The Atlantic’s Annie Lowrey wrote a column arguing that too many people want to travel. So I submitted a futile letter destined for the trash bin that would have never seen a single reader were it not for my own platform.
Since I’ve written this, I’ve become aware of (the Republic of) Georgia’s pro-tourism movement called #SpendYourSummerInGeorgia. It’s a reaction to Putin’s ban on Russian flights to Georgia, which is a certain blow to global peace, coexistence, and humanity itself. Georgians know the role tourism plays in advancing peace and prosperity. And so they’re fighting back. How happy I am to be in this country given the circumstances. More on that to come.
My Letter
I’m disappointed that Annie Lowrey argues that too many people want to travel. While she identifies some of the costs of tourism, she discounts the significance of its benefits.
Tourism contributes to gentrification, which is to say that more foreign capital flushes societies with newfound wealth. Wealth means something in human terms, and here I’ll match Lowrey’s anecdote with my own firsthand accounts. My Airbnb host in Budapest now spends her days with her young daughter instead of being stuck to a desk at an office. Rather than mining volcanoes, young Indonesians guide goofy tourists to dirty infernos. In Bali, Phuket, and Hanoi, teenagers earn spending money by taking gaudy photos for self-indulgent Instagrammers. Dozens of once-dying villages within the Georgian Caucasus are undergoing significant rejuvenation as a result of thousands of foreign hikers who spend money on provisions and accommodation.
Tourism presents environmental challenges. It also contributes to conservation efforts. In Costa Rica, tourists reward pristine natural conditions by paying park fees. In Africa, a unique incentive for cooperation is found in ape-related tourism along the borders of northwestern Rwanda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and southwestern Uganda. In Belize, a departure tax goes directly to the Protected Area Conservation Trust, directly benefiting the barrier reef and rainforest. Examples like this abound, but it’s also important to note more conceptually that tourist dollars take societies further along the environmental Kuznets curve, which famously shows environmental improvement once average incomes reach a certain point.
Above all and less forgivably, Lowrey fails to consider the cosmopolitan effects of tourism. In this era of nationalistic fervor, those committed to liberal ideals need to extol the forces of internationalism, not condemn them. The underreported story of our time is the rise of the global middle class and its increased access to the transformative power of travel. AirAsia’s apt motto is “Now Everyone Can Fly.” This is cause for celebration, not elitist denouncement of the masses who are thrilled to consume art, food, and culture in new places.
Is this the world we want in absolute terms? No, tourism won’t deliver Utopia. But it’s better to ask what the options are on the margins. Environmentally, socio-economically, and politically, tourism is making a better world.