What kind of experiences do you want?November 14th, 2008 View Comments |
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I should really highlight more photography from other photographers…
Photographer Jörg Brüggemann’s project Same Same But Different:
Within the last decade backpacking has literally become a global youth movement. Every year millions of young people from first world countries travel the planet taking with them nothing more then their backpacks. They are hoping to find freedom, cultural exchanges and a lot of fun. It has become a tourist industry on its own that has developed its very own touristic infrastructure. In some places like Ko Pha-Ngan in Thailand, Arambol in Goa or Vang Vieng in Laos individual or alternative travel is no longer existing. It has been transferred into a different kind of packaged tour.
I love Brüggemann’s project; his images of Western backpackers in non-Western countries really struck a chord with me, especially since I have been to many of the same places (e.g. Goa, Jaisalmer, Chiang Mai, Hampi, Himachal Pradesh) and seen the exact same sights.
But it’s not necessarily the chord you think.
The popular disdain for packaged tours and tourists by “dedicated” travelers is understandable but fundamentally misplaced.
Although I tend to be fairly sensitive to travel destinations changing due to the impact of increased tourism, I also recognize that tourists and travelers each have their own right to experience a place and a destination in their own way, for their own reasons.
It’s up to us to determine what kind of experiences we want.
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Talking about experiences, what kind of experiences are you creating through the people you work with?
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(Brüggemann via Conscientious)
November 15th, 2008 at 22:41
in many ways it is like a packaged tour. but it is still a lot of fun and you can do it locally too, it just takes more time….
November 15th, 2008 at 22:41
in many ways it is like a packaged tour. but it is still a lot of fun and you can do it locally too, it just takes more time….
November 15th, 2008 at 22:48
In many areas it is indeed like a package tour: everyone does the same basic set of activities and see the same basic places, whether we choose to create it locally or not. But at the end of the day, we create our own experiences: it's up to us to create what we want.
It's not just what we do, but how we do it.
November 15th, 2008 at 22:48
In many areas it is indeed like a package tour: everyone does the same basic set of activities and see the same basic places, whether we choose to create it locally or not. But at the end of the day, we create our own experiences: it's up to us to create what we want.
It's not just what we do, but how we do it.
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:57
Yes, you are correct…tourists have their own right to experience a place in their own way. Packaged tours are trying taking away this right. Now the reasons of traveling also changing drastically, people are traveling to get surgery done abroad. There are many reasons for this, for example – low costs and also to avoid long waits in their home countries.
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:57
Yes, you are correct…tourists have their own right to experience a place in their own way. Packaged tours are trying taking away this right. Now the reasons of traveling also changing drastically, people are traveling to get surgery done abroad. There are many reasons for this, for example – low costs and also to avoid long waits in their home countries.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:19
I wouldn't say packaged tours are taking this right away, they're merely providing an opportunity to people that want to experience travel in that way. Taking a packaged tour is a choice for a traveller, not a requirement (at least in most countries).
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:19
I wouldn't say packaged tours are taking this right away, they're merely providing an opportunity to people that want to experience travel in that way. Taking a packaged tour is a choice for a traveller, not a requirement (at least in most countries).