We all take a break from our daily routines once in a while, by hanging out with friends, visiting a place we always wanted to see, or going on a vacation, most people have the decency to respect the place they visit and make sure that their presence may not harm or destroy anything but however there is the rest of them who could be complete jerks. You could say they turn into mindless self-centered zombies who have no respect for the places they visit. From vandalizing priceless monuments to endangering wild animals only to take their photo, sadly, tourists have proven their stupidity time and time again.
One major rule every tourist should know is that no matter where you travel, you have to be respectful to the place you’re visiting.
#1 Baby Dolphin Dies After tourists passed As They Posed for Photos with It on a Spanish Beach
Tourists in southern Spain found a lone baby dolphin wandering near the shore and instead of calling animal rescue, they decided it would be a smart idea to pass it around and take selfies with it. When the animal workers finally arrived 15 minutes later, the baby dolphin had already died from stress. “Cetaceans are very susceptible to stress, and crowding around it to take photos and to touch it causes them a big shock which greatly accelerates cardio-respiratory failure, which is what happened,” said a representative of Equinac, a local marine wildlife protection group, in an interview with Daily Mail.
#2 Tourists Destroying Popular Oregon Rock Formation
The “duckbill” sandstone formation was one of Oregon’s famous landmark, protected by a fence to keep away people because it was unstable. However, some vandals had trespassed the area and climbed over the fence and pushed and pulled the rock formation. Eventually, they knocked the rock down. Allegedly, the group of people did this because one of their friends had broken their leg because of the “duckbill”. The rock formation was also known as “Pedestal Rock” and “that Pacific Northwest rock.”
#3 Tourists Chase Peacocks, Rip Out Their Tail Feathers At Beijing Zoo
Some visitors of a Beijing wildlife park started chasing and plucking feathers from the peacocks’ tails. Even though other tourists tried stopping them, the offenders did not stop until the last peacock was scared away.
#4 Mob Of Tourists scares away sea turtles from nesting at Costa Rica’s Ostional Beach
Every year the olive ridley sea turtles come out of the sea to nest in the Ostional Wildlife Refuge, located in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. However, it became a popular tourist attraction with many people coming over to take pictures with the turtles. Sadly, the tourists scared away many of the turtles, meaning some of them did not get to lay eggs.
#5 Tourists strip away all its lotus flowers at an eco-park
Chinese tourists have broken into and stolen lotus flowers from the Longqiao Cultural and Ecological Park located in Sichuan, China on multiple occasions.
#6 Schoolboy was caught after vandalizing an Egypt’s Ancient Temple in Graffiti
Ding Jinhao, a 15-year-old from China, scratched “Ding Jinhao was here” into 3,500-year-old Egyptian artwork located at the Temple of Luxor. People on the internet quickly uncovered the culprit and his parents had to publicly apologize for what their child had done.
#7 Man climbed onto the pedestal the statue sits upon, attempted to take a selfie and knocked the statue over
A tourist tried to take a selfie with the 130-year-old Dom Sebastiao statue in Lisbon, Portugal and ended up knocking it over. The culprit was arrested after attempting to run away.
#8 tourist knocked down the saint Michael statue while trying to take a selfie (Lisbon, Portugal)
When trying to take a selfie with the statue of Saint Michael located at the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon, a visitor ended up knocking it over and shattering it irreparably.
#9 Bison calf euthanized after Yellowstone tourists put it in their car to ‘keep it warm’
A couple of tourists found this baby bison near a road in Yellowstone National Park and put it in their car to warm it up. Sadly, this meant that the bison was separated from the others and there was no way of telling which one of the adult bison was its mother. Eventually, the baby bison had to be euthanized since it started creating dangerous situations by approaching people and cars on the road.
#10 Russian tourist ruined the roman coliseum by graffiti and got fined $24,000
A 42-year-old Russian tourist had carved a large “K” into the side of the Coliseum in Rome and was caught by one of the guards. According to CNN, the man received a 20,000 euro ($24,800) fine.
“The damage to the monument is notable,” site superintendent Mariarosaria Barbera said. “The incision cut out part of the surface of the structure and compromises its conservation and image.”
#11 Yellowstone hot spring turning green after tourists threw “good luck” coins into it
People were throwing so much “good luck” coins and rocks into the Morning Glory hot spring, it clogged up the pool’s vents, slowing down water circulation and allowing bacteria to proliferate, thus causing the unusual green coloring. Morning Glory, and has recently been nicknamed “Fading Glory” due to how much it has changed. Tourists throw in coins and rocks because they hope that good luck will then follow them
#12 Tourists chase endangered Tibetan antelopes for photos and get fined
Two white SUVs had illegally trespassed into the Selincuo National Nature Reserve and started chasing a herd of Tibetan antelopes. Someone captured footage of it and posted in Weibo, causing a major uproar. When the speeding cars got dangerously close to the antelopes, anonymous witnesses filmed and captured the illegal actions. After people started posting the footage on Weibo (China’s equivalent of Twitter), it caused a huge backlash as netizens expressed anger over what they believed to be a careless and dangerous way to photograph the creatures. This eventually led to the arrest of seven people who were each fined 15,000 yuan (2,257 US dollars).
#13 Tourists destroy beautiful azalea trees in bloom in china and some even went to the extreme of using the branches for barbecue
Spring symbolizes rebirth, but this doesn’t give anyone a license to destroy nature for their own pleasure. These blooming azalea trees attract hundreds of tourists to the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in China. Sadly, not everyone is respectful to its beautiful nature. Some tourists break off branches of the trees and others even used them to start a barbecue.
#14 The Margate beach house after the tourists left
Hundreds of plastic plates and bags litter the Margate beach in the United Kingdom after the tourists had left. “We love to see people enjoying our beautiful sandy beaches but the mess that was left on Saturday was shocking and heartbreaking to see,” says council leader Bob Bayford.
“There were a number of groups on the beach on Saturday and permission had been granted for a 500-person event, at the Nayland Rock end.”
#15 Tourists’ selfie mania destroys rare pink grass
According to South China Morning Post, a field of beautiful pink grass flowers had to be cut down after selfie-taking tourists trampled it. These flowers bloom for about two months every autumn, but those in the Binjiang riverside park in the city of Hangzhou were completely destroyed. Photos published by various Chinese media outlets show tourists ignoring rope barriers and flattening the 10-acre area.
#16 People Allegedly Destroying Stone Pillars At Hampi
A group of vandals was caught on video destroying the pillars of the Vishnu temple in Hampi, India. They were arrested a week after the video surfaced and all four admitted to their crime. “They were excited [about] seeing the monuments in Hampi,” said Arun Rangarajan. “They claim to have toppled the pillar in sheer excitement. They had no idea how historically significant Hampi is.”
All four have been [receiving death threats] since the video went viral.”
Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in east-central Karnataka, India. It became the centre of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire capital in the 14th century. By 1500 CE, it was the world’s second-largest medieval-era city (surpassed only by Beijing), attracting traders all the way from Persia and Portugal.
Hampi’s ruins are spread over 4,100 hectares (16 sq mi) and UNESCO described it as an “austere, grandiose site” of more than 1,600 surviving remains of the last great Hindu kingdom in South India.
#17 Tourists Destroy Natural Wonder By Carving ‘Send Nudes’ Into It
One of Iceland’s famous moss-covered hills was vandalized. Tourists carved in the words “send nudes” into the hill in South Iceland, which means the moss could take many years to regrow. Sadly, this is not the first time someone has done a similar thing as evident by multiple other words carved into the side of the hill.
#18 Tourist Spotted Burying Used Diaper In The Sand was Spotted On Boracay Beach
A while ago, someone had caught a video of a woman burying a soiled diaper in one of the beaches in the Philippines. “This is an unfortunate incident pero [but] we will not tolerate those who violate the law whether foreigner or local. [Everyone should follow the law],” Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat told CNN Philippines. She said that authorities will work on aggressively informing tourists about beach rules and regulations.
In April 2018, the world-famous Boracay island underwent a six-month closure and rehabilitation after President Rodrigo Duterte called the island a “cesspool.”
#19 Tourists Destroy Priceless Italian Monument While Trying To Take A Selfie
The “Two Hercules” statue is one of the main attractions of the city of Cremona, Italy. Unfortunately, two tourists broke the marble crown that sits atop the coat-of-arms, flanked by a pair of figures. So imagine the locals’ disappointment when two tourists broke off a part of their beloved statue when trying to take a selfie. Sadly, the culprits are yet to be located.
#20 Photos Taken By Bali Dive School Shows Coral Defaced With Writing Etched In
A while ago, diving center OK Divers posted pictures of defaced corals and the photos quickly went viral. “Like many of you, we believe that their dive guide should have known better than to let them do this,” said OK Divers. “Nonetheless, the diver has come forward, they are truly sorry. Even though it won’t help the coral, we appreciate their honesty and believe they have learned a lesson they will never forget … [we ask you to] think of what we all can do to prevent such things from happening and how we can protect the precious underwater world.”
#21 Indonesian Tourists Vandalize Olmec Monumental Sculptures In Tabasco
Two Indonesian tourists damaged 15 stone sculptures dating back to 1,000 BC located in the La Venta Museum and Park in Tabasco, Mexico, by spraying liquid oil on them. Why they carried oil on them is a whole different story.
#22 2,000-Year-Old Megalithic Tomb In Spain Vandalized With Harry Potter References
According to The Olive Press, a ‘Deathly Hallows’ symbol appeared on the La Casa dos Mouros dolmen in Vigo, Galicia. Despite it being a protected site, Mayor Oscar Dominguez didn’t want to give the vandal any credit: “Maybe JK Rowling dropped by to promote her latest spin-off,” he joked. “Either way, it is clear that the graffiti was carried out by an amateur in the world of magic.”
#23 Tourists Damage Ancient Landform Where Dinosaurs Roamed
A 200,000-year-old land formation located in a geopark in Zhangye, central China, was damaged by a group of Chinese tourists after they decided to walk on the striped sand. The culprits even uploaded a video of themselves performing the act. This led to the local authorities launching an investigation and experts were called in to determine the damage caused.
#24 Japanese Bamboo Forest ‘Cries’ After Tourists Vandalize Trees
Careless tourists started carving their initials into the bamboo trees located in a Kyoto bamboo forest, leading to the trees “crying” and eventually having to be cut down.
#25 Tourists Allegedly Vandalize A Mosque In South Of Morocco
Local news website Tiznit37 reported that tourists who spent nearly a week in a resort called Boutbouqalt desecrated a mosque by leaving offensive insults and drawings on its walls. After this incident went viral, residents of Arbaa Ait Ahmed called the act “savagery,” demanding that the authorities intervene. The police were reported to have opened an investigation.
#26 Tourists Doing Stupid Things At Yellowstone National Park
