Environmental Bubble Bus

Who loves aircon?  I love aircon! Especially in the steaming hot country of Jordan,  a luxurious coach with aircon is not a luxury perse, it is a must. The very well organized tour with its bus has a lot of benefits. Did I mention the aircon? Of course we get everywhere in luxury and style, we don't need to figure out the local transportation system nor haggle with pesky taxi drivers for the best fare. Our guide Omar uses the microphone to inform us with facts and stories on Jordan and the sites we visit.

How could anyone argue  that this style of travel has a downfall? Well, you could debate on the kind of tourist experience you get. Cohen proposed there are five different kinds of tourist experiences.[1] The core concept is the distance between the traveler and his own society and the search for meaning in his travels. So we have 'existential travelers' who want to escape their normal society and life and have a deep longing for authenticity[2] and meaning in their experiences abroad. On the other side of the spectrum we have 'recreational tourists' who don't want to leave their own reality and society, They don't have a need for authenticity, they just want to be entertained!

For me, it feels like were more and the latter side of the spectrum than on the 'soul searching who-am-I?' type of tourism. We want luxury and we want to visit some entertaining sites. We are not concerned with travelling among the locals, meeting them, talking with them, knowing what the country genuinely feels like. Today we wanted to escape our lives and our studies, and just enjoy the Dead Sea in our own little bubble. We don't need to figure out who we are in our core. We just want to sit in our bubble with aircon, staring at a place that isn't ours, and never will be.

1. McCabe, Scott. "‘Who is a tourist?’A critical review." Tourist studies 5.1 (2005): 85-106. I go deeper into this typology in blog entry Tourist or Traveller, the Verdict.
2. See blog entry For Rent: Authentic Bedouin Tent. With Wifi. for more thoughts on authenticity and the article MacCannell, Dean. "Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist settings." American journal of Sociology (1973): 589-603

The economic dark side of tourism

The more I learn about Jordan and its tourism, the more I feel for the people involved.

Especially because the turmoil in the Middle-East is affecting the tourism industry in Jordan. And not for the better. 

Jordan has a quite well developed tourism infrastructure.[1] That means hotels, restaurants, tours and tour operators, airports, information and visitor centres etc are abounded. Of course they have a lot of  pretty 'stuff'in the country to see as well, like Petra. But they didn't build that especially for the tourists ;-). 

Tourism has become the largest industry in Jordan the last few years. And that is where things 'go wrong' in current events. Even though Jordan is a very safe and stable country (we get told all the time by almost everybody), it is surrounded by 'crazies'. Even for me the direct environment of Jordan make me hesitate in taking this trip. Jordan isn't Syria or Iraq, but for the general public it kind of is. That means less and less (Western) tourists are visiting the country. The last three years in a row, the tourist number have declined by 40% each year, as we got told at the USAID talk by Ibrahim Osta. That is a catastrophic blow to the entire industry. Where people left their traditional jobs for ones in tourism, they now aren't making any money. They have become economically depended on a industry under duress.

For me that really shows the darker side of tourism. It is a great industry, but very much relies on a complex variety of factors.[2] Publicity is needed in Jordan to stimulate tourism, and show that not all of the Middle-East is in chaos.

I bought a refrigerator magnet today in a touristic area and slipped the vendor an extra half dinar. It may not be much, but at least it's something.

1. See Tim Edensor in Jamal, Tazim, and Mike Robinson, eds. The SAGE handbook of tourism studies. Sage, 2009. on the globalization of tourism
2. William, S. (2009). Tourism Geography: A new synthesis. London: Routledge

The first gaze of Jordan and its wonderful eggplants

I had such a wonderful first day in Jordan! It is so much more friendly, comfortable and accessible than I thought! Most of the anxiety I wrote about in my first two  blogs has been taken away by this wonderful country and has been replaced by enthusiasm. 

First of all, the people are very friendly.  Yes, they do stare at us, especially me being a blonde fair-skinned woman. We get some  looks while walking on the streets, and  some taxi drivers shouting or whistling at us. Not so great, but nothing worse than I experienced in Peru and Bolivia.We can easily walk the streets alone, even later at night although the man to woman ratio changes dramatically and the looks we get increase. Strange enough, as women alone or when accompanied by men, you cannot sit at certain places in restaurants. There are floors for men only and mixed gender floors. That feels weird.

One thing I want to discuss in my blog is the 'gaze', as described by John Urry.[1] It says that the way we use our senses while on holiday, being in a different place than we are used to, cannot be on a objective way. Everything you see (not only with your eyes) is influenced by your emotions [2], memories, character etc. 

As an example. Julia and I walked on a shouq, a typical Arab market. We stared at the fruits and vegetables as if we never saw them before in our entire lives! The eggplants were amazing! I wanted to text people at home how amazing these eggplants were! Of course the image we saw was affected by our good experience of arriving in Jordan, making everything (how mundane or normal what so ever) a sight to behold. I find it very interesting to see how much your mood and expectations influence the way you perceive your environment.

 But to be honest, they were amazing eggplants.

1. Urry, John. The tourist gaze. Sage, 2002.
2. And tourism is a very emotional business. See: Buda, Dorina Maria, Anne-Marie d’Hauteserre, and Lynda Johnston. "Feeling and tourism studies." Annals of Tourism Research 46 (2014): 102-114.

L'aventure commence

I just came home from a whole month of travelling, my first solo travel abroad ever, to Peru and Bolivia. The trip was absolutely amazing, intense and almost therapeutic. I never travelled on my one for so long and so far and I experienced a different side of me. I was very adventurous and cautious at the same time. I stayed in private rooms. I did all the touristy things with other tourists, feeling a bit scared when I didn't encounter enough European travellers. It feels like I just arrived in the Netherlands and already I'm up and leaving again, this time to the far away country of Jordan. What to expect?

 

First of, I'm glad I'm not going alone, but with Julia, from the course. I feel glad and relieved of travelling with somebody else. Making decisions plans and mistakes even- it's more fun and relaxed to do it together. The adventurous come in pairs.

Second, I'm a bit anxious about going to Jordan. Almost everyday in the media you hear the horrible stories about IS in Syria. It may not be the same country, but they are neighbours. The whole region is a bit of a mess, so how far are we at risk? Anxiety comes as well with Jordan being a Muslim country. What do I wear as a girl? No knees and armpits visible is the general rule. How will I be treated? Is my view of the Middle East correct, or is it just plane Orientalism[1]?

Luckily I don't only feel anxiety. I'm also really excited! We are going to see wonderful things (Petra, Jerash, the Dead Sea), visit a vibrant and exotic country, and get a wonderful glimpse at a different and for me quite unknown culture and people. 

So, the adveture begins. Or should I say: continues?

[1] The term 'Orientalism', Edward Said argues, means that a stereotype image of the 'Orient' is given, which doesn't tell us that much about the Orient itself but more about the 'West' who came up with the idea. The Orient is depicted as backward, dangerous and less sophisticated to justify the West's superiority:

Said, Edward. "Orientalism. 1978." New York: Vintage 1994 (1979).

 

The reason of writing

One of the first things I see when I think of tourism is a gibbon wearing human clothes and maybe even holding a cigarette. It is a striking image: a very exotic animal, something you can only see abroad. How wonderful to see nature this up close! But at the same time, this strange exotic creature being exploited for tourists to take selfies with. It is a very unnatural thing, deprived of respect and used  to make a quick buck. 

 Because tourism feels so ambivalent to me, I am dedicating a blog to it.  In this blog 'Gazing at Jordan', I'll write about my experiences while travelling through Jordan with the Honours College Summer School 'Passions of Tourism'. After treating the subject of tourism in an academic way in the Netherlands, the last week of August we will be treating it empirically. Living the idea of tourism. There are worse ways to spend your summer holiday! 

On a daily basis I'll share my views on the country, my tourist activities there and some thoughts on tourism in general. Am I a traveller or a tourist and what is the big difference?[1] I'll also include some deeper pondering on the bias view I have of the Middle East and Islam. Is it really so bad as the media describes the chaos in the Middle East? Does it make me feel threatened? Is Islam really as bad as politicians like Geert Wilders make it out to be? And is it any different for me being a woman in a Muslim country?   

I hope you'll enjoy reading this blog as much I'll hopefully enjoy writing it, dear reader. 

And who knows, maybe we both end up being very passionate about Tourism and Jordan.

1. I will be using: McCabe, Scott. "‘Who is a tourist?’A critical review." Tourist studies 5.1 (2005): 85-106.