I buy in absolutely to the benefits of travel. It has the potential to:
- Increase tolerance of different cultures, attitudes and ways of life
- Broaden, and create more questioning, minds
- Inject trade into local economies
Plus it's a basic human trait. We've always wanted to find out what's over the next hill.
However, industrialised tourism delivers few of these benefits. Many packaged holiday travellers give up their money to large corporations, typically based in the home market, whose main interaction with the local destination economy is to procure services at the lowest possible price. Those travellers then spend their two weeks in an isolated enclave, physically and culturally separate from the local community, possibly consuming resources at a rate that the local environment cannot sustain (remember the BBC programme about the rubbish dump in the Maldives the other week?). I question whether the average visitor to the Dominican Republic, for example, could tell you much about the culture, economy or values of that nation following their visit.
I'm not saying that all tourists consume their tourism in this way. It's just that the Providers who make an effort to engage sustainably with their destinations tend to cater for smaller numbers, and are generally more expensive. This renders such travel unrealisable for most people.
The Eurozone crisis/break-up may crash the system?
Moderator: Peak Moderation
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Lord Beria3
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Tarrel - ever tried backpacking? Loads of young people do it and don't reply on packaged tours and really discover foreign cultures.
Its also pretty cheap. Of course some people will prefer to stay in their comfortable bubble, but that is inevitable and shouldn't stop the general advantages of tourism.
Without tourism where would the great animals of Africa be? Extinct! Tourism to a certain degree props up rare rainforests and species around the world.
Its also pretty cheap. Of course some people will prefer to stay in their comfortable bubble, but that is inevitable and shouldn't stop the general advantages of tourism.
Without tourism where would the great animals of Africa be? Extinct! Tourism to a certain degree props up rare rainforests and species around the world.
Peace always has been and always will be an intermittent flash of light in a dark history of warfare, violence, and destruction
Yes, I've done it, and you're right - it does bring you much closer to the local environment. However, even this is beginning to change, with the rise of "corporate" hostels and the one-size-fits-all Lonely Planet guide.
For many years we were members of an organisation called Servas. It originated in Norway after the war, and was founded on the principle of promoting peace and understanding through the medium of travel. It is apolitical and non-denominational. Basically you sign on as a host, a traveller or both, although you are encouraged to host before you travel. Hosts appear in the directory for their home nation, which would-be travellers gain access to following an interview by a representative in their home country. Hosts offer two nights' bed and board for free in return for the traveller mucking in with the household chores. There is an expectation that hosts and travellers will engage, and learn about each other. Long, post-dinner discussions that stretch into the small hours are characteristic of Servas encounters!
The interesting thing about Servas was that it operated on the basis of mutual vulnerability and trust. The host was opening their home to a stranger, and the traveller was throwing themselves on the hospitality of a stranger in a strange country. In our 20-odd years with Servas, we never encountered a problem. We travelled once - to California, but mostly did hosting.
We opted out as the boys moved into their late teens and we were both working flat out. Writing this post has prompted me to check if they're still going.
Servas - now THAT was travel!
For many years we were members of an organisation called Servas. It originated in Norway after the war, and was founded on the principle of promoting peace and understanding through the medium of travel. It is apolitical and non-denominational. Basically you sign on as a host, a traveller or both, although you are encouraged to host before you travel. Hosts appear in the directory for their home nation, which would-be travellers gain access to following an interview by a representative in their home country. Hosts offer two nights' bed and board for free in return for the traveller mucking in with the household chores. There is an expectation that hosts and travellers will engage, and learn about each other. Long, post-dinner discussions that stretch into the small hours are characteristic of Servas encounters!
The interesting thing about Servas was that it operated on the basis of mutual vulnerability and trust. The host was opening their home to a stranger, and the traveller was throwing themselves on the hospitality of a stranger in a strange country. In our 20-odd years with Servas, we never encountered a problem. We travelled once - to California, but mostly did hosting.
We opted out as the boys moved into their late teens and we were both working flat out. Writing this post has prompted me to check if they're still going.
Servas - now THAT was travel!
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RenewableCandy
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the_lyniezian
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How much of this "mass tourism" is people doing nothing more than lounging around on the beach on the Costa del Whatever trying to get a better tan than they could hope for lounging around on the beach at Blackpool?Lord Beria3 wrote:One of the best things about the era of cheap oil is for millions of people to discover different countries and cultures. It has done wonders.
One of the things I will miss most once we transition into Scarcity Industrialism is the end of mass tourism.
A lot of people didn't, and probably still don't, really want to discover different countries and cultures.
That sort of tourism I wouldn't miss. If you're actually making an effort, that's another matter.
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emordnilap
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I am! I was told off by a stoat the other morning - she wasn't happy at me being near her home and came out to tell me so. Very unusual behaviour, apparently - she possibly had young nesting in the tumbledown wall where she lived.Tarrel wrote:We are experiencing "expectation inflation", and even "sensory inflation".
But what a wonderful experience it was for me, having never encountered a stoat 'up close and personal'; they are truly beautiful creatures. It made my bank holiday weekend and I would rather have seen her than any of the delights of surplus flab in Menorca.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
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emordnilap
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Interesting comments from George Soros but no cigar for him.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
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UndercoverElephant
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It isn't that unusual to see a stoat acting fearlessly towards humans. If they know they can run away faster than you can catch them then it is quite normal for them to stand up on their hind legs and stare you straight in the face as if to say "Yeah? You want to make something of it?" Most animals don't want to be seen. Stoats couldn't give a shit.emordnilap wrote:I am! I was told off by a stoat the other morning - she wasn't happy at me being near her home and came out to tell me so. Very unusual behaviour, apparently - she possibly had young nesting in the tumbledown wall where she lived.Tarrel wrote:We are experiencing "expectation inflation", and even "sensory inflation".
But what a wonderful experience it was for me, having never encountered a stoat 'up close and personal'; they are truly beautiful creatures. It made my bank holiday weekend and I would rather have seen her than any of the delights of surplus flab in Menorca.
Just in case anyone has not already seen it, here is the maddest stoat on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuZg9AN-QQc
It may also have not been a stoat at all. They are devilishly hard to tell apart from weasels.
Last edited by UndercoverElephant on 28 Jul 2012, 01:39, edited 1 time in total.
"We fail to mandate economic sanity because our brains are addled by....compassion." (Garrett Hardin)
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biffvernon
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emordnilap
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Aurora
The Guardian - 08/06/12
Obama urges Europe to act swiftly to prevent economic collapse
Article continues ...
That's a good 'un. The American Administration telling Europeans how to run the Eurozone. 
Just to remind everyone, as of May 2012, debt held by the American public was $11 trillion, while the intra-governmental debt was $4.76 trillion, to give a combined total public debt outstanding of $15.77 trillion, roughly 102% of current dollar GDP.
(Statistics taken from Wikipedia)
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SleeperService
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biffvernon
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