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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Laura Hall

Naked hiking, messing with statues, sloth selfies – too many of us have forgotten how to be tourists

The Spanish Steps in Rome: fines of up to €400 can be imposed for damaging them.
The Spanish Steps in Rome: fines of up to €400 can be imposed for damaging them. Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP

It seems as though a lot of people have forgotten how to be tourists. As a travel writer, I can’t quite believe some of the behaviour we’re seeing on display around the world. Summer might be a time to throw away inhibitions, but we don’t need to throw away all of them.

Let’s start with the obvious: leave those poor statues alone. There’s no need to ride them, play with them, touch them up or do unspeakable things with them, like we’ve seen in the past week. I won’t go into details, but suffice to say that if you’re doing things like that in public, your mum will be ashamed. Just don’t do it.

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