Posted: 3/22/2021 | March 22nd, 2021

Overtourism. Influencers flouting local policies for the best ‘gram. Ignoring the locals living in the destinations we check out as we book Airbnbs, crowd streets, behave badly, and generate waste that will stay in our destination long after we leave.

There was a lot of bad travel behavior pre-COVID.

Sure, there have always been tourists behaving badly ever considering that the first vacationer existed.

But, in an age where travel has become so easy and ubiquitous for so lots of for the first time, those problems were amplified a thousandfold. Destinations didn’t have the needed infrastructure to manage the flood of tourists low-cost travel brought.

From flouting policies and refusing to wear a mask to hosting parties, coughing on others, and just normally being selfish, the pandemic has shown us that the world is filled with a lot more assholes than we thought.

But, despite all of that, when it pertains to the future of travel, I think the pandemic is going to make it better.

As we yearn to reconnect with friends, family, and the world at large, I think that what we’ve gone through has also given lots of of us a chance to reflect on all the things we took for granted: the outdoors, community, neighborhood restaurants, and the arts.

The sentiment I’m picking up on is that, when we can travel again, we will do so better and a lot more thoughtfully. The huge majority of people I speak to and surveys I read show that people want to reconnect with local cultures, explore off-the-beaten-path destinations, and avoid mass tourism. and they want to make sure their environmental impact is reduced.

The new mantra is: less is a lot more and smaller is better.

That’s not to say that unexpectedly the world of “tourists” will be gone. There will be plenty of partying in Ibiza, Thailand, and Bali when this is all over. (Heck, I mean, look at Tulum ideal now. That place is crazy!) people can’t wait to get back on cruise ships. and I’m sure plenty of influencers will be back to flouting local policies for that best shot.

But I think, as a whole, there will be a lot a lot more people trying to do better.

And that will be in part because the industry will reinvent itself.

We normally think of travel as “us experiencing a place”: we go somewhere, we do things, we leave. We treat places like museums.

There was (and still is) a general belief that travel is a ideal (it is not) and that locals must be delighted with all the visitors (they typically aren’t).

What lots of of us typically forget is that people actually live in that place we’re visiting. They have lives and wants and needs and don’t like the crowded streets either. Whenever you’re thinking, “Ugh, there are so lots of tourists here,” well, all the locals around you are thinking the same thing too…and they have to live with that feeling every day.

But now, with so lots of destinations devoid of tourists, lots of locals (obviously those not working in tourism) are thinking to themselves, “Do we even want tourists back? If they come back, let’s make sure it’s done better.”

The pandemic has given destinations — and the industry as a whole — the opportunity to reset and rethink travel and tourism. instead of trying to fix the problem of “overtourism” while the tourists keep coming — as if they were battling the tide with a broom — they can now rethink tourism one vacationer at a time. everyone is essentially starting from zero.

There are limitless examples of this, from Goa, Sri Lanka, and Prague to Italy, Iceland, and the Caribbean.

Moreover, travel companies are changing how they market to consumers, focusing on locals, going green, and touting their cleanliness policies. Hostels are reinventing themselves as digital nomads’ co-living spaces. tourism boards are concentrating on getting people away from the hubs and spreading the tourism dollars around — or getting people to explore their own home, like in this new Zealand ad.

There is a movement among those in travel to use the pandemic as a chance for positive change. You see that not only among destinations but also big brands, resorts, and travel agent organizations too.

And that’s why I’m hopeful.

Because with consumers, destinations, and companies — the trifecta of the tourism industry — all seeking to change their ways, travel is going to change.

Now is one of those once-in-a-generation opportunities people talk about.

When you start traveling again, think about your impact — both on the local people and the environment. It requires a lot more work, but it’s crucial work. Isso precisa ser feito.

We can’t be as careless as we used to be.

I was already changing how I traveled before the virus struck, especially when it pertained to my environmental and waste impact. I wasn’t the worst traveler out there, but there was absolutely room for improvement. but when a lot moreQuando a viagem se abre, pretendo usar muito mais marcas locais, ficar em hotéis menores, conferir muito mais destinos excitosos, fazer muito mais atividades culturais (especialmente focadas em grupos marginalizados) e ser muito mais consciente da minha pegada ambiental.

Como viajante, você nunca aprenderá sobre um lugar totalmente em alguns dias. Ninguém espera que você o faça. Mas isso não indica que precisamos pensar em viagens como uma rua de mão única. Pense no que você pode retribuir também. Se eu levar um pedaço dos lugares que check -out para casa, há algo de bom que posso sair? Existe algo que eu possa fazer para tornar a interação muito mais simbiótica do que transacional? Afinal, as pessoas que recebem estranhos também querem aprender sobre eles. A viagem é, em sua essência, sobre as pessoas. Foi isso que tornou a economia compartilhada tão popular.

Seja doando dinheiro, voluntariado enquanto estava no exterior, educando -se sobre questões locais ou escolhendo serviços locais em vez de redes multinacionais, pense em maneiras de retribuir quando você pegar a estrada novamente.

Eu vejo muita mudança positiva no futuro e, de minhas conversas com pessoas da indústria e leitores como você, acho que as viagens serão menos extraídas e muito mais sustentáveis ​​no futuro.

Já era um tópico de conversa antes da pandemia e acho que o que passamos acelerará essas atitudes.

Afinal, a necessidade é a mãe da invenção.

Como viajar pelo mundo por US $ 50 por dia

Meu guia de brochura mais vendido do New York Times para viagens mundiais mostrará como dominar a arte da viagem para que você saia do caminho batido, economize dinheiro e tenha uma experiência de viagem mais profunda. É o seu guia de planejamento A a Z que a BBC chamou de “Bíblia para viajantes do orçamento”.

Clique aqui para aprender muito mais e comece a ler hoje!

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Segurança (melhor para todos)

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MedJet (para cobertura de evacuação adicional)

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