Teeming hordes

Over-tourism is in the news again as Japan grapples with a huge influx of tourists, many of whom are behaving badly and upsetting local residents. Many of the tourists just want eye-catching backdrops for their social media posts, and don't care two hoots about the locals.

Not a problem here in Northern Ireland, where tourism is gradually increasing but hasn't yet reached the tipping point of overwhelming those of us who live here. The number of visits by cruise ships is escalating, but so far the hordes of tourists descending on Belfast and its tourist attractions are easily absorbed.

Personally I don't understand why people want to visit places that are already jam-packed with so many tourists that you can only move around at a snail's pace, trying to get through thick crowds of visitors. What pleasure is there in that?

I still remember when Jenny and I were in Venice many years ago, taking about 20 minutes to get across Piazza San Marco, such was the dense thicket of tourists. Venice is about to introduce a tourist fee of five euros a day to enter the island, but I doubt if such a puny charge will put anyone off.

People can be surprisingly sheep-like. They flock in droves to the Piazza San Marco, while the very quiet and pretty district of Cannaregio in the north of the island is forgotten about and pleasantly free of the camera-waving multitudes.

Tourism can all too easily become a victim of its own success.

Pic: Cannaregio

Love locks

The worldwide fashion for love locks has become so popular that well-known tourist sights are turning into eyesores and the locks are being removed in their thousands.

The trend was prompted in 2006 by Federico Moccia's book "I Need You", in which a young couple write their names on a padlock, attach it to a lamppost and throw the key into a river to pledge eternal devotion.

He had no idea what he had started. Now there are millions of love locks in cities all over the world from Italy to Korea, China and Japan, and city officials are hopping mad at having to remove them all.

Signore Moccia* himself however has no regrets and thinks all the love locks are great. "The padlocks are a symbol of love and something to be proud of" he says. "Better a padlock than graffiti disfiguring the walls."

I don't agree with him. The love locks are spoiling the beautiful things they're attached to. All three bridges in Venice are festooned with them and they're just pointless clutter.

There are plenty of ways of showing your love for someone that don't degrade famous landmarks. And what if the couple's pledge of devotion turns sour but the padlock's still there, marking their false hopes?

To me it's simply another example of a mindless trend that people take up without thinking of the consequences of what they're doing. It's not just an amusing gesture, it's a blot on the landscape.

Call me a crusty old fuddy-duddy if you like, but I prefer the Ponte di Rialto as it was and not draped with sentimental bric-a-brac.

* pronounced Motcher. The Italian title is "Ho voglia di te".

Pic: love locks in Huangshan, China