Ken 1Travel Ethics: Getaway to Absolutely Nowhere
May 21st 2008 02:01
We often criticise immigrants for not embracing and blending with our culture. How is this much different from most of us who, when planning to travel to other countries, tend to look for hotel rooms that are provided with soft beds and soft pillows instead of the traditional bamboo mattresses, along with its restaurants that serve omelettes and cereals every morning?
“Let the nature come to you!” says the thirty-something host for the third time, as he’s sitting on a red sofa inside a villa in the middle of a jungle. Then there’s a giraffe standing just outside. Slowly, its head slides through the open window to approach the host’s hand that has a handful of diced carrots. The giraffe of course indulges itself with it. Then for the fourth time, the host looks back to the camera and reprises: “Let the nature come to you!”.
Henceforth, “Let the nature come to you” =
“Dear couch potatoes,
You need not worry.
We will spoil you like royalty!
Kind regards,
Mother Nature”
This is what Channel Nine’s travel program, Getaway, is entirely about. Travel gradually becomes exclusively about tourists’ convenience, not necessarily the culture they visit.
The next time they feature an episode on Mount Fiji, Japan, the host probably once again will be sitting in a mansion built right next to that mountain. Then, Getaway somehow finds a way to blow up the mountain, so those broken rocks will roll down into the open window and bury him alive. The next thing you know, his head pops out of the piles of the rocks and yells to the camera, “let the nature come to you!”.
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Getaway typically starts an episode with a glib packaging of historical and cultural information of a chosen tourist site, but only to be glossed over quickly so that the program can move on to an emphasis on how the place is ideal for relaxation. The scene follows with the show’s host in a bikini speaking to the camera: “It could be you out here!”. The scene then ends with one of the locals merely appearing as a waitress, handing the host a glass of cocktail.
Where’s the traditional dance? Do we even get to see a big scope of how people there look like?
Not to mention several accommodations nowadays are even also facilitated with cable TV and video games. Some resorts even have a swimming pool right next to a safe beach. These are often the accommodations Getaway promotes. What’s the point spending all that money to experience ‘pseudo-places’ that make you feel at home?
I am not insisting tourists should be marooned in the middle of a crocodile pond, but they need to acknowledge it is a chance of a lifetime. There are millions of things they would never manage to find in Australia. It’s very unwise to just always run to the security of pure cliché.
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Sooner or later, locals of tourist spots might consider sacrificing their own authentic culture only in order to attract Western/Westernised tourists and ensure they won’t be excluded from global tourism and capitalism that has become universal. Soon, travelling to another country will be as culturally shocking as gliding to the nearest McDonalds.
Well, Getaway manages to attract an average of 3 million viewers across Australia each week, which practically suggests many believe ‘authenticity’ only subsisted in the past. They choose to enjoy the already contrived tourist space and be grateful to be in a place already slightly different from their hometown. Getaway successfully brainwashes prospective travellers to believe that just stepping out of their hometown is already considered as the ultimate getaway.
The definition of ‘getaway’ is no longer getting to taste another culture, but literally just… getting away temporarily from your mean boss, from your useless employees, from the job you love to hate, etc…
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Comment by Market Newbie
Stock Market Punk
TECHNO BABBLE
But hold on, I've got to give this travel agent $1,200 U.S. for my plane fare, maybe $500.00 for hotel accomodations, $300.00 for connecting flights and other transportation. I'll save maybe a $1000.00 more for other incidentals, taxes, landing/terminal fees, food, etc. Then, I'll cancel say, 5 days' worth of money making appointments so I can enjoy a week of relaxation in - my own bedroom upstairs - in this house where I'd been staying since I was 15!
Great
Comment by Ken 1
'Pop'losophy
Bottom Dog Music