Tourism.... on its way back?

 

I am currently getting stuck into the new book by Marco d'Eramo, who has previously written about the development of Chicago. 

The book is called 'The World in a Selfie' and explores the impact of the tourist industry, which is the biggest industry in the world by value when one considers all the jobs that it creates directly and indirectly. The first chapter also explores the impact of the pandemic, which was when people began to realise more than ever that tourism has an impact beyond any other industry in terms of employment and external influence on places. It also explores in some detail, as it says on the publishers' page:

'Why we are all tourists who hate tourists"

The Financial Times featured an excellent piece by their travel editor Tim Robbins on May the 22nd. This referenced the book, with a quote:

Are we ready for the return of mass tourism after a year of hiatus for the planet to recover?

It seems that we are.

The book is reviewed here by Sophie Haigney in 'Critical Mass' and it provides a good summary of the book which has started brightly and will no doubt inspire some more reading and research in time.

Tourism is certainly part of our everyday experience and this is the theme for my GA Conference 2022. I am already exploring potential ways to develop this idea further and flesh out an existing unit into which I am merging some 'dark tourism' ideas and other skills development and mapping.