for comparison: Barcelona in 2023 recorded 12 million visitors). During the information campaign, which will also continue in future years, Gdansk wants to make tourists aware of what behavior is welcome in public spaces and what is not. The city is asking that vacationers not litter, shine their nakedness, observe curfew, respect monuments and park only in designated areas.
Posters have already appeared in the Main and Old Towns of Gdansk
photo: Grzegorz Mehring
The capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship has relied on cooperation with cartoonist Andrzej Milewski, known as andrzejrysuje, and the topic has been treated with a wink.
I have very good memories of Gdansk, and I always enjoy dropping by when I'm at the seaside. I was all the more pleased when one of my favorite cities offered to work with me. It was super fun to draw and come up with texts for tourist information icons," says Andrzej Milewski. - Now they will not only inform, but also, I hope, make people smile. I'm very curious about the reaction of Danzigers to these projects.
pending regulations
The "Street culture after Gdansk" campaign in its first installment is being implemented in the form of posters on city poles, later it will move to the Internet. Its total gross cost is PLN 34 thousand.
"Street culture after Gdansk" campaign. - picture by andrzejrys
© Gdansk City Hall
Educating tourists, however, is still not enough. Cities popular with tourists, led by Krakow and Sopot, have been appealing to the government for several years to adopt provisions on short-term rentals (which are increasingly pushing permanent residents out of city centers) and tools that would allow local governments to regulate rentals in their own areas. Unfortunately, so far - to no avail.
