The Good Tourist: 6 best practices for visiting the world

The Good Tourist: 6 best practices for visiting the worldRuth C. White, PhDFollow3 min read·Sep 30, 2017 --

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As travel gets cheaper and more of us wander about the planet, we can sometimes be unwanted because of the negative social, cultural, economic and environmental impact that ‘too much’

tourism can bring. It’s wonderful to be able to live in a place everyone wants to visit until everyone shows up. Cities like Barcelona, Cinque Terre and Dubrovnik, sites like Machu Picchu

and countries like Iceland and Thailand want to reduce the number of visitors because tourism infrastructure is being overwhelmed, the environment is being destroyed, basics such as rent and

food get more costly for locals and the social cohesion of neighborhoods and families are being threatened. So here are a few rules for reducing your negative impact on your next

destination, while making it easier for the next traveler who comes after you leave.

AVOID CRUISE SHIPS Places like Santorini find it challenging to manage the daily infusion from ships and the infrastructure challenges (water, sanitation etc) that they represent. (If you’re

going to Alaska, you are forgiven as there’s no other way to see much of it). Cruise ships are the biggest tourism offenders in destroying our natural resources — the very same ones you go

to visit on their ships. The volume of waste they produce (and dispense of in the water!) is phenomenal and in general, their impact on host sites skews the economics in their favor (i.e

they discourage guests from buying from locals and encourage them to buy from cruise ship approved vendors). Furthermore, they significantly change the local culture when they disembark

thousands of people in one place at the same time for no more than a few hours.

2. AVOID ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORTS.

Some travelers like the idea of paying for everything before they leave home. They also like not having to do the research of where to eat and what activities to do by having it all in the

same place. However, all-inclusive resorts usually have no connection to their locales, have very little economic impact on local communities (other than providing service jobs) and usually

puts the local economy at risk by sucking in all the money (why leave when you’ve already paid for your meal and activities?) and sending it back to their home country or tax haven.

3. GO LOCAL.

Buy your goods and services- hotel, food, travel & souvenirs - from locally owned businesses. Scared of eating local? Buy/Eat it hot and fresh. Spread the wealth. Build the capacity of

people and communities worldwide with your travel budget, no matter how small it is. You will contribute to the growth of sustainable economies that have an impact throughout the supply

chain.

4. LEARN THE LOCAL LANGUAGE.

Learning even a few words of the local language shows goodwill. If you learn a few basic words/sentences (‘travel fluency’), you will find your experience to be less stressful and more

enjoyable. Hello, Goodbye, Please, and Thank You are enough to go a long way in going local, being a great guest and making new friends. But learning a little more will help you order the

food you dreamed of eating and help you find your way.

5. BE A GREAT GUEST.

You are a guest of the country so act in the way you would want a guest in your country to behave. Be polite. Don’t litter. Learn about and respect the local customs. You don’t have to like

everything you try but just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s no good. Sure it’s okay to share the good and the bad when you return home but focus on the positive and spread the

good word.

6. MAKE A FRIEND.

You traveled far to get to know a new place but everywhere is better when you know someone there. Yes, you may not know the language and they may not know yours well and you are going to

leave very soon but getting to know locals where you are foreign gives you insight into the culture but also builds bridges to new experiences. Get to know at least one local person that is

not serving you or are paid to be nice. Knowing people who live in foreign places makes the world smaller in meaningful ways.