Marc’s Musings: So, to the future…

Marc ponders the future of globe trotting for travellers

I have just read a National Geographic article on how the pandemic has changed our lives. Before COVID closed the world earlier this year, some 1.5 billion folk were travelling through international borders.

The closing of national borders globally has totally halted travel and with that happening, the world has become a sadder place; the concept of being able to travel when one wanted to seemed to be the highest form of personal freedom that one could aspire to.

With the reduction in travellers and tourists, many countries are now seeing their own previously tourist-impacted country in a different light. No pollution, clear air into a sparkling skyline. Locals are now seeing their country in an altogether different and energising light.  A new perspective on a region normally packed with tourists.

Mass tourism has troubled many popular tourist destinations that have emerged varyingly since the end of the Second World War, when economic existence superseded concerns for the welfare of locals and any faint consideration of conservation of a region’s ecosystem.

Locals have now learned their lesson as they have sacrificed culture for finance and they are now looking for more sustainable paths. As strict lockdowns are being lifted global, albeit in stages, residents are emerging to find views and a tranquillity not seen in eons, sometimes for the first time in memory.

So, it is a balance – money or the magic of a new experience. The only realistic solution lies in our hands; us, as travellers. We need to change our motivation for travel from the self-centred focus that most travellers have had up to this time to one of travelling thoughtfully, and respectfully.

Thus, I put the question … Is change possible for us, as humanity, AND for us as individuals? Does the pandemic help to shift our focus onto ourselves in respect of our world and our need to reconsider how we live our lives, OR is it just too easy to go back to being ‘like we were’. Shifting our filter-for-focus can change our perspective in a wonderful way. It just takes will power, and it also takes time to readjust. The result, however, can be the most beautiful image that our mind can behold.