The Case Against Travel

What a great discussion - thanks for sharing! This prompted me to really think about why I love to travel. And I'm glad it did because I've spent a lot of time reflecting on the costs of travel but hadn't given nearly as much deliberate thought to its benefits.

In terms of environmental costs, I'd be interested in how the idea of 'virtual travel' (suggested by Scott) stacks up against real-life travel, given how resource-intensive the digital world can be too. I would have scoffed at the idea of virtual travel a few months ago but I recently visited Sebastião Salgado's 'Amazônia' exhibition and honestly felt like I had travelled. I'm not usually much of a gallery goer but I was incredulous at how I was transported to this other world, without even a hint of VR.

Like other types of tourism or cultural exchange, the risk of reductionism also applies here, to virtual travel. The effect Amazônia produced for me was more like an 'inspired imagining' (of the Amazon) than an authentic experience, and there was no real interaction with the places or people (not to mention concerns have been raised about the way indigenous peoples are represented). Obviously, it's no substitute for the real thing but it still brought me closer to understanding the place and its natural phenomena than I was before.

The exhibition also gave me a new appreciation for projects like Tuvalu’s creation of its digital nation. Digital Tuvalu is about survival, not tourism or entertainment, and the circumstances are grave, but it does share some common principles with Amazônia. For example, part of Salgado’s motivation was also to capture what currently exists before it disappears.

To circle back to the broader subject of travel, I wonder if this same motivation (or fear) is part of what’s driving the latest tourism boom. If so, and if we’re talking about environmental impacts, it could almost be a self-fulfilling prophecy!