Vacations

This is the AI schlock answer for Tourism Ecological Damage

Tourism can cause significant ecological damage through various means. Here are some of the key impacts:

Habitat Destruction: The construction of hotels, resorts, and infrastructure often leads to the destruction of natural habitats and the fragmentation of ecosystems. 

Pollution: Tourists generate waste, including sewage and plastics, which can contaminate water sources and harm aquatic life. 

Resource Depletion: Tourism places a strain on local resources such as water, energy, and food, leading to water scarcity and increased energy consumption. 

Waste Generation: Tourists often generate more waste than local populations, particularly single-use plastics, which can contaminate land and water. 

Carbon Footprint: The transportation sector, especially air travel, is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which can contribute to climate change. 

Disturbance of Wildlife: Increased human presence can disrupt wildlife behavior, breeding patterns, and feeding habits, leading to stress and potential extinction of vulnerable species. 

These impacts highlight the need for sustainable tourism practices that balance economic benefits with environmental protection. By adopting responsible tourism policies and practices, the tourism industry can minimize its ecological damage and contribute to the conservation of natural resources. 

As a soldier, my dad spent time in Africa, probably after World War II in his twenties. He acquired two things there that I know of:

1. An ivory letter opener carved into the shape of an alligator.

2. Malaria, which cost him his hair and which supposedly never fully goes away and you have spells for life.

We had one family vacation in my childhood. We went to the beach. I was miserable the ENTIRE time. I hated every minute of that vacation.

The one silver lining: I brought back a basket full of sea shells which I played with for many years. I wonder how many tourists do something similar.

I was a military wife. I like being able to get around fairly readily and inexpensively via bus and train. I have a blog for trying to help people do that better.

Military families move every few years. We live someplace for a few years while locals don't want to hire the spouses of members and try to simultaneously milk us for money.

At our first duty station, landlords were raising rent every six months like clockwork on us. Then some General threatened to build a lot more on base housing to stop his people from being filched. He PROMPTLY had a deal to charge no more than their housing allowance for x number of units or something like that.

I don't remember what the issue was anymore, but some other military base had an issue with the locals and paid everyone in two dollar bills for one of their paychecks, then went and ask local establishments what percentage of the till was in two dollar bills. It was like 75 percent of the till for some establishments and after that locals STFU about whatever.

As a military wife, I lived as a perpetual tourist for nearly two decades. We did nothing touristy at our first duty station, but all other duty stations got researched sometimes starting before we arrived and we made a list of local sites and did day trips on weekends that were low cost.

But I have only been on a couple of "real vacations" in my life. The first as a child and my parents "nearly divorced over it" or something mega emotionally dramatic like that. Us kids walked all the way to the top of the street to get away from the scary loud fight. I was six. I had probably never been to the top of the street before, especially not on foot and without a parent.

The second was a cruise paid for by my sister. I went because it was with extended family and a gift. I don't know why cruises are so popular. I don't get it.

But I don't get why "normal vacations" are a thing at all, much less wildly popular. You take time off work to spend obscene amounts of money -- probably go into debt for it in many cases -- and travel and come home broke and exhausted. 

WHY?

I have abandoned my efforts to blog about doing meaningful community development on Eclogiselle. That site has a piece critiquing a wild hair plan to build a boat in a small town as if that would be some kind of tourist attraction and save the town.

From writing that piece years ago -- which began as an email to a local about a stupid idea by an old geezer where everyone seemed to make polite noises hoping he would die of old age before a real reply was needed -- I know that tourism isn't as simple as "Have some kind of local tourist attraction and watch the money roll in."

Airbnb began as a concept of couch surfing. It began as an idea of cheap travel, crashing in a spare bedroom or on a couch and spending time with the homeowner.

It began as a concept of youth with middle class means and upper class expectations wanting to see more of the world than you could by crashing with friends. And it failed as a business model. You couldn't sell that.

Then it pivoted and people began buying houses for the express purpose of turning them into vacation rentals and listing them on Airbnb. Voila! Business success!

And it drove up housing prices, drove up homelessness and created a lot of problems. 

Similarly, someone on Cyburbia, so probably a professional city planner, told me it used to be possible to buy a house in a small beach town and live affordably. Then people began buying vacation homes in beach towns and driving out locals whom they need to still work at the local grocery store and fast food places etc. but basically expect to drive in from elsewhere because they can't afford to live there.

We have rising rates of homelessness while the entire planet agrees to whore itself out to the tourism industry for a quick buck. The same people lining their pockets with Airbnb will almost certainly be the same people bitching about dirty homeless people cluttering up the view and blaming the homeless as lazy and not trying hard enough.

I've read a few articles about world class tourist destinations and famous cities seeing substantial harm from tourism and making moves to limit its impact.

The world has lost its mind. We are collectively throwing the baby out and keeping the bath water in search of short-term profit while wringing our hands about our dire future.

And we collectively refuse to connect the dots and change course, no matter how much people know for a fact these things are not merely related, the one we are chasing is causative of the one we whine and cry about.