Could Madonna’s Roman Holiday Spell New Vogue for Responsible Tourism?

From overcrowded Barcelona and tourist-clogged Mount Fuji to formerly obscure piles of rocks in California, this summer of overtourism is rapidly drawing to a close — but expect the warning lights to keep flashing: the future of travel as you knew it is imperiled. Is it really arrivederci to glamor and hello to headlines that scream “my beloved Italian city has turned into tourist hell”?If you want to get into a vacation groove when locals everywhere seem to be up in arms, decrying tourists as invaders who chisel away at their housing inventory and steal their parking spots, maybe ask an iconic envelope pusher and singer: Madonna.The summer saw social media plastered with shots of A-listers like Kendall Jenner flaunting her bikini on the deck of a yacht at Ibiza and Lauren Sanchez aboard Jeff Bezos’s really big boat and that kind of catnip might have many of us licking our chops, but for most people it simply isn’t reality. Eking out a few days for a beach or city break and then getting stuck at the airport is probably more like it. As unlikely as it may sound, Madonna, whose net worth is estimated at $850 million, provides a kind of middle way. The pop icon’s methodical swing through Italy this month was instructive not only in terms of what she did, but what she did not do.She did not, for one thing, stay in an Airbnb. True, it helps to have friends with names like Dolce and Gabbana to invite you to stay at their casa. Despite or because of its popularity though, the short-term rental service is now a prime target by its many detractors in the fight against overtourism. It sometimes (but not always) represents an economical alternative to a hotel, but it has earned the wrath of residents in popular European cities because it diminishes housing inventory for locals.Real estate gripes aside, staying in an Airbnb is also a bit of a cop-out. That is because checking into a good hotel weaves you into the fabric and crackle of a place, if only for a short time. Staying in a nameless apartment surrounded by locals who might want that place for themselves relegates one to grim outsider status.Who can forget the scene from 1932’s “Grand Hotel” when Greta Garbo — after expressing her famous wish to be alone — evokes the sunshine at Tremezzo? Madonna, for a portion of her Italian sojourn, opted for the five-star Villa Treville resort at Positano. Rooms at the former summer retreat of director Franco Zeffirelli can cost north of $2,000 a night, but the views over the Tyrrhenian Sea are ravishing and, as the editor of Positano News told People magazine, “it is one of the most luxurious facilities in the world, but at the same time very quiet and private.” Jennifer Lopez stayed there earlier in the summer.Madonna bucked another overtourism trend this summer, which is that of tourists raiding the local supermarket and eating in their hotel rooms to cut corners. Whether she availed herself of room service at all was not immediately clear, but the “Like a Prayer” singer was spotted along with her entourage in local restaurants like La Tagliata at Montepertuso, in the hills above Positano. One need not be an international superstar to craft a curated experience while traveling. During the course of her trip, the main purpose of which was to celebrate her 66th birthday, Madonna also arranged a private tour of the archaeological park of Pompeii. The way she did this was not in the self-serving manner of Beyoncé and Jay-Z when the couple secured exclusive access to the Louvre a few years ago. Madonna funds a local teenage theater project, Sogno di Volare, that has as its aim “to engage the local community in the cultural life of the UNESCO site.” The evening also included a lavish dinner, but after all, she’s Madonna. Something else that Madonna did not do is fall prey to an ugly corollary of overtourism known as “check-in tourism.” That is the thing where people spend lots of money to go to places like Machu Picchu or Santorini essentially for the purpose of taking a few selfies for Instagram and telling their friends they’ve been to Machu Picchu or Santorini — not that anyone actually cares.Not to be catty, but someone should tell all those lovely ladies and gentlemen that although they may strike a fine pose, unless they’ve fronted a cover or two of Italian Vogue (like Madonna), models they are not.Is there anything more obnoxious than walking along a European street while squadrons of tourists armed with selfie sticks almost knock your non-Starbucks cappuccino out of your palms? Madonna shows us it doesn’t have to be that way. While the smoldering sexagenarian may have looked tired as, elsewhere in Italy, she walked the cobblestone streets of Terracina, she did so senza fotocamera — keeping the focus on the stunning pre-Roman and medieval architecture and generally soaking up the moment. Incidentally, she arrived at the port of Terracina, which is located between Naples and Rome, on a yacht. It’s not like Madonna was ever going to rent a car, but neither did she boast about her means of transport on social media. Which supports the view that Madonna knows the value of the journey as well as the destination — the first step, perhaps, in slaying the beast of overtourism.

Could Madonna’s Roman Holiday Spell New Vogue for Responsible Tourism?

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