Decolonise travel (from a descendent of colonisers)

Hi Reader,

How are you this week?

I am in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, on our last day here before we fly over to Danang and spend a few days in the quaint town of Hoi An.

Today is the first day of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, and last night we joined the celebrations to ring in the new year, which was a lot of fun.

I am very used to Lunar New Year celebrations because Singapore has them too, complete with fireworks, dragon dances, red envelops and food, so it was great to see how the Vietnamese celebrate.

If you're keen on visiting Vietnam, join our waitlist for the trip. We are planning to launch our Vietnam + Cambodia trip for the spring of 2027.

And go follow me on stories to see what the trip will be like.

I've had a few hours in planes and this gave me the chance to think more deeply about something that has been bothering me for a while but didn't have proper time to reflect on, mindfully and thoughtfully, how Western focused the travel narrative is and how to change that by "de-colonising travel".

I hope my reflections will also give you food for thought.

📩 On this week's email

How to de-colonise travel. How the travel narrative is Euro/Western-centric, and what we can all do to change that. I will start by saying I am guilty of that, despite my best intention and a continuous effort to avoid what has been drilled into our subconscious for decades. Meg and I are committed to de-colonising our tours starting this year

How to de-colonise travel

Spain had one of the largest empires in history, with colonies as far as the Philippines and Latin America. We were the first europeans to set foot in the Americas therefore "discovering it" for the Western world, and then set sail towards Asia with the same objective.

Territories that were part of the Spanish Empire at some point Wikipedia

It's not that we discovered anything, nothing was lost in the first place; People lived there, culture thrived. We merely discovered it for the Europeans, who were the center of the world at the time.

That day, 12th of October 1492, remains the national day in Spain, a day that is also celebrated in other parts of the world, and a day that makes me cringe and feel extreme embarrassment every year.

I've been invited to the embassy for celebrations every year that I've lived abroad, now 20. I have never attended. To me, that was the year which started abuse, exploitation and occupation, I don't see what we have to celebrate. Then again, the winner mentality always prevails in the way history is told.

I am a descendant of these colonisers, although this was over 500 years ago and I have not done a DNA test which I suspect would reveal I am more French than Spanish (not that French colonialism was any better).

As such, I have been raised, like many of you, with a winner, superior mentality, that puts the Western world, the Global North, at the level of those who do the discovery vs those who get discovered.

The problem isn't even that, it's that history favors the winners and has always been written from the point of view of those who ruled these vast empires, those who have the wealth, and therefore the narrative is always presented from the point of view of the Western world. The rest of the world is therefore seen and consumed in comparison to that.

A simple example would be how we may refer to places as equivalents of European landmarks eg. The Venice of the East instead of the other way around, talking of Venice as the Alleppey of the West, as if Venice was the example of beauty, of water canal architecture, of perfection.

Or how our maps do not show proportion of continents as they are in reality but make Europe seem large than it is, at the expense of Africa being smaller than it is. Europe is also always at the center of the map.

What is colonialism

Colonialism has historically relied on economic, religious, political and social control over the colonised areas by a Western power.

For example, when Spain arrived in the Americas, it imposed its religion, its food and culture, its traditions and language, and its economic control over the native communities that already lived there. It exploited its natural resources and wealth, and sent it all back to Spain and Europe to fund more expansion and growth.

It also brought diseases that the local communities didn't have immunity for thus decimating entire ethnic groups, and in many cases enslaved or fought to subjugate.

I take the example of Spain because it is the one I know best, but the same strategy and behavior was exerted by Portugal, the UK, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and even Sweden, among others, Spain wasn't any worse.

The US has done the same in the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific through military and economic interventions. Japan did it in Asia, as did the Mongol Empire that expanded all the way to Europe, or the Persian Empire, expanding across Asia and the Middle East.

Alas, colonialism mostly ended with the WWII, but many territories remain under colonial power today, and neo-colonialism, rooted in economic control, is alive and thriving.

American Samoa, Guam and the US Virgin Islands remain under US control, Bermuda, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar under UK rule, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, St Barth's and Reunion under French rule, and so on.

Most of these have actively voted to remain territories under foreign rule in recent years, admitting that the economic support is worth it vis-a-vis independence.

Colonialism in travel

Afro-Cuban dancing in a community-led Afro-Cuban religion project in Havana

If you follow a diverse range of content creators, activists and media sources, you may be familiar with the movement to de-colonise travel.

This movement aims to bring awareness to and change to the travel narrative from being written from the perspective of the winner to giving back the power to communities.

From assuming that the Western world at large are the benchmark of what's best, and the framework through which the world should be evaluated and seen, and therefore, the travel narrative needs to cater to that view, instead of letting a diverse range of perspective co-exist on equal terms.

Some examples of colonialism in travel:

Other parts of the world are described in comparison to European alternatives, as if anything European (or Western) is superior.
Western standards are demanded when traveling as the expected level of service that everyone else should adhere to, even if the local culture differs or values different things. For example, we demand fork and knife at restaurants where locals eat with their hands or a spoon.
The destination culture is being appropriated and comoditised, as something to be consumed. Traditions and culture are packaged for travelers to purchase. For example, the artificial water temples built in Bali for Instagram photos complete with "pretend" priests giving blessings for the 'gram.
Idolising what's left from colonial times as an attraction, like former colonial city centers visited without an understanding of their history and the often painful journey that created them, the enslaved that built it, the communities that died, the land was stolen.
Economic Neo-colonialism whereby a community depends on tourism spent for its success, and the foreign country exerts renewed control over the population and its economic development. Foreign companies continue to control the narrative and the message shared about the destination and its people, infrastructure development prioritises tourists and the best land is given to international corporations to build resorts, pushing people off their ancestral land. For example, many luxury resorts in Costa Rica are foreign owned, provide international standards of service and accommodation and are inaccessible to the local population, while offering experiences that appear local but have repackaged indigenous practices. Beaches are privatised for luxury resorts banning access to the locals in Jamaica. Safari conservations are set off for luxury lodge customers while locals can't enter or enjoy the wildlife, or are evicted from their land.
Tourism leakage, whereby the money spent by tourists stays in foreign countries, rather than the local communities, because the hotels, restaurants and tour companies are foreign and the majority of the money is leaked to international countries.

The movement to de-colonise travel

Our Zapotec host and one of the amazing chefs we visit

De-colonising travel focuses on moving away from a Western-centric view of the world and of travel by focusing on different narratives and points of view. Giving communities back their voice and letting them decide how their culture is consumed and explained, rather than doing it from the point of view of the coloniser. And then rebalancing the power play.

An example is our Oaxaca trip, where the entire trip is led by and focused on Zapotec culture, traditions and gastronomy, as told, directly by the women from the community. We don't decide or influence what the women share, we merely facilitate a balanced connection between the traveler and the communities.

To de-colonise travel, the starting point would be to reflect, then at least question the way we speak about a place through the gaze of a European / Westerner vs. an indigenous person, do our best to change that and finally make reparations.

This may sound simple in theory, but it is much more complex in reality.

It all starts by accepting that there are many ways to see the world and that the western approach or value system is not universally better.

At its core, this is best part of travel, and why many of us love to do it: to see other ways to live, love and thrive.

To learn about other cultures, to hear different perspectives. Most travelers are curious by nature, and want to hear, see, feel and learn about the rest of the world with an open mind.

This is also the biggest benefit from travel: The appreciation of other cultures and value systems and the perspective they provide. It makes us better people, it gives us ideas that we can apply to our life, it makes us more respectful and tolerant.

How to de-colonise travel

Learning about medicinal Japanese cuisine (and how to prepare matcha!)

So what can you do to de-colonise your travel experiences, in practice?

Here are some ideas:

Remember your passport privilege. The number of countries you can enter visa-free is the ultimate expression of neo-colonialism. Richer economies impose ludicrous and onerous requirements on citizens of less developed economies to get a visa, assuming that everyone would want to stay illegally because life is better there. This also goes towards expecting the rest of the world to speak English without speaking a word of the local language.
Money doesn't buy you a free pass. It does not give you the right to disrespect the destination you are visiting or impose your views and needs on them. Wealthier does not mean better, and it certainly doesn't give you blanket access or right to abuse resources. Be mindful, take or dispose of your trash, respect local etiquette, minimise your environmental impact and your use of local resources, especially if they are scarce (water, food, electricity).
Move away from outdated stereotypes of a place. The travel narrative is often defined through a Western view rooted in old believes of what a place should look like, so are the stereotypes or what we think or expect of a place. Immigrant voices are also local experiences (eg. Asian heritage in Sydney, or Indian culture in London), places evolve and change (Southeast Asian countries are economically growing at the speed of light).
Hear different perspectives, especially the local ones. Hiring the services of a local guide or patronising local businesses isn't just the best way to leave your colonial mentality behind, it is also the best way to hear the real stories, learn about a place from the people themselves and have a much more meaningful vacation. Staying at a Hilton, eating at McDonald's and joining a tour led by a foreigner is the opposite of de-colonising. See who benefits from your travel spend and try to make that closest to the ground as possible. Stay at a locally owned hotel, eat at the places locals eats at (not whose that have adapted the local cuisine to tourism palates and are frequented by foreigners), and hire the services of local guides.
Be mindful of historical sites. You may be visiting a place that looks beautiful but hides a tragedy or is sacred, it's the travelers responsibility to visit a place with the knowledge and respect it deserves and with the full story, not just the one that the winners wanted to share. Instead of commoditising it with photos and selfies, learn about its full story, and behave with respect around it. Other cultures aren't there to be consumed. At the same time, beware of museums that display items that were stolen during colonial times, displaying precisely the effects of colonising.
Stop judgement, and instead learn: The most common example of colonialism in travel is assessing any part of a destination as a comparison to yours and challenging it if it differs or appears inferior. "Food is so disgusting, everyone is so different, the road rules are chaotic, this XYZ does not make sense, this place is so backwards" etc etc. Isn't that why we travel in the first place? It is one thing to share your perspective and experience, and another to pass judgement with the sense of superiority that your way is better.
Avoid objectifying, appropriating: Taking pictures of people, especially without their consent or their full agency to decline or understand the ramifications, perpetuates he perspective that other places are there to be seen by Westerners. Be in the moment, chat with the person, record the image in your mind. And that traditional costume that you've always wanted to wear? There is a fine line between appropriation and appreciation, and that line is that of respect, of honoring and learning about it rather than taking it and consuming it without consent or participation.
Mind your language: So much of what we say has this colonial mentality embedded origin. In Spain, we have a million sayings and so many are racist and based on a superior mentality. Reflect on how you speak, the expressions you use and how you refer to a place. Terms like "Third World country", or "blacklist", colonial names for cities like Mumbai or Myanmar, may seem easier to identify, but others are much more engrained and subtle. Words like "Undiscovered", "Hidden", "Conquer or discover", "Exotic", or even words like "America" to refer to the US as if it was the only country in the Americas, perpetuate this colonial mentality and way of seeing the world. Travelers aren't discovering a place that is unknown to others, people live there, were there before tourism and will hopefully remain after. They are unknown to the traveler only.
Rethink performative travel: This refers to the experiences taking over social media feeds that turn local traditions or culture into a packaged product sold to consumers to show off, like the Balinese temple built for tourists to take "pretend" spiritual water purification staged photos in. Community-based tourism should be equal, it should benefit both parties equally - the tourist and the community. It cannot be focused entirely on the traveler.
Eliminate the White savior complex: Sharing photos with the recipients of volunteering projects to make yourself feel good, thus showcasing minors or perpetuating the idea that white people go to the Global South to "save them" is problematic in so many ways.

Final notes

Foraging in the forests of Bali with a local chef, learning about traditional food and cooking and picking ingredients for our lunch cooking class (I did not like the durian)

If you read the above and felt helpless and guilty, you aren't alone. Meg and I are on our journey, as white women from colonising countries, and we'll continue to make mistakes.

This is just the first step of a process that will take a lot of time, commitment and deliberate efforts. We need to unlearn to relearn.

It starts with being humble, and aware of the way our language and views are framed by a colonialist mentality. It continues with mistakes being made along the way, and it ends with a more thoughtful approach to travel, one that repairs and destroys the biased practices.

At its core remains the heart of travel: a curiosity for the world, to learn, to grow and a willingness to show empathy and compassion for others who experience a different reality to ours. But also a commitment to make it all equitable and beneficial for all, not just for the tourist, the coloniser.

I'm ready to make the mistakes, are you?

Further reading: This free e-book from RISE Institute is very good. One of the RISE Institute Board members wrote this very concise and comprehensive guide. Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World by Anu Taranath

Photo of the week

Last week's photo

Did you guess that these were the Chocolate Hills in the Philippines? These geological formation looks like they were human made and it grass goes brown in the dry season, hence the name.

Congrats to Vikki, Snimer and Meg who guessed it right.