Backpacker, Go Home: How Tourism Is Ruining Everything (or Not)

“What changed in my travels was my own realization of what our impact is as travelers.” – Pegi Vail

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Pegi Vail discuss how art changes the way places are visited (3:00); backpacker culture and what can go wrong with it (14:00); the impact of travel on local people and promotion of responsible tourism (25:00); and how to protect local culture (38:00).

Pegi Vail is an anthropologist and filmmaker who directed the documentary Gringo Trails.  She is also a sustainable-travel consultant whose academic work has focused on visual anthropology, Indigenous media, and the role of storytelling to the political economy of tourism in the developing world. She is the Co-Director of New York University’s Center for Media, Culture, and History. Vail is a founding member, curator, and featured storyteller of the popular not-for-profit storytelling collective, The Moth.

Notable Links:

• Yossi Ghinsberg (adventurer)
• Jungle, by Yossi Ghinsberg (book)
• The Beach (film)
• Lawrence of Arabia (film)
• Eat Pray Love (film)
• Under the Tuscan Sun (film)
• Wild, by Cheryl Strayed (book)
• Costas Christ (travel writer)
• The Venice Syndrome (documentary)
• Tyson Mowarin (filmmaker)

This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets.

This episode of Deviate is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. If you’ve ever planned a trip with multiple stops, you know that finding the right flights can be difficult. Between balancing travel logistics and cost, it often becomes impossible to build an itinerary that matches your travel goals.  AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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