by Vas Mylko
“Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and he turns to others in order to make up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires.”
— René Girard (Imitatio)
Local Social
People mimicked each other for centuries. They mimicked whom they know, i.e. those living in the same town, or those from the neighboring city. People mimicked other people based on the stories they were told, e.g. pilgrimage stories. People traveled more and more, as the wealth and transportation became more affordable. Because of the localism, people from different places traveled differently, and compensated each other at the global scale. That did not cause overtourism yet, the world was not flat yet.
Global Social
The Internet made more than half of the world flat. Social networks initiated escape from localism. People get connected at large [global] scale. People started mimicking at large [global] scale. Overtourism emerged during the decade of social networks, from the social networks.
“Now you’re less than 10 clicks away from seeing an image on Instagram to purchasing a ticket to go there. I’ve met people who have traveled to places because of my photographs, and I don’t mean that in an egotistical way … That wasn’t happening 10 years ago.”
— Chris Burkard (@chrisburkard)
“A lot of people are still very ego-driven. They want to portray that they are leading some kind of perfect life, which is quite silly really. I think it’s much more fun to be real.”
— Trey Ratcliff (@treyratcliff)
“The point where, fed up of thousands of disrespectful photographers, wannabe ‘influencers’ and narcissistic tourists, the farmers feel the only way to get them to stop damaging their business and property, is to damage those people’s photographs?”
— Paul Reiffer
Overtourism
- How Instagram Is Changing Travel ←critical thinking by supertravelers.
- Photographers, Instagrammers — Stop Being So Damn Selfish and Disrespectful ←this is the must, just scroll & view it all.
- What Is Overtourism?
- How Tourists Are Destroying the Places They Love
- Too Many People Want to Travel
Undertourism
Setenil de las Bodegas is a cool town in the province of Cádiz, Spain, famous for its merging with the rock (dwellings built into rock overhangs above the Río Guadalporcún). Setenil de las Bodegas City Council considers tourism as a key to sustainable economy of the town. They need more visitors.
Will Undertourism fix Overtourism or Undertourism Is the New Overtourism?
“The answer is not to stop traveling but to travel mindfully. Try going to places that aren’t being showcased, and share your own experiences instead of trying to mimic others. I think a lot about social media’s role in tourism. Now you can almost curate your whole experience based on the images you see online, and it’s an unnatural approach to travel. It makes me wonder what happened to exploration.”
- Chris Burkard (@chrisburkard)
Non-Mimetic Travel
Curiosio is for travelers, not tourists. The difference between them is that the tourist comes for what he paid, the traveler comes and explores. We, at Curiosio, foresee the rise of independent travel, the rise of educated traveler. We are happy to inspire, though we would foster self-inspiration in people. You can stand on the shoulders of the giants, but you don’t have to mimic them.
We are starting experiments with Signature Trips. Supertraveler can share own experiences by describing her journey. Other traveler can tweak the trip she likes to the trip she wants with the help of Curiosio Supertrip button. We encourage you to read more stories, think yourself, travel mindfully… and become the supertravelers yourselves! Let’s make the next decade of non-mimetic travel together. Follow your curiosity the smart way.
