The sustainability

That I met a lot of nice people on my journeys does not mean I liked all of them - sex tourists least of all. This type of tourism I was unfortunately encountered with quite often in the southern part of Cambodia, where middle-aged men could “buy” young local girls, consuming them as if they were an object. Not something I regard as sustainable tourism, meaning that it doesn’t leave a positive impact on the environment or society.            

There are also more sustainable ways of tourism in Asia of course, volunteer tourism being one of them. Activities such as teaching English, or helping to clean up the environment might not have a huge impact on the entire country, but locally can affect people in a positive way.

In North Norway, Sámi tourism is expanding sector of indigenous tourism. The Sámi are a nomadic people originally inhabiting the arctic region. Traditionally they are involved in reindeer herding, but nowadays this often is not sufficient to provide for all livelihood. Tourism provides many Sámi with jobs and enables them to preserve their cultural heritage, but it might also result in frustration by the way they are handled by the tourism industry. When I met a Sámi woman, who lived near the Lofoten with her reindeer herd and also ran a tourist-company, she didn’t seem irritated. “The tourists have fun with the reindeer sleigh, and we have fun because the tourists look funny”, she told me.

Tourism should be sustainable, but the question is how. I think treating each other as persons, not as “local”, “tourist” or “object”, treating each other the same way you would like to be treated yourself, is a small step in the right direction.   

A Sámi woman feeding her reindeers.