Do fun and politics mix? Can we ‘leave our cares behind’ when we go on holiday?

Do fun and polit­ics mix? Can we or should we ‘leave our cares behind’ on holiday?

It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites question. 

Thanks to Jim Butcher, K Michael Hay­wood, Chris Kit­tish­in­nak­uppe, and Vil­helmi­ina Vain­ikka for tak­ing the time to con­sider the ques­tion. Their responses appear in the order received. (Thanks also to Dr Butcher for sug­gest­ing the question.)

And thanks to Willem Niemeijer and John Mor­ris Wil­li­ams for shar­ing unre­lated ideas in the form of “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bite_Xes.

Have a thought to share? 

Respond in the com­ments at any time. Or write a Bite of your own. 

[Click/touch a Bites menu item to go straight to it.]

Pack the cares that matter

Chris Kittishinnakuppe, Head of Marketing & Sales, VHG Hospitality Asia, Thailand

We all dream of it: a week or two where the world’s prob­lems don’t exist. No emails, no dead­lines, no polit­ic­al news; just sun, sand, or jungle trails. 

Sounds good, right? But in real­ity, leav­ing polit­ics behind is trick­i­er than pack­ing your suitcase.

Even small choices carry weight. That budget flight? It has envir­on­ment­al con­sequences. The resort you stay in? Some profits might nev­er touch the loc­al com­munity. And yes, those crowded beaches you see in pho­tos? That’s over­tour­ism in action, affect­ing the very places we came to enjoy.

But here’s the thing: acknow­ledging these real­it­ies doesn’t have to ruin the fun. A hol­i­day can still feel like a break from stress. You can get lost on a forest hike, sip a cock­tail by the water, or watch a sun­set; and still make choices that respect the people and places you’re vis­it­ing. Sup­port­ing small gues­t­houses, eat­ing loc­ally, and trav­el­ling off-sea­son; it all helps.

Maybe the ques­tion isn’t about leav­ing cares behind but choos­ing which ones mat­ter. Office stress? Leave it. The impact of your travel? Keep that in mind. Being aware doesn’t ruin the hol­i­day; it can actu­ally make it more meaningful.

In the end, polit­ics and fun aren’t oppos­ites. They just coex­ist; some­times quietly, some­times loudly. The trick is find­ing a bal­ance that allows you to enjoy your trip and still leave a pos­it­ive impact.

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‘Politics and fun can be an effervescent odd couple’

K Michael Haywood, publisher, ‘Destinations-in-Action’, Canada

At home, fun and polit­ics do not mix. There is no fun in polit­ics unless you emerge as the vic­tor and dis­cov­er how power can be used to take advant­age or avenge. Little won­der the rest of us util­ise tour­ism to escape the wrath and ignor­ance of bad man­agers and the oppress­ive nature of organ­isa­tion­al and polit­ic­al cultures.

Thank heav­ens for those who fought hard and paved the way for paid hol­i­days that provide us with oppor­tun­it­ies to be free, to frol­ic, and to have fun. It is a reversal of the upstairs/downstairs priv­ilege, now pushed onto unsus­pect­ing host com­munit­ies whose hopes for real­ising shared value from hol­i­day­ing escapees can be con­ten­tious, to say the least.

To those of us on hol­i­day, let us be hon­est. We couldn’t care less about the polit­ics of our host com­munit­ies. Ignor­ance is bliss, and bliss is what we seek from those who are there to serve and deliv­er on the prom­ises made by overzeal­ous marketers. 

But when loc­al people feel over­come, can we expect them to simply ‘get over it’? 

Whatever our inten­tions, if we ‘leave our cares behind’ — and too many of us do — our beha­viour can be annoy­ing and dis­respect­ful; a prob­lem to which we are often oblivious.

Regard­less of where we are, polit­ics and fun can be an effer­ves­cent odd couple, but only if we decide to ‘pack our cares’ and take them with us, remain­ing thank­ful and thought­ful; caring, con­sid­er­ate, and curi­ous with whomever we encounter.

Let us remem­ber: when we are invited to the homes of friends and fam­ily, we try our utmost to be on our best beha­viour. This is the essence of hos­pit­al­ity that applies to hosts and guests alike in our hol­i­day destinations.

A des­tiny that can put the fun back into polit­ics, perhaps.

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‘Tourist mobilities are inherently political’

Vilhelmiina Vainikka, geographer, post-doctoral research fellow, Tampere University, Finland

Des­pite my curi­os­ity about tour­ists’ travel exper­i­ences, I have always felt uneasy approach­ing tour­ists dur­ing their hol­i­days to par­ti­cip­ate in research.

My hes­it­a­tion stemmed from fear of rejec­tion, but also con­cern about dis­turb­ing people dur­ing their “time off”. Hav­ing worked as a part-time travel agent in my youth, I under­stand how import­ant these breaks are for people. 

Still, I regret that their voices have been absent from my research.

For tour­ists, myself included, hol­i­days abroad carry high expect­a­tions. I now see these expect­a­tions as expres­sions of deep­er frus­tra­tions and unmet needs in every­day life, espe­cially in mod­ern Finnish soci­ety and North­ern cli­mat­ic conditions.

Urb­an life­styles are increas­ingly demand­ing, intens­i­fied by the digit­al era; with con­stant streams of inform­a­tion and mar­ket­ing, expand­ing cit­ies, polit­ic­al polar­isa­tion, geo­pol­it­ic­al ten­sions, eco­lo­gic­al crises, and a grow­ing dis­con­nect from nature. It’s no won­der people seek to escape. Our brains and nervous sys­tems aren’t built for this relent­less pace.

At the same time, we can­not fully detach ourselves. We get excited too by the new envir­on­ments we vis­it. I believe this dynam­ic is always complex.

Human curi­os­ity is a good thing, but the plan­et­ary eco­lo­gic­al crises urge us to recon­sider our needs and actions as tourists. 

If our soci­et­ies, com­munit­ies, work­places, and homes were more humane, nat­ur­al, empath­et­ic, and curi­ous, we might not feel such a strong need to escape abroad. Or maybe there would be more time and energy to engage with loc­al issues. 

Tour­ist mobil­it­ies are inher­ently polit­ic­al; though per­haps less so regard­ing the polit­ics of the destination.

It is worth reflect­ing on what drives our needs to dis­con­nect but also to be curious.

After all, there is a mis­match between our needs and curi­os­it­ies, and our planet’s wellbeing.

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‘Somewheres’, ‘anywheres’, and agendaless spaces

Jim Butcher, Reader, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK; Tourism’s Horizon: Travel for the Millions

In the past (and for most people, still today), hol­i­days involved res­pite from the pres­sures of daily life. That means ‘leav­ing your cares behind’. The say­ing ‘get­ting away from it all’ sums up the desire to, for a short peri­od, enjoy, relax and explore some­thing new. 

I’d chal­lenge the view that hol­i­days, to be ‘eth­ic­al’ or ‘sus­tain­able’, should adhere to (often ques­tion­able) mor­al para­met­ers laid down by experts and advoc­ates for life­style politics.

There is a bit of a divide between people who see hol­i­days as a break from com­mit­ments, and oth­ers who see it as a vehicle for polit­ic­al com­mit­ments. In cer­tain quar­ters tour­ism is rarely dis­cussed without an eth­ic­al pre­fix: volun­teer, green, eco, regen­er­at­ive, respons­ible, com­munity … Each to his or her own, live and let live etc. 

But I think hedon­ist­ic fun seekers are no less polit­ic­al, or mor­al, than those who seek to com­bine their fun with their polit­ics. Rather, the former don’t see their leis­ure as a vehicle for their polit­ics. They are the ‘some­wheres’ of Dav­id Goodhart’s The Road to Some­where; people who have roots and com­mit­ments as nation­al cit­izens, at home, in their com­munity. For them, tour­ism is a con­trast, away from that. 

Those who see hol­i­day fun as polit­ic­al are more likely to be ‘any­wheres’, ‘glob­al cit­izens’ who are lucky enough to be able to travel widely. They are more likely to see their hol­i­days away as oppor­tun­it­ies to exer­cise their polit­ic­al and mor­al goals: sav­ing a spe­cies here, feed­ing an orphan there. 

By con­flat­ing fun and polit­ics we reduce those agend­a­less, fun, con­vivi­al times and spaces in which we mix and simply make friends. If our new friends turn out to have dif­fer­ent polit­ic­al views from our own, that would prob­ably be a good thing in these polar­ised times.

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“GT” Insight Bite_X (‘X’ is up to you)

The “Good Tour­ism” Blog offers a great oppor­tun­ity to any travel & tour­ism stake­hold­er who wishes to express them­self in writ­ing for the bene­fit of “GT’s” open-minded readers. 

To fea­ture in the next “GT” Insight Bites com­pil­a­tion, send no more than 300 words (300 words or few­er (</=300 words)) on any tour­ism-related idea or con­cern you may have. 

Don’t use AI. if you lack con­fid­ence in writ­ing in plain Eng­lish, “GT’s” pub­lish­er will per­son­ally help with copy edit­ing. “GT” doesn’t judge. “GT” publishes.

Send your “GT” Insight Bite and pic­ture to [email protected].

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The best industry events deliver ideas, depth, and connection

Willem Niemeijer, CEO, YAANA Ventures, Thailand

For me, the best travel & tour­ism industry events deliv­er three things:

1. Inspir­ing con­tent: Speak­ers who address the big ques­tions shap­ing our industry, from sus­tain­ab­il­ity to innov­a­tion, and who chal­lenge us to think differently.
2. Pan­els with depth: No more than three speak­ers, so each has time to share mean­ing­ful insights and respond to oth­ers. A skilled mod­er­at­or can turn these into real con­ver­sa­tions, not just presentations.
3. Pur­pose­ful net­work­ing: Oppor­tun­it­ies to meet the right people through cur­ated roundtables, struc­tured ses­sions, and inform­al ming­ling. The best events turn chance encoun­ters into last­ing collaborations.

Get these right — plus a com­fort­able, well-run ven­ue — and the event becomes a high­light of the year.

Based on these cri­ter­ia, my two favour­ite events are the Adven­ture Travel World Sum­mit, which com­bines glob­al vis­ion with loc­al rel­ev­ance in inspir­ing set­tings, and Skift, whose Bangkok event in May impressed me with its high-cal­ibre speak­ers, fresh per­spect­ives, and excel­lent net­work­ing. Both events leave me more ener­gised, bet­ter informed, and bet­ter con­nec­ted than when I arrived.

[Ed’s note: Wille­m’s was the only response to a “GT” Insight Bites ques­tion spe­cific­ally about industry events. His answer offers great advice to any­one who would organ­ise an industry event, and it is hon­oured here as a Bite_X. Thank you, sir.] 

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Hospitality staff these days …

John Morris Williams, Group General Manager, Sanakeo Boutique Hotel & Flora by Sanakeo, Laos

We often hear “It’s not my job!” even when the task is in their con­tract under ‘oth­er duties as assigned by management’.

At inter­views, we will state our work­ing hours are 6 am – 3 pm or 2 pm – 10 pm. A com­mon answer is: “I can only work 8 am – 5 pm.” 

In the real world, hos­pit­al­ity is 24/7. Yet it seems that some people can only work at a cer­tain time or it upsets them, though they can go out till all hours to drink and party. They will let us work our back­sides off to keep the hotels and bars and nightclubs run­ning for their bene­fit; strange, to say the least.

Anoth­er major issue is time theft. Staff arrive on the dot, or late, then take 15 minutes to change or ‘shake the cob­webs off’. Anoth­er 10 minutes are lost on a walk­about. After only 20 to 30 minutes of work, they take a short 10-minute break. Before lunch, they dis­ap­pear into their hid­ing holes for anoth­er 10 to 15 minutes. The leg­al 45-minute lunch and 15-minute break often stretches to over an hour.

In total, we prob­ably lose more than three hours of work per per­son per day, and much of the rest of the time is wasted on their phones or on unplanned trips to get something.

Lastly, there is a lack of read­ing; read­ing of basic inform­a­tion that is vital to their duties.

It is what it is these days!

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What do you think? 

In a com­ment below share your own thoughts about fun and polit­ics, or wheth­er we can or should ‘leave our cares behind’ on hol­i­day, or any­thing else. 

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Previous “GT” Insight Bites

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• Out­bound doesn’t care about sus­tain­ab­il­ity | Well-being must include meaning
• Is a travel & tour­ism career still attract­ive? Import­ant things to under­stand in 2025
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• Butler’s conun­drum: Air travel and ‘sus­tain­able’ tourism
• What is tourism’s biggest oppor­tun­ity and/or threat where you are in 2025?
• “GT” Insight Bites: Nostalgia
• “GT” Insight Bites: Geo­pol­it­ics and tourism
• Tour­ism stake­hold­ers: Who has an out­sized voice? Who has no voice? Who cares?
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• How are emer­ging tech­no­lo­gies trans­form­ing the travel & tour­ism industry?
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• What con­sti­tutes ‘pro­gress’ for travel & tour­ism in 2024?
• Con­sid­er­ing a career in tour­ism? Import­ant things you should know in 2024
• What did tour­ism learn from the COVID-19 pandemic?
• In 2024, what are the best oppor­tun­it­ies for tour­ism over the next five years?
• Tourism’s biggest chal­lenges & threats over the next five years to 2028
• On empower­ment, pro­mo­tion, and the power of expression
• On enrich­ment, repat­ri­ation, the double-edged blade, and war
• On tour­ism tech­no­logy, pro­gress, and loc­al benefit-sharing
• Hey, travel & tour­ism, are you ‘neo­co­lo­ni­al­ist’?
• Who’s the new boss? Asia Pacific tour­ism industry asso­ci­ation seeks leader
• ‘The hos­pit­al­ity industry offers a great career.’ Really?
• Cruise ships: Bless­ing or blight?
• Tour­ist vs trav­el­ler: What’s the difference?
• The heads of fin­ance, oper­a­tions, and PR walk into their boss’s office … 
• Yes, Tour­ism Minister
• What are tourism’s biggest chal­lenges & threats over the next five years?
• ‘Tour­ism is built on the back­bone of white suprem­acy’. What do you think?
• Really, what’s the dif­fer­ence? ‘Sus­tain­able tour­ism’ vs ‘regen­er­at­ive tourism’
• Want a career in tour­ism? Import­ant things you should know
• Diverse per­spect­ives on travel & tour­ism and a fairer world
• Diverse per­spect­ives on eco­nom­ic degrowth and tourism
• Diverse per­spect­ives on vis­it­or dispersion

Featured image (top of post)

Fun and polit­ics image by Google Gemini. 

Do fun and polit­ics mix? Can we or should we ‘leave our cares behind’ on hol­i­day? It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites compilation.

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