June 30, 2009

I’ve decided to have a bit of a rant, and I thought – where better than on the internet?

My rant concerns insensitive tourists. I’ve been a tourist for the past couple of weeks. I sound like I’m admitting I have a problem: “My name’s Tim, and I’m a tourist”. Since I left Australia, I have been incredibly lucky to have been to both less and more “touristic” places. I travelled by myself for a week, and, without anyone except other backpackers to talk to, I spent a lot of time watching with interest and then disdain what was going on around me, particularly at tourist trap areas like the lookouts in the Swiss alps.

Some of the people who go to these places are simply crazy! At the Jungfraujoch I was repeatedly shoved aside by other tourists so they they could get to the view. Not that you could have been able to tell, but there in fact wasn’t a storm bearing down on us or a prize for the first person to take the same photo of a glacier. On the train up an American woman turned and suddenly shouted into the ear of her companion, another woman who was about 20cm away. Sitting a few metres away I jumped, but the companion was undettered and listened as the woman virtually screamed “That, Grace, is a wonderful view right there”. Grace, who was obviously unable to judge a view for herself, was put appropriately in her place, and the rest of the train carriage was also informed of what was going on outside the window. A few people even looked up.

The poor locals in these places look long-suffering. They have enviable language skills and are usually happy to speak in English, but it is simply rude to assume that somebody will speak a language without first asking them. It doesn’t take that much effort to learn simple ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘thank you’, and ‘do you speak English’ in any given language! And yet, I watched again and again as tourists walked right up to locals, spoke in fast, nausiatingly slang-filled and accented English, and were then put out when they got an annoyed response. It makes me cringe to be associated with these people.

So here’s my problem. I desperately want to go and explore these parts of the world, photograph what I find interesting, learn about the culture and language and history, and meet friendly people. But I don’t want to be part of this tourist cycle in which offence is felt on both sides, insensitivity reigns, and the flood of people unwilling to not eat a hamburger or speak English threatens to stamp out what is special about these places. Tourism is important and worthy, and travel feeds the soul and fosters compassion, so I guess the only thing you can do is to do your best and tread lightly. Um… sprechen Sie Englisch?

</rant>