{"id":11686,"date":"2016-06-10T09:17:40","date_gmt":"2016-06-10T08:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=11686"},"modified":"2016-06-10T09:22:17","modified_gmt":"2016-06-10T08:22:17","slug":"future-prosperity-depends-managing-success-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/06\/future-prosperity-depends-managing-success-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Future prosperity depends on managing success today"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"crimeaAlmost for as long as tourism has existed, we\u2019ve heard the expression \u201d don\u2019t kill the goose that lays the golden egg\u201d yet over the same time has carried on growing regardless.<\/p>\n

It looks like 2016 will be the year when it becomes obvious that the golden eggs are cracking under the weight of a very heavy goose. Mainstream media seems to be taking\u00a0a serious interest in tourism and, because bad news sells newspapers, their focus is\u00a0on congestion. A few examples already this year include \u00a0Iceland<\/a>,\u00a0where tourism grew 29% in one year, and Airbnb is the bearing the brunt of local negativity; several European cities<\/a> where congestion, Airbnb, and the cruise industry are objects of resident ire, Thailand<\/a>, where three islands have been closed to visitors due to the environmental damage they cause, the Balearics<\/a>, where a booming tourism industry is welcomed after a decade of recession; and most recently New Zealand<\/a> whose 100% Pure image is at risk thanks to an unexpected 10%\u00a0jump in international arrivals (see: RNZ article: Who should pay for the costs of tourism?<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"welcome<\/a>Now,\u00a0if you thought that it was about time the evils of mainstream, mass tourism were highlighted, think again. Ironically, it is often the so called \u201ceco-tourists\u201d who venture off the beaten track in pursuit of wildness or solitude, that do the greatest harm. The author of the Balearics article, quotes a local conservationist decrying the damage caused to bird nesting sites by over zealous bird watchers:<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s better to have those drinking ghettoes, Playa de Palma and Magaluf, where people go, rather than these intellectual types of tourists who tramp over everything in their search for the untouched bit, the original Mallorcan, and the residential tourists, who buy up property, buy a car, usually two, swimming pools, and want gardens with plants and grass like at home but that need water.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jeremy Smith (founder of Travindy<\/a>) has also written a stimulating post today,\u00a0The endless quest for authentic tourism is sowing the seeds of its own destruction<\/a>, astutely observing:<\/p>\n

that which began as a backlash against the mainstream is fast becoming the mainstream. The increasingly ubiquitous coffee shops and quirky cafes become filled with international hipsters. The museums and galleries teem with foreign visitors seeking a selfie, with the Botticelli now serving as little more than a backdrop\u2026.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Almost every destination markets itself according to this model, using some form of generic, catch-all appeal to perfection. Everywhere is presented as pure, natural and waiting-to-be-discovered. Even when so-called responsible tourism seeks to present itself as distinct from the mainstream, it mostly does so by reinforcing the same dominant story theme \u2013 by accentuating the authentic, and lingering over the local.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the tourism economy has any chance of becoming sustainable (for it certainly isn\u2019t now), we have to enter into a more intelligent, nuanced debate that acknowledges reality and its complexities in terms of both cause and consequence.<\/p>\n

There were many times when Captain Smith of the Titanic could have left entertaining the investors of his shiny new vessel, returned to the bridge and changed course. But, convinced his beautiful ship was unsinkable, he chose not to. Or perhaps having sold the investors of its unsinkability, he couldn\u2019t admit he might be wrong? What do you think \u2013 was it an iceberg or hubris that sank the Titanic?<\/p>\n

We saw a similar pattern in the months running up to the global financial crisis when, in 2007, the CEO of Citigroup \u2013 leveraged up to its eyeballs \u2013 declared \u201cAs long as the music is playing, you\u2019ve got to get up and dance<\/em>.\u201d The financial collapse occurred not because people were ignorant of the possibility (everyone knew the music would stop one day) but because no one wanted to be the first to leave a good party before the canap\u00e9s and champagne ran out.<\/p>\n

No professional in tourism could ever stand up and say they had no idea tourism could be destructive.<\/p>\n

The real problem challenging global tourism is that we\u2019re running out of time to address theroot causes<\/strong> underpinning the problems highlighted in the stories listed above and they are.<\/p>\n