21/06/2022
CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE NEW FACE OF TOURISM AFTER COVID.
During the lockdown, the earth experienced a different season. A season of rest. Even though for a short while, it rested. It is to say since the Industrial Age the earth has been going through drastic change and unfortunately not towards a cleaner, greener and safer earth.
With each new revolution age the earth has been sinking deeper and deeper into a climate problem, and right before our eyes we are faced with the challenge of; Will our planet still be here for our children and their children? Will it be a safe place to live?
I think history should mark the year 2019 as the year were everything changed. Consequently 2020 as the year were we entered into a new era, all together everywhere in the world. It is the year 2020 that the world stood still and we had a chance to re-evaluate our lives and our planet which we call home.
We all were waiting for everything to go back to normal again so as we may go out and see the places we wanted to see and experience all that we had missed. The question is ‘Do we go back to the way we travelled before COVID -19?’.
I do not mean not wearing masks and not getting vaccinated. What I mean is making the same choices as we did before. Do we still choose the same popular tourist destinations? The ones that encourage mass tourism? Do we still sit compacted at the same beaches? Do we still come with plastic? Do we still litter?
What is our contribution towards a greener earth, even in our travel choices? With that question we can answer all the other questions. No, we should not go back to the way we travelled before COVID-19. During the two years lockdown many natural parts of the earth experienced a time of rest and rejuvenation.
The ecology of many places was slowly being restored from the damage that was made by too much human disruption. If these places became better so should we. We should not be so eager to take it back to where it was before.
Let us make new choices, let us go slow. In fact slow has been proven to be good for the earth and good for the rest of us as well. Let us work towards reducing our own carbon footprint on the earth even as we travel. Let us make conscious choices to go where the crowd is less and do less damage.
Let us travel in a sustainable way, to leave more good to the places we visit that take from it. Let us choose greener options and control the amount of waste we choose to make even in the destination we visit. Let us support the ones who are making an effort to a ecological friendly tourism.
I believe the new face of tourism amid climate change is