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The arrest of a tourist for climbing the statue of Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence throws a new light on the debate about the gamification of tourism (and many other areas of everyday life). Apparently the female visitor (nationality unknown), climbed the statue because she was dared by a friend to touch Neptune's genitals on a pre-wedding visit to the city. These kinds of games and dares are becoming increasingly common, particularly as growing numbers of st

Although the Bad Tourist has always been around, it seems that most of us have only recently noticed the phenomenon. Searches for ‘Bad Tourist’ have increased significantly since the beginning of 2025, according to Google Trends, reaching a peak in February 2026. Over the longer term, searches for Bad Tourist have doubled. A notable increase in searches began in January 2025, and continued to rise until August 2025, after which there was a notable decline. The growth of ‘Rev

A number of widely publicised cases of tourists defacing ancient monuments in Italy has shed light on the continuing debate around the use of public space for people to mark their presence. One particularly high profile case involved a UK visitor who scratched the names of himself and his girlfriend into the stones of the Colosseum in Rome . In a letter of apology he claimed that he didn’t know how old the structure was. Even though this case attracted global publicity, it do