4 Iconic Spots Being Utterly Destroyed By Tourists

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4 Iconic Spots Being Utterly Destroyed By Tourists

Today we ask you a difficult question: Is there anything worse than a tourist? The second you slip those sandals on over your black, black socks, you give free rein to your black, black heart. You become an enemy of everything native. You enter into an immortal battle between fun and authenticity, reviled by all but tourism boards and guys who sell soft pretzels on promenades. Maybe that's unfair. We've all been tourists at some point, right? Shouldn't we cut them some slack? Possibly, but first consider how...

Visitors To China's Antarctic Research Stations Are Harassing Scientists

Some people simply aren't any good at fun. Instead of romping on a beach somewhere, they insist on burning their vacation hours in places adverse to life itself, like Antarctica.

4 Iconic Spots Being Utterly Destroyed By Tourists
Asya M/Adobe Stock
We’re still unsure at what point “life-affirming” became code for “potentially life-ending.”

And it is a major pain in the ass for the scientists stationed there.

China maintains three research stations in the antarctic, which are not only a boon for science, but also for sadistic travel agents who -- for around $100,000 per person -- will ship boatloads of tourists out there with little to no supervision. As a result, the scientists regularly have to step in and play tour guide when they aren't stopping people from wandering off and dying a cold, lonely death.

In order to ease the scientists' burden, the Chinese government recently enacted laws banning tourists from littering and bothering the local flora and fauna, and you don't need us to tell you those laws are doing squat. It's not exactly like the scientists can kick them out -- if weather conditions aren't great, tourists have been known to get stranded on King George Island for hours, meaning that they have to hunker down with the scientists and eat their food. Food which is only delivered once a year.

This is, of course, to say nothing of their problems with shapeshifting aliens.

Related: Gigantic Problems We're Solving (With Stoner Logic)

The Beach From The Beach Needs A Timeout Every Year

Back in 2000, the world fell in love with a fun, lighthearted little comedy called The Beach. You probably know it best for its video game adaptation, Far Cry 3.

4 Iconic Spots Being Utterly Destroyed By Tourists
20th Century Fox
Not that The Beach didn't already have the video game tie-in well taken care of.

What? Is that not an accurate description of the film? We've never seen it.

Anyway, love for the movie has been so pervasive that all the way out here in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Eighteen, the Thai government is forcing the Beach (the place) from The Beach (the movie) into a mandatory timeout.

For four months a year, the beach -- which enjoyed a tourist count of approximately jack before the movie came out -- is closed to tourists and boats, in order to allow the environment to recover from its daily onslaught of 4,000 tourists and 200+ boats. On the plus side, this gives foreigners the chance to branch out and explore other fun DiCaprio destinations, such as the vineyard where What's Eating Gilbert Grape was filmed.

What? Is that not an accurate description of the film? We've never seen it.

Man, we should really check out some DiCaprio movies.

Related: That Time Florida Feared A 'Giant Penguin' Was Terrorizing Beaches

Unfortunately, because humanity is a monster that wants to love but only knows how to hurt, the ensuing flood of tourists to "Rabbit Island" has crippled the rabbit population -- or rather, the flood of tourists' food has crippled the rabbit population. The resulting buffet caused a baby boom that the local environment isn't capable of handling, which means that the rabbits are now reliant on tourists, which in turn causes more population booming -- you see the problem here.

In an effort to curb the dumbest man-made ecological crisis ever, the government has warned tourists not to feed the rabbits. Which sounds like a fine solution, until you realize they've now spurred the Japanese remake of Watership Down. When researchers surveyed the rabbit population, they found that 28 percent had suffered injuries caused by fighting other rabbits for the increasingly scarce supplies of food. Yes, we even managed to ruin that cute rabbit video for you. Is there nothing we can't destroy?

Related: Black Panther's Shuri Has Some Alarming Views On Public Health

Mount Everest Is Covered In Human Poop

We've talked before about the mounds of trash (and bodies) that litter its unforgiving slopes, but there are other reasons that Mount Everest is kind of a shithole. For example: the shitholes. At the moment, climbers go potty in two ways, depending on where they are on the mountain. At base camp, they go in toilet tents. Outside of civilization, they dig a shit pit like a goddamn yeti (we assume; we're not yetologists).

This has created what authorities refer to as a "fecal timebomb," and they do not understand why you're laughing about it. The amount of human waste covering the upper slopes of the mountain is so bad that in some parts, it's started leaking out of the glaciers. Some climbers refuse to boil snow for water up there, concerned that the lower boiling point at those temperatures isn't enough to kill any bacteria / germs / general ickiness.

Adam Wears is on Twitter and Facebook, and has a newsletter about depressing history that you should definitely subscribe to.

You really should check out some more DiCaprio movies -- might we suggest Catch Me If You Can?

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For more, check out 4 Insane Ways Tourists Are Ruining Famous Vacation Spots and 6 Famous Places That A-Holes Have Made Intolerable To Visit.

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Related: 6 Ways Selfie-Addicted Tourists Are Destroying The World

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