3 Violations That Tourists Often Do

Illustration of mountains (Pexels/Andrei Tanase)

JAKARTA - Tourists, both domestic and international, play a major role in the tourism sector, which is one of the important sources of income for many countries and regions. However, it is not uncommon for a number of tourists to violate the rules or norms that apply in tourist destinations.

This year alone, tourists have been caught doodleing ancient Roman villas with graffiti. Then, tourists were caught disposing of plastic bag waste from snacks in the cave of the national park until moldy. Conditions cause an unpleasant odor and disturb Geisha in Kyoto, Japan.

According to a survey by travel analysts at Radical Storage, a network of luggage storage, conducted in October against 1,231 adults in America, most people experience tourist syndrome. As much as 56.5 percent, they do something unusual while traveling.

Nearly half of the tourists say they have violated the law while on vacation they will not do at home.

"Unfortunately, the findings of this survey confirm what we already know," Giacomo Piva, co-founder of Radical Storage, said in a statement, quoted by VOI from the USA Today website on Thursday, November 14, 2024.

"The tourism industry may have recovered from the impact of COVID-19, but unfortunately the epidemic of bad behavior continues to threaten freedom of travel in the future, with European antiturism protests," he said.

Piva mentions the fact that 56.5% of people admit to having bad behavior and experiencing 'tourist syndrome' while on vacation shows us that this problem is not about a handful of people damaging travel for many people, but a lot of people who damage the journey for all of us.

Perpetrators of the worst violations were found in Generation Z, with 72% of the younger generation saying they were more likely to take the measure on their way.

If you wonder why so many tourists feel justified to act more rashly, nearly half of tourists blame social media for triggering poor tourist behavior.

Four out of 10 tourists say their vacation is a time to have fun, get out of the comfort zone and create memories.About a third of respondents say anyone can behave differently when no one gets to know.

The most common violation recognized by tourists in the survey is:

- Act territorially by placing a towel to order a relaxing chair by the pool

- Posing inappropriate with statues

- Picking plants without a permit, such as in a person's nature reserve or property

Last summer, Italian officials were hunting for a woman, believed to be a tourist, who was caught on camera posing "reducing sex" with the statue of Bicchus in Florence.

The city has regulations prohibiting any form of abuse of cultural heritage, which can result in fines and life bans.

On the other hand, 61% of respondents also added that there should be tougher penalties for tourists to behave poorly. Nearly two-thirds also said that they felt ashamed of the bad behavior of their travel partners.