What is ‘authentic’ travel?
There’s a new (beta) travel site on the block, TourDust.com. According to the blurb, “It’s all about discovering and sharing authentic travel experiences offered by passionate locals.” They’ve got some interesting trips up there so far: from wine-tasting in the UK to photographing bears in Alaska. (The latter is possibly my dream trip. Although at US$750 a day, I’d better start saving now.)
The one thing I’m unsure about is the over-reliance on the word “authentic”, which is plastered across the site. They are asking people to post their “authentic travel experiences”. What exactly does that mean? Is it the same as striving to see the “real side” of a country? I’ve never been comfortable with that phrase either.
The Gecko Villa, for example, is billed on the site as “The real Thailand!” It looks like a beautiful place to take a holiday. It’s intimate, it’s tasteful, it’s got traditional elements to the design, it’s in a rural area. But does this make it “the real Thailand”? At £125 a night, I’m not so sure.
But this isn’t just about prices. It’s more about the constraints of labels. In trying to pin it down the real Thailand/Egypt/Tanzania, you’ll inevitably end up chasing myths.
At its heart, Tourdust has good intentions and I wish them luck. They support responsible travel and want to encourage travellers “to think twice about the impact of their holidays”. They also believe in working directly with local guides and hosts so tourism money goes into the local economy. (See also LeapLocal.org.)
Ultimately, travel companies and tour sites have products to sell. “Real” and “authentic” do that job quite nicely. What’s worse is seeing them overused in travel journalism. “So-and-so discovers the real Brazil on a favela tour in Rio.” No, they don’t. They discover a different side of Brazil.
All countries have multiple identities – not just a dichotomy of the “real” (typically used as a synonym for “poor”, “unvisited”, “authentic”) and the “unreal” (ie “more affluent”, “popular”).
Of course, the good news is this means that your ways of experience a country are limitless. Just think of all those different sides within every country in the world…
good one
Nicely said. One thing is for sure, any of these places or activities will lose their authenticity once hordes of travelers sign up thru the website and go there
Though it’s nice to see companies aiming to allow travelers to have a bit of a “real” experience.
Thanks guys. Nice use of inverted commas, Gennaro
Hi Vicky, Thanks for the review, you make some good points. From a Tourdust perspective, our belief is simply that independently run small scale experiences with a local flavour are more enjoyable than going on a larger more commercially oriented bus tour. For instance, if you want to go sea kayaking in Alaska, go with somebody who has a great passion for kayaking and for the landscape and marine biology – you’ll learn more and their enthusiasm will be infectious.
However we really aren’t trying to define what is the definitive real or authentic experience. As you say defining the real Thailand is impossible, proving both entirely subjective and extremely elusive! Putting our Tourdust hats aside, as travellers, we’ve probably struck the best balance when we’ve mixed spontaneous unplanned independent wanderings with a couple of organised activities as focal points – where the latter allows us to do something we couldn’t arrange ourselves.
oh and.. I’m not sure I agree with Gennaro. Some places definitely do go bad when they get publicity and success, but certainly not everybody. I would even argue that is is more likely to happen with a hostel than with an activity guide who cares about what they do.
Hi Ben. I absolutely agree with trying to seek out the alternative experiences and trying to get a more local, non-touristy perspective. That’s what the Going Local blog is all about. I hope I made it clear that I have no criticism with your site as a whole. It just got me thinking about these words that are so frequently used in travel. I admit I do wonder what people will class as an “authentic travel experience”, as you say it’s v subjective. But I’m overanalysing. After all, it’s quite easy for people to see where you are coming from and they’re going to understand what you are looking for.
The use of the word “real” is still going to grate with me. It’s a personal gripe. We all have them. I’m sure I’ve used a fair few travel cliches in my time too that would bug others.
After all, the very idea of “going local” is a loose one too. Could have whole other debate about that. Maybe I’ll start that one off one day soon…
Thanks Ben. I’m really glad you shared your thoughts here. Hope no offense was caused. Good luck with it all.
Vicky
Been scratching my head thinking I never used the word “real” and then realised it is from one of our operator’s descriptions. I’d like to clarify that Tourdust is a marketplace for experience providers to reach travellers directly, not a travel agent – all the images and copy about individual experiences are from the providers themselves.
As for what is the real Thailand, it certainly isn’t hostels, VIP buses or full moon parties. I vote night markets and friendly women trying to sell you fried creepy crawlies on the (basic class) train.
When we used the word “real”, we did not expect quite so much focus on it – and I’m very sorry that it grated with you, Vicky!
What we do aim to offer visitors is precisely the opportunity to “go local”, albeit with an element of comfort. What does this mean?
The visitor is not an anonymous room number at the property, but the sole occupant of Gecko Villa, where a local family of villagers look after the guest from arrival to departure. As a single villa, volume is deliberately shunned in favour of a sustainable, small-scale operation. The visitor will meet local families and farmers, where English is generally not spoken, and be able to interact. Local traditions and rituals are reinforced and preserved by the interest of outsiders in celebrating something other than a McExperience.
These very villagers are not employees but owners: funds generated go to provide for their own welfare and that of their extended family, their children’s schooling, access to medical care etc, in a region where employment is extremely limited and where migration to Bangkok or abroad as cheap labour is the norm.
At the same time, the operation helps reforestation in the immediate community, and certain visitors have taken upon themselves to get invoved in direct and much needed assistance to local schools, or in the distribution of blankets etc during the cool season, etc.
When we used the word “real”, we were thinking of Gecko Villa as an alternative to a stay in a tourist enclave such as Phuket or Pattaya, where many tourists remain entrenched by the pool in their foreign-owned and managed hotel after a Western breakfast, venturing out only to buy fake Rolexes or to watch a “cultural show” featuring transvestites or scantilty dressed women, to go go-karting or spend the night at a Western style discotheque. Such an experience may be equally “real”, but it is one that could be had in any number of cities across the world.
In terms of prices, the £125 you mention buys you the entire villa and private pool, your breakfast, lunch and dinner and drinks cooked for you as and when you like, and trips around the local area. All proceeds are distributed locally both to those directly involved and those who supply the property or offer services there, and any profit remains in the local community for development rather than being remitted offshore. As such I think this is a very fair and competitive price. The aim after all is to offer a memorable and beneficial experience to our guests whilst also offering a meaningful alternative income stream to local villagers without forcing them into menial labour at a “real” Thai wage.
Thanks to Gecko Villa I can stay on my land with my wife and children, support our family, and help others in our village. I can take pride in our local traditions – our cuisine (that,yes,includes bugs!), our music, our forest temples and our eco-systems – and all the more so because foreigners enjoy witnessing these. I have independence now, and am not obliged to follow the “hospitality rules” of the international resort where I worked before. Indeed, when hospitality is defined by a formula and measured by external auditors, has that which was genuine not surely been destroyed?
We’d love to welcome you to the property if you ever come to Thailand, so words can dissolve and – hopefully! – the experience prevail.
Wow. It’s great that word has got round and all sides have shared their thoughts. Thanks, Gecko Villa.
Are you saying it’s a cooperative? Great stuff. For me, that’s a word I’d like to hear more than ‘real’.
Either way, sounds like you’re doing a lot to involve the local community.
Maybe – and this is just a suggestion – but I’d consider adding some of what you just said here to your blurb on TourDust. I didn’t realise that the price was for the whole villa or that there was so much local involvement. You should be shouting this from the hilltops.
Anyway, I have given way more than my two penneth on the subject. I’ll leave you be now.
Best wishes with it. If I return to Thailand, I’ll be sure to look you up.
These guys get full marks for Customer Service!
Vicky, and all,
One thing to remember with all this talk over terms like “real” – you guys are all seasoned travelers that already care about the places you visit and the environment and use “in” travel lingo to describe the places you have been. If all tour media was written for you it would just be preaching to the choir! As someone who went into the tour business to help protect the places I love I think getting people who do not think everyday about their environment and community to visit these places is just as important to brining change and protection – especially if it makes them think twice when going to the polls to vote. Terms like “real” are probably not “in” any more, but to new comers they are!
Cheers!
Anon – you’re right. I did say that ultimately these are the words that sell, so fair enough that people are going to continue using them. Nonetheless, for experienced travellers, and those that work in the biz and like to look beyond the brochures, they also make for a good debate. As we see here!
Anyway, keep up the good work – whoever you are!
A great debate, indeed, Vicky! And very well said.
I was a student of postmodernism when I did my first masters degree over a decade ago, so I’m always uncomfortable with the word ‘authentic’ although occasionally I find myself using it because it’s hard to get nuanced in a 30 word guidebook review, for instance.
Anything and everything is ‘authentic’ if it’s local (or national or inherent to the culture and place) – and here’s where I’ll take issue with the mention of price – a $5 meal cooked by an indigenous woman at a market is no more authentic than a $500 meal at a gastronomic restaurant ran by an acclaimed local chef (who could in fact also be indigenous). Each is as ‘real’ and ‘authentic’ as the other – an afternoon at a polo match in Buenos Aires is as authentic as a football match at Boca, and so on. They’re just different experiences as you say.
I will rejoice the day the travel industry starts to appreciate the complexities of cultures, the many facets of societies, people and places and start to insert some more nuanced language in their marketing.
And this is certainly not a criticism of the site! Just general comments. I haven’t looked at it yet, but I will.
Vicky, do also take a look at Offbeat Guides, and my posts on the site, and the debate going over at Cool Travel Guide too. Interested to hear what you think!
Thanks Lara. Couldn’t agree more on prices. I didn’t mean that the price itself made it either authentic or inauthentic, but that it demonstrated this was only one side of a country, not “the” “definitive” “real” country. Not sure if that came across, but you sum it up perfectly.
I’ve just been over to check out your Offbeat Guides story. Left a comment. Another interesting debate. Will be back to see how it unfolds.