CulturallyOurs Ethics of travel

The Ethics Of Travel With Thuha Nyugen

04.06.21
CulturallyOurs Ethics of travel
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There is no doubt that travel is one of the most wonderful activities that we can partake as humans. Travel feeds that insatiable curiosity and love for all things unique and different from that what we are used to. There really isn’t anything quite like it to feed our mind, body and soul, right? But often we forget to realize that travel truly is a privilege. To travel and to explore near and far isn’t something all of us are blessed to experience. Some of us dont have the means, some dont have the support and some just dont have to luxury to take time away from life’s daily routine. Travel is a choice and a privilege and when we loose sight of this privilege, we start to become insensitive and immune to all that is happening around us that isn’t what we are used to.

That is why I am so thrilled to welcome a fellow travel and a travel and sustainability student, Thuha Nyugen to the CulturallyOurs podcast. Thuha is in the travel industry – she is studying tourism and sustainability in Sweden. As an immigrant living in Sweden she also shares some of the challenges she faced early on when her family moved to Sweden from Vietnam.CulturallyOurs Countries With The Best Food - ItalyThuha and I spoke about what sustainable and ethical travel means – not just for her but also as someone in the tourism industry. She shared some ideas on how people can participate in travel and tourism with a sustainability lens. And interestingly enough, sustaiiblity doesn’t just mean taking your own water bottle with you or buying eco-friendly products. Sustainability goes beyond the superficial – in fact it also means theĀ appreciation of local values, customs and traditions as well as maintaining the cultural integrity ecological processes and biodiversity of a region, people and place. Thuha and I also talked about some of the less obvious aspects of travel and tourism – the concepts of dark tourism, poverty tourism, ethical wildlife tourism as well as the importance of diversity in the travel and outdoor space. After all, everyone irrespective of color, race, religion or ethnicity has the right to enjoy the outdoors and travel when possible, right?

It was such a delight to speak with Thuha and also so refreshing to have a healthy dialogue about the good and the not so good parts of travel and tourism. We often look at this activity with rose colored glasses of how amazing of an experience it can be. But being aware of the true cost of travel for all parties concerned is important when making travel and experience decisions.

So come join Thuha and I as we chat about the ethics of travel and tourism on this episode of CulturallyOurs.

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