By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Overtourism in Bourton-on-the-Water, known as the Venice of the Cotswolds, may have “reached breaking point” as residents say visitors are “fed up” with the crammed experience.
Just shy of 100 people packed the Baptist Church in Station Road on Thursday night (November 27) to air their concerns about the impact overtourism is having on Bourton.
Leaders from Gloucestershire County Council, Cotswold District Council and the parish council were present to hear the concerns and take their feedback on board to find solutions to the problems the village faces.
Bourton Residents’ Voice, who organised the meeting, are not against tourism but want to achieve a level which is sustainable for the village.
Ben Lunnon-Wood, a member of the group which organised the meeting, asked the crowd what they thought of the amount of tourism.
He said: “Is this simply a phase that we are going through and things will quieten down in the future or is it the collective belief that it has never been as bad as 2025?”
One lady, who has lived in the village all her life, said tourists have always come to Bourton but it has never been this bad.
“By the end of September the people all went until Easter, and then it would start coming again,” she said.
“We have gradually got just overtourism, you can’t move in the village, you can’t go into the village.
“I don’t walk in the village between March and October.”
She said the best time for the village was during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I saw people in the village I hadn’t seen for years,” she said. “We walked in the village, we saw the blossom coming out. We can’t see that because we can hardly walk down.
“You have to watch how you walk because people are all over the village, the pavements, the roads.
“You can’t get on the green. I couldn’t take my grandchildren because it is too full of tourists. It is too busy.”
A man, who told the meeting he has lived in the village for 30 years, echoed these concerns.
He said tourism fluctuates but it’s “impossible to walk along the footpath in the village”.
“People are coming at you, four across. They won’t get out of the way and you have to, it’s most unpleasant.
“When you step into the road you take your life in your hands”.
He also said coaches are dropping off “all over the place”.
“They cause problems, they block roads, they turn around in the wrong places. They are a real menace.
“That’s one of the things our councillors ought to solve.”
Another resident who has lived in the village for around five years and was shocked
“Even we over the last two summers have been shocked at how bad it has got.
“The deterioration is really marked.”
He said the other aspect the issues is going to impact tourism in the long run.
“The thing that has struck me this summer in particular, and the previous summer, is that when I venture into the village on a Saturday or a Sunday in the middle of the season just how fed up so many of the visitors look.
“They are not happy with the experience.”
The meeting heard how he spoke to several of them and they are “massively disillusioned”.
A woman, who lives next to a longstanding bed and breakfast in the village, said their regular customers are saying they won’t come back because of the state of the village.
And Mr Lunnon-Wood said that too was his experience when speaking to visitors while out on a run with his dog.
“I ask them if they are having a good day, and they say no,” he said.
He said they ask for a village that is quieter. “I said they are all like this,” he added.
“It’s starting to turn. Perhaps we’ve reached the breaking point this summer.”
Bourton residents wishing to get involved or who have specific concerns about the levels of tourism in the village can contact the Bourton Residents’ Voice steering group via email at bourtonresidentsvoice@gmail.com