Locals in overcrowded UK town told ‘suck it up’ after moaning about tourists

Seaside towns across the UK are grappling with overtourism and a burgeoning holiday rental market that some have argued prices locals out of their home towns. 

They’re finding it hard to tread the balance between catering to locals as well as enticing just enough tourists – as their economies would struggle without them. 

As the battle continues and some councils contemplate tax disincentives and other measures to keep out holiday lets, an industry expert has told tourist destinations to “suck it up” and revealed “the bigger issue at play”. 

Joanna Lucille Phaur has experience in two of the country’s incredibly popular holiday destinations – Margate and Whitstable – and said she’s “not convinced” the issues they’re facing is to do with holiday rentals. 

Phaur, who lives in Whitstable and owns an Airbnb in Margate, has seen both Kent towns change over the last two decades – before Airbnb existed – and thinks the real issues they face go beyond properties such as hers.

She told Express.co.uk: “Tourist towns have to suck it up really. It’s what makes our money. We need tourists.

“In Margate and Whitstable we’re surrounded by new builds popping up all over the place, and they keep promising us that some of those are aimed at first time buyers and small family units.

“So if we are to have the increased traffic and the increased house building, you’re hoping that that’s going to mean locals can stay fairly near the town and can stay here in places that are probably better suited … And if they’re not, that’s a council issue.”

Margate in particular has seen its popularity grow in recent years, notably in the rise of people coming “down from London” (DFLs). 

Airbnb has come along hand in hand with this, disrupting its hotel and housing markets. It’s been argued that this is forcing local people out as the few houses on the market are being turned into short-term holiday lets. 

Phaur, however, has pushed back against this idea, claiming that the real issue is low salaries forcing local people to move out, not Aribnbs and other holiday rentals.

She said: “There’s an issue across the entirety of the property market, and there has been for at least 15-to-20 years if not longer, and that’s the gap between median salary and house prices.

“That’s been [the case] long before Airbnb popped up, and that continues to be an issue. The issue is more about low salaries and continued low salaries. And in Margate and other seaside towns, the salaries are not just low, they’re often seasonal as well.”

She also suggested that locals are actively seeking to live elsewhere: “The bigger issue in small towns like Margate and Whitstable is actually the vast majority of  locals want to get away.”

As a result, some local councils have introduced measures to put people off buying second homes and turning them into rental properties. In Pembrokeshire, Wales, there is now a 200 percent council tax increase on second homes.

Fearing a similar scheme in Margate, Phaur warned of its potential consequences as the wealthiest property owners can afford to take the loss and leave their second homes empty, benefitting nobody.

She said: “When there are big tax disincentives or differences, there has to be really smart ways of making sure you’re taxing the right people in the right way to get the right effect. And my experience of councils is they’re not really capable of that. They’re not the people to do it.

“They’ll be bought up by people who simply don’t mind paying that extra tax and won’t be doing any second letting … People who can leave it empty, not by locals.”

Phaur acknowledged that while property markets of UK seaside towns have been disrupted alongside an increase in tourism, she’s “not convinced that it’s much to do with Airbnb”. 

She concluded: “There’s been a lot of protests against mass tourism this summer … [But] if you speak to anyone in any cafe or any restaurant … They know that they would have no business without tourists. I don’t know who these people who are angry about it are, but clearly they don’t have jobs.

“Ultimately, Airbnb is part of our economy, and it helps increase the capacity in summer, which is when all of the money is made.”