In 1921 Prince (later Emperor) Hirohito of Japan reckoned that Bibury was the highlight of his trip round Europe. And that was before the Royal Society of Arts stopped Arlington Row from falling down. Japanese tourists haven’t stopped coming for over a century. Unfortunately, residents of the holiday venues of the global elite resent becoming inhabitants of homes which visitors treat like theme-parks, and would prefer tourists not to regard their neighbourhood as museums.
When it came to travel around her realm, Victoria, Empress of India and frequent rail passenger in the days before replacement bus services and HS2, had her own way of dealing with commoners. When travelling through industrial northern England she ordered that the window blinds of the Royal Train be closed so that she would not have to see how grim it looked up North.
Over the centuries since leisure travel was solely for the elite, it has become accessible to commoners, and the fortunes of many regions have turned on the growth of tourism. In the early post war period of the 1950s it was mainly local travel and a small residual return of Americans who had travelled to Europe during the war which made up the bulk of tourism, but as international airlines and coach tour operators grew from the 1960s many British holidaymakers began to leave for holidays abroad. Clutching cameras, the hordes of Americans were rejoined by swelling numbers of Japanese, returning in the footsteps of Hirohito, often organised in package tours conveyed by ever expanding coaches.
Until Brexit there was a slowly growing stream of young EU citizens who came to study and work in Britain, and this contributed to visits from older parents and other relatives during their own holiday periods. I’m not sure when locals in the most popular tourist venues began seriously to become uncomfortable with the phenomenon of what we now call “overtourism”, but in places like Bourton on the Water and Bibury local protests have certainly grown steadily more and more vociferous since Covid eased off and tourism has come back with what feels to villagers like a vengeance.
Parking is acknowledged to be difficult for people who live in the Cotswolds, the weekend second home owners have already been a source of resentment, and now European tourism, frequently from the Netherlands and Belgium, places further demands on resources and accommodation.
It is unusual for visitors from the USA to bring their own cars – even if they do send their Airforce to wake us up over in Fairford. Making something of an exception to the minimally invasive travels of Hirohito and Queen Victoria, and failing to impress by tact and diplomacy, JD Vance, Vice-President of the USA brought a small battalion of armed security personnel, a fleet of vehicles and zones of cordons and checkpoints to the village of Dean near Chipping Norton last month.
Held at arm’s length, crowds of protesters gathered to point out they considered him unwelcome. Perhaps because he had reportedly described Britain as ‘random’ and ‘practically Islamic’, the normally reserved people of Britain found him somewhat rude. I’m sure that we don’t mean to appear xenophobic, even if some of us might be tempted to give misleading suggestions and directions when confronted by unwelcome tourists. But there’s no need to bother. Merely tell them to use AI to look up the most beautiful village in the Cotswolds, and what to be sure to see whilst there. I tried it. I was advised to go to Castle Coombe and be sure to see Arlington Row whilst there.
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