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One of the drivers of tourist congestion is the point-to-point nature of air-travel. In the past, travel used to be something for the elite, not only because it
by tompccs 7y ago
One of the drivers of tourist congestion is the point-to-point nature of air-travel. In the past, travel used to be something for the elite, not only because it was expensive, but because it would take months of travel to actually reach many of the places. Your travel time would be spread over many intermediate places, all of which are now flown over by planes.
Whilst the volume of tourists is a problem, the behaviour of booking a week (or less!) off work to fly halfway across the world and back is of course going to concentrate tourists around "hot" destinations.
I predict that long, slow, possibly "eco" trips will become fashionable as a new way to signal wealth (much in the way that travel to far-flung corners of the Earth used to).
- mc32 7y ago>”I predict that long, slow, possibly "eco" trips will become fashionable as a new way to signal wealth” Perhaps but that’s a minority of the tourist pop., so the problem will remain and only slightly diminished.
- tompccs 7y agoOh yes, this problem isn't going away anytime soon. But fashions and tastes may gradually change. Remember that package holidays, cruises, leisure resorts and high-rise beachfront hotels all were fashionable at some point, but are now seen as tacky.
- agumonkey 7y agomaybe also a greener way to travel
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- buboard 7y agohmm. it seems cruise / boat travel is even worse than planes. That only leaves trains, in combination with car and ... horses? There is already a campaign against air travel e.g. for conferences, and it will probably become a trend in the next few years. I wonder what is going to fill in the gap that air travel left for aspiring tourists. There is also the possibility that electric planes will become a thing There is also the possibility that people will spend half a year working in an exotic place to avoid travelling too much
- lm28469 7y ago> boat travel is even worse than planes. Not all of them, can't do much more eco friendly than sailboats. Besides walking or cycling, but that won't take you across oceans/seas.
- buboard 7y ago> won't take you across oceans/seas yeah bummer. what about balloons?
- icebraining 7y agolm28469 is saying that sailboats do take you across seas/oceans. There are a few cruising sailboats; though they currently use wind only for extra power, I could see them selling "eco" trips where engines are only used for emergencies.
- SketchySeaBeast 7y agoI sadly don't have 80 vacation days.
- notJim 7y agoInteresting, this actually points increasing vacation days as a small part of a reasonable climate policy. If we need to switch to slower transportation methods, it's only fair that we should get more vacation days. If you have an extra couple of days, even in the US a plane trip can become a rail trip.
- thatfrenchguy 7y ago> the behaviour of booking a week (or less!) off work to fly halfway across the world It’s really an American thing though, you’d never see someone from a Western European country do this.
- buboard 7y agohow so? they do that every summer
- majewsky 7y agoOne week (or maybe 10 days) in Thailand or in Egypt is a perfectly regular trip for a German vacationer.
- dagw 7y agoHuh? All the Scandinavians flying to Thailand every winter disagree with you.
- icebraining 7y agoMaybe the parent poster meant the "week or less"? I'm guessing Scandinavians take longer trips on average.
- dagw 7y agoI have no idea what the average trip is, but going to Thailand for a week is hardly uncommon.
- Sargos 7y agoAre you claiming that Europeans don't take 1 week vacations? Do you have any data to back up that almost absurd claim?
- mattlutze 7y agohttps://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Tourism_statistics_-_characteristics_of_tourism_trips https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php... Apparently, in 2017, European Council researchers found 26.7 % of trips made by EU-28 country residents were trips outside of their home country, and of those, the average trip lasted 8.4 nights. So, for Europeans traveling farther than domestically, trips averaged longer than a week. For domestic trips (73.3% of all trips), average duration was 3.9 nights.
- lawlessone 7y ago>I predict that long, slow, possibly "eco" trips will become fashionable as a new way to signal wealth (much in the way that travel to far-flung corners of the Earth used to). This is already kind of a thing. See gap years, find yourself trips, etc.
- souterrain 7y ago> This is already kind of a thing. See gap years, find yourself trips, etc. Add digital nomadism, at least, in many of its forms.
- jointpdf 7y agoThru-hiking is also as popular as ever.
- hi5eyes 7y ago>I predict that long, slow, possibly "eco" trips will become fashionable as a new way to signal wealth (much in the way that travel to far-flung corners of the Earth used to). the way to signal wealth now is taking ur yacht to obscure places and not telling people where these places are located to combat congestion.
- bitxbitxbitcoin 7y agoSo it's already happening kind of! I think what the OC was talking about would be such yachts, but solar powered, or cross continent trips in self driving electric cars.
- nemo 7y agoI've done some long, slow, "eco" trips (on shoestring budgets and air mile points). It's not popular with rich people yet. Mostly it's retirees out birding. Rich people are much more likely to be clubbing internationally or handing out on yachts.
- icebraining 7y agoHow do you use air mile points for those trips?
- Scoundreller 7y agoWait until you see what happens when Americans get 4-6 weeks of holiday per year like the rest of the world
- overcast 7y agoAbsolutely nothing. They'll either not use it like now, or not be able to afford, like now.
- adventured 7y ago> or not be able to afford, like now. The top 250 million adult Americans are richer than the top 250 million adults in Europe, Asia, Latin America, or Africa. So what are you talking about? The median American is far richer - with a far higher income and disposable income - than the median in Europe, Asia, Latin America or Africa. It's not remotely close in fact. The median in Europe for example, pegs you down toward an income of just $12,000 and a net worth of only a few thousand dollars. The US is a country of 330 million people where the median person is wealthier than Germany or Sweden. The US is by a considerable margin the wealthiest per capita large population in world history.
- overcast 7y ago40% of american families can't even afford a $400 emergency. Most people live paycheck to paycheck, regardless of their income. Retirement funds are a HUGE problem here because 25% have ZERO saved. Zero. Not to mention the 1.5 trillion in education debt. https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/22/pf/emergency-expenses-household-finances/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/22/pf/emergency-expenses-house...
- Reedx 7y agoOften (not always!) this is due to lifestyle inflation, retail therapy and poor money management. A lot more people have the means to be saving for $400 emergencies but instead buy some plastic crap that gets used once, eat out too often, get the latest iPhone every year or buy a car or house beyond their means. And I've been guilty of this as well. Just look at garages. They are often so packed full of junk there is no room to park a car (and then end up filling driveways and the street bumper to bumper). Once you start paying attention to this you notice it a lot.
- datenhorst 7y ago> I predict that long, slow, possibly "eco" trips Anecdata but I can see this already happening in my circle of Friends in a big German city. Friends telling of weekend trips by plane are increasingly met by snarkiness, and I personally dream of doing the Interrail trip I never did in my teens!
- mzkply 7y agoThat might work in Europe, where there are more options than planes. In Canada, and obviously the US, there's no option.
- Scoundreller 7y agoAlso, good luck getting a round-trip flight in Canada for less than $300 (unless it’s driving distance), let alone 19 EUR.
- nullwasamistake 7y ago> I predict that long, slow, possibly "eco" trips will become fashionable as a new way to signal wealth (much in the way that travel to far-flung corners of the Earth used to). This is very much still a thing. Personal hunting trips in Africa, sailing through the artic, flying your private plane to islands regular jets can't reach, cruising your yacht across the Atlantic. The best way is to buy your own island. That way nobody else can go there, the ultimate exclusive travel destination
- detritus 7y agoI've been thinking for a while now that ‘long, slow, possibly "eco" trips’ would be perfect for airships doing slow routes around continents, landing occasionally for supplies and for tourists to stretch their legs.
- dougmwne 7y agoMy experience is that there's a small handful of tourism hotspots, usually only a few blocks in diameter (because people don't like to walk too far). The space between these ultra famous spots are essentially empty of tourists. If you go just barely off the Instagram path it'll be just you and the locals. If you're having a bad time on your vacations, maybe you're just going to the wrong places? I stayed in Bletchley Park this weekend to see the both the code breaking museum and the computer history museum. It was amazing. There was hardly anyone else in the computer history museum while I visited. I was able to talk with the guys who restore the computer equipment and spent some time listening to the hams in the national radio centre talk about the hobby. The few other people seeing the museums were deeply into it, trying out the codebreaking challenges or asking for nuances on how they were able to break Enigma. I felt like I was with kindred spirits and I had a helluva time.
- heymijo 7y agoI don't know how well this generalizes, but I've seen this as well. Venice even during the day when loaded with tourists is a maze of places unencumbered by tourists. I had loads of fun wandering around there, getting lost, discovering random small plazas, etc. Is Barcelona like this at all or has the whole city been inundated with tourists?
- dougmwne 7y agoOh my there's so much cool stuff to see in Barcelona that no one sees. For example, we saw a cool looking church at the top of one of the mountains that serve as a backdrop for the city and started going towards it. Found ourselves on a funicular climbing above the city for the price of a transit ticket. There's an awesome village at the top with sweeping views of the city in every direction. We go higher and find hiking trails winding up to the peak of Tibidabo. We keep seeing views of that white church floating over us like something out of LOTR. Once we get near the peak we find an... amusement park!? And then just a bit further up finally the church, which is best from a distance, but had really great 360 views of everything else. All stoke, 0 tourists.
- desas 7y ago
- Scoundreller 7y ago> I predict that long, slow, possibly "eco" trips will become fashionable as a new way to signal wealth I try to sell to my spouse, family and friends that this is what we’re doing when I buy the 29” pitch seat flight tickets, but they’re not buying it.