When a British TikTok influencer, who regularly documents her travel adventures with her followers, tried to capture one of our most beautiful sunrises – at 517metre-high Mam Tor in the Peak District – she came away with a little more than she bargained for.
Travel fan Chelsea Coltart, 28, revealed how so many people had made the dawn trip to the Derbyshire beauty spot on her recent visit, there was nowhere to park – and after making the trip to the top of the summit, she returned to find her car damaged and, insult to injury, with a £70 parking fine tacked to it.
The influencer revealed her struggle to find a space had led her to park in a No Stopping zone, saying: ‘You couldn’t park anywhere, it was awful to be honest’.
She then admitted she should have been more careful when leaving her vehicle: ‘I don’t think there is enough guidance on where to park but… we’ve all passed our test and we should know the signs.’
Now facing a potential £2,000 repair bill – plus the fine – the influencer’s post detailing her day-trip nightmare evoked a response from Derbyshire Police’s own TikTok account.
The regional police unit said it would look into the damage but warned: ‘Her video also shows some of the issues local people, public transport and emergency services are facing as people park illegally in the area.’
Social media platforms have become an invaluable resource for travellers researching trips in recent years, eclipsing written reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor because would-be tourists can watch fellow travellers as they experience a destination.
The downside to putting an attraction on the TikTok map? It’s sparked a huge upturn in visitor numbers – often leaving locals tearing their hair out as hordes of Gen Z-ers descend, armed with selfie sticks and an apparently dangerous disregard for safety.
Travel fan Chelsea Coltart, 28, shared on TikTok how she’d made the journey to hike Mam Tor, in the Peak District, but found herself with a damaged car and a fine when she descended
A TikTok travel influencer has warned others about parking at popular hiking trails after an ordeal at a Peak District beauty spot. A representative for Derbyshire Police (right) responded, saying Chelsea’s experiences showed ‘some of the issues local people, public transport and emergency services are facing as people park illegally in the area’
TikTok to the top: The social media app is filled with videos of people hiking Mam Tor for the sunrise, cloud inversion or just the stunning views
There’s a serious side beyond the crowds too; Mountain Rescue England and Wales told ITV News last year that often people arrive woefully under prepared for their excursions.
The organisation said at least 70 per cent of call outs to the rescue service were ‘preventable’, a figure that has increased over the last five years because of tourists encouraged by trips they’ve seen across social media.
Perhaps more worrying is that content creators will often do anything to capture the perfect ‘content’, even if that means dangling precariously from a cliff edge.
The service’s CEO, Mike Park explained: ‘In places like the Lake District the weather can change in an instant, it can suddenly go dark or people can find themselves stuck.’
Here, MailOnline looks at some of the destinations where residents might wish TikTokers and Instagrammers had never been invented…
HITCHIN LAVENDER FARM, HERTFORDSHIRE
TIKTOK POSTS: 1.5M
TikTok users Elena Dinca filmed herself lying down in the field in Hitchin
TikTok is full of clips of people running through lavender fields, Pooja Bera is pictured in Hitchin
A carpet of photogenic purple between June and September, the UK’s lavender farms have seen influencers flock like bees in recent years.
However, in 2024, one farm said the Tiktok tourist masses were in danger of ‘killing’ the plants they’d come to see.
Hitchin Lavender in Hertfordshire shared a video to Facebook showing how plants have been destroyed by visitors who sat or laid down in the fields.
In the emotional post, the farm said that plants that take ’10 years to grow’ are being destroyed in ’10 seconds’ by people hoping to get the perfect selfie on the farm.
‘Please don’t kill our lavender! Didn’t enjoy making this video but important to share.
‘Lavenders take years to mature. In 10 seconds hundreds of our bushes (the majority of which are between 10 and 25 years old) are being killed by some visitors wanting to sit on them..?
They continued: ‘Our lavenders are habitat to bees, butterflies, moths, skylarks, spiders, mice, hares, game birds and a huge array of small bugs. Many more animals feed off these creatures such as swallows, red kites, buzzards, foxes etc.
‘So please refrain from destroying their home and for for ruining the views for your fellow visitors to enjoy,’ they wrote.
‘BRITAIN’S PRETTIEST VILLAGE’: CASTLE COMBE,THE COTSWOLDS
TIKTOK POSTS: 10,000
The hashtags #CastleCombe and #CastleCombeEngland are among the most searched for when it comes to English tourist beauty spots.
Thanks to its starring role in films such as Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, Dr Doolittle and The Wolfman, this small Wiltshire village with bags of chocolate-box charm, thanks to its medieval high street of pretty cottages, is a tourism honeypot year-round.
TikToker @jedi_explores showed the reality for those descending on ‘Britain’s prettiest village’ – Castle Combe in The Cotswolds, saying it was almost impossible to get a photo of the village’s picturesque bridge because there’s always people on it
Locals in Castle Combe, dubbed ‘one of the most beautiful locations in the UK’, have claimed tourists are ruining the picturesque village in the Cotswolds (Tourists pictured in 2023)
The medieval architecture and bucolic surrounds have made the Wiltshire village highly Instagrammable
Yet, for those who don’t waltz in and out to create content, the crowds have become near unbearable. In 2023, furious residents claimed their privacy was being ‘invaded by drones’ as TikTokers tried to capture the perfect view of the village, while also saying their local community was also being ruined by the rise of Airbnbs.
One resident said: ‘In the hotter months people pitch up like it is the beach which can be a bit annoying.
‘There are coaches that come and do guided tours of the Cotswolds so we will have those pitch up a few times a day.’
NOTTING HILL’S RAINBOW STREET, LONDON
TIKTOK POSTS: 67,800
Welcome to Rainbow Road! Portobello Road (pictured) is one of several colourful streets that Instagrammers and TikTokers can’t get enough of in West London’s Notting Hill
Hugh’s to blame? The area of London has been romanticised since the release of the Notting Hill movie, starring Hugh Grant (pictured in the film) and Julia Roberts
In London’s glitzy Notting Hill, colourful parades of houses have been on the TikTok trail since a certain film with the same name was released in 1999.
While Richard Curtis and Roger Michell’s film, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, predated the rise of social media, Gen Z-ers have still become hooked on posing up a storm in the West London district.
The Notting Hill Bookshop where Grant’s bookshop keeper worked is located on 13 Blenheim Crescent, while the souvenir store for the movie – The Travel Book Shop – is on 142 Portobello Road.
Those who reside on the postcode’s most colourful streets find themselves both amused and aggrieved by the antics of those who arrive for selfie sessions.
One man called Bart told MailOnline last year that every week hundreds of people come down his street to snap the perfect content for Instagram or TikTok.
His street, the name of which he kept private, is often listed in the top 10 ‘most Instagrammable’ streets in Notting Hill and is lined with colourful houses.
Bart’s videos show the influencers flitting through the neighbourhood – lying on other people’s doorsteps, setting off smoke bombs and dancing in the road.
PEN Y FAN: WALES’ WATERFALL COUNTRY
TIKTOK POSTS: 5.9M
TikToker @BenHorwoodTravel shared his hopes of what a trip up South Wales peak Pen Y Fan would bring
And then the reality, with dozens of people making the same trek on a particularly icy day
Mountain high: But the four million tourists who descend annually on the Brecon Beacons in South Wales are harming the local environment with fuel emissions
On a bad day, the queues for tourists wanting a photo of the summit at Pen Y Fan, the highest peak in South Wales, stretch back half-an-hour, with the beauty spot experiencing queues of people waiting in line to get their Brecon Beacons snapshot.
How do they – thought to be around four million a year – get to the remote spot? Car and then foot…meaning the A470 is often rammed on high days and holidays.
Popular hashtags on social media include #penyfansunrise, #penyfanroutes, with hikers, sometimes inexperienced, sharing their trips to the top.
Last summer, tourists were warned by the national park that Pen y Fan sits in to descend outside of peak times – and to use buses if possible to lessen the impact of harmful emission on the countryside.
The park’s sustainable development officer, Helen Roderick, told the BBC: ‘It’s about balance, we want people to come and visit the national park but to think about when they come. And can they travel by bus? And can they make sure they benefit the local economy by using our shops, pubs and local restaurants?’
TRASHING DURDLE DOOR, DORSET
TIKTOK POSTS: 22,700
Dorset’s Jurassic Coast – particularly the arch at Durdle Door – has become hugely popular with TikTokers, but disgarded rubbish left by tourists has irked those who live in the region
In 2020, a volunteer posted a photo on Instagram, which showed the handle of an influencer scrawled across the cliff. She wrote: ‘Don’t mind me, just cleaning graffiti off a UNESCO world heritage site!’
And last year, Wildlife campaigners made a plea to leave resting seals alone after tourists were spotted surrounding one on the beach at Durdle Door
Crowds seen on the pathway to the beach at Durdle Door, one of the most popular beaches in Dorset
Dorset’s Jurassic Coast showstopper, a scenic arch that juts out from the English Channel, has long been a tourist hotspot…but TikTokers and Instagrammers have swelled visitor figures to beyond capacity in peak season – and haven’t always been respectful.
In 2020, an Instagram influencer apologised after scrawling her account handle on the chalk cliffs at a Durdle Door.
Alexandra Milam had travelled from London to the UNESCO World Heritage site, where she was snapped during a photo shoot in front of the 180-million-year-old rocks.
Volunteers were left to clean up, something they’ve become very used to at the popular beach as tourists leave behind their rubbish at the end of the day.
Wildlife too has been impacted by the madding crowds; in May last year Wildlife campaigners urged beachgoers to allow local seals to rest peacefully after crowds were seen surrounding one of the mammals.
The warning came after Weymouth Powerboat Training shared images showing a ‘ridiculous’ number of people crowded around a lonesome seal at Durdle Door in Dorset.
CROWDED CORNWALL
TIKTOK POSTS: 405,100
One influencer account even labelled Cornwall as the Bali of the UK in a recent post
Cornwall is one of the staycation capitals of the UK with tourists flocking to its quaint seaside towns and packing out its beautiful beaches.
But while locals appreciate the custom of holidaymakers – not everyone is welcome.
Influencers have been slammed by Cornish residents after a slew of posts featuring local beauty spots on Instagram and TiKTok.
They say the stampeding crowds of TikTokkers looking for the perfect selfie are ruining sites loved by communities and turning them into ‘no-go areas’.
One local also highlighted the damage done to spots of natural beauty, such as Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor, in neighbouring Devon, because of increased numbers of people flocking to the area.
TikTok you don’t stop: Cornwall’s beautiful beaches have proved a huge draw for influencers
The seaside idyll of Polzeath has seen wars break out between tourists and locals over parking
Last spring, the pretty beach village was subjected to a parking cone battle as residents tried to exert authority over tourists who visit and park irresponsibly
Speaking to CornwallLive, they fumed: ‘Online influencers and vapid ‘bucket listers’ have caused some of our most special, sensitive and unspoilt places to become no-go areas.
‘People don’t seem to get it that with huge audiences reachable online, such recommendations can quickly lead to areas becoming overwhelmed with unimaginative bandwagon-jumping types who have it ‘on their list’.
‘Take Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor, now requesting that people don’t walk in it due to the incredible damage done by hordes in the past several years who have seen online influencers describe it as some kind of real life Fangorn Forest.
‘Locals who sensitively and quietly respected that place for years have had it taken from them due to the insensitivities of others’.
Elsewhere, locals have set up a Facebook group called ‘Utterly Preposterous Parking in Cornwall’ and people residing in St Ives have said the popular seaside town now feels like a ‘theme park’ after being swamped by tourists and Airbnb rentals.
Last year, three people were seen holding up a crude banner on a bridge over the A30 at Bodmin in Cornwall, telling drivers: ‘Turn around and f*** off.’
At the same time, tourists arriving in Dawlish in neighbouring Devon were greeted by a man dressed as the Grim Reaper with a sign saying: ‘Welcome holidaymakers.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .