I didn't start out with a lot of questions but, as I went exploring, I began asking a little about this, or that and I noticed that there were some pretty big omissions in what was being said.
This is no-one's fault, its just that no-one had approached the questions quite in this way, just yet.
So, my quest is to try to poke some holes in the darkness about what tourism is, and particularly to try and investigate where tourism is headed.
Tourism is an intricately interwoven maze of inter-related and overlapping components. The concept of tourism touches on every aspect of human endeavour and even many aspects of human conditions. Human psychology runs through the process in explicable, and not so explicable ways. Tourism is all about removing barriers.
As Mark Twain had so eloquently stated:
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
Mark Twain: The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It1
I've had a feeling, since a very young age, as a citizen of a wealthy country, that the best thing our governments could do for us is to buy us a trip to almost any other place on Earth. To meet with other people, and to experience life the way they live it. This is why it is critically important for people to be exposed to different forms of tourism and not just the mainstream, although this has a role to play, too. But what is essential for us all to realize that, at the end of the day, we are all people and we all want, more or less, the same thing: to live in peace and to be able to get on with our day, to enjoy our friends and families in relative safety. To share in the cultural diversity that has been created through human endeavour and expression.
For the most part, we can do this and we must not let political interests interfere with our freedom to live this way. However, certain political interests, with their own agenda, make it nearly impossible to get on with your own business when they don't agree. These interests have spawned an atmosphere of fear. They - literally - would have people imprisoned in their own homes, out of fear. What's next? What freedoms will disappear if they are successful in gaining power.
The tourism industry seeks to enhance the wanderlust to travel and explore in myriad ways. Most people would benefit from travelling to foreign places. Currently more than 1 Billion people take a trip each year. In a four year time span, the number of travellers very nearly equals half the world's people and surprisingly few of these travellers are ever met with any action that would impinge on their safety or security.
I don't claim to own the truth about tourism but rather I am seeking it. This project is my way of getting @ the truth.
I sincerely hope that someone will find it helpful.
This is a personal project and everything said here is my opinion. Its thinking out loud. I'm just very pleased that I can do it and express my views in this way. Obviously, this is a work in progress and will never be fully complete. I welcome "constructive" criticism, input and friendly advice. I certainly do not claim to have all the answers, or even close to this. I also do not claim to have discovered every relevant or useful document, the vastness of human knowledge precludes this.
Use of the <=> —I mean this to indicate that a relationship exists and to link the various topics together. All of these topics are inter-related, some more than others.
Think of it in this way:
"Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." (The First Law of Geography, Waldo Tobler, 1970)
Waldo R. Tobler is a famous geographer and cartographer that is well known for his publications. Tobler created the First law of Geography, a law that states that everything is related to everything else but close things are more related than far things. He was a Professor Emeritus at the University of California , Santa Barbara Department of Geography and has since retired. (Waldo Tobler project)
Alan Barry Ginn eMail: info[at]wittreport[dot]com
Ottawa, Canada
Presenting opinion and editorial (Op/Ed) articles centering on Caribbean tourism and in particular, Tobago tourism.
This is my contribution to the understanding of the concept of 'Caribbean' and 'Caribbean tourism', and is intended as a basis for further discussion.
Anyone with an interest, especially those who plan to travel there, might benefit from being aware of, as well as discussing, at least some of this content. To be sure, within the context of a 'doom and gloom' scenario, there are still opportunities, extant, for valuable experiences as well as moving the dialogue forward. I encourage feedback. Whether you agree or not, there is much to consider.
This content is a bringing together based on information available elsewhere and I don't claim any unique knowledge. I always include references. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing.
The path to the future is uncertain but it is certain that someone will have a hand in creating it. If anyone wishes to make a contribution, please share it.
Every article or reference has been discovered through publicly available sources using Google. There has never been any attempt to bypass security or authorization to copy or download material. If anyone sees material contained here that they feel should not be included, please let me know and I will remove it.
1: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1716-travel-is-fatal-to-prejudice-bigotry-and-narrow-mindedness-and-many