Sharing a short essay that arrived in my inbox today, courtesy of Dense Discovery — a newsletter about design, tech, sustainability and urbanism curated by Kai Brach, based in Melbourne, Australia. Do we travel for transformation or validation? It's always interesting to hear what thought leaders "outside" the travel industry have to say about the state of tourism, so I'm sharing Kai's article with his permission. There's a few good points in this piece, including how touristic travel (e.g. mass tourism) ...

I’m a self-professed culture nerd. The feeling I get when I solve a cultural dilemma—like why the Italian tour operator said my colleague was taking advantage of him, or how to build trust with a French colleague—gives me a rush that makes me feel like the next Nelson Mandela. That’s because I’ve also seen the darker side of culture. People are quick to distrust each other around our great, big planet. We notice each other’s differences, and more often than not, we say, “No, thank you,” and retreat back ...