Unpacked Podcast S1: Let's Scale Back That Revenge Travel
[Music] hey you're a thoughtful traveler and we're a thoughtful destination in asheville we treasure our natural and wild places here in the stunning blue ridge mountains and we appreciate visitors who share our values of stewardship and sustainability we invite you to explore the cultural legacies shaped by these high mountain peaks be our guest together we can share adventures and preserve the natural beauty of asheville learn more at exploreashfield.com [Music] this is unpacked by afar i'm paige mcclanahan an american travel journalist based in france and today we're talking about revenge well sort of [Music] like most people in the world i spent most of the past two years hunkered down at home and now i'm traveling again a couple of weeks ago i got back from a fascinating trip to israel and palestine which reminded me of just how magical and eye-opening travel can be it seems like so many of us are in the same boat right we're so eager to get back out there which is amazing and something to celebrate but that said you know there's one aspect of our return to travel that i'm really having mixed feelings about revenge travel maybe you've heard of this it's a term that first appeared in 2021 and it's been spreading ever since revenge travel is about people making up for lost time maybe they're rushing to take a vacation just because a destination finally opened up or because they finally feel comfortable traveling overseas again it's the idea that travelers wouldn't take revenge on covid or at least the time we lost to it by jumping on a plane and rushing off to all of those places that we've been dreaming of for so long now i can certainly empathize with that impulse there are just so many places i want to go but there's something about the phrase revenge travel that you know i could do without [Music] here in france i live with my family in a little alpine village that is hugely reliant on tourism we get tons of hikers in the summer skiers in the winter and cheese lovers year round because believe me it is always cheese season in this part of the world living here over the past four years i've seen just how much the presence or the absence of travelers affects people who live in our community in ways that are really good really bad and everything in between so when i think about traveling right now i don't like to think about getting revenge for time lost i want to take time to understand what's at stake in the communities that i'm going to visit especially given that coming out of the pandemic some of these places are more vulnerable than ever and at the risk of sounding naive i really want to do my best to do some good while i'm out in the world so come along with me in this episode as i explore how we can all support the communities we visit and have those fulfilling travel experiences we've all been craving and i promise it's possible to do both we define responsible tourism primarily as ways of traveling which make better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit and the order of those two objectives is quite important because if you're going to make tourism better it's really got to be better for the host and better for the guests that's harold goodwin the ceo of the responsible tourism partnership an organization that helps governments and businesses make sure that travel works for everyone i asked harold what the negative impacts of tourism can be and he described the situation in barcelona a city that became maybe a little too famous for its crowds before the pandemic the main negative impacts there i guess would be crowding in places that the local community wants to use so crowding is one issue the behavior of tourists who are at leisure in a place where other people are working and people at leisure perhaps have a tendency to consume more alcohol than when they're working their impacts on on the sites themselves just in terms of physical damage from trampling and people brushing against things all of which have an impact crowding of public transport and perhaps [Music] the worst example in barcelona in some ways perhaps the worst thing in barcelona was the impact that it had on the ownership of property so that a lot of what had been rented accommodation went to airbnb or was converted to licensed flat rentals all of which squeeze out local communities who they cannot necessarily find somewhere to live oh yes the old airbnb dilemma last summer i traveled to barcelona to write a news story about the city's efforts to regulate airbnb which is a topic that inspires a lot of strong opinions in the city i interviewed the deputy mayor city planners airbnb officials as well as locals who rely on the income they earn as hosts to be able to pay their own rent in doing that reporting i was struck by just how hard the local government was working to respond to their citizens concerns harold says that's one of the key factors in making sure that travel is good for everyone citizens need to speak up governments need to listen he pointed to a great example of that kind of civic engagement in kerala in southern india so this part of india is known for its palm-lined beaches mangrove forests and tea coffee and spice plantations kerala is also home to a vast network of lagoons and barrier islands similar to the bayous of louisiana where visitors can spend the night on a houseboat or go exploring by canoe kerala is so beautiful that it attracts more than a million foreign visitors each year and a whole lot more from within india but for a long time tourism wasn't working for the local communities there were two issues one was the pollution that came from large numbers of tourists going out on boats on the on the backwaters and inevitably perhaps but certainly it wasn't stopped people dropping litter into the uh into the back waters so the polluting effect of litter particularly that was one big issue but the the bigger issue was the fact that the communities were not benefiting economically because although some of them might have got employment in the hotels there was a lot of uh bringing in of labor from outside already skilled labor being brought in to to perform the trace tasks in the hotel but also they weren't purchasing locally for their supplies so they weren't purchasing from local farmers for example they weren't purchasing local crafts for the soft furnishings in the hotels and they weren't providing any opportunity or any way of encouraging the tourists to leave the sort of hotel resort and go out and spend money in the local community in 2008 local leaders decided to take action they designed four projects in four communities each project tested a different way to make tourism better for the people who lived there one of those pilot projects in a village called kamarakurum was a huge success so over the past several years local leaders have expanded the lessons from that village to communities across the region now that's been completely turned red in kerala with a big statewide initiative so that's the example of what governments working with local communities can do and what happened there was that the the state government of kerala worked very closely with the british councils across canada so what was the secret to that village's success harold says there were three key elements first they created cooperatives made up of farmers and artists who would supply resorts and hotels with food furniture and art second they created something called village life experiences the program invited residents to earn an income by teaching visitors to weave with coconut leaves to fish in the traditional manner or to take part in whatever the locals wanted to share and finally the local leaders created restaurants and craft markets where locals could come together to sell their food and their crafts directly to tourists so that was a pretty impressive turnaround but hearing harold describe all of this i wondered what lessons or principles from those experiences can we apply to all of our trips harold says that first we should choose a destination that is ready to welcome travelers it has to have the infrastructure to manage tourism so that means maybe looking for a place that has a tourist board or a place where the natural areas have parking lots and bathrooms and marked trails it means trying not to get too far off the beaten path then we should think about how we're going to get there and the impact that our travel will have on the climate by taking fewer longer trips harold says we can get a lot more bang for our carbon buck but it doesn't end there so now you've arrived at the destination now the question is how do you maximize your benefit to the local economy and i say that basically three things choose to stay in locally owned accommodation where you can choose to purchase things which are being produced locally what's available in the local market is often a very good guide to that and in terms of your behavior don't do anything abroad that you wouldn't want your mother to know about it's a matter really of just trying to make sure that you fit in and that you don't conflict and remember that it's their place not yours that sentiment really rings true for me as a resident of a village that gets hundreds of thousands of travelers every year i know what it's like to feel as though your home is being taken over by visitors on the flip side i'm also really grateful for tourists who come to our area because the money and the energy they bring is exactly what makes life possible and fun in our remote little corner of the alps harold also reminded me how important it is to be respectful about how and when we take photographs asking permission never hurts he also says he likes to read about local politics history or culture before he goes to a new place it's like that old nbc slogan the more you know so yes understanding our impact on a place takes some work but it's not like we have to write a thesis before we go we can simply ask ourselves does the hotel where i'm staying hire people from the local community does its restaurant source its ingredients from the area who is benefiting from that canoe trip or that market tour i'm about to take how do residents feel about airbnb around here even if we just pick one question to explore before we go that can make a big difference [Music] are you inspired to travel in a more responsible way in asheville north carolina we believe in the power of ethical travel we care about the protection of our distinctive natural and cultural treasures in these blue ridge mountains and we appreciate visitors who share our values of stewardship and sustainability we know travel is transformational and we invite you to be inspired by the creative spirit and local flavors of our mountain home be our guest together we can share adventures and preserve the natural beauty of asheville so future generations can enjoy these mountains for years to come learn more at exploreashfield.com [Music] [Music] welcome back to unpacked by afar okay bear with me after a quick stop in barcelona then a trip down to southern india we are now heading to east africa specifically to kenya and we're going to talk about a change in the world of safaris a change that makes sure that the land set aside for wildlife benefits the people who live there too [Music] the biggest opportunities for communities in safari tourism is when the communities own the land that has been put under conservation and where safari happens these spaces are called community conservancies that's judy kefragona of the sustainable travel and tourism agenda a consulting firm based in nairobi kenya judy works in africa and around the globe to create immersive travel experiences that also bring wealth into host communities historically most land in kenya has been owned by the government or by private landowners many of whom are descendants of white british colonials judy says that in recent years more communities in kenya are coming together to set up conservancies that they manage themselves that means that it's the locals who get to decide how and when they can use the land to graze their livestock which is an activity that's critical to so many rural communities in kenya it also means that they can earn money directly from tourism when the community owned the land and and from the land then safari tourism has great impact on the community because they earn a lease fees for their land and they can negotiate a percentage of the bed night fee from the tourism operators judy also says that community conservancies make sure that tourism jobs go to people who are actually from those rural communities instead of being given to kenyans who move to the area from nairobi or other big cities any other safari where protected area is owned and managed by the government even if these areas are in communal lands can only offer the basics of employment to the communities and that employment is shared by all other kenyans who have the same qualifications and therefore there is no affirmative action to prioritize communities so in this particular case where safari happens in areas where land is owned privately or by government the impact and benefits to communities is very low judy says that in kenya today about 11 or 12 percent of the country's land is managed by community conservancies which is a big increase from just 20 years ago she also says that in those community conservancies up to 85 percent of jobs go to people who are local community management also means that local farmers can still access the land for grazing at certain times of the year when the land is owned by the government or by an individual that kind of access isn't guaranteed but paige you might be asking how can i tell who owns the land i'll be visiting in kenya or anywhere it's true that it is not always obvious but a little homework can go a long way if you're going through a tour operator they should be able to answer that question for you or if you're booking directly call or email the managers and ask them about their ownership structure and how they interact with local communities you can also do a quick google search to see if the lodge or the ranch that's hosting you has any history of conflict with its neighbors because i'm afraid there are several examples of that even in kenya of course there are a lot of other things to do in kenya beyond safari tourism there are modern cities to visit mountains to climb and sandy beaches to explore along the coast judy says that safari tourism has long been kenya's signature product and there wasn't much effort put into helping travelers have other experiences including in cities like nairobi or mombasa but that's starting to change a new tourism strategy was launched two days ago for kenya and it is trying to promote chair and heritage apart from the safari it is also a big on adventure and domestic tourism this is an important thing to keep in mind as we venture out into the world what parts of a city or country are heavily marketed to travelers how can we explore less talked about sides of destinations and how does understanding how countries manage tourism help us make smart choices for example kenya's travel industry is a major contributor to the economy and the country wants to bring in even more international travelers in the years ahead judy says that it's important that the people who are promoting travel use the right measures to figure out if the industry is actually helping the people of kenya overall because aiming for growth of the wrong kind of tourism can end up doing a lot more harm than good and we've been seeing this for a long time as an organization it is only sustainable if the metrics show us that the biodiversity has been protected and the well-being in tourism destination has improved because of tourism then we will say that this is truly responsible tourism it protects the environment it respects the culture of the hosts communities it respects the communities and their lifestyles but also it makes a difference in their well-being those are the things that are critical for responsible destinations now before we go let's look back at what we've learned takeaway number one pick one community oriented question to explore before your next trip whether it's asking who profits from a tour you've booked or asking where your hotel restaurant sources its produce take away number two take fewer longer trips takeaway number three treat a new city like your own hometown and don't do anything you wouldn't want your parents to know about [Music] take away number four when you're looking at outdoor experiences consider who owns or who benefits from the land you'll be visiting and who might be excluded from it take away number five consider how a country manages its tourism do they keep in mind the needs of the community and our final takeaway remember we are all in this together and there is no need for perfection so yes we may be traveling to make up for the time we lost to covid but it's so good to remember that we have the chance to do some good at the same time as for revenge i think we can save that for the movies thank you so much for joining me on this episode of unpacked if you would like to learn more about me and my work including my own show the better travel podcast you can sign up for my newsletter by stopping by my website paigemclanahan.com take care and i really hope to see you out there [Music] ready for more on packing visit us online at fr.com and be sure to
follow us on instagram and twitter we are at afar media if you enjoyed today's exploration we hope you'll come back for more great stories subscribing makes this easy you can find us on apple podcasts spotify or your favorite podcast platform and please be sure to rate and review us because it really helps other travelers find the show [Music] this has been unpacked a production of afar media and boom integrated our podcast is produced by azlyn greene adrian glover and robin lai post-production was by john marshall media staff jen grossman and clint rhodes music composition by alan koresha and remember the world is complicated being an ethical traveler doesn't have to be [Music]
2022-07-21 23:38
