There's a place on earth more pure, more enchanting, and more beguiling than your wildest imagination
And we've exploited the shit out of it
Leave your tiny 70 square foot in New York apartment to experience a weekend in our luxurious five-star resorts,
where the locals are underpaid and overworked so you can enjoy the fantasy of momentarily living above your means
or perhaps immerse yourself in the culture in one of the millions of Airbnbs
surrounded by neighbors
Wanderlust explorers just like you because the landlords kicked out all the locals to make more money with short term rentals
Go out to eat and taste an array of
endangered creatures before they go extinct and take photos next to drugged exotic animals for your Tinder profile
Leave nothing but footsteps behind and also some plastic water bottles, and coffee cups, and cigarette butts, and CO2 emissions from your flight to get here,
but don't worry about that. You don't live here, so it's not your problem
Vacationland: paradise for the tourists, hell for the locals.
*sighs*
I feel like today's exposé video is
the one that I've struggled the most to make. Not only am I not excited to talk to you guys about it,
not only do I know you will not enjoy hearing about it,
but also it's been a long process for me personally to accept all this information
It's a lot of tough pills to swallow today
And I hope you don't shoot the messenger but instead understand that I'm just giving you the information
Ok, I'm not the one responsible for it
Let's keep that in mind.
Since none of us can travel anyways right now, or go on vacation, or hop on planes,
I feel like this is the best time for me to just talk about how crappy the tourism industry is,
how devastating it is for locals, communities, the environment, animals
Having been a tourist myself in foreign countries, I have gained so much
Unfortunately in hindsight
I know that I did not give back as much as I received because all I managed to give was money,
and that should be enough,
but unfortunately, it's not and I'm gonna get a little bit more into the ways that we do more damage than good
through becoming tourists.
When it comes to the aviation industry, it's responsible
for 4.9% of all man-made global warming
only 10 percent of the human population
flies in airplanes
But it's responsible for 12% of all transport emissions and then unlike other fuels
kerosene
Which is the fuel that is used in the aviation industry, is not taxed
Also the aviation industry receives massive subsidies
The aviation industry is also using politics that are assaulting alternative sustainable modes of transport
For example, cross-border trains. Also the aviation industry lobbied its way out of the Paris Agreement
Aircraft manufacturers are linked to the war industrial complex, and when it comes to Airbus
specifically, 20% of its sales are for military equipment and then for Boeing it's 50%
So the companies that are
profiting off of the aviation industry are also profiting off of the war industrial complex
So that's a fun fact that I didn't know about I was doing this research
Another thing that I didn't know before doing this research, it turns out carbon offsetting is for the most part, greenwashing.
The emissions that are offset through
projects in the Global South, for example,
hydroelectric dams lead to displacing local people, destroying ecosystems
So you really need to do your research before you purchase carbon offsetting for your flight
So now that I've analyzed the impact of the aviation industry,
I think we should also get into the cruise industry. Fun facts about the cruise industry, in one day the average cruise ship
Emits more soot than 1 million cars in it in one day. Another fun fact, one cruise ship
emits 150 thousand gallons of human sewage in one week, and also one billion
gallons of human sewage in one year. That's a lot of human sewage. The cruise industry
contributes to an increase in air pollution in coastal cities and
also through that it, results in many more deaths per year because of that pollution
So in order to be a tourist, you need to be transported in order to get you to your destination
but once you get there, you are now a tourist and
We're gonna get into
the problems of that. The tourism industry contributes to 8 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, also
fifty five percent of all traffic
movement globally is due to the tourism industry. A huge problem with the fact that more and more people now are
travelling and going on vacations, is the Airbnb effect. Many cities now have been turned into
hotels created for the accommodation of tourists, but unfortunately, they're not that much
accommodating to the local residents anymore, leading to the rise of rent prices, and also the rise in property prices
It's destroying the business for small hotels, and a lot of Airbnb owners do all the cleaning themselves and they don't have any staff
whereas a local hotel or an inn would have cleaners, would have staff, and would employ people
So Airbnb is also leading to a rise in even more unemployment. Because that's really what we need right now.
Another thing about Airbnb for me personally living here in Athens
We went from having so many options as renters, because I'm not a property owner, I'm a renter, and
We've reached the point now that because of Airbnb and because Greece is such a popular tourist
destinations us locals can no longer find any
decent places to rent because of Airbnb and because our government is extremely corrupt and it's not really
Enforcing any laws preventing from Airbnbs just taking over,
it's much more profitable for renters to own an Airbnb instead of rented off
So yeah, people like me and people that are way less privileged than me are
are struggling right now in Athens to find a single place to rent that is affordable because
instead, we're allowing the city to become an accommodation for tourists. It's not fair,
and if you ever visit Greece as a tourist, don't ever f*cking stay in an Airbnb
But Airbnbs are not the only problem-
multinational conglomerate hotels can also lead to the degradation and loss of natural ecosystems
from improper development of infrastructures like sand and beach mining,
encroachment into natural habitat of plants and animal species and also deforestation
And then there's multiple social problems like
Tourists treating locals as photo props.
Another problem is when tourists partake and also help exacerbate animal exploitation
That's something that we see a lot in Asia with tourists riding elephants, going to
tiger zoos
These animals are not meant to be vehicles or used as accessories and photos, and a lot of tourists still don't know that
elephants have to endure severe torture in order for them to be trained to become vehicles for tourists and
tigers in the zoos, they're just drugged, and just a lot of people do know
but they just don't care because they got to get that Facebook photo
you gotta get those likes, right? Tourism is also leading to the destruction of
Coral reefs. And also consuming animals in tourist destinations can lead to the endangerment or even extinction of those species
Here in Greece, for example, tourists come and they want their calamari and their octopus and their
shrimp and their fish, but the thing is that every year there are less and less
animals in the sea- the Mediterranean really is on the verge of just being completely empty, and
that just shows extreme disregard and ignorance of the country that you're visiting. And then there's other problems like noise pollution,
sewage generation, garbage waste, and water depletion that are all big problems when it comes to
an increase in tourism in any area. Tourism also leads to inflation,
especially in countries that are poor, which leads to the cost of living in that country
rising, so it makes it a lot harder for the locals to be able to afford to live in their own country
There are many benefits to tourism of course, personal benefits. For those that do travel they get to explore, they get to learn
things about different cultures. They broaden their horizons, also tourism can lead to more jobs being created
Ecotourism can be very helpful as well and tourism can also lead to
helping preserve historical buildings, which is great. And of course
financial benefits come with a lot of positives, but
unfortunately, when those financial benefits are only going to the hands of the few that are rich enough to have,
businesses that allow them to
profit off of the tourism industry, that leaves everyone else that isn't profiting from the tourism industry
actually losing, because money concentrates in the hands of the 1% even in the tourist industry
Another personal dilemma that I've also had is
how comfortable can we all feel with the fact that even though the tourism industry pays well,
it still underpays people, let's be real. It makes me feel uncomfortable
To know that there are places that I can travel to where I can have, like, an amazing experience
But the locals can't even afford to have it
It troubles me
Okay, so what are the solutions because I'm sure we have a Karen somewhere here being like I don't care about the people ,about the
environment, it's my money and I want to do whatever I want with it because it's my god-given right to spend my money any way
I want and I want a trip and I want it now and I want to go wherever I want. Alright Karen, don't worry
I have a plan for you. So number one tip to travel ethically is to vacation locally
Another thing you can try to do is instead of flying somewhere traveling by train
If that's not an option,
then if you are gonna fly, make sure you limit your flying as much as you possibly can or stop it completely
Ways to limit your flying is through traveling less and staying longer in a destination
You can also use the environmental footprint calculator that I'm gonna link in the description box, in order to be able to calculate how long
you can fly, how far you can fly away, without having a terrible impact on the environment
Also, if you're gonna be off setting your carbon emissions, make sure you find a company that isn't greenwashing
Another thing you can do is, of course, fly economy. If you're not flying economy
why are you such a massive piece of sh*t? Another way to be more eco-friendly is by choosing direct flights, because
emissions during takeoff and landing are always higher. Another thing is never go on a cruise. Don't do it.
Why do people go on cruises? I never understood. How do you get the money to waste it on such horrible things?
I hate
So much about the things that you choose to be
Also do not stay in an Airbnb
I hope I made that clear before. Also don't stay in multinational hotels
Instead, choose to support small local hotel or inn owners
Also another way to be more sustainable is through avoiding hotels with pools
Because pools increase the water usage. Consider eco tourism
Obviously that can come with
like its own bag of worms. Basically, eco tourism done right can help protect natural habitats,
but there's a lot of greenwashing going around in that industry as well
So make sure you check and then double check the destination where you are going to
partake in eco tourism, and make sure that you are not contributing to leading to a lack of income
prospects for locals. Some eco tourism leads to displacement of local residents,
and compromising of the land. So yeah, you don't want to do that if you're doing eco tourism
So make sure you verify that this is a place that you're going to that is actually going to do more good than harm
Our actions have a greater global impact that we need to accept and it's not easy,
because none of this stuff is easy. We've grown up in a world where we have things the moment that we want them
There's a lot of grace that comes with the ability to
control yourself and your desires,
and think about the impact that those have on others and not only think about ourselves
Damn, that was really beautiful. So poetic. I'm amazed at myself for making that sentence
But yeah, that's it. Thank you so much for watching
Please know that it doesn't give me any joy at all to ruin everything for you on my youtube channel
I've ruined fast fashion for you. I've ruined meat and dairy for you. I've ruined technology,
I've ruined everything and now I'm ruining traveling and vacation for you. I'm the worst
But thank you so much for watching. And if you did like it, share this video with as many people as you can, subscribe,
like, and I'm gonna see y'all soon. Bye!