It’s been 50 years since I wrote the first Lonely Planet travel guide. So I realize how much travel has changed in half a century. 50 years ago we didn’t have the internet, cheap airlines, or the open door to a very large part of the world like China. But what will it look like in 25 years? How much has traveling changed since 1998, just before the turn of the millennium? Here are seven big changes that took place during this period. And I write these lines from Rhodes, Greece, which fits perfectly into at least three of these categories: transport, tourist saturation and climate change.
transport
We have had jumbo jets, the large long-haul aircraft that revolutionized long-distance travel, for 50 years. But just over 25 years ago, low-cost airlines appeared in Europe, first Ryanair, then EasyJet and many more. Ryanair, led by its famous and oft-quoted director Michael O’Leary, is still the largest. As I told you, I’m writing from the Greek island of Rhodes, where there are a surprising number of incoming planes hovering over my head, and a surprising number of them from Ryanair. Fortunately, since the Flygskam movement – the shame of flying – is now such a relevant travel concept, I managed to use many other forms of transport this year: I traveled by train in seven different European countries and four countries in others continents; I’ve taken ferries in Canada and from South Korea to Japan; I even managed to walk 90 kilometers of the Thames Path, which follows the course of this river from its source to the sea and runs through London. Over the last 25 years there has been great interest in these alternatives to flying and during this time the Camino de Santiago in Spain has become the most popular hiking route in the world.
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Security
Twenty-five years ago, long before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we had little concern about airport security, not just at airports but elsewhere. Now it concerns us, and if everything goes without incident, as it sometimes does, there is no problem. But if we have to wait in line behind the X-ray machines, that can be a problem. Why, after 22 years, have we still not figured out how security controls work consistently, quickly and conveniently? Do we have to take out the laptops or not? Pack small liquid containers in plastic bags? Should we take off our shoes or belts before going through the scanners? Every security line seems to be a new travel experience; There are no rules that always apply.
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China, which then accounted for 20% of the world’s population, began to open up to the outside world 40 years ago, so 25 years ago it was definitely part of our travel world (round trip). But during this period many other places opened or unfortunately closed. Africa is the center of openings and closings, but right now Russia is the place that has really closed down. Apart from a brief period that more or less coincided with the 2018 World Cup, Russia has never been easy to visit and is currently definitely off the tourist map. Thank God I did the Trans-Siberian route back in 2013, and unfortunately, thank God I visited Ukraine in 2016 and 2018 before Russia launched its terrible attack.
Illustration from 25 years of The Traveler, text Tony Wheeler. Illustration: FROM HUNGER HUNGER
Internet and information
The Internet and all its travel benefits only emerged 25 years ago, but today there are many more. There are tons of travel apps on my phone that I simply couldn’t live without. In the last 12 months, airlines have canceled flights at the last minute three times, and in all three cases I was able to find another way to get to my destination. Once the cancellation was so short notice that I was already on my way to the airport. And when I arrived at Seattle airport to catch a flight to Canada, I suddenly realized that I needed an ETA, the Canadian equivalent of the American ESTA travel authorization. I’ve already been to Canada twice last year and didn’t need either. But that was because I had arrived by land and the rules are different when you take a plane. Luckily, the Canadian ETA app worked so well that I applied for it, paid the 5 euros, and my ETA was approved while I was in the bag drop line.
Pandemics
Of course, we didn’t know much about pandemics 25 years ago, although we had a simulation of our Covid shutdown with the SARS outbreak in 2002, which also originated in China. Covid was a much bigger story that continues to play out in various strange ways. Additionally, numerous new layers of bureaucracy, paperwork, applications, and other interesting hassles have been added to the travel experience. Curiously, I was in Japan at a university conference in early 2020 when the Diamond Princess arrived in Yokohama and told the story of the pandemic. The meeting was about an issue that the pandemic has completely put to rest – at least for a few years: tourist saturation, which is the next topic.
Overcrowding by tourists
We didn’t use this term 50 years ago, but 25 years ago it started to become a problem, although it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that “tourist saturation” finally entered our vernacular. In Europe, Barcelona in Spain is often cited as one of the places where this disease occurs most often, along with Venice and Amsterdam. Of course, this is not a problem limited to large cities; In many smaller places the influx of tourists can be overwhelming. A few months ago I visited Ketchikan, Alaska, a lovely town, until four cruise ships docked there on the same day, their passengers outnumbering the residents, and then again around four in the afternoon when everyone on board returned and the town emptied . Right now, at the beginning of September, the hustle and bustle of August is over on Rhodes and the numbers are back in balance. Fortunately, tourist saturation is not a problem everywhere. In 2019, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ravenna, Italy, didn’t seem to have as many tourists as its wonderful mosaic-filled churches were supposed to attract. And a few months ago, ancient mosaics were also a good reason to visit Plovdiv (Bulgaria), another city that fortunately does not yet suffer from overtourism.
Climate change
We certainly talked about climate change 25 years ago, but in a very discreet way. Of course we can fix climate change; All we have to do is stay at home, don’t travel anywhere, do anything, and leave the air conditioning or heating turned off depending on the season, and… Well, that’s not going to happen, that’s how it is? Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. We are buying many more electric cars and generating more and more electricity from renewable energies such as wind and solar. But right now it is something that is of great concern, and never more so than in 2023, when extreme weather events are so frequent and so severe that you would have to be crazy to deny that the climate crisis is happening and in one total frightening way. I am once again writing this from Rhodes, Greece, one of the many zero points for climate change in the world. In this case, the terrible forest fires and torrential rains that have occurred recently.
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