They come in all shapes in sizes: Lists of “must-see” sites or “must-do”
experiences. Passport stamps or scratch-off maps that denote countries visited.
Regardless of what they may look like, collections like these are variations on
the travel-focused bucket list — whether they’re pre-trip dreams or a post-trip
proof of achievement. The “bucket” list is a wish list of things to do before
one dies — a term that originated in this context from the 2007
film of the same name, starring
Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Though a bucket list can consist of
any number of activities, the terminology has been particularly pervasive in the
tourism industry. It ricochets around the travel lexicon, spurring the creation
of bucket lists featuring destinations, activities and Instagram backdrops.
“The bucket list began as a mechanism to identify what one shouldn’t miss in
one’s life, yet has quickly evolved to a stand-in for things one must have.
Travel becomes something to consume, acquire and accomplish,” said Audrey
Scott, a tourism development strategist at Uncornered
Market.
Must-see/-read/-listen lists spur people to “binge” movies, books or music in a
rush to ensure they’re up to date on the latest pop culture. Applied to tourism,
the sense of urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out) tied to bucket lists
encourage people to treat travel as a “checklist” of things to
do,
rather than meaningful experiences to have. They indicate that dropping into a
capital city for a couple days, taking that “must-have” photo, and acquiring a
passport stamp is the same as “doing” a country. However, this kind of mindset
has a real and disproportionate impact on the natural environment, urban
destinations, and the people living in the places that travelers visit.
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Applying the bucket list concept to tourism is a natural fit: Bucket lists are
powerful sales and marketing tools — shallow in context, quick to create, and
simple to share. They fit well in the mass tourism business model. But that
model is changing; and with the industry’s shift in perspective and priorities
from quantity to quality, it’s time to rethink the travel-focused bucket list.
Coming into 2019, the tourism industry was growing at an unsustainable rate.
Approximately 1.5 billion international tourist
arrivals
were recorded globally in 2019 — a 4 percent increase over the previous year.
This was expected to be the case in 2020, as well. Of course,
COVID-19 brought
tourism to a screeching halt, with international arrivals down 70 percent in the
first eight months of 2020, according to the UN World Tourism
Organization.
“Traveling as it was before the pandemic was seeing far too many places being
overcrowded, fueled by digital influencers teasing us from our armchairs to tick
off must-see places of interest and destinations,” said Karen Simmonds,
founder of Travel Matters and the Make
Travel Matter campaign.
“Some communities lived in frustration at their homes being overrun with
visitors. The resources and infrastructure could not sustain so many visitor
numbers.”
The bucket list wasn’t only bad for destinations and locals, though. It didn’t
serve travelers, either.
“(The bucket list) has replaced the depth of qualitative connection in travel
with the breadth of doing as many things as possible and the pursuit of the
‘epic,’ in the form of an Instagrammable shot,” said Daniel Noll, also a
tourism development specialist with Uncornered Market. He added:
“The bucket list travel mentality has become a bit of a display, not unlike
what the experience industry used to criticize consumers for doing with material
things. All of this is a bit unfortunate for our mental health; because it
places on us a pressure to do more and to evaluate our ‘success’ by the number
of items crossed off the bucket list, which distorts our expectations and our
happiness baseline.”
As the world takes a pandemic pause, many travel professionals are advocating
for and encouraging the tourism industry to think about what a more equitable
and sustainable travel
ecosystem
can — and should — look like in the years ahead. It’s a message that is already
taking hold: Intrepid
Travel
normally releases a list of hot destinations for the upcoming year, but this
year the company published a “how to go”
list for 2021. And, instead
of its traditional "52 Places to Go" feature, the New York Times collected
reader submissions for the upcoming "52 Places We Love"
series.
Coincidentally, the tourism industry’s reckoning during this unprecedented time
is bumping up against society’s shifting values and priorities: People more
interested in connecting with
others
and spending quality time with those they love. They’re taking note of how
brands are responding throughout the
pandemic,
showing more interest in supporting those that take a stand or have a positive
impact on the world. Younger consumers, in particular, have their eye on how
brands are responding to the climate
emergency.
“Especially coming out of the pandemic, our hope is that people will look to
travel as a way to reconnect with the world, loved ones, nature, different
cultures and themselves,” Scott said.
The mere fact that the act of traveling will be more expensive and complicated
in the coming months and possibly years means people will likely, by default,
travel less often to fewer destinations, potentially for longer periods of time.
Scott asserts: “These forces may just coalesce to accelerate the adoption of
mindful, responsible
travel
that goes beyond and deeper than the bucket list mentality.”
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JoAnna Haugen is a writer, speaker and solutions advocate who has worked in the travel and tourism industry for her entire career. She is also the founder of Rooted — a solutions platform at the intersection of sustainable tourism, social impact and storytelling. A returned US Peace Corps volunteer, international election observer and intrepid traveler, JoAnna helps tourism professionals decolonize travel and support sustainability using strategic communication skills.
Published Dec 9, 2020 10am EST / 7am PST / 3pm GMT / 4pm CET