A map of ATMs designed to scam tourists in Europe
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It’s not about scamming tourists at its core, it’s about avoiding electronic banking networks and pulling cash back into the system.
Disclaimer: Amsterdammer…
They are not much of a guide to bad areas, for example American Candyland (bad) is opposite Selfridges (popular). Streetview: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.514156,-0.1516145,3a,75y,1...
They get a clean €101 when someone makes a withdrawal, and the tourist has no problem spending the money.
Other than that, this would then not be any different from a regular cash deposit, no?
As far as I can tell, this is more common in the US – I'd be quite surprised if Euronet depended on business owners to restock their machines rather than having their own couriers doing that.
But in either case, I don't see how a merchant could hide anything using an ATM: Dispensing $100 of cash via a self-operated ATM has exactly the same effect on their bank account as depositing $100 of cash directly at their bank, no?
They are scam but not for money laundering. Just scam.
So it's beneficial to society!
You make it sound like a good thing.
Wild.
Mass tourism would allow optimization for environment and not to destroy areas that people actually work and live in. See the AirBnB effect for example. And in general the drug use and noise caused by them...
We should live like our grandparents, a few (if any) big trips in your lifetime, everything else: in your country or close neighboring ones.
They exist for people who don’t want to actually experience anything unfamiliar when they travel.
Lots of people choose to go to tourist traps for their own reasons. You don't have to like what they like. Like many, I even go back to some "terribly" touristy places because it is what I wish to do.
I also do off-the-beaten-path travel as well. But I usually can't blend in as though I were a local. I also have the freedoms and restrictions usual to tourists.
Examples: I enjoy touristy Queenstown in my own country. I like Bali. Not a fan of Bangkok.
On-topic: Backpacker accommodation and number of hotels signal tourist areas. To avoid tourists, don't stay in convenient accommodation!
I love the naivety of New Zealanders, bless 'em all :)
But, by God, have you seen them? Fisherman’s Wharf. Niagara Falls. Pretty much anywhere near a Hard Rock Cafe.
Overpriced, awful food. T-shirts that say “I visited <location> and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”. A Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.
On the streets, evangelicals from Ohio who, when they discover you’re Australian, will ask you about some random preacher you’ve never heard of. Parents with miserable kids looking wistfully in the direction of whatever tourist attraction they’ve spent thousands to get to and are not experiencing because the the kids want to go to Ripley’s Believe it Or Not and eat chicken nuggets off the kids menu at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Never, ever again.
That being said, all the kitch aside, popular places are popular for a reason. When I started to travel more, I started out as a travel snob, not even going to those areas of town. Then I got over myself, as I figured I was missing out on seeing some of the things that put the cities on the map in the first place.
Going to some of the more touristy spots doesn’t mean you can’t still venture off the beaten path, or have good stories/memories. I go to see the thing that made it a good spot for the tourist trap, not to buy novelty t-shirts and foam fingers. It’s not the whole trip, it’s an hour of one day.
I also don’t know how touristy it will be until I get there. I was told to check out the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, but was warned about it being a tourist trap. Clearly I screwed up getting there, was I ended up wandering around the docks where guys were working, and ending up getting lunch at this tiny place with about 8 stools, where I had the best seafood I’ll probably eat in my life. I went in expecting a tourist trap and found the exact opposite.
In February I got trip to Canary Islands, because that was rather cheap. Pure tourism, but it is a vacation.
I have been to cities like Florence and London and more. Both tourist traps in essence.
Now that I think I don't think I have really gone to non-tourist trap place. As you know there is no flights or transport to such location which make it hard to visit...
Although, I’ve watched a bunch of Yes Theory on YouTube and it seems like the places that don’t get a lot of tourists are really excited for people to show up, so who knows.
Mobility for hedonistic reasons therefore can only be worse.
I live in the centre of an attractive, old university town. We have druggies and dossers; typically, they don't have local accents (druggies and dossers seem to have their own accent, so perhaps that doesn't mean they're non-local).
But the streets around here are increasingly impassable, because of people taking photos (of anything) and blocking pedestrians, and columns of foreign language students 100-strong. These people don't come here because it's "properly built" for tourists; they come here because it's old and pretty.
To be fair, most of the tourists are daytrippers; they don't stay here overnight, and they don't spend much. Maybe they're only here because it's on the tour company list, and maybe it's because they want a selfie in front of $MONUMENT for their instagram feed.
IMO they'd get more out of their visit if they'd actually look at $MONUMENT in real life.
I like this idea for proxy maps. Do the same for London with American candy stores
That feature seems to have been nuked and I’m sad.
The various "Spar" in Mallorca are mom & pop mini markets with 20% higher prices than the Mercadona or Lidl. Walking outside such a "Spar" one you SEE that this is not you "central-europe-1000 sqm shop" but a rip-off with a Spar label on it.
I haven't paid attention on the ATMs though. I believe that with the prevalence of Conotoxia, Revolut, and the likes, and the fact that everywhere* in Mallorca you can pay with your phone/watch, it makes carrying cash unnecessary
*and I mean flea-market that sells crap that only tourists would buy, or bread/cheese/snacks/etc.
- several Palma bus lines (if you don't have the bus card)
- the most traditional bakeries, tailors, dry cleaners and so on
- 95% of the traders in my local municipal fruit and veg market
- 95% of the traders in the largest antiques market
- many cleaners, gardeners, painters, physiotherapists, swim instructors, yoga teachers etc
In addition, many places will offer one price for cash, and another for paying with card, and we know what that's about.
I've had to relearn having cash on my person, otherwise you can't get what you need several times a week.
The reality is that there is no big retail spaces near tourist attractions. Or those are much valuable when split up. Thus you end up with smaller stores that do not benefit as much from scale.
If you do not like the prices, just travel enough to find equivalent of Walmart...
Therefore, all of Ireland is a ugly mass tourist place.
QED.
Then you have other places like my old hangout from 20 years ago, which had a few of the same visual signifiers of Irishness, but the owner being in fact an Irishman, he didn't feel the need to go overboard with that. Hope that place is still open and doing well.
Comparing them against published population maps wont work because 1) those show where locals live 2) not where people go for entertainment and 3) tourists and hotels are not counted as population. Now, it will work if the aim is to go to quiet places with only locals and not much points of interest - I've tried this as a tourist strategy and ended up in an area surrounded by residential tower blocks and one basic cafe and a shop underneath.
E.g. Inca on the map in the tweet is certainly a locals town but it's also hardly anything to see or do there.
By this logic, every town in Austria, big or small, is an "ugly mass tourism place." It's one of the leading supermarket chains here, and better quality than most of its competitors. Obviously not so in the Netherlands, or the author wouldn't have thought that the brand can only signify cheap/ripoff. But I understand what it signifies in Mallorca in particular: not just a tourist town, but a tourist town with mostly German-speaking visitors. Drive to the next beach town, where English tourists go, and the fake Spar/Billa beachfront stores will be replaced by fake Tesco/Sainsburys stores. None of them have any affiliation with the actual brands from the tourists' home countries.
Being curious about the area, I found the exact spot in Street View. Sunrise even. But then turned around 180 degrees. To find an absolute wall of photographers all capturing the same scene. I can't find that scene now though.
But frequently these social media brags are very carefully chosen angles - why not, I do the same thing, minus the social media posting - and in Street View all you have to do is change view angle slightly to see the busy street, the commercial clutter etc.
but that place was voted "has been voted as the world’s best place to see a sunrise" hence the popularity. Angkor is actually a huge place (400+ acres) and it's quite possible to avoid the crowds especially if you have your own transport.
angkor wat isnt some off the beaten path temple though. its like the only thing to do in siem reap, its gotta be cambodias biggest tourist attraction besides misery tourism in phnom penh.
Same thing in Egypt too. Great pyramids are extremely crowded and you're constantly getting hassled by people selling crap. But at the less famous Dahshur area, or the less accessible Philae/Abu Simbel temples, nobody else was there and we could appreciate them in peace. For that it helped to go in the summer (low) season too.
I get it.
I want the solo unique ethereal earth-changing experiences too. But I can also point to two distinct comparison points.
I got to have a fairly tourist-free experience in Angkor Wat. I intentionally travelled to Southeast Asia during the lowest time of the year - monsoon season. And I wound up in Siem Riep anand then Angkor in the middle of a rainstorm. Nobody was around. Yet the rain was warm. The temples were equally majestic. I had an incredible time feeling like I was actually exploring ancient undiscovered ruins by myself. Then the rain ended, and oh my, all those reflections. It was incredible.
This was 2008. I don't know if this is possible today even in the "lowest" tourist season. But that's not the point, the point is that while I do cherish the memories of this day, I got to have an exactly opposite experience at Taj Mahal.
By which i mean it was the HEIGHT of tourist season. I was in India for a Wedding and had no choice. It was hot. It was miserable. There were people everywhere.
AND YET. The Taj Mahal was absolutely magnificent. A true wonder of humanity and our history. An absolutely incredible experience, and watching how the changing evening light danced off the marble and evolved the building was mindblowing. It didn't matter that there were seemingly 20,000 other people there with me.
The democratization of travel is a good thing. That more and more people are exposed to other cultures and worlds is a good thing. That it inevitably brings photographers, instagrammers, influencers, and all the commercial activities associated with it are sad, but also ultimately worth it.
I say this on a macro humanist scale. I'm sure the locals at cities that live in those "tourist traps" would greatly disagree and are desperate for change. But I'm not writing this to them.
I'm writing this to folks on the internet that i know are out there that go "Ugh, I wish I could go see Angkor Wat/Taj Mahal/Leaning Tower of Pisa/Empire State Building, but I don't want to deal with the tens of thousands of tourists all taking the exact same picture."
Forget all that. Go. Go where you want to go. Don't let the presence of anyone else affect your experience.
My contrasting experience was when I visited the pyramids last summer. Still thousands of people despite it being +40 degrees. It was hot and crowded, but it was still amazing.
> but I don't want to deal with the tens of thousands of tourists all taking the exact same picture
Yeah, I probably took the same picture as everyone else. The way I see it, every picture is unique, even if some are very similar [0]. My picture is to remind me of the time I was there, I want the shit weather and my shitty camera captured as part of the moment.
[0] https://www.livescience.com/61970-photo-wave-coincidence.htm...
It took becoming a parent for me to TRULY realize that. There is nothing unique about becoming a parent. Yet it's the most unique experience I've had in my life so far. Those are not in contradiction. Or if they are, embracing the contradiction is the key to having a fulfilling existence.
What I thought was crazy is that back then, and now, with a few minutes' looking I couldn't find the rate the bank would give me.
[1] https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchang...
[2] https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/personal/get-support/convert...
If your card gets charged in a foreign currency, the bank takes a few but PayPal won't.
Surprisingly enough there are other people who still know how to web-search, hence why those places are crowded even at the end of the holiday season. I became aware of that basic fact this past September, while visiting the Peloponnese.
Very evident with this map that just appears to be a differently labeled population heat map.
In my experiences with traveling to a great number of countries and cities... yes, it pretty much is.
Taking any kind of "easiest path" tourism is basically full of rip-offs in every hotel, restaurant, and tour, no matter where you are.
It takes effort to plan a genuinely enjoyable trip full of rich experiences that isn't ripping you off.
Also, it doesn't seem to be a population map at all -- that distribution is quite different:
https://www.mdpi.com/land/land-02-00252/article_deploy/html/...
It might work better in cultures with a more developed eat-out culture like in Asia.
For lunch we'd hike over the hill into little Italy, and there was a decent sandwich shop we'd get lunch at. (Freddy's) Before the hill there was a small asian couple who ran a small shop, they made a good mushroom stew. No idea if they're still in business, though, or what their place was called.
Neither were restaurants … you weren't going to be finding a seat at least inside. There's plenty of seating around SF though, if you know where to look.
¹although Google thinks NB is actually a bit W of where we were.
I'd figure Google Maps, being less explicitly targeted to tourists, would be likely to include reviews and pricing data relative to a local mentality, which might not be so willing to spend tourist prices.
It's easier, I suppose, if you're doing a walking/public transit oriented trip and are in a city-- if you don't like what you see when you close in, just go 50 metres further down the street.
Unfortunately I have been ripped in SE Asia, and moreso in Central America, where prices were almost never displayed, and I was charged US prices for almost everything.
Even here across southern Europe they always start popping up in areas that usually have other seedy businesses preying on people. Lately they don't even show their brand and colors anymore... only showing foreign languaged "ATM" sign with no bank logo.
Avoid them like the plague.
Also (and maybe this only applies for Bucharest, but good to know regardless), avoid changing currency (USD to local RON, in Romania's case) just as you get off the airplane, the exchange rates inside the airport are rip-offs pure and simple. The currency exchange shops inside Bucharest proper are more than decent, though, no rip-offs there.
I agree the map kinda sucks, because most of the island of Mallorca is a tourist trap at this point. But you can see how the interior's population centers, like Inca, Sa Pobla and Manacor, have none.
For a better example, as one of the replies to the tweet suggests, check using Google Maps around Barcelona. You can see sixteen of them crowded around Sagrada Familia, for example, and barely any in the mostly-residential neighbourhoods further north.
There's a reason why they got such a bad reputation.
In America and Canada, ALL ATMs are scams with exorbitant fees except for the customers of the bank of that ATM.
The whole "Sorry, we're cash only, but there's an ATM in the back" is ubiquitous.
When I moved to Europe in the mid 2010s I was shocked that I could use my bank card to withdraw cash from any other bank without fees.
IMHO this is superior to the bank refunding you. It doesn’t cost the bank $2+ to allow you to access your own money from a different ATM, it’s just rent seeking.
[1] https://www.alfabank.by/about/articles/main/Euronet_DCC_11_0...
those ATMs give you a choice on how to do currency conversion and my bank will do withdrawals at spot rate! I check forex and futures charts and I get the same rate.
and other than that just a normal ATM fee the same as I would encounter in the states. some banks reimburse those too.
That said, I've noticed that when I withdraw a non-euro currency, my own bank fee has been creeping up and is approaching the conversion rate and fee offered by the ATMs, so maybe I need to change my policy about that in the future.
is case what is an typical commission for Euronet ATM?
What is Euronet?
Euronet Worldwide is an American-headquartered worldwide provider of electronic payment services. It operates the largest independent ATM network in Europe and owns a total of almost 46,000 ATMs around the world.
Euronet’s high ATM fees and exchange rates have regularly been criticised, but the company has frequently defended itself, saying that such fees are necessary to cover ATM running costs and the convenience that these machines provide. However, considering that many of Euronet’s ATMs can be found in locations such as airports and supermarkets – where if you need cash fast, there’s little other choice – you could argue that Euronet has found an easy way to generate additional income.
Euronet ATMs charge high fees that can quickly catch you out. Here’s what you need to know:
Euronet ATM withdrawal fees vary from €1.95 to €4.99
dynamic currency conversions (DCCs) can stack up to 13% of the total amount, you'll find Euronet ATMs in tourist locations (e.g. airports, shopping centres, busy streets, etc.),
we recommend avoiding Euronet ATMs wherever possible.This article is weird about assuming that.
If they are all influncer posts then skip it.
Some people seem to love being handled like cattle though
Maybe "tourism" is the problem?
Or was. Never been there, because 25PLN for a beer was an outrageous sum at the time.
(I didn't go to the mall for touristic reasons, I just wanted to grab a bite after arriving in Warsaw by train.)
(Though I've only been in one once, when my friend's band played a gig.)
Acoustic Bar and Yoko Cafe in D3
Though it does feel like a lot of energy is moving away from D1/D3 and towards D2/D7 as there's similarly priced property that is newer.
D2 is for the wealthier western expats to ride around without helmets.
D1 is just… well… downtown.
I spent a lot of time exploring literally all of Saigon (and a lot of the rest of the country as well). More so than most locals really. There isn’t a corner in Saigon that I haven’t been to many times.