New Orleans New Orleans is a tourist town, so this is an ever-present concern for local residents. Tourism drives a lot of the economy, although over the years the biggest numbers have accumulated from conventions along with the hotels, restaurants, and venues that serve that sector. The economic drivers there are more geographically contained in the French Quarter and Central Business District, especially near the Mississippi River, where cruise ships also operate regularly. Popular neighbors like our own, Bywater, at times seem to be roller board and wedding party central. Airbnbs and the like have been flashpoints for neighborhoods and housing affordability and subject to city regulation and sometimes even some half-hearted enforcement. The money that tourism generates also depends on low wages and precarious service economy from season to season, which has engaged us and others in one organizing drive after another in pressing for wage and worker justice. Simply put, the tourism double bind, money for some, not all, housing issues, environmental threats, and the like is something we’ve come to know intimately.
Many cities and countries have been increasingly pushing back. The cruise industry has surged post-pandemic. Greece is the latest country to both applaud the money and order restrictions on the ships that are overwhelming some of its islands. News on their new pushback comes in the wake recently of similar actions in other cities. As a recent report noted,
In April, Venice introduced an entry fee of 5 euros, about $5.50, on certain days. In July, protesters in Barcelona marched in exasperation with tourist numbers. And after those cities diverted cruises from busy ports, officials in Amsterdam decided to cut cruise traffic in half by 2026, before eventually closing its terminal, citing worries about overcrowding and pollution.
I would bet we’re going to see a lot more of that.
One thing we need to see a lot more of us is what’s happening in Edinburgh, Scotland, thanks to a huge victory engineered and won by ACORN affiliate Living Rent. A report from crack organizer, Sinead McNulty, describes it well:
Edinburgh is introducing a visitor levy like in other major cities. The aim was to originally spend it on amenities tourist and business visitors use, as well as advertising, but our campaign has got the council to say that it will spend it on housing and parks. The only thing we still have to achieve is to get them to commit to building real affordable council homes. We fear a lot of them will be mid-market (private) and not affordable government homes (social) that are cheaper and have more rights! So, the fight is still on.!
Like all campaigns, it’s never over until everything is won, but using the revenues from tourism to help build better housing and communities, rather than subsidizing the tourism business itself, is definitely what should be on the agenda for all cities and countries wrestling with the tourism double bind.