The problem is that it's now impossible to filter for local traders, and there is no way to search the "terms of trade" sections. I gave up trying to randomly search through offers since the chances of finding cash traders who were also local and listed contact info was incredibly low.
And when it comes to purely online trades, the incentive to use their escrow service is really high due to fraud. For these reasons, I think that trading outside the escrow system is rare.
I really miss the old LocalBitcoins. It used to work just like Craigslist, with lots of people using it for local listings while dealing P2P outside of escrow. There's nothing "local" about it anymore. I've since moved on to LocalCryptos. It's nowhere near as active as the old LBC, but I managed to make one cash trade recently -- for a good price too.
I guess I'm not seeing the problems where you are -- it's arguably easier to find local traders in one of my locations now. Many more online traders (and our online payments are 24/7) than even a year ago and even more than during the 2017 boom. I WILL say that since KYC though, we've had many, many more foreigners on LBC (using local bank accounts).
But you're right in terms of visibility. In my other EU location, the same locals (cash) are still around but they don't appear on searches anymore. I think if you get in now as a new person, you simply can't find local traders unless you join local forums too (in local languages).