tour noun
A journey for business, pleasure, or education
often involving a series of stops and ending at the starting point.
One that makes a tour for pleasure or culture.
When you look up the definition of tour and tourist in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, you will end up with the entries above. To the person doing the tour, this definition adequately fits all the criteria they think of when they hear the words tour or tourist; give or take a few snorkeling adventures and piña colada-filled afternoons. For the tourist, a vacation is a mean of relaxation from their boring day jobs back in the big city. At the simple mention of a trip, the Caribbean may usually pop into their minds. There is an association between sandy beaches and down-time that a person almost automatically makes at the mention of an exotic getaway. However, this person almost never stops to take a look around at the social, political and economical status of the destination he or she fled to.
In her book, "A Small Place", Jamaica Kincaid criticizes the concept of a tourist almost as soon as the book begins. She argues the tourists are interested in the tropical and exotic clichés of Antigua, and do not reflect upon the real issues at hand. For Kincaid, the foreigner is too narrow-minded to really learn about the new culture, the customs, traditions, folklore, relevant topics, currents government status, and so on, of the place they're traveling to. There is an idealized notion of a vacation that has not been broken ever since the bored office worker decided that he needed a recreational activity to ease his mind on. Not once did this person dare to put himself in the position of the native and be sympathetic towards the fact that not everyone can escape their reality.
In her book, "A Small Place", Jamaica Kincaid criticizes the concept of a tourist almost as soon as the book begins. She argues the tourists are interested in the tropical and exotic clichés of Antigua, and do not reflect upon the real issues at hand. For Kincaid, the foreigner is too narrow-minded to really learn about the new culture, the customs, traditions, folklore, relevant topics, currents government status, and so on, of the place they're traveling to. There is an idealized notion of a vacation that has not been broken ever since the bored office worker decided that he needed a recreational activity to ease his mind on. Not once did this person dare to put himself in the position of the native and be sympathetic towards the fact that not everyone can escape their reality.
I agree. It's very common for people to live in a small bubble where they think everything is peaches and cream for everybody, except them. To a tourist it's even more evident since they are travelling to relax themselves and not worry about their "complicated" lives. I personally do give thought to the social, economical and political situation of the places I might travel to, but I don't give it enough thought to let it dampen the rest of my trip.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly! The humanitarian in all of us might ponder on the hardships that the place we're traveling to might be going through, but the fun tourist tends to take over most of the times.
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