Having been born and raised on a Mediterranean island, I have seen how tourism has evolved and grown in intensity over the years. The rise of cheap flights and short holidays have made it easier for European tourists in particular to reach destinations that for many years were somewhat under the radar. Because of this, I have seen the negative impacts that mass tourism can have on a country, particularly on very small countries where infrastructure and space are limited. You start seeing the landscape around you change as construction swells to meet the demand or the anticipation of demand. Authorities see tourism as the country's lifeline and dare not do anything to disturb or curb it. While I acknowledge that local residents certainly benefit from tourism both in the forms of employment and entertainment, I was, and still am, of the firm belief that tourism has its obvious limits.

I carried this feeling of scepticism with me into the project and could easily understand the anger of the residents. It honestly made me consider the notion of whether we are travelling too much. Travel has become such a ubiquitous part of our era that it becomes a judgement of the kind of life you are living. And what are we getting in return? The commodification of cultures, cities becoming unrecognisable under the makeovers of touristification and Disneyfication, the degradation of our environments, ever-increasing pollution emissions and growing carbon footprints. But millions flock to the most popular destinations every year, out of curiosity, and perhaps a little out of vanity too. The tourism industry has grown so much that it seems to exist as a bubble by itself. Visitors need never move out of the tourist zone of the place they are visiting so interactions with locals are minimised and no appreciation can be built by other side. Tourists become invaders and residents become invisible.

“Tourism kills neighbourhoods” was not my initial choice of project to work on. While it certainly interested me, I thought it would be hard to apply to the Belgian/Netherlands context, imagining more the passion and resistance from Barcelona and Venice I had read about. While there was not that kind of resistance to tourism in Amsterdam, there was certainly passion. But in the Dutch way of reports and pamphlets rather than Italian protests and Spanish graffiti. In any case, the residents certainly do have my support – I won't be able to look at Amsterdam the same way again.