{"id":392,"date":"2018-08-23T06:03:08","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T06:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nodeskproject.com\/blog\/?p=392"},"modified":"2018-09-05T12:08:10","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T12:08:10","slug":"the-travelers-task-recreation-and-respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/the-travelers-task-recreation-and-respect\/","title":{"rendered":"The Traveler\u2019s Task: Recreation and Respect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big, sweaty crowds of people. Pushing. Shoving. The sun is beating down. A rude man bumps your shoulder on his way past. You\u2019re starting to feel claustrophobic, but you\u2019re outside! Why are there so many goddamn people? Can they walk faster? Get put of the way? Or just\u00a0\u2026 leave?<\/em><\/p>\n

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I\u2019m not talking about a Travis Scott concert. Nope, this was my thought process on one beautiful sunny day when I made the mistake of taking my sister to the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade in the middle of the summer. When it was absolutely packed with tourists.\u00a0Never again<\/em>, I told myself,\u00a0never again<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That day I was irritated by long lines and heavy traffic in Santa Monica (near where I live), but i\u2019ve come to the realization that some locals have it much much worse. For example, many\u00a0Thai citizens report<\/a>\u00a0that tourists cause problems for them by disobeying traffic\/ pedestrian rules on the road, making their city less safe to drive in. Sites of architectural and cultural significance are also at risk with the influx of foreigners in some countries. Rome\u2019s famous Colosseum was vandalized by two\u00a0American tourists<\/a>\u00a0in 2015, who carved their initials into the ancient site. Peruvian officials have complained about a recent trend of\u00a0nude tourism\u00a0<\/a>at the Machu Picchu citadel, which has proven discomforting to others and disrespectful to the culture and history of the lands. Finally, on a broader scale, sex tourism in Thailand\u200a\u2014\u200adriven mostly by\u00a0demand from Westerners<\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200ahas contributed to a growing number number of red-light districts and greater sex trafficking in the streets of Bangkok.<\/p>\n

The list goes on and on. There\u2019s a dark side to tourism that comes when people from other cultures take advantage of a new country, treating it like their own personal playground.<\/p>\n

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But I\u2019m not here to say \u2018Let\u2019s boycott travel and tourism!\u2019 Far from it! We should continue to explore!<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, tourism can have a lot of benefits for locals too. Take the city of Santa Monica for example. Santa Monica Travel and Tourism\u2019s\u00a02017 report<\/a>\u00a0showed that tourism contributed 1.96 billion dollars to the city\u2019s economy and creates over 13,000 jobs for locals. Amazing! The city uses funds from tourism for a number of measures to benefit the community such as expanding\u00a0affordable housing\u00a0<\/a>and raising minimum wage. Tourism makes good financial sense, regardless of one\u2019s attitude to welcoming international visitors.<\/p>\n

According to a\u00a0Bangkok Post article<\/a>\u00a0from 2017, the portion of Thailand\u2019s GDP which comes from tourism is 17% and expected to rise. To give this some context, the average percentage which a country gains from tourism is typically around 9%. Further, the tourism industry produced over 4 million hires for Thailand in 2016. Similarly,\u00a0a report<\/a>\u00a0from the World Travel & Tourism Council estimates that travel and tourism will account for 18% of Cambodia\u2019s GDP in 2018, as well the hiring of almost 2 million people in the same year. Other tourist hotspots exhibit the same industry growth and economic benefit from travel.<\/p>\n

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And if travel and tourism prove to be beneficial to both the visitor and the host, you can be sure they won\u2019t be slowing down anytime soon. So then, how can we limit the harm by travel and maximise the gain, for all parties involved?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking to be responsible and respectful during your travels to other nations, take a look at these tips:<\/p>\n

Follow rules<\/h4>\n
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It\u2019s not hard to do. Sorry to all the bad boys and girls out there, but being \u201cbad\u201d is just not cool anymore. Streaking at Machu Picchu and carving your name into the Colosseum are extremely disrespectful and insulting to the people you are visiting. If you are traveling to complete dares or feel badass it might be a good time to reconsider your reasons for travel.<\/p>\n

Look at your surroundings<\/h4>\n
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Most of the time, people could stand to talk a little less and listen a little more. Taking a moment to look around and trying to understand the situation can give some much needed clarity to the frantic traveler. As you walk into a city you may find that women wear more conservative clothing in this new area or you might hear people speaking in hushed tones at the entrance to a temple. Being observant can help one to blend into their surroundings a little bit better.<\/p>\n

Ask questions<\/h4>\n
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Asking questions is the easiest way to get a grasp on the environment you are traveling in. Whether it be asking an official for the photography rules in a gallery, or poking a fellow pedestrians brain about the best spot to stop for a tasty meal. Offering someone a query is something of an olive branch while traveling because it defers the power to the interviewee and allows them to shed their expertise on the traveler. People are often very happy to answer questions from a foreigner, and you might even make a new friend in the process.<\/p>\n

Learn the local\u00a0language<\/h4>\n
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This tip goes hand in hand with the previous one, but learning some basic phrases in the language of the people you are visiting is essential. First of all, it is a sign of respect to attempt using the language of the locals, instead of blurting out concerns in English (as Americans are known to do).. It can also be critical to know the local language in case people need to communicate something urgently like \u201cstop. Don\u2019t go in there\u201d or \u201cBe careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research your activities before you do\u00a0them<\/h4>\n
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Of course, all good treks include spontaneous adventures but, it\u2019s always good to have an idea of where you want to go and what it will be like. This makes the above suggestions easier because you may know the rules before diving in or even understand the vibe of the location a bit better. For example, you might find that Peruvian officials are mandating that you book a tour guide to see the ruins, and now you can reserve one instead of arriving and trying to navigate the sit yourself, getting into trouble with the authorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big, sweaty crowds of people. Pushing. Shoving. The sun is beating down. A rude man bumps your shoulder on his way past. You\u2019re starting to feel claustrophobic, but you\u2019re outside! Why are there so many goddamn people? Can they walk faster? Get put of the way? Or just\u00a0\u2026 leave? I\u2019m not talking about a Travis … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Traveler\u2019s Task: Recreation and Respect”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,11,26,27,14,34],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":406,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions\/406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadize.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}