Tourism Today

 What makes specific countries successful as visit destinations, in an age of easier mobility, more financially able people looking for more kicks and when relative peace still rules over noisy geopolitics?

Physical tourism is enhanced by no entry visa fees, uniqueness of the destination, long standing welcoming reputation, good infrastructure, strategic locations, low cost of currency, appetising food and a variety of attractions.

Medical tourism venues are growing, due to the divergence in quality of care, level of fees charged and patients not being able to afford paying high charges in their country of origin.

Investment tourism has grown due to the greater ability to move huge sums of spare funds across borders by institutions, brokers, individuals and financial structures.   These can be not necessarily legal, as long as the players at each stage of the process are willing to do so.  Funds transferred usually move to accounts paying higher returns, are flexible or derive payback from properties.   Individuals investing in such transactions can holiday in their properties overseas.  They can make physical visits to islands of tax havens.  Funds for investments no longer require to be in traditional forms.

Sentimental tourism arise upon cultural vibes arising from emigrants still having strong attachments to places where they were born in, or grew up in.  These individuals no longer reside in the abode of their ethnicity - but are also financially able to spend on repeated visits to their country of origin, especially when they get older.

Examples of such diaspora are from the Anglo-Saxon culture, which has a wide choice of holidaying in Canada, New Zealand, USA, United Kingdom and Australia.   Ever since China opened up in the 1990s and progressed especially in techology, economics, trade and finance,
the descendants of her past emigrants have been going back in droves to holiday in their perceived Motherland.

Family reunion tourism has spiked as a result of many adult young moving overseas to study and then settling in the foreign nation of their graduation.  The migration of working age adults to other countries has caused empty nest syndromes in the abode of their parents.   The airline, visa brokerage and tour agent sectors have vastly benefitted from these developments.

Economic tourism is my term involving people who enter foreign nations on a tourist visa, but continue to over stay by working illegally, even if under paid and not going back to their country of origin.  Specific sectors thrive to use such individuals, especially in roles that others refuse fo undertake.    Strictly speaking, such individuals are not tourists anymore but have used tourism to enter the foreign country and then make use of opportunities.

Another form of economic tourism occurs when individuals illegally set up a variety of low level businesses in a foreign nation  to service fellow country men and women touring from overseas.

Prostitution tourism has been the bane of lesser developed economies when visitors are richer and tour another country for a variety of sex related transactions, including depraved acts that somehow miss the monitoring radar of authorities.

Military tourism has historically been a tradition since Roman Empire days.   I recall Thailand being utilised for R and R during the heydays of the Vietnam War in the second half of the 20th century.   Troops require relief and it does not take long to connect the points between military and prostitution tourism.

Influencer tourism arose on the heels of widening social media.    The agendas of such individuals posting online vary, ranging from self glorification, promoting commercial products or services, personally fighting for ecological causes, sharing photography work or writing as authors of old used to do.

Retirement tourism  focuses on the elderly moving to another place permanently or for part of the year.    The impetus for doing so can be financial, economic, preference for another climate, varying costs of living, tax induced or having a partner or spouse who grew up in a different nation.    Reasons are as diverse as the number of nationalities involved.  Whether these foreign originated retirees mix with locals or just hang around their group of expats is another question.

Geopolitical tourism refers to some tourists continuing to tour selected countries primarily because of their strong convictions and belief in their preferred political systems.

Ecological tourism is growing due to the commitments of such tourists to taking more care of Nature and Earth.

Sports tourism has been popular with Europeans and Americans.   The holding of more spectacular and successful events especially by FIFA, tennis Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympics come to mind, but more viable are the visits to foreign countries by tourists for social skiing, water sports and regularly held marathons.   Access on television and other screens for sports like cricket, rugby, cycling and beach volleyball are not enough - enthisiasts need to be there, even if just as observers.

Religion linked tourism goes back for so long, whether fulfilling the Haj,  completing the pilgrim's track to Jerusalem, or visiting Buddhist holy sites in northern India.

While tourists mostly inject spending into places in dire need of regular cash inflows, there can be a dark side when visitor numbers overwhelm the local demographics.    There truly can be too much of a good thing.

Over populated numbers of tourists can result in lack of reasonable housing costs for residents.   The strain of too many plane and ship arrivals has often unspoken challenges in environmental pollution, hyped up food prices and discrimination in treatment of tourists and locals.

It is never reliable to dominate your city or island's economy perilously dependant on tourism and its trappings.   Pandemics like Covid 19 and outbreaks of war wipe out the ability of tourists to arrive.  Rates of street crime and increased perceptions of personal danger can cause a dent into the presumed rising rates of arrivals.   The attitude towards earth quake risk areas - even if otherwise busy vacation sites - can impact on tourist attractions.  

Where cold climate seasons provide a reprieve for the locals from the hordes of tourists, it is a welcome break -  for example, think of contemporary Xin Jiang,  Scandinavia, Nepal, Canada, the Antacrtic and the Tierra del Fuego.   For other more benign climate territories, the disadvantages can be endless -  I reflect on Spain, Thailand, southern China, Malaysia and Singapore.

The ugly face of unwanted tourism vibes to me is when I witness thousands of cruise ship passengers disembark from a giant liner at port.   These passengers seem to be comparable to ants from floating versions of hives.   Hordes have booked on ro a land based tour for the next eight hours after the cruise ship docks.  And there are several cruise ships creating the buzz, the hype and the money.

Repeating visits to the same place can arouse the curiosity of some.  Many families can check into the same hotel year after year to soak in a week or two of almost doing nothing, with meals arranged, children taken care of by hotel activities and having a new routine enjoying the sun.  Some cities have transformed much within a short space of time, like in China.   Others have not progressed much or even deteriorated.

The boom in travel has also ridden on the heels of foodie experiences.   Hubs in cities like Barcelona, Melbourne, Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Lisbon, Vienna, Milano and Palermo have created a buzz to visitors than just sight seeing.

Schoolie and sports related fan group heavy tourism, effused by energetic youth, can at times go out of control, creating shudders in the spines of police and local residents.   They come at pre fixed times of the year.

Letting the hair down behaviour can also be witnessed during Haloween nights, eve of Christmas beaches, full moon nights on remote isles and narrow city lane celebrations.   Such touristy actions can work against the basic principle for foreign visitors - foremost of all, to respect the place one is in.

#yongkevthoughts

No Point to Visit A Physical Store

 These days, some Australian Corporates which operate huge chains of supermarkets, department stores and providers of other home goods, do provide a very different atmosphere for customers.

Customers visiting their stores or outlets are filmed on video or on other forms of image.

Customers in physical stores are strongly encouraged to self check out.

Customers taking the effort to visit such stores are increasingly looked upon by management as growing risks of theft, even when most of us do not deserve to be treated as such.

Customers visiting stores used to take the experience as a destressor or as a place to socialise.   We are very wrong to think so these days.

More variety of stock can be found available on line than on physical shelves.

Online services can offer delivery of heavy items better than for customers to carry such goods themselves.

Customers increasingly can no longer meet the same staff members at retail stores.

There can be no point in phoning up a store for help as they may lack staffing and no human being is assigned at work to attend to your phone call.

#yongkevthoughts

Eggs and Eggs

 Have fresh hens eggs been over commercialised?

Whether its grain fed, free range, cage laid, small or big size - it may be useful to hark back to basics. Some of us are still fortunate to get them from the chicken coop, while others only see them only im refrigerated displays.

What do we use the eggs for? We get them as omelettes or as runny add ons for burgers in cafes. We make Onsen eggs to accompany our Ramen or use them in making baked cakes. I love my soft boils to add to my savoury oats.

Eggs can be hard boiled and marinated to serve them inside steamed Baos or in South Indian curry puffs. Thai stir fries like Pad See Ew and Cantonese Wat Tan Hor Fun have yolk and whites lightly cooked over the noodles.

My photo shows 700 gram fresh eggs for a dozen costing AUD 3.33 per tray.

#imageke

v

Pottering Around My Garden

 

As the warmer season arrives in the Southern Hemisphere, I love to do the garden tasks where possible just after the sun rises in spring and summer.

Watering, weed removal, culling shrubs, fertilising, clearing unwanted growth around the desired plants, lawn mowing, shaping plants.

Removing cobwebs outdoors from eaves of the roof and pergola.  Broom sweeping the courtyard.  Washing down the fence.  Making sure no drainage blockages in the manholes.

Then there is the barbeque.

The air can still be perfect, without the impending humidity.    The blooms may look half asleep or not fully themselves, but I can understand.    The flora need moisture, perhaps watering them after dawn makes more sense than when they are straining under the full blast of the sun at noon.

I feel the freedom to dispose of clutter, whether unwelcome growth in old pots, invaders surreptitiously embedding themselves under otherwise decent growth.   Freeing up the space also gives me a sense of releasing good Chi as opposed to negative vibes.  Cutting up dried roots, leaves and other unwanted growth is like freeing up the burden on each plant.

I also observe the progressive stages of how buds transform to flowers and fruits.
Minute beginnings of reproduction, they catch my eye and arouse my nostrils.   The care and detail the plant makes effort with impresses me.   Pollinators help the process, miniature petals are formed and then come the start of little stalks.  

#yongkevthoughts

The Life Force in Old Things

The Japanese and some south east Asians believe even non animate things have a spiritual presence.  I generally refer to it as a lifeforce.   Antiques and non antiques can absorb the influence of past human individual or groups who used such objects, especially when they use it on a regular basis, intimately or did develop a fondness with a specific tool, utlity, furniture or ornament.

Objects can remind the human heart or memory of various degrees of experience.  Such inanimate objects, still as they seem, are viewed by some as witness sentinels to happy events, arguments, upsetting differences or significant moments.

Whether such vibes are benign, positive or otherwise, overall we humans develop a respect for such crafted things, whether metal, wood, paper or fabric.

When we walk into a room laden with old things, it is more than aesthetic presence we feel.  The visual impression may strike us first in design and layout, but we also can be sensitive to the feel of their surfaces, the sounds of opening and closing drawers, the changing of colour at sunrise or at noon and the working of tools.

Some of us can sense the love of previous owners for the furniture or sculpture.  How certain objects have been polished, dusted, admired, moved or caressed can exude from its appearance.

Traders may
emphasis on the financial value of so called old things and collections,  rather than what is referred to above.  Values traded by collectors are saddled with history, fact, legends and hype. Rarity and upkeep loom large as to how prices are set and sold.

Reusing old things can be environmentally friendly. When an abode is to be demolished, there can be interesting salvages of door frames, carved windows, floor tiles, screens, floor boards and more.  Such items taken from soon to be destructed houses can then take a separate and secondary life of their own.

It is truly in what is in the eye of the beholder for so called things.  And may I add, the purpose for such items going forward in the future.

If they are decided to be of no future use or benefit, they can be dumped on the street side once the human owner passes away - they become fodder for landfill and forgotten burial.

I reckon each of us having or keeping such old things must take the responsibility to decide letting it go or preserve their use when we are still alive.   Once such items become the responsibility of third parties, the sentiment attached to such objects are mostly lost and forgetten.

Is there any difference in how we view objects landing in a polished glass display at a musuem or gallery - or gathering dust in a unkempt antiques shop?

#yongkevthoughts