又中又英 | Overtourism | 褚簡寧

　　Tourism was an unaffordable luxury for ordinary people during the 1950s and 1960s. World Tourism Organization figures show there were only 25 million international tourist visits in 1950. This rose to 166 million in 1970 but jumped to 435 million in 1990. A wealthier world and affordable air travel drove up global tourism. Last year saw about 1.5 billion international tourist visits, fueling overtourism in the most popular destinations. I experienced this overtourism at first hand when a family member and I visited Japan last month.

　　As I said in my previous column, I will describe our highs and lows of visiting several Japanese cities, including Tokyo and Kyoto, during our 16-day trip. Our trip was exhilarating yet exasperating. If something is exhilarating, it means it makes you happy or thrilled. If something is exasperating, it means it is irritating or frustrating. Our first afternoon in Tokyo was a mixture of exhilaration and exasperation. We were thrilled to be in Japan. It was my family member’s first time there and I hadn’t visited in several decades. Narita Airport was bursting at the seams. If a place is bursting at the seams, it means it is extremely overcrowded.

　　Tickets for the next train to Tokyo were already sold out. We had to wait 30 minutes for the one after that. Our hotel rooms in a popular tourist area were so tiny that we had to do a double take. If you do a double take, it means you look at something, then look again because what you saw shocked you. But we had many exhilarating experiences in Japan as well, which I will describe in my next column.

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　　在1950至1960年代，旅遊對於一般人來說是難以負擔的奢侈享受。聯合國世界旅遊組織的數據顯示，1950年只有2500萬國際旅客，但數字於1970年升至1.66億，再於1990年跳升至4.35億。世界變得富裕，航空旅遊變得更易負擔，推高了全球的旅遊。上年有約15億國際旅客出遊，刺激到一些受歡迎旅遊熱點的過度旅遊。我上月跟我一位家人遊日本時，就親身體驗了這種過度旅遊。

　　正如我上一篇文章所說，我將會描述這16天的旅程中，到訪幾個日本城市包括東京和京都的種種高低起跌。我們的旅程是exhilarating但也是exasperating。若某事物是exhilarating，意即它令你高興或振奮；若某事物是exasperating，即它是令人惱怒或洩氣的。我們在東京的第一個下午，就是混雜了振奮（exhilaration）和惱怒（exasperation）。我們很興奮能身處日本。這是我家人首度遊日，而我則有幾十年沒有到日本了。成田機場是bursting at the seams——若某地是bursting at the seams，意即它是擁擠不堪，快要擠爆了。

　　下一班往東京的列車門票已售罄。我們等了30分鐘，才等到再下一班車。我們的酒店坐落最受歡迎的遊客區，房間狹小得令我們不得不do a double take。若你do a double take，意即你看見某物，不禁再看一遍，因為第一眼所見的事物令你相當震驚。不過，我們在日本也有許多令人振奮的經歷，我將在下篇文章中一一細說。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻