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| courtesy of https://v-count.com/ |
Vacation, holiday, traveling are probably words with the highest
number of mentions on the internet in 2020. They are not popular because they
are in season. Quite the contrary, they are popular because people are longing
for them. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, people are forced to stay put in
their houses and for the first time we take a long recess from traveling, which
turns out to be good for the environment. However, countries whose economies
rely on tourism are affected the most by the current situation. One can't help
but question: is this a high time for us to rethink about tourism and
particularly the overly commercialised air travel?
Although tourism activity can be traced back as far as the 17th
century1, the commercialised tourism
as we know it is considerably a quite young industry. One of the factors that
contribute to the proliferation of tourism is the (almost) universal reception
of capitalist form of economy where everything has become a commodity. The
question remains is whether the over extensive commecialisation of tourism is
normatively justified? Have we measured the effect of tourism on the local
people, the local culture, and the environment? Or, has our ethics been reduced
to gaining profit? As long as it helps the economy, nothing else matters?
However, increasingly we are faced with the reality of environmental
crises. The bushfires, the floods, oceans full of plastic hubris, heatwaves,
hailstorms and list goes on. I think we have to stop being a climate denial,
because if we don't act sooner, God knows what will happen to the planet earth.
One practical thing we can do is by consciously rethink about our day to day
activity. Whatever we do, start with the question "what effect does this
activity bring to my surrounding?"
Likewise, being locked down for the most parts of 2020 begs the
question: how do we perceive tourism in the long run? Is tourism a sustainable
industry even, economically and environmentally? Should we invest more on
non-service based economy? Arguably, service industries are the ones affected
the most by the current pandemic.
For us individuals, what do we make of the 2020? Once the lockdown
is lift up, do we want to go back to what it was? Do we want to hit the road
straight away and travel? Or, has the lockdown given us room to rethink about
our lifestyle in general? Have we learnt to be content with the activities as
simple as bushwalking, running, yoga and etc.,? Perhaps this is the right
moment to have a deep talk with ourselves.
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