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Many people think the equivalent of the "consumerism" promoted by older generations is the "experiences consumerism" (travelling) of the younger ones. I would s

Many people think the equivalent of the "consumerism" promoted by older generations is the "experiences consumerism" (travelling) of the younger ones. I would say with the one huge difference that travelling allows you to see things in action that you either never thought possible, or feasible. That maybe you always disconsidered or perhaps never even crossed your mind. And it allows you to make better choices when you come back home. For example seeing so many successful public transport systems in other parts of the world could not only make you reconsider you opinion on this in general but even come up with an idea that you can actually get behind for your home city.

closeparen 8y ago
Public transportation between hotels and tourist destinations is usually pretty good, even when a city’s transit system is a complete mess. Spending big on prestige transit projects just for tourists is such a common pathology, it’s become cliche. A tourism experience tells you nothing about what public transit is like for people who live in middle class neighborhoods and work in normal offices.
- dv_dt 8y ago
  I think it tells you a little, as it's fairly apparent the split between tourists and locals. Since I often ended up in places off-season, for me it was mostly me and locals. But, I could certainly understand if some times of year the traffic being much larger and more tourists.
- close04 8y ago
  A "tourism experience" can be whatever you want it to be. If it's a cliche maybe you're doing it wrong. As a tourist I always enjoy getting the "local" experience, I take the regular buses or the subway, I visit the "regular" parts of the city, sometimes I take the bus and ride it to the end of the line and back. I take long walks through residential neighborhoods that are never on any tourist map to see how those people live and organize things. I walk on side streets to see what's behind the curtains of the touristic city. I go off the beaten path because that's where I find the most interesting things. The one thing I try to avoid is testing the rush hour traffic as a driver. This doesn't mean I don't pay attention to see what that city/country has done about it and how they're tackling it. Many people just hop on the tourist bus, go straight from the hotel to visit the handful of famous attractions and call it a vacation. Good for them I guess, although I find that just marginally better than Google Street View. Any experience can be a let down or a cliche if that's what you planned and executed. You get to experience more or less exactly what you bargained for.

closeparen 8y ago

Public transportation between hotels and tourist destinations is usually pretty good, even when a city’s transit system is a complete mess. Spending big on prestige transit projects just for tourists is such a common pathology, it’s become cliche. A tourism experience tells you nothing about what public transit is like for people who live in middle class neighborhoods and work in normal offices.

dv_dt 8y ago
I think it tells you a little, as it's fairly apparent the split between tourists and locals. Since I often ended up in places off-season, for me it was mostly me and locals. But, I could certainly understand if some times of year the traffic being much larger and more tourists.
close04 8y ago
A "tourism experience" can be whatever you want it to be. If it's a cliche maybe you're doing it wrong. As a tourist I always enjoy getting the "local" experience, I take the regular buses or the subway, I visit the "regular" parts of the city, sometimes I take the bus and ride it to the end of the line and back. I take long walks through residential neighborhoods that are never on any tourist map to see how those people live and organize things. I walk on side streets to see what's behind the curtains of the touristic city. I go off the beaten path because that's where I find the most interesting things. The one thing I try to avoid is testing the rush hour traffic as a driver. This doesn't mean I don't pay attention to see what that city/country has done about it and how they're tackling it. Many people just hop on the tourist bus, go straight from the hotel to visit the handful of famous attractions and call it a vacation. Good for them I guess, although I find that just marginally better than Google Street View. Any experience can be a let down or a cliche if that's what you planned and executed. You get to experience more or less exactly what you bargained for.