Travelling has opened
up the world so much; that the guidebook industry is massive. But as more
people travel overseas new problems develop. Ben Whateley-Harris investigates
Backpackers depart from
all over the world, to see new sights, experience different cultures and
ultimately live their travel dreams.
The backpacking phenomenon has its critics; many backpackers
do not travel to other parts of the word to immerse themselves in a foreign
culture, they simply bring their culture with them. Therefore countries often
suffer from the influx of tourists who are ambivalent about their values and
needs.
Lonely planet publications have been criticised for creating
the travel craze that is sweeping the world. Co-founder Tony Wheeler admits
that they are responsible for the masses of backpackers heading to certain
destinations.
In his book; Backpacking: Diversity and change, published in
2003, author Erik Cohen states: “Even though that one of the primary aims of
backpacking is to seek the authentic, the majority of backpackers spend most of
their time interacting with other backpackers and interactions with locals are
of secondary importance.”
Guidebooks are synonymous with the travel industry; where
there is a destination there are a dozen guidebooks. Even destinations deemed
risky and volatile still have guidebooks. Lonely Planet was lambasted in the
press 4 years ago for publishing a book on Burma (Myanmar), which many critics
said promoted the current military regime.
Former Lonely Planet authors have also joined the criticism
that surrounds the mass arrival of travellers to publicised lonely planet guide
destinations. Other handbooks have also been to blame. For example the
Brazilian coastal town of Jericuacuara was a small sleepy paradise unknown to
travellers until the 1991 South American Handbook (hardcover, 67th edition)
described it as: “one of Brazil’s most secluded, primitive, beaches.
Increasingly popular among travellers and Brazilians. It is so quaint that
pigs, chickens and donkeys roam the street.”
The 2005 Lonely Planet Brazil says of the town, “a small
fishing village popular among backpackers, hip Brazilians, and windsurfers. A
beautiful spot where dozens of palms drowning in sand dunes face traditional
fishing boats.”
Thomas Kohnstamm wrote for Lonely Planet and disliked the
way travellers en mass would bombard a town after a guidebook had publicised it
so. In 2008 in his book Do Travel Writers
Go To Hell he said of Jericuacuara: “The Locals have watched the place
mushroom from a charming yet soporific outpost that didn’t even have regular
electricity until 1998 to an international hot spot, complete with beach yoga
and crepe restaurants. Locals are side-lined as undesirable obstructions to
Jericuacuara’s development, living farther and farther from the central part of
town.”
Do guidebooks ruin a destination by bringing with them
unwanted travellers who ruin the originality of a place and bring more problems
than the local community can handle. Or do they bring valuable lifeblood in to
the area enabling development and progress?
The Banana Pancake
Trail
The tongue in cheek name of this trail comes from the sweet
breakfast served along the route found in countries from Vietnam to Thailand
and beyond.
Although there is no firm definition to locate the banana
pancake trail the metaphor name is used for the ever-developing travellers
trail heading through many different places in South East Asia. There are even
arguments that the trail has crept into China and as far down as Fraser Island
in Australia. The banana pancake is not indigenous to Australia or China, but
the countries are now becoming synonymous with the trail.
Many places have changed forever; the rural has become the
urbanised and local jobs have turned from traditional to that of catering for
the increasing number of backpacker’s arrivals.
Vang Vieng in Laos was once a small village nestling on the
banks of the Namsong River. After numerous praise in guidebooks such as the
Lonely Planet the town has grown to be known as a ‘backpackers ghetto’. What
was once a sleepy backwater visited only as a stopgap between the capital
Vientiane and the world heritage city of Luang Prabang has changed beyond
recognition.
With the influx of travellers into an area the demand to
house and feed them becomes heavier by the year. One of the main factors
affecting local people is that the more travellers who come, the more
opportunities for commercial developments will arise. Many developments will be
from outside the area and locals will not see the financial benefit.
Entrepreneurs will seek to exploit these by building fast food chains, surf
shops and guesthouses.
Laos, a communist country does not have big multinational
food chains but that hasn’t stopped people outside the areas cashing in on the
tourist and backpacker trade. Outside capital from the cities has been put into
the town in the forms of restaurants, all privately owned and not owned by the
locals who have sold their land for a small fee.
The backpacker may have trampled and stamped their mark on
the trail, but now tour operators are cashing in on Viang Vieng’s popularity
bringing with them buses of travellers and block hotel reservations. Meanwhile
backpackers spend their money in bars owned by hotels, and not the local bars
that are in most need.
Even in fiction the Lonely Planet has been lambasted for
creating over development in areas of once tranquil idyllic beauty. In the
Thailand set book ‘The beach’ by
British author Alex Garland he writes, “There's no way you can keep it out of
the Lonely Planet, and once that happens, it's countdown to doomsday’’.
Independent Travel
Whether you’re sipping a coke liberally splashed with
samsong whiskey in Bangkok’s Khoa San Road or inter-railing around Europe you
will see the lonely planet on the table in front of many travellers.
It would be misleading to say that Lonely Planet has spurred
the huge growth in travel, though its impact is undeniable. Other guidebooks
and cheaper airfares mean that the world has few places left that are unspoilt
or not commercial.
In an interview on Lonely Planet’s website co-founder Tony
Wheeler said: “I don't think Singapore Airlines buys new jumbos just because we
did Southeast Asia on a Shoestring.”
Times have changed since the first Lonely Planet books were
published in the 1970s. More people have the disposable income to see the world
and inevitably want to travel and take a guidebook with them. However one of
the original Lonely Planet Authors Joe Cummings counters that most people who
buy the books never put them to use; “The vast majority are armchair
travellers.”
People still travel without guidebooks, seeing them as soft
options. Some people delve into travel with a passion and a hatred of
publications such as Lonely Planet and Rough Guides. They simply immerse
themselves and learn as they go.
This is time consuming and risky, Thomas Kohnstamm’s Do Travel Writers Go To Hell, says of
that approach: “Only a small percentage of travellers have the time and skill
to travel with nothing more than a dictionary and a map”.
Guidebooks help those travelling to settle into a rhythm and
survive exploring areas where they know little or none of the language. This
may be due to the fact that backpackers and travellers seem to follow a similar
route and meet up, enabling them to network and gather information from one
another.
Few people (especially in Britain)have the mastery of
foreign languages to get all the information that they need from conversations
on the street. Therefore guidebooks will continue to sell and be treated as the
traveller’s bible. Despite being voted second behind DK Eyewitness Travel
guides in Wanderlust magazines guidebooks of the year, Lonely Planet’s sales
are still as high as ever.
The choice is up to the individual whether they use a
guidebook or not. Not everyone is a seasoned traveller or has the necessary
language skills they need
Many people have never experienced another culture and need
the advice and help available in guidebooks. It can be a companion, friend,
trusted ally and most of all, the hero in a traveller’s hour of need. Imagine
turning up late at night in a remote Mexican village and not knowing where to
stay. A guidebook will help you.
While some people consider guidebooks a hindrance that
brings far too many people to the same locations, ultimately the choice is up
to you. It all depends on where you are; where you want to go and how
‘independent’ you think you want the process of getting there to be.
In the end guidebooks are here for the long haul; especially
Lonely Planet who are owned by the BBC.
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| Hanoi on the Banana pancake trail experiences a huge influx of backpackers. |
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| Haard Rin beach famous for the Full Moon Parties has become a haven for backpackers seeking oblivion! |
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