Travelling & Holidays - What are we seeking?

 In my life I have travelled to;- 

• The Americas - USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize & Peru
• The UK - England, Scotland & Wales
  
• Scandinavia - Norway
• Europe - Spain, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Sicily, Romania, The Czech Republic, Greece & Turkey, the Balearics & Canary Islands
  
• North Africa - Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt
• Sub Saharan Africa - Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya
• Middle East - Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Palestine
• Asia - India, China, Nepal

In some countries I visited several different places at different times. That's a lot of travelling for one person. Most of it will have necessitated flying, sometimes very long haul. 

Because we are so aware of the Climate Emergency I now reflect on why I did it & whether it was worth it. Was the benefit I gained from seeing so many different cultures & the possible cross cultural benefit to other nationalities from meeting me worth the damage tourism does? Were my tourist dollars worth the cost? What was my motivation in going? Was it simply tourism - a holiday away from my normal routine? Was I really seeking enlightenment & knowledge?

I'm not objective enough to know. I would say that there is a difference between travelling & holidaying. In the case of Malawi & Nepal I went there to work for charities. But visiting the other places it was mostly cultural, wanting to see the landscape, archaeology & arts & meet the people to understand that there are different, valid, ways to live. Although I have never been a beach holiday person, there were also times I went away to relax, often on walking holidays getting out into the landscape.

The thing I now realise is that although we think that holidays are a right, they are, in fact, selfish. More so now that we do know the harms that tourism does. I know people who are like birdwatching "Twitchers" who have lists of places that they basically simply want to "tick off". They are seeking diversion, distraction, new experiences away from their normal lives. Some people are seeking to leave their daily problems behind, not realising that most problems stay within us. 

 

I'm sure that not everyone is like that. Many travel for knowledge & to broaden their horizons. But I wonder whether we can justify that any more. There are positive & negative effects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impacts_of_tourism

In 1950 there were 25 million international tourist arrivals. By 2030, 1.8 billion tourist arrivals are projected. Negative environmental impacts of tourism are substantial including;- 

• The depletion of local natural resources 
• Pollution and waste problems.  
• Pressure on natural resources through over-consumption, often in places where resources are already scarce. 
• Enormous stress on local land use, which can lead to soil erosion, increased pollution, natural habitat loss, and more pressure on endangered species. 
• These effects can gradually destroy the environmental resources on which tourism itself depends.

We need to re-think our attitude to travel. Not just tourism travel, but all travel. By 2030, a 25% increase in CO2-emissions from tourism compared to 2016 is expected. From 1,597 million tons to 1,998 million tons.

https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/transport-and-tourism/negative-environmental-impacts-of-tourism