3 ms·

It is time to end extractive tourism

6 points by cglong 6y ago

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
hilbert42 6y ago
I've thought this way for some years now but I've always thought I was the only one. Travel is so ingrained in the psyche of people I know that I thought even mentioning it would have me marked as a killjoy. I would think that countries that rely on tourism or ones that have switched from manufacturing to a service economy would strongly object and vigorously oppose the trend (that's if there is one). Places such as Australia, Hawaii, and Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Italy and others that heavily depend on tourism would be bitterly opposed to any such move. Is this seriously been thought about elsewhere other than in this article or is the author just kite-flying?
lazylizard 6y ago
what does he propose to do with boracay,phu quoc,pelangi,sentosa,phuket,bali? fishing, farming and forestry? or become the next silicon valley?? manufacture space craft???
mk81 6y ago
Let's destroy hundreds of millions of peoples' livelihoods for their own good?
cafard 6y ago
Amsterdam! Now, there's south and east for you.
EdwinLarkin 6y ago
So I cant visit my family that is 9000km away from me because some psychotic left wing extremist decided that air travel is bad. All travel is essential.We have freedom of movement in most of democracies.
dawg- 6y ago
It's not such a black and white issue. Maybe mass tourism as it currently exists is bad, but not all tourism is necessarily bad. The problem is when the meme of "tourism benefits local communities" is repeated uncritically without nuance. We need to be honest about exactly how the money is flowing into those local communities. A lot of people think that everybody in Mexico, for example, is poor and destitute. So therefore any dollars I spend in the country is automatically helping them. But there are rich people in Mexico (or Vietnam or wherever) who are exploiting working class people just like in any "developed" country. If you go stay at the all-inclusive resort and do all the typical tourist package stuff, you are only benefiting the top 1% of that country. We can support tourism destinations and practices where the presence of foreigners with money is most likely to actually benefit the locals who need the help.

6 points by cglong 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

I've thought this way for some years now but I've always thought I was the only one. Travel is so ingrained in the psyche of people I know that I thought even mentioning it would have me marked as a killjoy. I would think that countries that rely on tourism or ones that have switched from manufacturing to a service economy would strongly object and vigorously oppose the trend (that's if there is one). Places such as Australia, Hawaii, and Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Italy and others that heavily depend on tourism would be bitterly opposed to any such move. Is this seriously been thought about elsewhere other than in this article or is the author just kite-flying?

lazylizard 6y ago

what does he propose to do with boracay,phu quoc,pelangi,sentosa,phuket,bali? fishing, farming and forestry? or become the next silicon valley?? manufacture space craft???

mk81 6y ago

Let's destroy hundreds of millions of peoples' livelihoods for their own good?

cafard 6y ago

Amsterdam! Now, there's south and east for you.

EdwinLarkin 6y ago

So I cant visit my family that is 9000km away from me because some psychotic left wing extremist decided that air travel is bad. All travel is essential.We have freedom of movement in most of democracies.

dawg- 6y ago

It's not such a black and white issue. Maybe mass tourism as it currently exists is bad, but not all tourism is necessarily bad. The problem is when the meme of "tourism benefits local communities" is repeated uncritically without nuance. We need to be honest about exactly how the money is flowing into those local communities. A lot of people think that everybody in Mexico, for example, is poor and destitute. So therefore any dollars I spend in the country is automatically helping them. But there are rich people in Mexico (or Vietnam or wherever) who are exploiting working class people just like in any "developed" country. If you go stay at the all-inclusive resort and do all the typical tourist package stuff, you are only benefiting the top 1% of that country. We can support tourism destinations and practices where the presence of foreigners with money is most likely to actually benefit the locals who need the help.