Arnie Weissmann
Paige McClanahan’s “The New Tourist: Waking Up to the Power and Perils of Travel” (Scribner, 2024) gives shape and definition to both what comforts and what distresses today’s travelers about tourism.
A frequent contributor to the New York Times travel section, she approached her work as a journalist, historian, philosopher and consultant, providing examples, context, reflection and recommendations on a subject whose complexity has grown as the number of arrivals has increased.
She is both critical and passionate, and in both roles, thorough and thoughtful. What sets “The New Tourist” apart from much that has been written on related subjects is that she approaches her task with an unusual degree of humility and self-awareness. Finding herself in a veritable tourist trap—a canned, corny presentation of local culture—she nevertheless joins in the enthusiastic applause at the end. She feels embarrassed, but tourist traps, she notes with almost a sigh, are ultimately “places of escape and entertainment.”
She has little patience for those who see a hierarchy as a place above other visitors. Irritated by those who “insist on the distinction between ‘travellers’ and ‘tourists’,” she reminds them: “Tell yourself that you are a traveller, but never forget that you are also a tourist.”
So who are the new tourists of his title? For starters, they are more sensitive and aware of the people and places they visit and the issues that affect them. This is not an entirely new concept, but in the face of growing recognition of overtourism, growing environmental concerns, growing community resistance, and evident economic leakages, it is appropriate to codify changes that have so far been described only in disparate essays and articles. The “new” tourist avoids ignoring the impacts of tourism, strives to be a good guest, and enjoys the benefits of travel.
For those working in the sector, many of his examples of where tourism has gone wrong will be familiar; the misfortunes of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Angkor Wat and Iceland have been cited many times before.
But I found his take on the English city of Liverpool refreshing. It speaks to a long-time resident who remembers the city’s days in decline and is now (mostly) delighted by its tourism-fueled renaissance. In describing the city’s transformation, McClanahan doesn’t ignore what the city has left behind along the way; so much has changed that it was stripped of its UNESCO World Heritage status because of development that led to “serious deterioration and irreversible loss… of outstanding universal merit.”
But looking at Liverpool as a whole, she concludes that its rise from ‘Smack City’ to European Capital of Culture is largely down to a form of tourism that “has enabled the city to rally its allies behind its… vision of the future”.
McClanahan devotes many pages to a destination often associated in the mainstream press with the ills of tourism: Hawaii. As she did in Liverpool, she spoke with long-time residents who have seen and can describe the changes in the islands in a way that humanizes what is more commonly described in statistics and policy proposals. Having visited Hawaii every year for more than 20 years, in part, to discuss statistics and policy with tourism stakeholders, I found her insights original and illuminating.
McClanahan’s writing style is also remarkable. It is clear and journalistic, but at times the prose soars. She memorably characterizes Barcelona as “so crowded and so empty.” Describing an Icelandic woman she interviews, she takes the reader to where she is: “The sky above us is vast and clear and full of whipping wind [Fanney] Gunnarsdottir’s braids cover her face and sometimes steal her voice.
Surveying the various historical conceptions of tourism, from Fyodor Dostoyevsky to Mark Twain to G. K. Chesterton to E. M. Forster, one might conclude that Twain, who died 114 years ago, perhaps best captured the spirit of the “new tourist” in his book The Innocents Abroad , published 155 years ago. “A broad, healthy, charitable view of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating all one’s life in one little corner of the earth,” he wrote. While this may reflect the noble aspirations of travelers, McClanahan also cites one of his self-effacing observations that reminds us of our own failings as travelers: the group he finds himself with, he writes, is “a bunch of fools … galloping about the world, looking wise, and imagining that we are discovering a great deal about the world.”
Ultimately, what unites McClanahan, Twain, and the other “new tourists” is the maintenance of self-awareness and empathy in the midst of a strange and unfamiliar environment, with the full understanding that “your” journey is not just about you or your own benefit. It doesn’t matter that McClanahan is describing a place you’ve never been; she’s a place you can relate to. She’s a traveling companion, eyes wide open, trying to figure it all out as she goes.
Like the rest of us.
