The Everywhere blog

Call it the Travelers Dilemma: When we travel to exotic and out-of-the-way destinations, do we help or hurt the locals whom we see along the way? What role do we play when we visit places that are keen to attract the money that comes from being a hotspot in the international tourist market? Do our tourist dollars (or euros, or yen) improve the lives of local people, or do we alter their environment in ways that can never be repaired?

When I traveled through Peru to reach the top of Machu Picchu, I was amazed. I Iooked around at the entrance to the ruins, which are situated on top of a steep and precarious slope, and I saw a group of weary-eyed hikers, who had made the journey up to the ruins by foot. Nearby was another group of bright-eyed guests with freshly starched linens walking out of the then-new Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, an upscale hotel, with rooms rates that started at $795 a night. I could hardly believe that a hotel could even fit on top of this mountain. But there it was, right in front of me. 

Clearly a shift was happening here. The ruins, which were once visited only by native Peruvians and budget-conscious backpackers in the latter half of the 20^th century, were being developed for a different kind of traveler. What part was I playing in all of this? 

A similar shift happened in the 1960s in the Mediterranean. The demand for development to accommodate the growth of tourism eventually left many disillusioned. A development strategy that was meant to boost southern Europe’s economy is now blamed for pollution, traffic congestion, and coastal sprawl.

All that came to mind when I came across a thought-provoking column in The Economist that considered the risks and potential rewards of tourism development in the years ahead:

"As tourism is about to explode in the developing world, governments should heed such lessons. During the next two decades the growth of tourism in emerging economies will be two or three times that of the developed world. That is something to celebrate. Mass travel is a path to development and one of the fruits of increasing wealth—travel for experience, for food and culture, and for sheer pleasure. Yet it also contains the danger that development will destroy the very thing people have come to enjoy.
 

With the growing numbers of tourism in developing areas of the world, such as Dubai and South East Asia, the historical lesson for developers, planners, and government agencies remains:

Mass tourism needs mass development, but don't pave paradise to put up a parking lot.

(Photo: Manchu Piccu, by Gijs Bekenkamp.)