READING TEXT
Is overtourism pricing locals out?
Read first, then answer the questions. Select an underlined word to see its meaning and save it below.
Original fictional learning scenario. People, dialogue and personal experiences are created for language practice.
When a bakery in the old town became a luggage-storage shop, residents treated it as a symbol of a wider change. More visitors were bringing income, but everyday services seemed to be giving way to short-term demand. At a neighbourhood meeting, a restaurant owner warned against blaming tourists for every rent increase. Housing shortages, investment decisions and local planning also mattered.
A tenant agreed, while pointing out that complexity should not become an excuse for inaction. The group proposed measuring changes in long-term housing and essential services before choosing a policy. Their disagreement was useful because it exposed two different mistakes: reducing a complicated problem to one villain, and using its complexity to avoid responsibility. The question was not simply whether tourism was good or bad. It was how benefits and costs were distributed, and whether residents had a meaningful role in deciding what their neighbourhood was becoming.
