The book horror tourism (Grijalbo), Written by Andy Robinson, it is a collection of reflections on the consequences of the mass travel industry. By addressing topics such as gentrification, changes and theft of cultural concepts, and forced displacement, it leads the reader to reflect on the consequences of being “citizens of the world.”
In interview with The Day, The writer explained the need to rethink the way in which tourism changes the world and how it modifies entire societies: “The idea for the book occurred to me during the Covid-19 pandemic. I was at home in Barcelona, a city that has invested heavily in tourism, a position that generated a lot of controversy, because, despite the fact that it is a well-made model, ‘it has made it lose its identity’, according to the inhabitants,” commented the writer.
Composed of a dozen texts, the book was born as a way to rethink how the needs of travelers affect locals. In his work for the newspaper The Vanguard, Andy Robinson traveled to tourist destinations to analyze their impact on local cultures.
“The introduction focuses on airports, especially Barajas. These facilities serve as microcosms of capitalism; there we see a clear example of extreme inequality.
“We are sold the idea that some places are ‘paradisiacal’; I dedicate the second chapter to Cancun, a city romanticized by tourism, but complicated for the inhabitants, because the costs of everything have increased; those who work in other industries have even been displaced to give preference to the hotel industry,” he stated.
For the journalist, culture has been manipulated to be another commodity. It benefits from the influx of resources, but ends up molding itself to the needs of travelers. In this regard, the American stated: “You have to see Playa del Carmen: it maintains some of its features, but we no longer know it because of its original inhabitants, but rather because of the foreigners who visit it,” and stated: “tourism is not negative, but we cannot ignore the consequences.”
Andy Robinson also addresses in the book the crisis suffered in Cartagena, Colombia; in Machu Picchu, Peru, and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where you can see the marked difference between the commercial area and the favelas, on the other side of the city, where precariousness floods everyday life. “The contrast is terrifying,” he concludes.