"I am here, the self-centered one"
In his latest publication, "Off the Beaten Path," Swiss history professor Valentin Groebner challenges the conventional understanding of tourism. Groebner, a self-proclaimed tourist on the road, argues that tourism is nothing more than consumption.
This perspective suggests that tourism is not merely travel or exploration, but a form of economic and cultural consumption where tourists "consume" destinations much like goods or services. The consumption includes infrastructure, resources, services, and the work of others such as flight attendants, bus drivers, cooks, maids, gas station attendants, service staff, and maintenance services.
Groebner's book takes readers on a journey through various travel locations, including the Atlantic coast, Burgundy, the canton of Uri, and Sri Lanka. However, he warns that the ideal, untouched landscape or oasis can be found, but only when one stops looking for it.
Despite the experiences and sights he encounters, Groebner finds no disappearance of worries or return as rejuvenated, transformed, or wise through traveling. Instead, he admits that a reliable companion, self-disgust, cannot be shaken off during travel.
The author also acknowledges the alarming environmental destruction and fatal effects on the climate caused by mass tourism. He discusses the contradiction of mass tourism, emphasizing that emptiness is great but strenuous and dazzling, yet filled only for the traveler, not for those who live and work in it.
Groebner's book, published by University Press Göttingen, provides a thought-provoking exploration of tourism and travel. With 136 pages, hardcover, and a price of €20, it invites readers to question their own perceptions and experiences of tourism.
As Groebner's book suggests, the real aspect of traveling may not lie in the pursuit of solitude, beauty, and silence, but in the interaction with other travelers. This perspective challenges conventional notions of travel and invites readers to reconsider their own experiences and the impact of their choices as tourists.
