Some tourist hotspots are shunning tourists

Things to avoid doing in Barcelona

Everyone gets told about the places they should visit, the food they should try, and the activities they should do. But what about the things one shouldn’t do? Here’s that list. The authors are journalists and tour guides in Barcelona, so you can suspect they know what they’re talking about when they say “Don’t treat tapas like fast food.”

The 1992 Olympics changed Barcelona

Barcelona wasn’t always a global tourist hotspot. Before hosting the 1992 Olympics, the city’s coastline was blocked by factories, green spaces were scarce, and tourism was minimal. But after securing the Olympic games, everything changed.

Tourists are significantly influenced by pop culture

A 2024 study from Expedia Group found that two-thirds of tourists said movies and TV influence where and how they travel.

Some cemeteries in Mexico are known for their elaborate Day of the Dead celebrations

While most events are small and local, several cemeteries draw tourists from around the country and the world. Mexico City, in particular, is home to the graves of multiple famous artists and musicians who attract crowds.

Cannes hotels hire hawks to scare off seagulls

Seagulls prey on celebrity tourists visiting for Cannes' festival season, a problem the city's hotels have (mostly) solved with an unlikely solution: more birds. Falconers strategically deploy hawks to scare off the seagulls and, in the process, protect the unsuspecting diners' meals.

National parks boost local economies, but they can also harm local land

Increased tourism and job creation are big wins for the small towns outside national parks, but the influx of visitors can also have negative effects, including wildlife destruction and overdevelopment.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Cities and parks often work to prevent graffiti

Although some call it art, many see it as an eyesore and try to prevent it through prohibitive designs, lighting, and vandal-proofed coatings that make spray paint easier to remove. This guide from the Project for Public Spaces outlines some of those strategies and more.

Mapping tourism at Machu Picchu

Only 750 people lived at Machu Picchu at its height, but today, almost ten times that number trample through its delicate plazas and agricultural terraces every day. This data visualization vividly illustrates the skyrocketing numbers of visitors to Machu Picchu over the decades, and highlights the risks of over tourism, including soil erosion and other environmental threats, and negative social and economic impacts.

Dubai and Barcelona are examples of smart cities

By integrating technology into public transit, utilities, and other municipal systems, these cities aim to reduce costs and enhance the quality of life for their residents. Some of these technologies include adaptive lighting, parking sensors, and underground waste systems.

Young Brazilians protested their country's hosting of the 2014 World Cup

In 2013, the Confederations Cup in Brazil was marked with widespread protests in a period dubbed "Generation June." Many were angry about the looming 2014 World Cup, which they believed was an affront to the country's many pressing issues.

Cities bore the brunt of the migrant surge in the 2020s

During the 2022-24 migration surge, cities such as New York, Chicago, and Denver faced shelter overcrowding, strained public services, and housing shortages—while the upfront costs fell almost entirely to states and cities.

In the 1930s, New York banned buskers as part of an antinoise campaign

Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was hoping to modernize the city and believed that street performers only crowded the streets and added to an annoying cacophony. Residents wrote to the mayor to protest the decision, arguing that buskers were appreciated by the public.

Turning some invasive species into cash crops has helped control their spread

In Mexico, some companies are transforming sargassum seaweed blooms into paper, bricks, and shoes, while in Cambodia, water hyacinths are dried and woven into baskets, rugs, and other crafts. Lionfish and green crabs have been hunted for culinary dishes, with the latter also being used to make crab whiskey in New England.

Critics say Burning Man pollutes and promotes elitism

Following the storms and extreme circumstances of the 2023 Burning Man, discourse has circulated about elitism, pollution, and more problems brought by the festival.

The canal project required the forced removal of local inhabitants

The canal displaced Panamanian communities, with towns like Gatun and Gorgona dismantled and farmlands lost, reshaping the region forever.

Dubbed 'stalkers,' some Ukrainian youth illegally explore Chernobyl's exclusion zone

A subculture of thrill-seekers, driven by a desire for rebellion and adventure, is representative of dark tourism in the region. Some stalkers sneak past militia posts to venture into abandoned ruins, risking radiation exposure while scavenging for ruins of the past.

Chinese citizens express both support and frustration toward smart city surveillance

Although surveillance is viewed as necessary for enhancing morality and enforcing regulations, many citizens adopt mental tactics to distance themselves from it. Surveillance is linked to China's historical "century of humiliation," following the Opium Wars and Japanese invasion.

Wildlife use Rome's sprawling archaeological sites as urban havens

The Italian capital features some of the world's most famous monuments as the inheritor of ancient Rome's grandeur. This photo essay explores the city's vibrant collection of wildlife, including long-concealed native crabs, peregrine falcons, and the beaver-like nutria.

Making sense of Mexico City's traffic honks and horns

A car's horn makes just one sound, but somehow, drivers across the world manage to use the monotone for a surprising variety of purposes. This audio-inflected essay takes readers into the nuanced horns of Mexico City's famously congested traffic, providing a "claxonomy" (taxonomy + claxones, or horns) of its drivers' honks.

SantaCon went from an anarchist protest to a rowdy bar crawl

Now known mainly as a costumed, Christmas-themed bar crawl, SantaCon began in San Francisco in 1994 as an anarchist protest against Christmas overconsumption inspired by a Danish event in 1974. It spread to Portland and Seattle before the event went worldwide and lost its radical roots in the process.

The volcano threatening the Greek island of Santorini

Santorini is a popular tourist destination, known for its stunning white architecture and dreamy blue waters. Yet underneath the charming island is a potentially dangerous underwater volcano. Recent earthquakes have triggered nearly half of residents to evacuate, signaling heightened uncertainty about when the volcano could erupt. Researchers studying activity in the region plan to produce detailed hazard maps for Greek authorities to improve local safety and emergency planning.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Some argue that restricting illegal immigration would raise wages for lower-income American workers

The Heritage Foundation argues that illegal immigrants' willingness to work for below-market wages suppresses wages for low-skilled American workers—and that reducing illegal immigration would increase wages and job opportunities, particularly for workers without a college degree.

In 2024, US airports generated over $1B of revenue—partly due to overpriced airport food

Some in the airport industry argue that charging street prices in airport restaurants isn't sustainable because it's more expensive to run a business inside an airport.

Many 'cheap' retirement destinations contain hidden costs

Considering factors outside of housing and state income tax is crucial when thinking of an inexpensive place to retire. High energy bills, grocery tax, and insurance premiums are just a few things to look out for when picking where to live.

Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown coined the term “gig economy” in 2009

Although this article was written pre-pandemic, the workers interviewed in it still feel representative of the sector’s modern ethos. In the piece, the writer interviews a handful of gig workers about why, exactly, they’ve chosen to make a living off of Airbnbs or TaskRabbit gigs rather than doing something else.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.