I've lived in this village my whole life, and a lot has changed here in the last ten years — though not only because of the tourists. If you want a simple answer about what I think of them, I can't really give you one.
On one hand, it's a good thing. Mostly older visitors come here, for the peace and the nature, and in recent years quite a few seniors from the west have bought or built a second home here in the east — some even move here permanently once they retire.
I have a card club with a few friends. Since last year, there's someone in it who isn't from here — I'd never have imagined that. It's really nice, being together like that.
You see people enjoying life around you, and that rubs off. I do much more now than I used to, with all the tourists coming through — the local tourist office organises a lot for seniors, and we benefit from that too. The nursing home even expanded last year, because so many older people who aren't originally from here still choose to spend their final years in this area.
What they should be careful about is letting it all become too much. There should be a rule, like I believe they have on Texel, limiting how much land outsiders can simply buy up to build on. And some visitors could show more respect — people wander into our church, even sit in on services, which isn't bad in itself, but they shouldn't sit in the front rows; those seats belong to people who've had them for years, and that should be respected.
What would really help is better public transport. So many older people live here — the young keep moving away from the countryside — and increasingly, so do newcomers from the west; there's real demand for it. We used to have a dial-a-bus, you could call ahead for a certain time on a fixed route, so it didn't need to run every hour. That made a real difference. It's been discontinued now — not profitable enough, I imagine. A door-to-door "mobi-taxi," cheaper than a regular one, would be a good idea too. Honestly, that might be tourism's best contribution to what I actually need.
Not against the visitors — just waiting for the bus that used to come when you called.