There's something about the easing of the winter chill and the more frequent rays of sun on my face that drive me to start dreaming about travel. Particularly this spring after two years of staying close-to-home, when Covid has eased up a bit and the prospect of being able to go someplace—anywhere but here—where the wanderlust I had suppressed over the last couple years begins to peak out a bit. I find myself not just dreaming about travel, but actually beginning to make plans.
But for me, there's something different in this planning. More caution, yes. Also perhaps a bit more deliberateness. I haven't always been the kind of long-bucket-list travel kind of person, yet I always wanted to see as much on a trip as I could. This time, however, I'm thinking more about what it truly means to "slow" travel. This trend to think differently about how we travel doesn't seem to just be me. I've noticed a trend in both the way travel publications are communicating about travel and the way destinations are handling travel on their end.
So it seems fitting in this post as we begin to emerge back out into the world beyond our homes to look a bit more closely at some of these trends. There is certainly going to be research emerging from how Covid affected travel (already is in the more immediate sense), but this post is less rooted in research than through observations around how the way we travel could be changing for the better.
In Part 1, we offer two insights into how travelers are beginning to make choices that might be different pre-Covid.
Travelers Being a Part of the Solution
Every January, The New York Times Travel desk puts together a "52 Places to Go…" list, which was consistently a kind of interesting/novel take on a travel "bucket list." In 2020 (pre-pandemic), however, they started to shift gears by focusing specifically on sustainability in tourism. Then, before anyone could wrap their heads around going to these locations, the world shut down. In 2021, the "52 Places" list came out, but reflected the moment where no one was going anywhere and focused on what writers and readers loved about where they were. But in 2022, the world has began to open up a bit more, but it was clear that things have changed, travel has changed. And the list reflected that.
For that, the 2022 "52 Places" list still offered stories that inspired getting out into the world, but included a sense of caution and care and focused it on places that offer opportunities for travelers to be a part of a solution to a changing world. Insights include: Chiogga, Italy, a quieter yet just-as-historic alternative to the very overcrowded and sinking Venice; the Alentejo wine region in Portugal which has become a model for water conservation in a region that is increasingly threatened by lack of rain; and the fine dining restaurant, EDWINS in Cleveland, Ohio that has a program that supports prisoner re-entry.
What I appreciate about this list is that the focus is on supporting the work already happening by traveling to and supporting these places is a part of being part of the solution. It inspires looking beyond the major hits and being inquisitive about whether your presence as a tourist might do more harm or could be a part of a solution. I also appreciate that it's not a list promoting voluntourism, which having worked in the service-learning travel world I have conflicted feelings about (read more here about that). But it offers a new approach that I hope to see more of and intend to include as a part of the way I travel.
Conscientious Travel
While linked to being a part of the solution, it's important to point out the need for travelers and travel publications to help guide travelers to make better decisions about the way they travel and where they go. In that, there's a movement not only to think more deeply about where we travel, but how we travel as well.
In June 2020, Afar Magazine editor-in-chief, Julia Cosgrove, wrote about how Covid has prompted the publication to focus more deeply on their lens of "travel as a force for good." What they want to see is travel that is "more inclusive, more sustainable, more about leaving the world in a better place than we’ve found it," she wrote. "Governments, companies, and individuals can help plan for a post-coronavirus future in a more conscious way. As travelers, we can do our part with every spending decision we make."
What this means in action is choosing not to visit the most popular destinations where you end up participating in overtourism, you choose to experience any place you visit by supporting local businesses, you find the off-the-radar places in popular destinations, and especially, you visit places by actively learning about the history, culture, challenges and people there.
There are companies out there that are helping to make it easier for travelers to make good choices. One of those is Wayaj, which is a platform that showcases sustainable hotels and will soon, during a current re-brand, be even more than that. (Full disclosure: as Wayaj rolls out their re-brand, I'll be writing for them, but I believe they're worth mentioning nonetheless).
While it seems travelers making more conscious choices about travel is more anecdotal, it does seem to be taking hold. Jenny Southan wrote in euronews.travel in May 2021, "the planet has had a breather, and although the tourism industry has been suffering massively, the pandemic has taught us a vital lesson – that travel is a privilege and not a right." And the travel trends seem to reflect this. In the publication's October 2020 report, they found that conscious travel, eco-travel, and engagement with local communities were all emerging as a part of post-Covid travel priorities for travelers. It does remain to be seen whether this will be happening on a large scale, but it's a hopeful sign for things to come.
It's exciting to see how much is changing in the travel world. And it doesn't stop here. To keep the appeal of wanderlust in your inbox a bit longer, we'll come to you in a couple weeks with Part 2 of this story with more ways travel is changing.
In the meantime, make sure you're subscribed to Portals of Possibility to get Part 2 in your inbox and share our work with your friends so they, too, can get a dose of optimism in their inbox each week.