Jamaica Kincaid in her article The Ugly Tourist portrays how tourists appear in the native land. The native inhabitants view tourist as ugly human beings who left their banality and boredom and decided to turn natives’ banality into a source of pleasure. Another similar distinction is that of a tourist and a traveler. Different concepts come in to differentiate a tourist and a traveler. One of these concepts is that a traveler uses traveling as an educational experience to acquire new knowledge concerning the surrounding whereas a tourist uses touring as escapism to forget about the surrounding they have left behind. Travelers criticize how tourists behave as exhibited in this essay despite both of them being visitors in a foreign land.
Tourists stand out in the community making it easy for local to recognize them. According to travelers, tourists like staying in their comfort zones even when on foreign lands. They carry with them cameras, maps and guidebooks and in most cases tend to keep off from the native inhabitants. They will also stick to their language instead of trying to learn phrases in the local language. Travelers, unlike tourists, will try to immerse themselves in the local culture. Travelers will interact with the locals and discover their cultural way of life. The traveler’s goal for the trip will be learning and experiencing new forms of life and appreciating different cultures. Well according to travelers, tourists view themselves as special and rarely interact with the natives of the land they visit. Tourists are not interested in the new culture since they want to forget about themselves and the surrounding they have left behind. According to travelers, tourists are quick to judge other cultures, and that is the reason they do not want to associate themselves with the native inhabitants.
Tourists enforce the “watch but don’t touch” mentality by viewing themselves as by-passers. Tourists fail to foresee the impacts of their actions hence negatively impinging the surrounding area and environment. According to travelers, tourists engage in harmful behavior since they will not face the results of their actions. Tourists litter, engage in sexual immoralities and rarely abide by the rules. Their interest lies in seeing a country’s sites and attractions as opposed to seeing native inhabitants. They view themselves as the source of money and fame due to the kind of attention they receive. On the other hand, travelers leave their culture behind and embrace the positive impressions from the visit. They are aware of how to behave in the native land and whole-heartedly attempt adapting to the culture and ways of the country they visit. Travelers are tourists with an open mind and follow a conscious way of doing things. They interact with the native inhabitants helpfully and rely on what is available instead of reaching out for what is not there.
The criticism faced by tourism boils down to be traveler’s attitude. Having an open mind and a positive attitude towards other cultures and people’s lives can solve environmental crises and tourism problems. Travelers grab their chance to try new things, meet new people and look beyond what is right in front of them. Every native is a potential tourist or traveler, and therefore not everyone will endeavor the lengthy process of belonging to a particular culture in native lands. The important thing is to avoid affecting nature and the culture while doing what pleases you and is lawfully acceptable.
