Pity travel

Posted Thursday, October 23, 2008, 9:59 PM by Lonely Planet

Who could have said in say, August, that we'd be leaning against a bar discussing Iceland? (Of course, you may well have been - given its white-nights party scene, its noble literary history and its endearing penchant for believing in elves, not to mention the genius of Sigur Ros and Mum.) The global financial sky-fall has brought the little island to a sad state of affairs, and on a recent night a friend told me that she'd like to head over there with a case or two of rollmops and some hard currency and spread some cheer.

The joke got me thinking. After the bombings in Bali, many travellers on the hunt for a tropical paradise chose to go there as a way of helping to rebuild its devastated tourist industry. In the wake of the tsunami, various destinations were visited not only by relief workers, but (as they recovered) by sympathetic tourists looking to put their dollar where it would help the most.

Pity travel. Is it a patronising, Lady Bountiful, pampered-first-worlders' indulgence, or genuinely compassionate?

Cherry Washington

Labels: Iceland, pity, tsunami

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