For those of us who are interested in exploring the larger world, the act of traveling is something we treasure. It’s the kind of feeling that has compelled me to visit, at latest count, some 48 different countries – 50 if you consider Scotland and Wales separate from Great Britain.

My wife, who as I type this in Peru and will be heading soon to Ecuador, has racked up at least a dozen more.

So I’ve been bothered lately by stories that portray travel – tourism, at any rate – as something negative. I’m talking about the news from Barcelona, Spain, in which the city council recently took action to limit what residents see as a tourist explosion.

And calling what is happening there an explosion is no exaggeration. This past July saw some 1.2 million tourists visited the city, which is a 7.5 increase over the previous year. Even though Barcelona acts as host to such events as Formula I Grand Prix and the America’s Cup, what business interests want conflicts with the desires of many city residents.

In response to growing protests, Barcelona is increasing tourist taxes and revoking tourist apartment licenses. And activists want the council to do even more, such as limiting airport capacity and even closing cruise-ship terminals.

The same crush of visitors is true in many other foreign cities. Just last May, my wife Mary Pat and I literally bumped elbows with the crowds that filled the streets of Florence, Italy. As one Guardian writer observed, the problem was all those visitors who were “on a quick in-and-out mission to take selfies in front of a few major sights – Michelangelo’s David, Botticelli’s Primavera, the Piazza della Signoria – to show people at home that they have been to Florence, while essentially trampling the city without contributing anything.”

The controversy isn’t just international. A recent BBC story detailed the efforts of a small Vermont town to limit visitors who want to witness what has become an Instagram sensation.

The town, Pomfret – goes the BBC story – is the site of something called Sleepy Hollow Farm. A few years ago, the 115-acre property became a must-see site during the fall. The result was visitors crowding the road leading to the farm attempting to take “thousands of images of the farm's winding earthen road lined by stately maple trees lit up in autumnal reds and jack-o-lantern oranges leading toward an elegant 1700s Cape Farmhouse.”

Having had trouble limiting access to the farm, the town now closes the road from Sept. 23 to Oct. 15 to anyone but permanent residents.

The problem here is obvious: It’s not just the mass of visitors that spells trouble. It’s the behavior of those visitors who have no regard for local sensibilities.

I recall my first visit to the Italian hill town of Volterra. We were walking past one shop, when a well-dressed quartet of elderly Americans stepped out of the shop and into the bright afternoon sunshine.

“That was a waste of time,” said one of the group, a sunglasses-wearing woman with a wave of her hand. “I can’t believe the prices that these people are putting on this cheap stuff.”

It wasn’t so much what she said that bothered me as it was how loud she said it, especially when “these people” and other locals were clearly within earshot. Being dismissive of any culture is disrespectful, but it’s far worse when you do it so blatantly in public.

Maybe it’s just semantics, but I see a difference between tourism and travel. Travelers take an interest in the countries they visit, while tourists are more like the influencers that the residents of Pomfret dislike – people whose main interest is in merely checking someplace off their bucket list and don’t care what they have to do to accomplish it.

Cruise-ship patrons are an easy target. My wife and I have taken three cruises – one to Alaska, one from Sydney to New Zealand and one around the Baltic Sea – but we try to respect local customs. (Not wearing shorts in Sicilian churches is one no-no, a lesson we learned the hard way.)

The point is, we like to travel and we’re interested in seeing more. Here are a couple of places that I have hopes of one day seeing:

Uluru: Also known as Ayers Rock, the giant reddish sandstone monolith sits near the center of Australia. Sacred to the Aboriginal people of the region, Uluru can be reached through any number of guided tours. You can rent a car and go yourself (not for me), or there’s even an Uluru Hop On Hot Off shuttle bus.

Patagonia: Several years ago, we spent several days in Buenos Aires. We even took a day trip to Colonia, Uruguay, and an overnight to Iguazu Falls. But I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of seeing Argentina’s southern-most region, and then proceeding as far south as possible into the exotically named archipelago Tierra del Fuego (“land of fire”) that Argentina shares with Chile.

Norway: On our Baltic Sea cruise, we started in Amsterdam and stopped in Germany (we rented a car and drove to Berlin), Estonia (Tallinn), Russia (St. Petersburg), Finland (Helsinki), Sweden (Stockholm), Denmark (Copenhagen) and back to Amsterdam. But we missed Norway, making it all that more attractive as a destination – especially since I have friends who’ve taken a Rick Steves tour there and loved it.

But whatever future travel we’ll be doing, one thing is for sure: I’ll try my best to pay attention to local mores and act accordingly.

I wouldn’t want “these people” to think I’m just another ugly American.