The Final Call - In search of the True Cost of our Holidays by Leo Hickman
I picked this up on holiday recently. It kind of felt right, although I didn't read it until I got home. In his new book, Guardian columnist Leo Hickman lifts the lid on tourism, and uncovers some uncomfortable truths. There are all kinds of environmental, social and economic consequences to tourism that we just don't see. Or, more to the point, choose not to see.
Across the 12 chapters of 'The Final Call', Leo Hickman takes something of a world tour of classic holiday destinations, talking to fellow vacationers, local politicians, grass roots activists, bar staff, cleaners and prostitutes. He visits the Alps, samples the technologically miraculous luxuries of Dubai, takes a cruise, and calls in at Disneyland Hong Kong. Some of the things he uncovers are jaw dropping. Ski resorts that have a bit of a warm summer and fly in snow by helicopter, that was one particularly striking fact. Or there's the remote beach in Thailand, where developers ground up the outlying coral reef to make cement to build a hotel, and then could only watch as the currents washed the unprotected beach away. That last story could in fact be a parable for much of the tourism industry, rife as it is with short term thinking and a cavalier approach to conserving the very things they rely on for their business.
One striking recurring theme is water. So many touristic activities depend on water - for swimming pools and golf courses in particular. Many places featured here are struggling to meet water needs, and not just the desert kingdom of Dubai. The Spanish coast is in something of a water crisis, which is a problem for its golf courses. Across its eighteen holes, a golf course uses the same amount of water in a year as a town of 12,000 people. In Kerala, in India, hotels have their water delivered by lorry. Sometimes this is supplied from reservoirs, other times it is 'stolen' from nearby villages' wells. Solving water provision, and dealing with waste water, is one of the great challenges facing the global tourism boom. Unfortunately the book doesn't offer many solutions on this front.
We all know about the environmental cost of flying, and this is something the author deals with at some length. This is a touchy subject these days, especially living in London, where I can get to a major airport with laughable ease, but there's just no getting around it. In 2005 the aviation industry ploughed its way through 83 million barrels of oil a day, and the forecasters see nothing but growth ahead, especially as China and India begin to develop their own budget airlines. There are some solutions here, or at least mitigating possibilities. I won't go into them all, but there are lots of interesting little quirks – apparently China opened up a bit of airspace recently that took a half hour off the journey time from Europe, adding up to thousands of flying hours saved. Virgin have started towing their larger planes to the runway in some places, saving a ton of fuel each time. The UK's Monarch Airlines complain that planes in Europe average 75% capacity, meaning one in four could be cancelled if passengers could legally be transferred. Under current European law, they can't. It's little loopholes like this that compound the problem, and The Final Call has plenty of useful ideas that policy makers would do well to look at more seriously.
Hickman is pragmatic in his conclusions, and he steers clear of telling people not to travel. His own solution, once he's paid off the carbon debt of his own world tour, is to operate on a three year cycle: on year one, take a long-haul flight. Year two, take a short-haul flight or do some 'slow travel', taking a train and taking your time. Year three, holiday somewhere local.
Other suggestions include staying for longer - don't hit Dubai for a weekend. Stay two weeks and make it worthwhile. Avoid chain hotels and all-inclusive packages, as your money won't reach the local community. 'Slow travel' is an interesting concept as well, making the most of local culture, good food, and simple pleasures, rather than rushing around all the sights.
I haven't touched on some of the other issues raised, of prostitution and erosion of local culture, or what happens when a destination falls out of fashion, but these and more are covered, making it a broad, multi-disciplinary book. I have to admit I got a bit tired halfway through, like I was delayed in transit in the middle chapters, but it picked up again. I think Hickman deals with some places better than others too. He doesn't seem to quite get under the skin of some of the destinations. Dubai, for example, is a place that seems to get off lightly (a friend of mine took a holiday in Dubai, had dinner on a terrace that had outdoor air conditioning so people could sit in the sun, and despaired that her green efforts would make any difference at all). On the whole, however, this is a useful book, a valuable resource for those who do care about the impact their leisure choices have, and a warning to tourists and locals alike to consider the sustainability of their actions.
