Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Lakshmi Sharath's avatar

Over tourism is a major issue today and I completely agree . But I don’t think it’s the travel writers or bloggers who have led to this . It’s the massive increase of influencers , most of them not even travellers or know anything about a destination but just want to get followers . And sadly tourists follow them for advise

Expand full comment
Jeanine Kitchel's avatar

Brent and Michael, as a travel writer myself, and also a citizen over the years of so many places that could be called 'over-touristy'—San Francisco (before Covid...), Maui, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Mexico Riviera Maya, I hear you. I recall in one of Anthony Bourdain's (RIP) later Japanese segments, Tokyo I think, where he said he was going to one of his fave restaurants but was NOT telling the name b/c he was persona non grata at the last sushi bar he did that about, it makes you wonder: Is there a line to be crossed or uncrossable? I believe writing responsibly, which this post so elegantly does, is the key. Rather than Top 7, or Best of 10 restaurants in ... , you write about places you have most certainly experienced more than that the experience of that old old movie w/ Suzanne Pleshette-If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium. I too, before writing about places, have lived there a long time which makes one reflect on, well, everything. I especially noticed how impactful tourism is though mostly on Maui and in Mexico. In the Riv-Maya, year by year locals are more being added to tour-travel work-related jobs. Mostly that's bc, more or less what you mention re the rice noodle man, that the children of those early outliers realize there's a good income in tourism, without selling out. With the Yucatán early on many locals did not even speak Spanish, but that learning curve is now long gone. And the tourists, also early on, embraced volunteer-tourism and made a dent in things like language classes, small libraries, pet rescue, farm to table, etc. That's the type of stuff I like to write about and also the history (as do you) culture of a region. When you're hunkered down some place for a time and you're a writer, you know how the old mind gets working, haha. Anyway, write on! Your posts are so excellent and I look forward to them. Thanks for your thoughtfulness and awareness in an imminent issue we all, as voyagers-writers, must face.

Expand full comment
100 more comments...

No posts