--- title: Today’s tourists are on their worst behavior - The Hustle description: From smashing Roman busts to trampling the Spanish Steps, ill-behaved tourists are now a summer staple. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1948533917-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-BadTourists_20230829215059.webp --- # Today’s tourists are on their worst behavior ![Sara Friedman](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Sara Friedman](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/sara-friedman) [Sara Friedman Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/sarafriedmannn) Published: August 30, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 Did you ever get in trouble at school for carving your crush’s initials into a desk? ![An ancient marble statue of a bearded man with graffiti added on top of his eyes.](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1948533917-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-BadTourists_20230829215059.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1948533917-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-BadTourists_20230829215059.webp) We won’t tell, but there’s a new vandal in town making that look like child’s play: tourists. Around the world, officials are reporting an [uptick](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/08/10/bad-tourists-vandalism-italy-bali-croatia-japan/) in misdemeanors, and it’s getting ugly: - A man was caught on [video](https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/06/27/colosseum-vandalism-graffiti-rome-tourism/) etching his girlfriend’s name into the wall of the Colosseum. He could now face up to five years in prison and a $16.4k fine. - In China, tourists damaged geological landforms by standing in prohibited areas (to take [photos](https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202308/07/WS64d0adaca31035260b81abe1.html), of course). - An American smashed two sculptures in the Vatican after being [told](https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/vatican-museum-tourist-smashes-statues/index.html) he couldn’t see the pope. - Rome’s Spanish Steps got [pummeled](https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/maserati-spanish-steps-italy/index.html) by a Maserati just weeks before a tourist caused $27k in [damages](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/08/us-tourist-scooter-damage-rome-spanish-steps) by throwing a scooter at it. The worst part? Those aren’t even a fraction of the incidents. Venice alone had 46 acts of tourists defacing monuments from January to October 2022. #### **WTF is going on?** The simplest explanation: more tourists mean more chances for things to go awry, and international travel has [outpaced](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-travel-to-europe-flights-summer-delays-airlines-airports-staff-shortages-strikes-ukraine/) last summer. Italy alone saw international arrivals [increase](https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-tourists-bad-behavior/index.html) 86% YoY in the first quarter of 2023 (which explains why so many of these horror stories are taking place there). #### **But there’s more at play:** - Easing covid restrictions have travelers eager to get away, and two years of pent up energy can be destructive. - Social media and striving to “go viral” can push tourists into making risky choices. - Movies and TV turn monuments into popular tourist [attractions](https://www.instagram.com/p/CriJmnUteVT/?ref=Dirty%20Instagram), which can harm locals and disrupt cities (looking at you, “Game of Thrones”). **But tourist destinations are fighting back:** Bali has [deported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-08/holiday-hotspot-bali-to-reinvent-itself-after-deporting-136-tourists?sref=3Ac2yX40) 136 tourists this year, Italy passed a [bill](https://abcnews.go.com/ABCNews/International/italy-plans-hefty-fines-vandalism-monuments-cultural-sites/story?id=98523491) that ups the penalties for vandalism, and Amsterdam launched a “stay away” campaign to [discourage](https://www.forbes.com/sites/dariosabaghi/2023/03/31/amsterdam-launches-stay-away-campaign-targeting-wild-party-behavior-of-young-british-tourists/?sh=19e4fe8e64f0) rowdy visitors. We think Croatia should be next up, yelling “shame” at tourists who misbehave. Topics: [Tourism](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/tourism) ## Follow us on social media Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Sara Friedman", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/sara-friedman" }, "datePublished" : "2023-08-30T20:44:37.000Z", "headline" : "Today’s tourists are on their worst behavior", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1948533917-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-BadTourists_20230829215059.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/today-s-tourists-are-on-their-worst-behavior", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Sara Friedman", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/sara-friedman" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:12:26+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-08-30T20:44:37+0000", "headline" : "Today’s tourists are on their worst behavior", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1948533917-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-BadTourists_20230829215059.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```