Latest news with #ZoeAdjey
Metro
26-06-2025
- Metro
Why can't Brits resist behaving badly with meltdowns on holiday?
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video We'll say it before you do: Not all Brits. Of course, not every British person will be leaping off balconies into Spanish swimming pools, and then into A&E. Many of us are boring enough to be content with a book on a sunlounger, a sandcastle, and a (singular) Aperol Spritz in a quaint little cafe. But there's a reason we immediately got the blame for a viral video of holidaymakers bashing each other with pool chairs, even if the hotel hasn't commented on what happened yet. So why it is that 'Brits abroad' has become such a well-known phenomenon? Zoe Adjey, a senior lecturer in hospitality and tourism at the University of East London, told Metro that the main culprit is, surprise surprise… alcohol. Most people don't start singing loudly, taking their clothes off, brawling or 'balconing' while sober – but it's not simply a case of more free time to drink on holiday. When we're on holiday, alcohol is often much cheaper, especially in Spain and Greece, because there's less tax on it, Zoe said. 'So getting drunk is an awful lot cheaper, and then you have all inclusive holidays, and packages into bars. You can buy a tag for €20 and get three drinks, which we don't have in this country because we're now heavily legislated – we can barely do a two-for-one deal on an alcoholic beverage in the bar these days.' Have you ever lived up to the sterotype? Resorts such as Torremolinos, Magaluf, and Mykonos are popular party destinations, but the Brit Abroad can be found anywhere there's a stag or hen do outside our borders. They can even be seen on the aeroplane before arriving, such as when a British man tried to storm the cockpit on an EasyJet flight to Greece after drinking a bottle of Scotch, or when passengers cheered as a drunken woman was escorted off a flight to Egypt by police. The 'airport pint' is seen as a holiday milestone, even if it's at 6am. Once we arrive, celebrations often continue with the same spirit… though some might switch to vodka. In many areas, there is a culture of encouraging people to drink a lot from bar owners and holiday reps, because it is seen as a sign they are enjoying themselves, Zoe said. In the UK, a drunk person is likely to be told to leave due to restrictions on serving them, but the same may not apply overseas, meaning people continue spending their money on shots and lager until they're ready to become a national stereotype. The consequences of boozy behaviour can be much worse than an altercation by the pool or a lost wallet. 'At weekends in high season, emergency departments can resemble a war zone sometimes,' Zoe said. 'A lot of people having to be rehydrated, vomiting, and with broken bones. Everybody thinks they can climb a bollard or a wall.' She said the extra demand on health services from tourists with heatstroke, alcohol poisoning, or bruises from falling though railings is so severe that some strips where bars and restaurants are clustered have paramedic stations set up in the street. Meanwhile, some health impacts are less immediately obvious, such as coming home with a sexually transmitted infection, or even an unplanned pregnancy. Being abroad doesn't mean you won't get arrested, either. Last year, British tourists on a stag do in Majorca were told to pay £850 if they wanted their passports back after a brawl at a beach club which went viral. The consequences can even be tragic, and there are sadly too many headlines of people dying after falling from balconies, or drowning in the sea. Georgina Sturmer, a BACP-regulated women's counsellor, told Metro there are psychological reasons we may be more eager to let loose away from home. 'Our working lives are so busy and stressful, and they've also become very unbounded,' she said. 'That idea of being able to come home from work and escape just doesn't exist anymore.' We are also constrained in terms of behaviour at work, such as not being able to wear swim shorts or a bikini all day, and generally trying to be professional. Being in a foreign country, with no early alarm warning you off cocktails at 2am, can mean the brakes are off – especially if on holiday with friends, meaning family responsibilities have been left at home as well. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'I often talk and write about online disinhibition, which is when we do things and say things online that we wouldn't in real life,' Georgina said. 'There's also something we refer to as situational disinhibition, which is when we are in a different place.' When we leave situations where we feel we 'need to keep it together,' there's sense that we can finally 'let loose', which may not always be pretty. Georgina warned the sense of freedom we feel on holiday can be an illusion, however. 'Gone are the days of 'what happens on holiday, stays on holiday': We might feel we can do whatever we want, but the reality is that everything can be captured, recorded and shared, and that presents a risk.' Ultimately, your post-holiday hangover could not just be about drinking too much, but 'having to cope with the recorded consequences of what we've been up to.' You might even end up in this newspaper. The stereotype of pissed Brits on their hol might soon die out though, according to Georgina, becoming associated more with raucous pensioners than the 18 to 30 crowd. 'Groups of younger people are prioritising wellness, and so I wonder as that generation gets older if that picture will change, when people are going on holiday and they're prioritising things like sleep and exercise and fresh air and cultural experiences.' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'Sunbed wars' is one of the most notorious motives for anger on holiday, even with no alcohol involved. It might sound silly to be so territorial over a lounger, but Georgina can understand why the issue gets people's backs up. 'Claiming your sunbed is like a symbol of your real estate on holiday, isn't it? It's almost like it has that power to make or break each of your precious holiday days,' she said. 'It becomes this symbol of satisfaction – like, 'my day is going to be good, because I've managed to get the fabulous sunbed by the pool'. 'So if if that hasn't worked out for me and I've got up at 5am and they're already taken, then that might have an impact on my mood for the day.' In short, yes, but in places like Spain and Greece where locals live with sunnier weather year round, there's not as much call to cram it all into one week of madness. Germans have historically been most victimised by the sunbed stereotype, and tourism expert Zoe also pointed out that Brits are far from the only nationality to behave badly after boozing overseas. 'I was in Thailand recently and there were Australian students doing similar things. If you go to Florida during Spring Break in in February, it is full of American college students doing the same thing. So it's not just us.' And we also can't entirely blame the drinking culture abroad. If you've ever been on an all-inclusive holiday, you'll know the cocktails are often pretty weak, the beer only comes in half pints, or may even seem suspiciously watered down. Amid widespread protests about overtourism (mainly focused on the loss of housing and resources for locals rather than the tourists themselves), many regions have taken steps to try and reduce the impact of bad behaviour. In Spain, various crackdowns have been introduced, including in Playa de Palma, S'Arenal and Magaluf (all in Mallorca), and the West End of San Antonio, Ibiza. Guests here now have a six-drink limit, with three drinks at lunch, and a further three at dinner, in regions badly affected by disruptive guests. On Magaluf's infamous strip, pub crawls have also been banned. In Gran Canaria, beachgoers could be fined up to £2,500 for a variety of misdemeanours ranging from collecting shells to putting up an umbrella for shade or having public sex (they did not specify whch would result in the biggest fine). And in Malaga, signs have been put up saying 'Dress completely' as part of the city council's campaign to encourage Brits to keep their tops on in public. More Trending Still, whatever rules are put in place, we're always going to be tempted to overindulge on our hard-earned holiday. As Zoe points out: 'You're not wearing the same clothes you would normally wear. You've got less responsibilities… You're staying in a hotel, with somebody coming in and washing your bathroom every day and making your bed. 'Everything's a lot more relaxed, and that, plus meeting new people and wanting to impress your friends, does lead to quite bad behavior.' She said her best way around this was to ask her students which dodgy areas they were booking flights to – and then avoid them. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: A gunman massacred tourists on a beach. Ten years later, people are coming back MORE: Glass roof collapses onto passengers at Majorca's Palma airport MORE: Severe delays on London Underground District and Central lines due to 'faulty train'
Daily Mirror
22-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
Anti-tourism protestors' message for 'enemies' as holiday hotspots face warning
As Brits abroad are faced with furious graffiti and water pistols, overtourism protesters have explained why exactly visitors may have gotten the wrong end of the stick about their defiant message Across southern Europe, holidaymakers are being greeted by graffiti bearing the slogan, 'tourists go home' - but there's more to these furious signs than meets the eye. Brits sunning themselves over in the Mediterranean may not currently be receiving the warmest welcome, with furious overtourism protesters having taken to the streets in force, brandishing water pistols. The protests have spread across a number of holiday hotspots, with Spain, Portugal and Italy, with a number of unfortunate sunseekers finding themselves at the receiving end of a squirt. After spritzing a couple seated at an outdoor Barcelona café, chuckling campaigner Andreu Martínez previously told the Mirror: "The squirt guns are to bother the tourists a bit. Barcelona has been handed to the tourists. This is a fight to give Barcelona back to its residents." Meanwhile, a number of Brits have vowed to stay clear of sunny Spain altogether, declaring:"We don't want to go somewhere we're not wanted." However, as campaigners themselves have asserted, it isn't the tourists themselves who are the enemy. As reported by the Metro, one organiser in the Basque city of San Sebastián explained: "People who go on vacation to one place or another are not our enemies…our enemies are those who speculate on housing, who exploit workers and those who are profiting handsomely from the touristification of our cities." This is a view shared by many members of the Southern Europe Against Touristification coalition, who say residents are being forced out of their own hometowns thanks to unregulated tourism, which is hurting, not helping, struggling locals. Campaigners are now piling pressure on local and central governments to adequately regulate the tourism industry, while also calling out housing firms such as Airbnb, which they say are pushing up rents at a time when living costs have already risen substantially. Zoe Adjey, senior lecturer at the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of East London, told the publication: "This is very unusual, the tourism and hospitality industry is not the most unified. But it's good, because as they are saying, the protests have never been about tourists. "They're about businesses, and what they are doing with the money they get from tourists. Where is that profit going? It's clearly not going back into the local areas." She continued: "We've now got a situation where workers can't afford to live within any sort of rational distance to their job."
Metro
15-06-2025
- Metro
Anti-tourism protesters have an important message — and it's not for tourists
Protesters in holiday hotspots across southern Europe have swarmed the streets to condemn overtourism in an unprecedented show of unity. Thousands attended marches in the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, while events also took place in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, as well as Venice and Genoa, in northwest Italy. The Southern Europe Against Touristification coalition, comprised of activists from across the continent, wants to highlight the impact of mass tourism and how it is driving residents from their hometowns. But demonstrators and tourism experts agree that holidaymakers aren't the problem. The real enemy, they say, are the people profiting from it. As one organiser in the Basque city of San Sebastián says, 'people who go on vacation to one place or another are not our enemies…our enemies are those who speculate on housing, who exploit workers and those who are profiting handsomely from the touristification of our cities.' Protesters in dozens of locations have echoed this message. And Zoe Adjey, senior lecturer at the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of East London, tells Metro that a coordinated response has been a long time coming. Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here. 'This is very unusual, the tourism and hospitality industry is not the most unified. But it's good, because as they are saying, the protests have never been about tourists,' she says. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'They're about businesses, and what they are doing with the money they get from tourists. Where is that profit going? It's clearly not going back into the local areas.' As policy analysts have long argued, Zoe says Europe's growing tourism problem is a housing and affordability crisis framed through a false lens. 'We've now got a situation where workers can't afford to live within any sort of rational distance to their job,' she says. 'The person behind the bar needs somewhere to live – if short-term rentals are everywhere, pricing people out, well then there's not going to be a bar. It's a vicious circle.' Zoe, who is from Portrush in Antrim, Northern Ireland, says she knows of people who will travel almost two hours for casual bar shifts when the town hosts the 2025 Open next month. 'They're going to be spending what they earn to get there and back. Something has got to change,' she says. Asked what can be done to fix the problem, Zoe says governments need to get serious about high-quality subsidised housing. 'You need to be able to offer staff somewhere to live, and somewhere that's decent,' she says. 'I'd like to see a policy in every bar and cafe that involves employing people who live within a five-mile radius. But if you tried to do that right now, you'd find hardly anyone living there. 'Ultimately, it needs to be about employing local, not just buying local.' Graffiti saying 'tourists go home' has become an increasingly common sight across the Mediterranean. Tensions around tourism exploded last summer, when tens of thousands took to the streets of Spanish hotspots and 'occupied' beaches on the popular holiday island of Mallorca. International travel spending in Europe is expected to rise by 11% to £617 billion this year, with Spain and France among the countries set to receive record numbers of tourists. Barcelona, which depends on tourism for 15% of its GDP, announced last year it would shut all short-term lets by 2028. Jaime Rodriguez de Santiago, head of vacation rental platform Airbnb for Iberia, said earlier this week that restrictions scapegoated short-lets, which he said can help redistribute visitor flows to less crowded parts of a city. Earlier today, tourist protesters surrounded the Generator Hotel in Barcelona and targeted holidaymakers with water pistols. More Trending Locals in the Catalan capital also used flares after congregating with placards claiming tourism was pricing them out of housing and robbing them of their futures. Staff at the hotel were forced to intervene and were seen shouting at the protesters to move away. Elsewhere in Barcelona, police stepped in to stop protesters reaching the city's famous Sagrada Familia and avoid clashes between demonstrators and tourists visiting the Gaudi masterpiece. Shouts of 'tourists go home' and 'one more tourist, one less local' could be heard as activists marched through the streets. MORE: All 9 countries on the UK Foreign Office 'no go' travel list MORE: I walked Spain's lesser-known camino — it surprised me in the best way MORE: Man arrested after Scottish gangsters shot dead in Spanish bar
Daily Mirror
12-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Impressive 425-miles UK train line with 11 stops branded 'Eurostar of Scotland'
Brits will soon be able to hop on board and travel more than 400 miles from London to the historic city of Stirling, thanks to a new railway expansion slated to launch in 2026 A huge railway expansion touted as the 'Eurostar of Scotland' is slated to launch next year - spanning a whopping 425 miles from London. Rail operator Lumo recently announced it had successfully secured five Class 222 six-car trains to link London Euston directly to Stirling - a historic city in central Scotland. The new route, which aims to be up and running as early as Spring 2026, will also stop at Milton Keynes, Nuneaton, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell, Whifflet (serving Coatbridge), Greenfaulds (serving Cumbernauld) and Larbert. Lumo says the move will 'enhance travel choice and connectivity' for passengers along the central belt of Scotland, and that its new route will run five times a day each way. This particular route is already shared by Avanti West Coast, LNER and TransPennine Express - but Lumo will reportedly be the first provider not subsidised by the government. Zoe Adjey, senior lecturer at the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of East London, told the Metro that this will likely make tickets must 'cheaper'. "The service enhancement will significantly improve the passenger experience, especially compared to air travel," she added. "Air travel requires an initial transit to one of London's airports, followed by a two-hour wait for the flight, then a two-hour flight time. In contrast, rail travel involves just a quick journey to Euston station, followed by a five-hour train journey with WiFi, refreshments, and enhanced onboard services." At the time of writing, direct trains from London to Stirling cost as much as £206.80 for an 'Anytime Single' ticket. However, they can be bought for as little as £81.80 if you're flexible with dates. Purchasing a railcard can also help lower the cost of train fares. However, these tend to only offer discounts on Off-Peak times, weekends, and bank holidays - which doesn't help out commuters reliant on the network. In an online statement, Martijn Gilbert of Lumo said: "Today's announcement underscores Lumo's commitment to growing Scotland's rail network, providing passengers with more affordable, fast, and convenient travel options. Our new service between Stirling and London has the potential to unlock significant economic opportunities for communities along the route, and we're proud to deliver this direct rail connectivity to towns previously overlooked by traditional rail services." Sue Webber MSP, a Conservative Transport spokesperson, also hailed the announcement - arguing it will bring a staggering £740m in economic benefits by 2032. "Crucially, this is being delivered not by government mandate, but through private sector innovation and open access investment," she added. "That's why I believe this model is one we should be championing. Lumo is not replacing existing services – it's adding capacity, increasing choice, and growing the market for everyone." *Prices based on LNER listings for Tuesday, July 1.
Metro
03-06-2025
- Business
- Metro
‘Eurostar of Scotland' launches new London service with 11 stops
A new direct train from London to Scotland is set to launch in the spring of 2026. Operated by Lumo, the service will stop at 11 stations, with five daily trains running each way. Departing from London Euston, the train will journey through central Scotland, arriving in Stirling. It will be the first time three of the destinations – Whifflet, Greenfaulds and Larbert – have had a direct service to the capital. While Avanti West Coast, LNER and TransPennine Express already operate on this line, Lumo will be the only 'open-access' service — meaning it's not subsidised by the government. And that means competitive prices and better service, Zoe Adjey, senior lecturer at the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of East London tells Metro. According to Zoe, tickets will 'certainly be cheaper'. This will come as good news to seasoned travellers. An advanced single ticket from Euston to Stirling with LNER currently costs a hefty £95.50. And, with new competition, the overall travelling experience is likely to be improved. 'The service enhancement will significantly improve the passenger experience, especially compared to air travel,' says Zoe. 'Air travel requires an initial transit to one of London's airports, followed by a two-hour wait for the flight, then a two-hour flight time. 'In contrast, rail travel involves just a quick journey to Euston station, followed by a five-hour train journey with WiFi, refreshments, and enhanced onboard services. London Euston Milton Keynes Nuneaton Crewe Preston Carlisle Lockerbie Motherwell Whifflet Greenfaulds Larbert Stirling 'Passengers will get city center to city center connectivity, eliminating lengthy airport transfers and security procedures. 'It's like choosing between Eurostar and flying when traveling to Paris or Brussels,' she adds. 'The train offers greater convenience despite the longer journey time.' More Trending Zoe says travellers will also get more choice. 'The increased frequency of services will also provide greater scheduling flexibility and reduced waiting times,' she concludes. Plus, the new train route could see some of the stops become tourist destinations. 'Visitors from London will find it easier easier access to Scotland's historic sites and natural landscapes around Stirling, while Scottish tourists gain improved access to London's attractions,' says Zoe. Competition for the Eurostar has been hotting up. Richard Branson's Virgin Group announced said there are 'no more major hurdles to overcome' in its £700million rail project to operate cross-channel trains. Meanwhile Italy's national state-owned railway company, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS Group)said it will launch a new high-speed rail service between London and Paris by 2029. A popular European train line is operating again, after being closed since August 2023. The direct route takes passengers from Paris Gare de Lyon station in France all the way to Milan in Italy (via Turin), with tickets starting from as little as £25.33 each way (just under €30) if you book in advance, according to A brand-new sleeper train is set to connect five European countries in one route for the first time, spanning an impressive 745 miles. Starting in the Polish capital of Warsaw, the new link will run all the way to the Croatian city of Rijeka, known for its glistening beaches, waterfalls, and 13th-century castle. Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ MORE: First picture of 'loving' teenager who died after motorbike plunged into canal MORE: The drug behind double death in London that's '500 times more powerful than heroin' MORE: Eurostar launches sale with 20% off to Paris, Amsterdam and more — here's how to get tickets
