A picturesque village is at risk of being ruined by “TikTok tourists” who are “exploiting the destination’s heritage for clicks”, a councillor has said.
Cotswold district councillor Jon Wareing said Bourton-on-the-Water, known as the Venice of the Cotswolds, had faced challenges in recent years.
The councillor said people visited the village to shoot video for their Instagram reels or TikTok and took selfies with the beautiful scenery as a backdrop.
“This kind of visitor tends to have little real interest in the heritage, culture or natural environment they are exploiting for clicks. They are the ultimate hit-and-run tourist,” Wareing said
He said he had seen reports of residents being subjected to verbal and physical abuse and traffic congestion.
Rubbish has also piled up in Bourton, Wareing said, “especially on the green”.
But it’s not tourism itself that is the problem””, he addded. “It’s a combination of over-tourism and fast tourism, which refers to people flocking to honeypot locations for the sole purpose of content creation,” he said.
