A Guidebook Challenge

written by Nathan

The guidebooks of our world have made travel alluring and inviting, and have encouraged our travel to a myriad of places. In the process, and partly as a result of their insights, the world scale has diminished, borders have become more porous, peoples have become more connected. Even for the armchair traveler who fantasizes of food, culture, travel and adventure from the comfort of their big-screen living room, travel is accessible.

I use Lonely Planet as the template for this blog, mainly as testament to the generally high regard I have for this publication. LP has been the best and most comprehensive guide for world travelers for more than a quarter century. Lonely Planet has, to my knowledge, done more than any other institution in the world to make the world smaller, more approachable, and more easily traveled. In doing so, they have opened the eyes and appetites of many to the wondrous world of travel. First publications began about twenty-five years ago, aptly timed at the confluence of events that benefited us travelers tremendously: the ending of the cold-war; a global airline industry, and the massive economic globalization of markets, LP grew new travel books as fast as countries would take down their Visa and border barriers. Now, LP has guidebooks for nearly every country around the world.

In addition to general descriptions, information, and pointers for popular activities or places, LP also mentions in most publications that it intentionally omits some information, in order to help preserve cultural or regional authenticity (those who are interested in the magical fantasy of this hidden gem theme are advised to watch Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘The Beach:’ a movie about finding a way out of the tourist scene in overly touristic Thailand in the 90’s). It is remarkable to find direct reference to social conscience within the pages of a glossy guidebook.

Guidebooks have made information and insight and access available to the world, but at what cost? As guides for travelers all around the globe, can these guide-companies live up to what started their creators as travelers? Can they use their travel to ‘pay it forward?’

We hereby issue a challenge to Lonely Planet, Footprint, Brandt, Fodors, Insight Guides, and tourists and tour operators everywhere: Use your power, influence, and profits to mitigate, through programs, education, volunteerism and micro enterprise, the damages done by tourism to cultures and economies and make travel more holistically beneficial for visitors and locals alike.

I challenge LP and other guides to come clean with themselves and their readers. Not only should they continue to describe becoming a ‘green’ traveler, the how-to’s of volunteer opportunities, ways to spend money locally, or how to interact with new cultures appropriately; they should put their power and resources where their money is made; they should invest some of their profits in education and economic touristic development initiatives that help visitors and locals to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism.

But, my challenge is also issued to those of us who travel: we the people who love diversity in the world, who eat international cuisines, love world music, or want to ‘get away from it all.’ I challenge us to mitigate our impacts. ‘Simple,’ you say? Perhaps simple enough that any of us can try. This challenge, I truly believe, can immediately begin to build a more democratic, just, and equitable world in a dramatic way. If we can all realize how and why we are impacting the world (when and to whom do we impact in our travel) and if we encourage and demand this thinking through our use of resources and challenges to others, then, through the sheer scale of our decision-making capacity, tourism can shift from an enormously dangerous and damaging force on the planet to one of beneficence for the people we are visiting and for preserving what it was that drew us to and made us fall in love with travel in the first place. It is not enough (in today’s world of homogenizing cultures) to mention that our footprints have effects on the people and places we visit, we must actively work to advocate the broadest understanding and application of how changing our behavior and actions, both at home and abroad, can build a better world for us all to share together.

Here are some thoughts on what we can do as world travelers:

Take only tours that are green (reducing carbon, staying in eco-friendly lodging, etc.) or consider creating your own tour that uses fewer resources or has a lessened impact (camping, using activated charcoal to purify water, or taking public transportation).

Buy locally produced products and consume local foods.

Volunteer

Stay local (use local housing)

Visit ‘off the beaten track’ places and be a ‘grassroots’ ambassador for your country and culture.

Engage your local hosts and make friends!

What else should be added to these challenges and tools for travel? How can we support positive changes to travel that accept political differences (conservative, liberal, egalitarian, libertarian, and the like)? How can we describe our challenges in ways that are inclusive, provocative, non-combative, and equitable?

We welcome your suggestions and incites! Please share with us your experiences.

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This blog needs further research. I will be looking to find out what guides are doing already. Please look forward to a follow-up blog on this topic.