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In 1904 Mark Twain wrote, "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." Well yes, but not always.
Tourists are increasingly demanding memorable experiences, opportunities for meaningful connections with local people, One of the great benefits of travel and tourism is the opportunities it creates for people from very different religions, cultures and backgrounds to meet and for the traveller or tourist to learn more of the history and way of life of the communities they visit. As Krippendorf, the founder of Responsible Tourism pointed out, “every individual tourist builds up or destroys human values while travelling”.
Regardless of the type of holiday we choose or can afford, as Westerners we often have the habit of thinking we know best, that our ways of doing things and our focus on being on time are universal. We learn little travelling this way. Travellers who instead develop the habit of asking questions, being open-minded, curious and respectful find it’s reciprocated and their holiday is enriched. Justin Francis CEO of Responsible Travel more
Mejdi Tours are leaders in socially conscious tourism and the originators of the Dual Narrative Tour ™. They are the world’s leading experts on post-conflict tourism now operating tours in 20 countries. Aziz Abu Sarah is a Palestinian activist with an unusual approach to peace-keeping: Be a tourist. The TED Fellow shows how simple interactions with people in different cultures can erode decades of hate. He starts with Palestinians visiting Israelis and moves beyond.
