Sense of Place is what will change the way you travel
My theory on how we can be better travellers
Bangkok, February 2024.
“These traditional coffee shops have been around for decades, passed through generations of the same family’s hands. Most look as though the interiors haven’t changed at all over the years. That’s the appeal. As beautiful as the city’s contemporary cafes are, I could just as well be sitting in a cafe in London…Though the new ones may also be small independent businesses that I want to support, the older ones feel like a piece of history that we’re losing rapidly in a wave of characterless venues. I keep reading about the pace at which the city is changing, which only fuels my urgency to see as many of these old-school spots as possible. During one of my ventures, I make a note that sometimes it feels as though we travel to see a world that’s being swallowed by capitalism; last chance tourism to see disappearing environments, cultures and heritage alike.”
Words I wrote almost two years ago, during a month spent in Bangkok being pulled like a magnet to everything representing Thai culture and being repelled by anything that felt somewhat threatening to that; the Boots store near my guesthouse (horrifying), the gentrified Chinatown and Ari neighbourhoods, the Western shops that had me questioning what I had travelled halfway across the world for. What I didn’t realise at the time is that what I was really searching for was Sense of Place. And I think prioritising our search for Sense of Place is how we can move away from surface-level tourism and into a form of travel that’s far more beneficial for the places we stay in. Let me attempt to talk you through my theory.
You see, Sense of Place is currently under threat. There’s a fear of Bangkok becoming the next Singapore. Fear of Sri Lanka becoming ‘the next Bali’. Fear of Bali becoming…well, even more of what it has already become. In London, it looks like streets that once had distinctive character, now morphing into a sort of sameness: luxury flats, sanitised concept restaurants, coworking spaces instead of community venues. In European cities dealing with overtourism, it looks like neighbourhood shops being replaced by tacky souvenir stores, and historic buildings that once housed families, now operated by property developers as short-term rentals. Unequal wealth distribution and the constant push for growth and $$$ against the best interests of our planet and ourselves, mean that places are becoming shaped more by investors than by their residents. The door has been left wide open for corporations and cash cows, and slammed firmly shut behind the community and character that’s been forced out.
When I think about what creates a sense of place, these are some of the things that come to mind:
Traditional cafes and restaurants - in the UK, we have greasy spoons, in Mumbai, Parsai cafes, in Bangkok, old Thai-Chinese shops, in Bali, warungs. They’re typically independently run by people with roots in the area, and the look and feel of the venue reflects the local culture too (alongside the food, which is usually affordable for local people). These venues are now being erased and replaced by minimal spaces serving avo-toast from a menu that could be anywhere in the world.
Craft and textiles - fashion was once shaped by local fabrics and techniques. Think of the patterns and textiles you might associate with Scotland or Indonesia or India. They were formed out of local resources and traditions, by local makers and creatives. Now they are being replaced by a global fast fashion industry (or within the tourism industry, it looks like locally-made souvenirs being replaced with items that were actually mass-produced in China).
Design - I adore architecture and interiors that reflect the place I’m in. Think wooden houses and sliding doors in Japan, raised stilt houses in Thailand, heritage buildings in Hong Kong, or traditional London shopfronts with hand-painted signs. These places seem to be harder to find these days; in their place, you’ll find well-oiled, well-funded, beige AF developments.
Community and atmosphere - the things we can’t physically see but feel. Think music being played in the street, neighbours talking outside, the chatter of a local market. That sense of community changes when residents need to leave because of rising rents.
Sense of Place is made up of the things that define a location’s cultural identity. When I talk about fears of those things being erased, I want to be clear that this isn’t about not wanting other cultures to develop for some colonial travel fantasy. I remember reading a Reddit thread when a Vietnamese person shared how they hated hearing travellers complain about Hanoi changing. For them, it meant safer buildings with better structures and facilities. For the tourist, it meant it didn’t live up to the old-world fantasy that existed in their minds. I think that things can be restored and developed in a way that still maintains the local character and identity. Some of my favourite discoveries in Bangkok were the new places that were reinterpreting Thai culture (such as Citizen of Nowhere - a modern cafe, but it promotes and supports Thai crafters and local aesthetics). That’s what it all boils down to - supporting people and heritage: small independent business owners, family-run cafes, artists and makers, community venues, and so on.
Often when I tell someone I studied Responsible Tourism, I get a well-meaning question in return. “What can I do to be a better traveller?” And internally, I groan. Partially because they usually want a few quick tips and my brain can’t handle the pressure of trying to communicate a colossal industry in a way where people don’t immediately switch off. The other part comes from not wanting to give the same generic advice that everyone has heard before. Advice like - reduce your flights, pack light, go to less visited places - doesn’t help travellers to recognise what I’m trying to demonstrate.
The tourism industry is a huge system that mostly benefits a small, wealthy elite. When you take a trip, the majority of your budget for that trip is going to airlines and (most commonly but not always) to international hotel chains or cruise ships who retain most of the profits while local land, resources and culture are stripped away. On the ground, this looks like:
Just 15% of safari businesses across the entire (and HUGE) continent of Africa are owned by Black Africans. A 12 billion dollar industry in Africa…that isn’t in the hands of African people.
In the cruise industry, these corporate giants move through the oceans while causing extortionate amounts of pollution (please look this up because it’s wild how bad they are), while hoarding all of the money for themselves. The destinations they stop off at don’t see much benefit: tourists come for just a few hours and are often funnelled towards shops or experiences that are controlled by the cruise company, sending money straight back to themselves.
In Jamaica, the internationally-owned, all-inclusive resorts have taken most of the coastline for themselves, damaging the local environment, preventing local people from being able to access their own beaches, and pushing out local fishermen. All while ensuring that tourists’ spending doesn’t really reach the local communities outside.
This industry encourages mass tourism by pushing low-cost flights and package deals. Throw in Instagram and TikTok and it’s the fuel for an insatiable appetite to consume places as though they’re products. This is what I refer to as checklist tourism: when there is little to no genuine engagement with the place and culture, just moving through a list of places to eat, drink and shop, very similar to the sorts of places you enjoy at home. This is where I think people get confused with the message I try to share, as they think that surely spending is good for the local community. Except that isn’t always the case. Usually it’s the sorts of places I’ve spoken about at the beginning (the newer, cookie-cutter developments) that get spotlighted the most. Who is most visible online due to having a good marketing budget (plus a prime location and attractive interiors), and who gets left out? Is your list full of small-plates restaurants, Aussie-style brunch spots and international clothing chains? Then it could be possible that you’re not even supporting any locally-owned businesses during your trip (depending on the location). When you let culture (i.e. Sense of Place) lead the way, that naturally leads you to more local spots AND gives you a more immersive experience (see my attempt at explaining this by hand below. You may need to zoom in.)
So here is the advice that I’m going to give people now when they ask how to be a better traveller. Go and search for your Sense of Place. Really dig into what can only be found in this place alone. It means that your travel research might swap from looking for a list of restaurants to visit, to actually diving deep into the places music, art, crafts, natural heritage, spiritual practices, sports and so on - which means you’re switching from a mindset of consumption to a mindset of cultural curiosity. That chain hotel might be swapped for a guesthouse that’s full of character and local design details and supports a family business. Shopping from a major chain in the city centre might be swapped for visiting a small studio where items are locally-designed and ethically made. A foreign-owned smoothie bar in Bali might be swapped for a locally-run warung serving traditional dishes instead. And instead of only sticking to the samey yoga studios and beach clubs, you might be inspired to seek out Balinese art, which gives you a far richer understanding of the island. By seeking out Sense of Place, you’re helping to support and preserve what’s been forgotten, replaced and pushed out. Responsible tourism is about recognising “the big man” and choosing to support the “little man” instead. Because it’s the little man/woman who carries the culture and creates community.
What if we thought about responsible travel as anti-establishment travel, pushing back against fast travel, checklist culture and the systems that profit while places lose their character? I have a few problems with the term ‘responsible tourism’ (which I plan to write about soon), but mostly it’s around the fact that it isn’t very marketable and it tends to be framed mainly around the environmental impacts. Anti-capitalist travel could also work, but I’m not sure if it’s too ‘political’. I’d love to know what you think and if you’ve thought of travel in this way before.
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Love this idea of switching from a mindset of consumption to a mindset of cultural curiosity! It’s so important to actually learn about a culture when traveling, not just treating it like a checklist. I’ve found it’s shockingly easy to go to a place and not learn about it, so it really is something you have to consciously seek out
As a new tourist guide on heritage based walking tour, this article helped me grasp the value of my field. I had guided a tour in an my hometown which is underdeveloped region, but it has sooo many hidden histories. I'd say, the concept of sense of place resonated with my job. A guided walking tour with sense of place could be a great 'starter' to develop tourism sector in that region.