Tourist Or Traveler
Tourist Or Traveler
Less than forty years ago tourism was encouraged as an unquestionable good. With the arrival of package holidays and charter flights tourism could at last be enjoyed by the masses. Yet one day it seems feasible that there will be no more tourists. There will be ‘adventurers’ ‘fieldwork assistants’ ‘volunteers’ and of course ‘travellers’. But the term ‘tourist’ will be extinct. There might be those who quietly slip away to foreign lands for nothing other than pure pleasure but it will be a secretive and frowned upon activity. No one will want to own up to being one of those. In fact there are already a few countries prohibiting tourists from entering certain areas where the adverse effects of tourism have already struck. Tourists have been charged with bringing nothing with them but their money and wreaking havoc with the local environment.
Tourism is being attacked by more subtle methods by being rebranded in the hope we won’t recognise it as the unattractive entity as it once was. The word ‘tourist’ is being removed from anything that was once called a holiday in the pamphlet that was once called a holiday brochure. Adventures fieldwork assistants and volunteers don’t go on holidays. ‘Untourists’ go on things called ‘cultural experiences’ ‘expeditions’ ‘projects’ and most tellingly ‘missions’. The word ‘mission’ is perhaps unintentionally fitting. While this rebranding is supposed to present a progressive approach to travel it is firmly rooted in the viewpoint of the Victorian era. The modern day untourist insists that the main motive behind their adventure is to help others. Whereas the mass tourist and the area they visit are condemned as antiethical and at loggerheads the ethos of the untourist and the needs of the area they wander into are presumed to be in tune with.
To conclude with we’re interested in making ourselves feel good that’s why we’ve succumbed to the rebranding of our enjoyment and refuse to take up a term we believe to be tainted. How many times have you owned up to being a tourist?
About the writer: Monique Barb also writes for FamousWhy Famous Regions
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