How to be a responsible tourist

How to be a responsible

Marcin Słomiński TRAKT CTC tourist Tourism is (…) an ideological framing of history, nature, and tradition, (…) [which] has the power to reshape culture and nature to its own needs

There are still people among us who remember the times when travelling to another province was a rare event. Moreover, people did not travel for pleasure but to satisfy their most fundamental needs or to escape some threat. In the first half of the 20th century travelling for pleasure was still reserved almost entirely for the small group of the well-off.

Today one of the main driving forces behind the mobility of the people from the wealthy Global North is tourism. The possibility to travel for pleasure is an achievement of our civilisation and society. It is directly connected to the right to rest, which is understood as one of the fundamental human rights. However, it is also a privilege which entails responsibility.

At least from the second half of the 20th century we are talking about the phenomenon of mass tourism. According to the data collected by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, there were about 25 million foreign travels in 1950, whereas in 2018 the number increased by 60 per cent to about 1,5 billion. If we add the huge number of national travels, including one-day recreational trips, to this, we can imagine an enormous swarm of people who are moving either because they want to or because they have to.

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At the same time, the population of cities increased from 751 million to 4,5 billion. The moment when more people started living in cities than outside of them was noted for the first time in history in this passing decade.

These two global mega trends – the growing popularity of tourism and the increasing importance of cities – intertwine in the phenomenon called city or urban tourism.

We travel to both the cities which were established especially for the reason to be tourist attractions (for example Las Vegas) as well as to the ones which were ‘discovered’ as tourist attractions due to their rich history, monuments and historical sites or architecture (for example Budapest). By default, cities are also tourist destinations for those who travel for business. They attract visitors

who are interested in shopping, night life, taking part in festivals and cultural events as well as pilgrims and many others who have different reasons for travelling.

The increase of the number of tourists creates great opportunities for cities – it may be a crucial source of income and it may have a long-term influence on the city’s image. It is a ‘soft power’ tool which helps build strong identity. However, mass tourism also poses threats. Its negative consequences may be deadly – their dark symbols are the decreasing availability of municipal services and the abandoned house districts, which are taken over by the tourism industry and are becoming more and more common in popular destinations. Moreover, the rise in the number of tourists means heavier traffic, more expensive flats and overtaking the area for the purpose of turning it into visitor attractions. Besides, there is also the issue of noise, chaos, mess and often the rise in criminal activity. It is very easy to focus so much on satisfying the needs of the tourists that you lose sight of the needs of the hosts – the inhabitants who, as a consequence, have to live in the surrounding that is changing and turning into a tourist ‘theatre’.

When it comes to the historical Central European cities like Poznań, which have the population of about 500,000, talking about ‘too many tourists’ may seem slightly exaggerated. In fact, hotels in Poznań accommodate about 1,5 million people per year. By way of comparison, hotels in Prague accommodate some 8 million people, whereas those in the unbeatable Paris – about 24 million. This number does not include the people who rent flats via the Internet or stay at their friends’ houses. Even if we take into account the difference in the scale, if you look at these numbers, it is hard to resist the impression that we are still a long way away from the excess. In Poland, which is located slightly on the outskirts of the highly developed Western World, we want to and we are striving to present all that is most precious and most beautiful in our country, while trying to earn money from the good products offered at affordable prices. districts and residential areas. Often enough they have a similar history – they used to be either industrial or residential areas for workers. Sometimes, they are old suburbs which where swallowed by cities, or settlements which had been developing alongside cities and then grew into one entity with their bigger neighbours. Often some incredible remains of the past have survived till this day in such districts: for instance the historic city layouts and architecture as well as some traces of the old social structure and elements of the intangible heritage. All of them constitute what we intuitively understand as the atmosphere or the spirit of the place. These places attract us and tempt us with their uniqueness and authenticity (which is sometimes understood in different ways). At the same time, however, they are also at great risk: they may lose their greatest asset in the process of being rearranged for the purpose of tourism.

Already at this stage, it is good to reflect on the strategies which would allow us to prevent the negative tendencies which might occur in the future.

In many European cities, on the outskirts of the most glamorous city centres, one can find old, charming, yet slightly forgotten We are planning to continue our work on Fest Fyrtel. Together with the inhabitants, we are going to try to present all that is most interesting in the central districts of Poznań, however in a way that will not put at risk that which is most important in them.

This threat has already been noticed. In 2017 a new tourism strategy was announced for Copenhagen. Its authors bravely declared ‘the end of tourism (as we know it)’ and announced the new beginning – ‘localhood for everyone’. It is a well-thought direction: from the imperative for satisfying all the needs of the mass tourism to the peacefulness of slow tourism.

Following this, TRAKT Cultural Tourism Centre has begun a project called Fest Fyrtel which focuses on the identity of the Poznań districts of Wilda, Łazarz and Jeżyce. We have met with the inhabitants and enthusiasts in all three districts in order to find out what are the most important issues for them and for their districts. The key ideas motivating us in this project were: to show respect for the locality and the character of the places as well as to attempt to cooperate closely with the local inhabitants whom we understood as the hosts. As a result, three ‘maps’ were created, which present the most interesting places, themes and tales of the districts of Jeżyce, Wilda and Łazarz. Moreover, we set up an Internet website www.festfyrtel.pl and published a book Fest Fyrtel. Manual, in which we explain our vision of how to work on local subjects.

Mural at the corner of Górna Wilda Street and Wierzbięcice Street, photo: Ł. Gdak TRAKT CTC