(photo via the BBC)
So we’re back with Can’t Let it Go again this week. Maybe we’ll give you something fun to talk about at church coffee hour or between rounds of bar trivia next week.
It is death, it is death! It is life, it is life!
JASON: So, I’ll start this with a few caveats. I don’t understand the controversy over the Treaty Principles Bill or the Māori’s opposition to it. I can’t comment on whether it’s good or bad. What I can say is that today’s protest from Māori Party MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke on the floor of New Zealand’s parliament was insane. The British House of Commons is probably taking notes.
Legislative bodies have rules and they’re there to protect the process. But it’s one thing to pitch a fit, storm out, and film a TikTok video for your echo chamber. It’s a whole other thing to lead a Haka on the floor of parliament.
Most of us outside of New Zealand probably know the Haka from the All Blacks and the intense version they do before rugby matches (I’m mildly obsessed with them). But Maipi-Clarke might have taken the cake today. One thing I respect — whether you are liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, Labour or Tory, National or Māori — are the people in the arena who are fighting for their people every day. I’m sure the debate in New Zealand about the rules of parliament and the “Māori tikanga” will only be getting started.
Whatever happens in New Zealand, and whatever happens when Maipi-Clarke returns from her 24-hour suspension, the video is intense and really worth watching if you missed it.
No, Grazie…
NIKKI: Florence has become the latest in a string of European cities to release guidelines aiming at reducing overtourism. Earlier this week, officials released a 10 point plan, aimed at targeting tourism nuisances in the popular Tuscan city. The timing of the proposal was not a coincidence, as the region hosts leaders from the Group of 7 nations this week for a tourism meeting. Florence is now on the list with numerous other European cities and countries, including Greece, and parts of Spain to enact legislation to reduce the impacts of tourism after a summer of seemingly excessive overtourism, especially in these Mediterranean Nations. The goals in reducing the overtourism phenomenon is not only to protect locals, but to preserve historic sites from potentially detrimental social, economic and environmental impacts. While the long term impacts of these reductions are yet to be seen, most of these countries do rely heavily on tourist traffic, with Florence seeing nearly 9 million overnight visitors in 2023, and Greece sites about a fifth of it’s economic output to e dependent on tourism.
I studied abroad in Florence in 2013, and visited again in 2017, but friends on recent trips tell me I wouldn’t recognize it. As an avid traveler, and tourism major, I’m fascinated to see where this goes, and the impact it will have not only on travel, but on destination marketing and trends. Will these new measures bring back some of the charms of these towns, or turn them into forgotten destinations, written off for places more welcoming, and maybe closer to home?