Canada says India using cyber tech to target ‘dissidents abroad’

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreA Canadian spy agency has accused India of conducting threatening cyber activity against the North American nation and its citizens as the fallout from the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader continues to worsen bilateral relations.The Communications Security Establishment said India is using technology to track and spy on activists and dissidents “living abroad”.”As Canada and India potentially may have some tensions, it is possible that we may see India want to flex those cyber threat actions against Canadians,” Caroline Xavier, head of the agency, said on Wednesday.Ms Xavier said New Delhi is stepping up cyberattacks against Canadian government networks. Her agency has previously described India as an emerging cyber threat to the country.The statement comes a day after deputy foreign minister David Morrison reiterated that the Indian home minister Amit Shah sanctioned a wave a violence targeting Sikh separatists across the North American country. Mr Shah, prime minister Narendra Modi’s chief lieutenant, was identified as the “senior official in India” who “authorised the intelligence-gathering missions and attacks on Sikh separatists” in Canada, The Washington Post reported earlier this month based on information supplied by a Canadian source.Mr Morrison confirmed on Tuesday that he is the source. “The journalist called me and asked me if it was that person. I confirmed it was that person,” Mr Morrison told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.Relations between India and Canada have gone into a tailspin since Ottawa accused the Indian high commissioner and other top diplomats of being directly involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar, 45, a Sikh activist, was shot dead by masked gunmen in Surrey outside Vancouver in June 2023. He was a face of the Khalistan movement, which seeks to carve out an independent Sikh homeland in western India. New Delhi had long accused Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, of being involved in terrorism, an allegation he denied.Canadian police have since charged four Indian nationals living in the North American country with Nijjar’s killing. They are all awaiting trial.India has denied the Canadian allegations as “preposterous”. It reacted furiously when Ottawa first made the allegation last year by briefly suspending visas for Canadians.Bilateral ties hit a nadir when Canada expelled six Indian diplomats earlier this month, accusing them of involvement in the killing. New Delhi, in a tit-for-tat move, expelled six Canadian diplomats.This month, prime minister Justin Trudeau and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police went public with allegations that Indian diplomats were targeting Sikh separatists in the country by sharing information about them with New Delhi.Top Indian officials, in turn, were giving the information to organised crime groups to extort, intimidate and even murder Canadian Sikh activists, they said.India is the top source for temporary foreign workers and international students moving to Canada but a backlog of applications has built up since Mr Trudeau’s allegations last year.

This trending holiday destination is imposing a 5pm curfew on tourists

More tourists are visiting the city than ever before (Picture: Getty Images)Seoul is a city full of sleek skyscrapers, sprawling green spaces, and bustling markets. And, it’s having an international moment, with more tourists flocking there than ever before. 
But this surge in travellers has left many of the city’s residential areas overwhelmed, leading to widespread complaints from locals about noise, littering, public urination and invasion of privacy. 
In Buckchon Hanok Village, one of Seoul’s most popular tourist destinations, the number of visitors far surpasses that of the residents. 
To address the issue and relieve pressure on the community, South Korea is implementing a new rule in the historic neighbourhood, limiting tourists from accessing some regions of Buckchon between 5pm and 10am each day.
The curfew is set to be trialled in November before an official launched in March next year, with fines of up to 100,000 won (£56) to be imposed on those who break it. 

Buckchon Hanok Village is around 4km and a 17-minute subway ride from the centre (Picture: Getty Images)Buckchon – in the Jongo District, around 4km or a 17-minute subway ride from Seoul’s centre – is known for its winding alleyways and traditional ‘hanok’ houses dating back to the Joseon dynasty (1392-1897). 
Last year, it attracted around 6million visitors, a stark difference when compared to its resident population of around 6,100.
Chung Moon-hun, the Jongo district head, says the goal of the new initiative is to protect the rights of residents. Restrictions (which span an area the size of roughly five football fields) will also be adjusted if necessary, Reuters reports. 
But not everyone is on board with the decision, and some residents are sceptical about the policy’s effectiveness.
Kwon Young-doo, owner of Buckchon Asian Cultural Art Museum, who moved to the area 18 years ago, asked: ‘Who would want to visit? They’ll leave with a bad impression of South Korea.’
Others, however, have chosen to leave as a result of rising tourist traffic, with a 27.6% drop in the village’s population over the past 10 years, according to the Jongo district office. 

Last year, the neighbourhood attracted around 6million visitors, compared to its resident population of around 6,100 (Picture: Getty Images)South Korea isn’t the only holiday destination to address the issue of overtourism. 
More Trending

Read More StoriesIn San Sebastian, in Spain’s Basque Country, protests recently broke out as part of a country-wide ‘October Against Tourism’, to address concerns about the local authority’s handling of excessive tourism.
Over in the south of France, Marseille announced a proposal to tackle overtourism, with new restrictions on short-term lets. The city’s mayor, Benoît Payan, arguing landlords who rent holiday apartments on Airbnb should ‘buy back’ another property to let to long-term renters. 

It follows a summer of anti-tourism protests across Europe, and a wave of new legislation on travellers including restrictions on where they can and can’t take selfies, tourist tax hikes, fines for hogging sun loungers or hiking in flip flops, and limited access to certain beaches.
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

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Sports This Week: Book explores the stories of hockey

YORKTON – When it comes to the NHL there is a long history.

Entwined in that history are hundreds of interesting smaller stories, which for Canadian author Eric Zweig has been a rich vein from which to collect stories for what has now become two books with the release of Hockey Hall of Fame True Stories 2 from Firefly Books.

While the cover shows Joe Sakic and Brian Leetch and Jaromir Jagr most of the stories here go back still farther into the halls of hockey highlighting the likes of Sprague Cleghorn and Lester Patrick, which means for a fan with many miles upon him such as myself, the book takes me back to my early fandom when I devoured the history of the game in a range of books.

So a quick plug from the publisher’s website; “Immerse yourself in the intense rivalries, epic showdowns and historic clashes that shaped the NHL’s early years, providing a fresh prospect on the quest for hockey supremacy. Delve into the narratives surrounding the sport’s most prestigious awards, accompanied by newspaper clippings and of-the-moment reactions. Learn about pivotal rule changes, the intriguing stories behind their inception, and even the experimental rules that didn’t quite make the cut. Witness the birth of hockey broadcasting as it takes its first steps onto the radio and television airwaves. Discover the origins of the iconic 3 stars tradition, the excitement of barnstorming hockey trips and the early days of hockey cards and parades. Prepare to be shocked as you learn about the peculiar injuries and illnesses that befell some of hockey’s greatest stars. From polo injuries to snow blower misadventures, these tales highlight the quirky and unpredictable side of the game.”

The variety of stories here are engaging, and I must say I love that each story is rather condensed. You don’t need to devote hours here. You can steal a few minutes in your day, read a take or two, and move on, happy for the little break and a good story.

It’s not surprising given the content that the author enjoyed penning this one.

“It was fun. It’s my job but I can take a little bit of fun away from it too,” said Zweig in a recent interview with Yorkton This Week.

It helps too Zweig admitted he likes going down the rabbit hole of history.

“I like looking stuff up,” he said, adding he’s always like unearthing interesting stories “ … so I’d kind of be doing this anyway.”

While this one is a follow up book for Zweig, it is also one he sort of indulged himself more in writing than the first.

“Here are stories I’ve always sort of known and wanted to tell,” he said, adding he again went generally farther back into the history. “. . . I kind of doubled down on old stuff.”

From a personal perspective Zweig said he holds a deep interest in the older history of the game, and that interest is fully reflected in the material included in the book.

In that regard Zweig said often the stories are integral to the sport being in-part at least foundational “to the game we have today.”

That glimpse of how the game once was and how the past influenced today’s game is intriguing when encapsulated in a somewhat inter-connected series of near vignette stories – an effort for which Zweig deserves kudos.

Certainly, the style of book should make it a popular gift over the upcoming holidays, ideal for hockey fans, especially for those with some gray hair upon their heads.

DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Now Accepting 2025 Applications, Closes Jan. 16

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced a fellowship open to all U.S. students pursuing doctoral degrees in fields that use high-performance computing (HPC) to solve complex science and engineering problems.
Established in 1991 and currently carrying a $45,000 annual stipend, the DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (CSGF) program provides outstanding benefits and opportunities, fostering a community of energetic and committed Ph.D. students, alumni, DOE laboratory staff, and other scientists who want to have an impact on the nation while advancing their research.
Fellows come from diverse scientific and engineering disciplines but share a common interest in using computing in their research.
More than 675 students from 85 U.S. universities have trained as fellows through the CSGF program. The program’s alumni work in DOE laboratories, private industry, and educational institutions.
Additional Information
To apply, candidates must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents who plan full-time, uninterrupted study toward a Ph.D. degree at an accredited U.S. university.
The DOE CSGF’s interdisciplinary science and engineering track supports students in a range of fields, but all share a common element: applying high-performance computing (HPC) to complex research problems.
A second track supports those studying applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, computer engineering, or computational science – in one of those departments or their academic equivalent − with research interests that help scientists use emerging HPC systems more effectively. This includes students focused on issues in HPC as a broad enabling technology rather than a particular science or engineering application.
Regardless of track affiliation, fellows’ research increasingly includes elements of artificial intelligence and machine learning, uniquely positioning them to contribute to the nation’s investments in current and future computing architectures.
In addition to the $45,000 yearly stipend, fellows receive exceptional benefits including full payment of university tuition and required fees and an annual academic allowance. Renewable for up to four years, the fellowship is guided by a comprehensive program of study that requires focused coursework in science and engineering, computer science, applied mathematics, and HPC. It also includes a three-month practicum at one of 22 DOE laboratories or sites across the country.
Deadline, Workshop
It is the applicant’s responsibility to see that all application and supporting materials are received by Thursday, January 16, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. CST. The Krell Institute administers the fellowship on behalf of DOE.
To register for the informational webinar and live Q&A on December 10, 2024 at 2:30 p.m. EST, please visit the DOE/CSGF web page here.
For more information, please visit: www.krellinst.org/csgf/about-doe-csgf/news-events/apply-now.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy

Have we had enough of travel?

Holidaymakers queue at Dalaman Airport, Turkey. Image: Oleg Elkov/Shutterstock

Crowds, queues, disgruntled locals, fractured communities, soaring prices… can the problems of overtourism ever be solved?

By Mark Rowe

The El Farol bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is no tourist hotspot. But it lends its name to a game theory scenario that’s pertinent to the phenomenonof unfettered global tourism.

Once a week, the theory goes, a fixed population wants to go and have fun at the El Farol bar, unless it’s too crowded. Everyone must decide at the same time whether to go or not, with no knowledge of others’ choices. If more than 60 per cent of the population go to the bar, they’ll have less fun than if they stayed home.

The theoretical El Farol quandary is all too real for Mallorca, Barcelona, Bali, beaches in Greece, major museums and cruise ship itineraries. Too many people at the same time – can anyone really be having fun? The local population definitely isn’t.

Travel’s breaking point

In many parts of the world, the volume of tourists sipping coffee or taking Instagrammable pictures has gone way beyond saturation point. Overtourism, asit’s known, is now so rampant that many communities are pushing back. In April, activists on Tenerife staged a hunger strike against the building of new tourist megaprojects.

In Mallorca (2023 tourism data: 1,232,014 residents, 18 million tourists), signs proclaiming ‘kill a tourist’ have appeared and water pistols have been squirted at visitors. In Greece last year, locals reclaimed beaches from sunbeds and beach bars in a guerilla protest dubbed the ‘towel movement’.

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As tourists flock towards Greek beaches, locals attempt to reclaim the spaces now overcrowded by visitors. Video: WION

For 250 years, since the advent of the 18th century Grand Tour, tourism has generally been ‘a force for good’, says Guillem Colom-Montero, a lecturer in tourism and communities at the University of Glasgow. ‘Travel was a joy, transformational; you learned to understand the world. The same was also true for the host. This worked until ten years ago.’

The advent of low-cost airlines, booking phenomena such as Airbnb the internet and digital working have ‘caused this model to collapse,’ he says. ‘The scale of mobility is radically different, even disturbing for local communities.’ For the first time in history, ‘tourism has a negative narrative’, he says, the benefits are no longer enough to appease the host population.

‘When you see so many people protesting, so widely, so strongly, it tells you that the balance has been lost. The idea that most people benefit from tourism is no longer so clear.’

The aviation industry is responsible for at least three per cent of global carbon emissions. Image: Shutterstock

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Around 286m tourists travelled internationally in the first quarter of 2024, 20% more than over the same period in 2023, driven primarily by increased flights in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Symptoms of overtourism include local people being unable to eat out at affordable prices or being forced to walk on roads around large groups of tourists. Deeper issues include visceral anger about how affordable housing has been gobbled up by the behemoth of Airbnb. In many Spanish tourist hotspots, says Colom-Montero, it takes 17 years of salary to access a property – much higher than the Spanish average.

‘When you talk to local communities, the major issue is housing. I hear tourism compared to a cancer – first it colonised the coast, then the interior and now, thanks to Airbnb, it occupies even the private space, the house.’

‘At the most insignificant level, overtourism makes visiting places less pleasant for those visiting,’ says Adrian Phillips, managing director of Bradt Travel Guides. ‘Most of us would prefer to appreciate St Mark’s Square [in Venice] without having to jostle for space. But overtourism can be more than inconvenient – it can damage the local landscape, put pressure on local amenities, bend and change traditional culture.’

Hotels & the homeless

Overtourism exacerbates the symptoms of wider societal problems. From the shores of the Mediterranean to African wildlife spots, local communities increasingly feel excluded and overwhelmed: rampant construction, environmental degradation and water shortages are imposed without reciprocal benefits.

Overtourism is a complex issue that is far from reaching a clear solution. Image: Zarya Maxim Alexandrovich/Shutterstock

Tourism accounts for 9.1% of global GDP in 2023. Revenues from international tourism reached US $1.7 trillion. The total number of tourist-related jobs reached 330m – 10% of the global workforce.

‘Overcrowding all year round of people and cars, pressure on public services – they have big impacts on both urban and rural landscapes,’ says Colom-Montero. ‘The countryside is blighted with new roads and hotels, the cities are gentrified and lose their identity, traditional shops get replaced by ice-cream parlours, expensive franchise restaurants and bars. Locals feel they lose control over their locality and that tourism officials favour tourists over the people who live there. They feel they are not listened to.’

To this can be added uncomfortable reports from just about every popular tourist destination of culturally inappropriate behaviour, drug taking and drunkenness.

‘The protests don’t surprise me at all,’ says Harold Goodwin, managing director of the Responsible Tourism Partnership. ‘Tourists are always wealthier than waiters or cleaners; the difference between the guest and the host has been exacerbated, the relationship has broken down.

As was said of American soldiers during the war, “They’re overpaid, oversexed and over here.” In Barcelona, the housing problem is obvious when you see that the waiters serving you sleep in their cars. People don’t want their city to become a museum, where everyone is either a tourist or serving coffee to tourists.’

Pushing back against overtourism

Many countries, regional and city governments, and trading blocs such as the EU are now seeking to regulate home-sharing to tackle the Airbnb movement. Barcelona says it will stop all short-term lets by 2028 and the 10,000 city apartments currently listed on Airbnb will return to the housing market; the Scottish government and Florence have moved to restrict or ban short-term licenses.

Amsterdam is one of many cities to ban loud hailers and restrict group sizes, while southern European cities increasingly outlaw the sale of ice cream and alcohol after midnight. Italy this year introduced new entrance fees and group size limitations for Venice, while tourists in Portofino risk being fined if they linger too long taking a selfie.

Pedestrian jams are now common in Venice’s narrow streets and bridges. Image: Bumble Dee/Shutterstock

In Europe, tourism is worth US$259 trillion or 9.6% of EU GDP, supports 39m supports 10% of all employment, and is set to create a further 7m jobs by 2034.

The Greek island of Santorini (25,000 residents; 3.4 million visitors in 2023) has limited or banned construction in areas under pressure, while elsewhere in Greece, 70 per cent of beaches must be sunbed-free and in Spain’s Costa Blanca, setting up chairs, sunbeds and parasols before 9.30am has been banned.

A poster campaign in Malaga calls on women not to walk around in bikinis and both sexes to wear upper garments ‘out of respect and hygiene’. In Japan, ¥10,000 (£50) fines are in place for anyone taking a photo of a geisha without her consent, and a ‘Mind Your Manners’ English-speaking guide has been created to enlighten visitors about local customs and etiquette.

The Indonesian island of Bali, where by the middle of 2024, international tourism arrivals – 7.75 million – surpassed those of all of 2019, is also seeing pushback against the rampant, unfettered expansion of tourism, with hotlines set up to report inappropriate behaviour by foreigners or who are thought to be selling drugs.

‘People go abroad and behave with licence, abysmally,’ says Goodwin. ‘They think they have bought not just a holiday but the destination. If you wouldn’t do it at home, don’t do it on holiday.’ In September, Indonesia announced plans for a ten-year moratorium on hotel construction on the island.

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Barcelona’s increase in tourism has led to protests in the city this year. Video: DW News

Addressing short-term rentals is ‘the fundamental game changer’, says Goodwin, but he adds that there are many other micro-measures governments can take. ‘In Barcelona, the government took a bus route off Google Maps so that tourists no longer used it, leaving it free for locals, especially the elderly, who had previously struggled to get on the crowded bus.’

More subtle measures are also being tried. Barcelona is rebranding from ‘Visit Barcelona’ to ‘This is Barcelona’, while Mallorca has launched a new campaign, ‘Diviértete con Respeto’ (Have Fun with Respect), with a theme of ‘Menys Turisme, Més Vida’, or ‘Less Tourism, More Life’.

Portugal’s Algarve has launched a ‘Futourism’ initiative that invites visitors to spend more time exploring local culture and asks them to save the equivalent of six suitcases of water during their stay as a means of highlighting the water pressures posed by tourism and climate change.

‘In the next ten years, the situation will look radically different in our cities,’ says Moreno, who also favours meaningful tourist taxes – way above the typical €2/night tax – along with restrictions on car rentals (Mallorca sees 100,000 car rentals a year) and cruise ships.

IN THE DOCK

Orkney is the number one UK destination for cruise ships. Twenty years ago, just a handful of cruise ships visited every year, but by 2022, this had risen to 170 vessels and 125,000 passengers, while a record-breaking 234 ships visited in 2023, a year that also saw a day when 6,069 passengers arrived in Kirkwall (population: 10,020).

A cruise ship docks at Kirkwall in Orkney. Image: Peter Titmuss/Shutterstock

The island council seems happy – port revenues add up to around £3 million a year – but for islanders, cruise ships and the volumes of passengers they bring can be intrusive. Locals struggle to get a seat in a café while the visual impact of legions of cruise-ship passengers disgorged on to Kirkwall’s narrow streets can be negative for both islanders and other tourists seeking the ‘empty spaces, at one with nature’ vibe that is Orkney’s biggest draw.

Cruise-ship passengers have been sighted on their bicycles, riding out in pelotons reminiscent of the Tour de France, slowing local traffic.

This year, the island council has graded visiting liners according to size in an attempt to regulate numbers. However, tour operators have called for transport infrastructure to be upgraded to make it easier for coaches to avoid the narrow lanes that lead to the island’s prime sites, such as Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar.

Many islanders oppose this, feeling that two-lane (in each direction) highways would be out of character for the islands.

Fewer flights

Banning, or significantly cutting flights is often championed as a measure that can tackle both overtourism and climate change. Such moves are controversial, but Anna Hughes, director of Free Flights UK, believes it’s essential, and that banning flights shorter than 2.5 hours would be a game changer.

‘The current problems have a lot to do with society and how we feel we have to travel more and more, how the only way we can feel fulfilled if is we are constantly going somewhere,’ she says. ‘If you had to go by train it would take longer and be more expensive, so you wouldn’t do it so often. We can still go to tourist hotspots, but we’d all be visiting them less often, rather than piling on Barcelona or Venice four times a year.

As many as 15 million people visit the Great Wall of China each year. Image: Shutterstock

Travel is worth is worth US$2.36 trillion in the USA and US$1.3 trillion in China. According to EU data, tourism accounted for 26% of GDP in Croatia in 2023, followed by Portugal (20%), Greece (19%) and Spain (14%).

‘The era of cheap flights has enabled us to travel far more easily, but it’s not a sustainable model,’ she adds. ‘Overtourism happens because we keep jumping on cheap flights just because we can.’

Measures to discourage flying could draw on lessons from anti-smoking campaigns, she says, where workplace bans have been accompanied by graphic warnings on the side of packaging. Package holiday documents could carry similar messaging about the detrimental impacts of visits.

However, Goodwin is uncomfortable with wider moves to cut flights per se, which could hit long-haul nations, such as those in the Caribbean, that are heavily dependent on tourism. ‘It really riles me,’ he says. ‘These islands were self-sufficient, then we went and grew tobacco and sugar there and gave them slavery. Then we gave them our tourists and now we’re going to tell them they can’t have tourism?’

Any campaign to ban or reduce flights is facile, he argues, as fuel prices and carbon taxes are already flattening demand. ‘People get uppity at calls to ban flights but they also get uppity when flight prices go up,’ he says, ‘but they are already expensive and getting higher’.

Elite travel – a solution to overtourism?

The counter-argument is that rationing flights in some way would be elitist: overseas holidays would quickly become unaffordable to the poorest. Fewer flights or cruise ships mandated by law to land fewer passengers, would quickly equate to higher prices.

Hotels, too, would respond, knowing they could reach capacity with a captive market. Phillips is uncomfortable about blanket legislation to increase the cost of flights to cap travel. ‘I don’t believe in charging more for long-haul flights – this simply makes travel to places beyond our backyards a preserve of the wealthier, which takes us back decades,’ he says.

Cruise ships with as many as 7,000 passengers and 2,000 crew are now visiting Caribbean ports with smaller populations. Image: Shutterstock

Across the Caribbean, tourism is accounts for 2.9m jobs over 16% of all employment and is worth US$91.2bn or 11.5% of GDP. By 2034, tourism is expected to provide 18% of all jobs in the region and to be worth US$136bn.

‘No-fly holidays effectively ring-fence wealth in the West, denying tourism income to far poorer countries, which can hasten degradation of precious habitat rather than slow it.’

‘Everybody has the right to travel – the increased access to travel for groups beyond the privileged classes is a good thing,’ he says. ‘But people also have a right to determine the character and future of the areas in which they live.’

This, argues Colom-Montero, is an uncomfortable reality but one that bumps up against what he argues is a wider societal need. ‘Elitism is an issue with this scenario,’ he says. ‘People have the right to travel – but this is a moment in the history of tourism where we should be prioritising the wellbeing of local people rather than the right to travel. This is part of the deal.’

Airline assertions that forcing up flight prices is elitist is greeted with snorts of derision by Goodwin.

‘Only Europeans make that point. It’s one of the oldest tropes. Only two per cent of the world flies every year; flying has always been elite. The world’s not fair. Please, can they spare us that sob story? If airlines are so morally troubled by this, they could strip out first and business class, and put more people on the plane. I wonder, why are they so bothered about people’s right to fly? There are people in Cornwall who can’t afford to go to the coast, millions in India who will never go to their nearest city let alone fly from it.’

New horizons

Much of the world remains relatively unexplored, says Colom-Montero. ‘Tourism has become homogeneous. Do we really all want to eat avocado on toast whether we are in Bali or Australia or Skye? Local people protesting against overtourism are reminding us of the centrality of community and place. They don’t like being transformed into a place that gives you the same breakfast the world over. What kind of tourism is that – isn’t the value of tourism in the thirst of finding the difference from us?

‘Everywhere has empty places that are of interest and will welcome tourists,’ he says. ‘Even Spain has empty areas of the interior. The problem is that social media drives us all to go the same places. On Skye, everyone feels they must go to the Fairy Pools for a selfie but there are so many other places on Skye and so many other Scottish islands that are magical and empty.’

Marrakesh in Morocco is one of Africa’s most popular destinations, with 2.5 million visitors a year. Image: Posztos/Shutterstock

Across Africa, tourism employs 26m people, valued at US$209bn and projected to rise to US$322bn, and create a further 12m jobs by 2034.

This resonates with Phillips. ‘Ultimately, the best way to reduce overtourism is to champion the merits of the many, many wonderful spots away from the most densely visited tourist sites and encourage people to spread their tourist dollars more widely. That needn’t be through penalising certain types of travel – instead, let’s focus on the positives, stress the benefits and the pleasures of trips to the alternatives.’

Is the wonder and joy of exploration enough to trigger a transformation?

Hughes is doubtful. ‘I hope we will be travelling a lot less but there is a lot of resistance to change,’ she says. ‘Campaigning, arguing the case, can only take you so far. Unless we have political leadership it won’t happen. There doesn’t seem to be that leadership so, not to sound too dystopian about it, at the moment, money talks – I think we are screwed.’

Enjoyed this article? Why not check out our related reads:

The inquisitive spirit that makes us explore is a reason for being positive, says Colom-Montero. ‘Tourism is inherent in the human spirit. The basis of tourism is encountering the other, the difference, something that is new to you. I’m optimistic – when the phrase “overtourism” was first coined, there was a push back by political leaders saying protesters were “tourism-phobic”. Now those same leaders are saying there is a problem. Overtourism has moved from the margins to the centre and so it’s impossible that we won’t see improvements.’

Goodwin believes the difference between a negative and positive tourist impact on a locality is not necessarily one of scale but of attitude. ‘Is there a basic difference between a cruise ship passenger and a couple wandering around with a guidebook? I’m not sure there is. The right kind of tourist is one who behaves like a guest on the beach, in the bar or hotel. It’s about the way you try and fit in.’ The only way to travel guilt-free, suggests Goodwin, is stay in hotels, hostels or B&Bs.

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‘There are amazing things being done across the world,’ he adds, ‘we know the solutions, we just have to implement them and speed up that process. We will definitely reach that equilibrium in cities, it’s just that things are not improving fast enough.’

Tourists share concern as ‘chaotic’ queues erupt at Canary Islands Airport

There’s nothing quite like the thought of a well-deserved holiday, but it’s no secret that the journey to your dream destination can be anything but relaxing.This week, social media has been full of videos capturing hordes of tourists trapped in seemingly endless queues at Tenerife South Airport. The passport control chaos has emphatically been branded an “awful” experience.Security screening is mandatory for all outbound travellers from Tenerife Sur, involving an airport metal detector and possibly an additional check with a handheld device. Passport control, however, has recently become notorious for its incredibly long queues.Footage circulating online shows countless passengers lined up, awaiting their turn, as the queue crawls at a snail’s pace.For TikTok influencer Claire Walters, known by her handle @walters101515, the situation represents a shocking failure in efficiency. Another TikTok user, Scott Story, shared similar frustrations in his footage from the destination.One dismayed traveller commented: “Just came back today and half the plane was empty due to people being stuck in the queue. Absolute joke.”Someone else said: “We were fortunate enough last Friday to get through just before our plane left. What happens if you don’t get through on time? How do you arrange another flight and do you have to pay?”A third replied: “We had this a few weeks ago. Stood in that queue for an hour-and-a-half.”Not everyone shared the same views though, with one person noting: “This must depend on the time of your flight. I flew home yesterday and we were the only people there. Maybe 40 minutes or so before our flight boarded.”In a similar vein, another traveller observed: “I fly to the UK and back once a month. This is not the norm – far from it.”Back last year there were reports of “chaos” at the south airport, a situation that has been partially attributed to Brexit ramifications. During the fracas, exasperated tourism chiefs on the island denounced passport control at the bustling Tenerife Sur as “nonsense”, and called for immediate measures to curtail the one-hour queues through passport checks.Tourism authorities conceded that this conundrum had persisted for several months, significantly affecting droves of British holidaymakers. Current talk indicates that this may seem to be a problem that hasn’t gone away.The team at Tenerife Sur have been asked to comment about queuing issues.

Book Review: Heavy Weight of Darkness

Heavy Weight of Darkness

by J.M. Erickson

Genre: Science Fiction / Dystopia

ISBN: 9781942708551

Print Length: 210 pages

Reviewed by Elizabeth ReiserA cinematic sci-fi dystopia following one man’s search for redemptionIn J.M. Erickson’s Heavy Weight of Darkness, readers follow former military officer Willard Bennett as he confronts the consequences of his past actions.Bennett, once a first-class patrician, has been stripped of everything that allowed him privileges in society. Instead of being revered, he is now just like the people he once found deplorable. To regain his freedom and the life he misses, Bennett must find the person who helped put him in this state. Once he captures the rebellious Cassandra Kurtz, he then must kill her. However, as Bennett begins his journey and starts looking into more about the elusive Cassandra, he learns the world he has always fought to protect is far more corrupt than he was willing to acknowledge. He now finds himself at an impasse regarding what to do. Bennett is one intriguing protagonist. He begins the story angry at being in a low place, searching for redemption for his prior perceived failures. His anger is palpable, and that underlying rage adds to the tension that drives the first third of the story. It is a slow-burn start to the book, but the reader stays interested up and through the embarking of his adventure.Bennett does not work alone on his task, and his cohorts are the ones who help open his eyes to the truth. Working with the mysterious Betsy Ann Hall on his mission to capture Cassandra, they engage in conversations where he is forced to confront and question what he has always believed. Betsy and their other sidekick Virgil balance one another nicely, with Betsy being frank and Virgil more malleable until he finds his way. Their conversations range from serious topics like racism to humorous ones where they tease one another in a genuine, likable way. Combined, they make a great trio. Cassandra is not seen much in this story. As a sequel to Erickson’s Endless Fall of Night, which follows Cassandra closely, this book focuses primarily on Bennett. While this can be read as a standalone, reading the first installment would provide more context to understand the nuances of Bennett’s tumultuous relationship with Cassandra.  It should also be noted that this series uses Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as inspiration. Like Conrad, Erickson focuses on how different power dynamics work within classes, race, and morality. The topic is heavy, but it makes for an entertaining read nonetheless. Fans of the science fiction genre and classic books like Conrad’s will enjoy this one. Heavy Weight of Darkness reads like watching a movie—and an exciting one at that. What a terrific job Erickson has done in creating this world.Thank you for reading Elizabeth Reiser’s book review of Heavy Weight of Darkness by J.M. Erickson! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

These surprising horror films are the scariest ever according to science

These are the scariest horror films of all time – but which one came out on top? (Picture: SHUDDER/Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)Research has revealed the scariest horror films ever made – and the results might surprise you.
From buckets of gore to jump scares and tension so high you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, every horror fan has an opinion on the right recipe to scare.
Whether the classic monster movies gave you nightmares or the modern rise in psychological horror makes you glance out of the corner of your eye, a new study has determined the title that comes out on top just in time for Halloween.
Money Super Market has conducted the Science of Scare study since 2020, tracking the heart rates of volunteers subjected to hundreds of hours of horror films.
According to the study, Scott Derrickson’s 2012 supernatural horror, Sinister, is the scariest movie ever made.
And not for the first time, as the chilling tale of Bughuul has topped numerous studies and lists crowning it the most terrifying movie of the year.

Sinister has been dubbed the scariest horror film of all time (Picture: Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

Lockdown horror Host came in at number two (Picture: SHUDDER/Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)The film follows true crime writer Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke) who discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the death of an entire family and moves into their home to solve the mystery.
In this new research, the audience experienced a 34% uplift in heart rate when watching the movie, from a resting rate of 64 BPM up to 86 BPM (beats per minute) on average during the movie.
Sinister’s most scary moments sent hearts racing to a whopping 131 BPM, with the film scoring an overall ‘Science of Scare score’ of 62, measured by combining the average BPM increase with HRV (heart rate variance) decrease.
Second place was Zoom-based horror Host at 95, and divisive ‘lo-fi horror’ Skinamarink in third place.
Directed by Kyle Edward Ball in their feature debut,  Skinamarink impacted audiences’ HRV more than any other movie on the list at 22%, causing the most stress and dread among viewers.

Divisive horror film Skinamarink took third place (Picture: IFC Films/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

But it wasn’t the only divisive title on the list (Picture: ScreenGem/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)However, a common criticism among those who disliked the film was that they did not find it scary at all – a stark contrast to those who dubbed it the most terrifying film of 2022.
It has 73% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but only 40% from audiences with more than 100 verified ratings.
The audience consensus reads: ‘For some, it might be scary, but for a lot of viewers, Skinamarink is just frighteningly dull.’
The top 10 boasts a lot more modern titles than many may expect, with classic films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Exorcist just breaking the top 50.
Host was released in 2020, terrifying audiences with director Rob Savage’s unique utilisation of Zoom to tell the terrifying haunted house story.
Completing the top 10 were Insidious, The Conjuring, Hereditary, Smile, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Hell House LLC, and Talk to Me. 

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Similarly to Skinamarink, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, released in 2005, drove a wedge between audiences and critics who had wildly different opinions of the film.
On Rotten Tomatoes, critics panned the movie giving it a score of just 45%, while audiences favoured it slightly more with the 2005 film sitting at 60%.
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Read More StoriesCritics thought: ‘Loosely based on a true story, The Exorcism of Emily Rose mixes compelling courtroom drama with generally gore-free scares in a ho-hum take on demonic cinema.’
According to the study, the scariest film of 2024 was  Oddity, Damian McCarthy’s latest offering which debuted at an impressive 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Stopmotion, the feature-length debut from British director Robert Morgan and record-breaking splatter film Terrifier 3 also cracked the list – but didn’t make the top 20.
Other new films making it into the top 50 included Sydney Sweeney’s nun-horror Immaculate, Nicholas Cage’s smash hit demonic thriller Longlegs, The Omen prequel The First Omen, and found footage flick Late Night with the Devil.

The scariest horror films ever made, according to the Science of Scare Project

Sinister
Host
Skinamarink
Insidious
The Conjuring
Hereditary
Smile
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Talk To Me
Hell House LLC
The Conjuring 2
It Follows
The Dark and The Wicked
The Descent
Paranormal Activity
The Babadook
A Quiet Place Part 2
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Insidious 2
Oddity
The Ring
Terrifier 2
Terrifier 3
Stopmotion
A Quiet Place
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Barbarian
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Halloween (1978)
Insidious: The Red Door
Hush
The Nun 2
The Exorcist
The Visit
IT (2017)
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
The Blair Witch Project
Paranormal Activity 2
Evil Dead Rise
Immaculate
Light’s Out
Longlegs
Saw X
28 Days Later
The Grudge
Oculus
The First Omen
Ouija: Origin Of Evil
Late Night With The Devil
Scream

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GALLERY | Monsters and Mad Scientists at the Georgia Southern Museum

The Georgia Southern Museum is hosting a spook-tacular series of kid-friendly events this week as part of their Monsters and Mad Scientists Halloween theme. 

On Tuesday, kids of all ages enjoyed making slime and exploring spooky science supplies as part of the Mad Scientist Demonstration and Spooky Slime Lab! 

Museum staff were decked out in zombie and mad scientist gear, and they supplied each participant with a kid-sized lab coat to wear while they were in the slime lab. Everyone got to pick their slime color, then mix the sticky goo by hand until satisfied. There were also Halloween themed slime mix-ins! 

Griffin enjoyed making his slime at the Monsters and Mad Scientists event at the Georgia Southern Museum. Photo by Jordan Wilburn

Kids also got the chance to play with spooky science equipment including a glass apparatus that boils water using the warmth of your hand, a plasma ball, a speaker that made spooky sounds as you got closer to it, and even jars filled with liquid and various “organs!” 

Monsters and Mad Scientists week at the Georgia Southern Museum October 2024. Photo by Jordan Wilburn

The museum’s best-loved exhibits were part of the festivities as well – spiderwebs, spooky signage related to the exhibits (even a terrifying true story about a horse and veterinarian!), and the megalodon jaws were all fit for a haunted house experience! 

What came first – The Cyclops or the Skull? Photo by Jordan Wilburn

Make time to bring your little ghouls this week…if you dare! For full event details, click here.