Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 2...

Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 20 to 29.

Residents in destinations ranging from Barcelona to Kyoto now express open animosity toward the annual summer influx. The saturation of historic districts with visitors has rendered daily logistics impractical for the permanent population. Public transport systems operate beyond capacity, while narrow streets become impassable bottlenecks due to the sheer density of human traffic. The dominant mood in these locations has mutated from hospitality into confrontation. [I] Local citizens organize protests and demand stringent limits, viewing the unending arrival of cruise ships and tour groups not as an economic boon, but as a direct threat to their daily livability.

A forced reconfiguration of the urban landscape is underway. Essential services like hardware stores and medical clinics are vanishing, replaced systematically by souvenir vendors and high-margin cafes. The functional utility of the neighborhood for its long-term inhabitants dissipates. Simultaneously, the conversion of residential apartments into short-term holiday rentals removes vast quantities of housing stock from the market. [II] Rents subsequently rise to prohibitive levels. Working-class families are compelled to migrate to the periphery, leaving the center populated largely by transients. The city core ceases to function as a community and becomes a zone dedicated exclusively to commerce.

Modern travel behavior frequently aggravates this friction. Visitors often engage with the destination in a perfunctory manner, prioritizing the acquisition of specific photographs over genuine cultural immersion. Such conduct results in extreme congestion at photogenic chokepoints while adjacent streets remain empty. [III] The interaction with the local populace is minimal and transactional. Residents report feeling treated as unpaid background actors in a visitor’s social media content. The civic reciprocity required to maintain a functioning urban environment is frequently absent, leading to persistent issues with noise, waste, and disorderly conduct.

Municipal authorities are responding with exclusionary administrative measures. Cities like Venice have implemented entry fees, effectively monetizing access to public spaces. Other destinations are erecting physical barriers or rigidly restricting access to streets. Such policies explicitly prioritize high-spending travelers while deterring budget tourists. [IV] The risk lies in altering the status of historic cities from living communities into enclosed, paid venues accessible only to the affluent. A fundamental query faces these municipalities: can they remain functioning cities for their citizens, or are they destined to serve merely as scenic backdrops for global consumption?

(Adapted from Travel News)

Question 20: According to paragraph 1, the transition of local sentiment toward the seasonal tourist surge from acceptance to active resistance is rooted in ______.

A. the organized demands for strict limitations on the arrival of cruise ships
B. the erosion of residential livability caused by the overwhelming volume of outsiders
C. an open display of hostility that replaces the former culture of hospitality
D. the restrictions preventing local residents from accessing public transport systems