Anyone who lives in a tourist town will tell you that while tourists help beef up the local economy, they can be a total pain to deal with. Usually the dollars-to-annoyance ratio works out in the area’s favor, so the tourists are allowed to stay.
Sometimes, though, things become a total nightmare.
This story takes us to New Zealand.
A beautiful country, situated on islands east of Australia, New Zealand offers visitors everything from glaciers to mountain vistas to beautiful beaches. It isn’t surprising that it’s such a popular destination.
It’s most famous for its depiction as Middle Earth.
Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies really helped put New Zealand on the map as a tourist destination.
After recent events, however, New Zealand may be most famous for a group of unruly tourists.
The drama happened on New Zealand’s North Island.
The group apparently ran amok in Hamilton, along with Auckland, both populous cities in northern New Zealand. From the sounds of things, these weren’t your typical boorish tourists — this group was so bad they’ve made international headlines.
A Facebook user documented the drama.
Auckland native Krista Curnow has made public her posts about this group. With a keen attention to detail, and journalist-level reporting, Krista brought to life just how bad it was to be around these tourists.
Krista’s post paints quite a picture.
She was hanging out at Takapuna Beach (that’s where Lorde is from!) when, according to her telling, a group of drunk adults showed up and started drinking and littering all over the beach.
That was hardly the end of things.
Krista’s post describes it all, but basically, she confronted them over their littering and things escalated, with adults and kids alike threatening her and even trying to run her down in a vehicle.
You’d better believe there’s video evidence.
You’ll want to check out Krista’s post for the full vids, but the screengrabs alone show the kind of attitude these tourists had toward the situation. The amount of litter alone is appalling.
Things have really escalated since.
Officials saw Krista’s report and straight-up made moves to get these tourists deported. Immigration officers handed them deportation notices shortly after the incident.
“Immigration New Zealand understands the individuals intend to leave New Zealand next week,” said immigration official Peter Devoy.
The internet loves a trainwreck.
To date, Krista’s post has been commented on more than 10,000 times. It seems that a lot of other people encountered these tourists from hell during their trip to New Zealand.
There were questions about the tourists’ identity.
Some speculated they were Irish Travelers, an often maligned minority group in the United Kingdom. Whoever they were, they don’t need to be named. The shame from Krista’s videos, along with deportation, should be punishment enough.
New Zealand loves tourists, with a few exceptions.
Tourists bring nearly $3 billion to the national economy, and more than 7 percent of Kiwis are employed in the tourism industry. They like visitors — they just want people to show basic human decency.
It serves as a reminder to be a good tourist.
It’s great to see and experience the world. But it’s incredibly important to ensure that the kind of fun you’re having isn’t the kind of fun that makes everybody in the place you’re visiting hate your guts and get you deported.
