Can responsible tourism change our attitude to strangers for the better?

Mark Twain wrote: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Whatever your views on the referendum, since the Brexit vote there has been an increased climate of fear in the UK. It seems that when faced with strangers – be these EU politicians, immigrants, or voters with opposing views – the UK is getting very fearful. It leads me to ask – is our attitude to strangers changing in a healthy way?

What we saw in the debate was those of us who see an EU politician, immigrant, local person, tourist or someone different to us in a positive, tolerant way, versus those who reacted with more fear of the unknown.

For those of us working in travel our business is in bringing strangers together, and now it feels more important than ever to re-evaluate our attitude to strangers at home and abroad.

For some people meeting strangers, often with different languages and ways of life is very exciting, and the essence of travel, for others it’s quite naturally a little scary. How we choose to manage this - whether you are an experienced traveller, like me, heading to Kenya to be hosted by the Maasai on safari, or a young family on your way to Spain for the first time – is more important than how much cash we have or what type of holiday we book.

What excites me about responsible tourism is that no matter what type of holiday we choose it brings people together in a fair and respectful way. Through responsible tourism we have the power to create positive, optimistic opportunities to counter a growing climate of mistrust around the world.

Regardless of the type of holiday we choose or can afford, as Westerners we often have the habit of thinking we know best, that our ways of doing things and our focus on being on time are universal. We learn little travelling this way. Travellers who instead develop the habit of asking questions, being open minded, curious and respectful find it’s reciprocated and their holiday is enriched.

We recognise the role tourism can play in fostering understanding between people of different cultures and backgrounds. We are upping our game and so too must everyone who believes in a tolerant world when every stranger is a potential friend and ally.