Reply to The Last Tourist

Forum Index » Travel Discussion

Reply to "The Last Tourist "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hey OP:

Will you please tell us

1. What you think everyone should do differently?

2. What you are doing differently?

PS - Maui isn’t the developing world/third world. A horrific tragedy occurred, but Maui will bounce back. The island will benefit from federal dollars as well as private donations from their billionaire patrons. If tiny, less resourced islands in the Caribbean can bounce back from hurricanes (where loss of life and housing are sadly routine), then I’m confident Maui will, too. ICYMI: tourism dollars play a huge role in the recovery. I was thanked by dozens of locals simply for showing up on St. John following the hurricane that destroyed Caneel Bay. I took a private boat over from St. Thomas just for a day, but I made sure to eat and drink and shop at local vendors who were thrilled that anyone bothered to come. If you are suggesting everyone should stay home, I disagree. Candidly, I can’t understand why anyone would suggest that. [/quote]

You should look up the statistics on poverty rate and rate of people living paycheck to paycheck in Maui before the horrific wildfires made thousands homeless and unemployed overnight.

No, Hawaii is not in a developing country- but it is nevertheless exploited by tourism and much of the native population has been driven out by the high cost of living that resulted from allowing tourism and vacation homes to predominate. There were calls among Hawaiians to reduce tourism long before this horrible disaster happened.

What am I doing differently? Nothing.

I am 52 years old and I have traveled on foot and by car to Mexico several times when I lived in southern Arizona, and by car to Canada a few times when I lived in Maine.

I travelled by airplane once to Grand Cayman and I once took a cruise from LA to the Mexican Riveria. Both of these trips were in the company of boyfriends whose travel tastes did not match mine - I especially hated the cruise and the side trips we took, which definitely exposed the underside of western tourism to impoverished areas. The cruise industry is so disgustingly exploitative of the environment and destination populations that I would never take another one and I very much regret the one I went on.

I recall during the pandemic seeing all the places empty of people and thinking, NOW I would like to go there! Lol. But seriously, much as I would love to see some places in person, the primary reason I don’t prioritize travel is because the other tourists are so off putting.

When I went to Grand Cayman I spent the week scuba diving which was fantastic apart from all the divers I watched banging against coral, taking pieces for souvenirs, trying to interact with ocean wildlife in damaging ways, etc. It was really gross and upsetting.

I had a similar experience here in the USA visiting DC and particularly the Holocaust memorial which I had waited years to see, only to tour the exhibit with crowds of people a shocking number of whom were laughing and joking about the exhibits - you know, the piles and piles of shoes and glasses from murdered Jews. I was upset for months, I’m still upset thinking about it years later.

[/quote]

Okay.

I am with you re: the harmful impact of tourism related gentrification. It’s very real. It’s the reason I won’t use AirBnBs.

Despite the economic inequality on Maui, the reality is the people will be provided for and the island will bounce back. They are far better equipped than their Caribbean counterparts who nonetheless bounce back following natural disasters.

I still don’t understand how keeping tourists away will help with the recovery. Like it or not, tourism dollars matter on islands. They simply lack any other meaningful employment infrastructure.

Re: cruises - How do you suppose islanders would sustain themselves without cruise tourists? Taxi drivers, tour guides, private charter boats, water sports, bars, restaurants, shops, pics with monkeys or sloths, farm to table tours, etc. rely on the cash from such tourists—by the thousands each day who otherwise wouldn’t visit since the resorts are limited (by volume) and costly…and still require one or two planes and sometimes a boat to get there.

This is complicated stuff. But any sort of myopic, pious view of “just don’t travel” or “only travel like I did decades ago” isn’t particularly helpful.

Plus: exploring other places and interacting with people who look/speak/worship/think/live differently than you is important imho. Imagine how different you might be if you never set foot outside of Dcumlandia? [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics