TikTok tourists ruining village, says councillor

Pretty villages like Bourton-on-the-Water can become very crowded in summer months

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 added, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"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.

Wareing tabled a motion to get the council to accept that tourism was a problem for the village in May 2024, which was rejected by six voted to four.

"The recent bank holiday weekend provided an illustration of volatile public sentiment on this topic on social media," Wareing said.

"This is so destructive for our community and is deeply worrying."