The Wander and Wonder Podcast

As we have seen around the world, our lives are adapting into a "New normal” of how people should behave in public places, so I wonder how that will change the experience in UNESCO sites and properties, and more importantly in sites where management is not a strong feature.

Locals sum the tiniest part of audiences all over the world: you see it in the stats of the the Louvre museum, or the Gaudi houses, so now the sites are asking themselves how are they going to take care of domestic tourism. As we have discussed in the episodes of this season, it might be that our next travels will most likely be in our local region rather than travelling overseas. Another question arises on our last part of the interview with Amilcar Vargas, how are the locals engaging in UNESCO sites? Particularly in those sites that are an important site for celebration of traditional rituals. For more check out www.thatwanderchic.com 

Every time I go to a UNESCO World heritage I ask myself the same thing: what came first, the tourist or the designation? For many places the UNESCO branding comes hand in hand with heaps of tourism arrivals, and for people like me who are always analysing tourism impact, I wonder if UNESCO is nourishing the tourism crowding. I had to pursue this issue in our interview with Amilcar, what are the negative sides of the UNESCO designation?

When I was doing fieldwork on my bachelors many communities in Mexico kept saying that their goals was to get the national designation of Pueblos Magicos, if not UNESCO World Heritage. Coming form a Town with both designations this issue always gives me the heebie jeebies.

I have seen the commodification of culture and traditions when they are consumed by tourism, but there must be another side to the story. What are the heritage managers doing to tackle these issues? Read more..

What is the role that Cultural Heritage sites have in influencing the amount of travellers in cities and sites?

World heritage sites are attractive to tourism because their value belongs universally to all humanity, but lets not kid ourselves, they are also attractive because  of the trends in social media. How are UNESCO sites managing Overtourism? Listen to this new episode with Amilcar Vargas, we discuss what strategies have UNESCO listed sites been developing to tackle overcrowding. Don't forget to check out www.thatwanderchic.com to learn about our host, our guests and much more.

When we think of tourism, we think there is an economic value that benefits locals from that tourism growth. The problem is, when the sense of place is too attractive, sometimes the industry doesn't benefit the locals at all. Last episode we discussed Overtourism, but how can we tackle it?Diversify and distribute is about managing and planning inbound tourism. But also, tourists have to bear some responsibility. 

How can travellers be more responsible? What is the morality of travel? Who has the right to travel? We need to rethink the way we travel or the reason why we do it.

After considering who bears the cost of tourism growth and what are the strategies some countries have started to develop to tackle overtourism. Joseph Cheer and I discuss mass tourism, we strip the ideas and ethos behind being a tourist or a traveller. And we introduce the role Cultural Heritage and branding have in the industry, which will be the topic of our next episodes! Read more...

Overtourism occurs when there are too many visitors in a particular destination. But how would we define “too many” tourists? And what are the impacts and benefits of having an overcrowded destination? What's makes Overtourism an issue and how are governments managing locals from backlashing at the tourism growth?

Will the industry survive? Will we be able to travel again, soon? Everyone is wondering... How can the industry be resilient? What will change and what will adapt? Is the pandemic giving us a chance to be more solitary or are we going to be more greedy as human beings? Will this time to think -at home- give us some insights on how to travel more responsibly? How will our next travels look like? Read more on www.thatwanderchic.com 

Let's face it, travel is a luxury. But those who depend on tourism to sustain their livelihoods are the most affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Tourism has been seen as a great tool for developing, but it has also create a dependency of communities on this industry that are now experiencing a terrible situation. In this episode, Heather and I continue to discuss the impacts of the Coronavirus crisis on the travel industry, and we reflect on how as we can help. Read more at www.thatwanderchic.com 

As travel plans have been cancelled until 2021, we travellers ask ourselves when will we be able to catch another flight. Some had to cancel and postpone travel plans until further notice, others were on a trip while everything went down. For the first episode of second season of The Wander and Wonder Podcast, my guest Heather and I, will be discussing how the travel industry has been struck by this epidemic.  Heather shares with us her experience on the travel agent side of things on how the process has been for both industry and travellers. Read more on www.thatwanderchic.com

How tourism, -an industry that pinpoints the commodification of culture, and one of the capitalist experiences of excellence- exist and has developed in Cuba? There is so many views to Cuban tourism industry. Marisa and I dwell on the many feelings that we encounter while visiting this country. Read More.