We all look to seasoned to travellers to show us where to go, what to see and thrill us with the exotic. In the old days, we relied on the great and good to show us orientalism, now we look to Instagram and Wordpress. But how realistic and reliable it is.
In the recent years, influencers from Zoella and Logan Paul have enjoyed a meteoric rise, raking in cash with their own special brand of showing off products, knowledge or just themselves. They have an army of youngsters who stream them through YouTube constantly, making them household names.
The formula for such success alludes many, but marketers saw the opportunity to exploit this loyal following, bring their products to a whole new market with varying success.
Disney had to sever ties with Swedish comedian PewDiePie after racist comments and we all remember Logan Paul's trip in "suicide woods".
The problem with brands using influencers is their credibility is slowly diminishing. People with actual buying power don't respect the aforementioned. They snort in derision at their juvenile disposition. And they're wise to corporations paying such people to say nice things about their products.
Similarly, with travel, influencers are great for whetting our intrepid appetites. The colours, shapes, sights and experiences have us all chomping at the bit to get to Western Sahara, Panama Canal or Balinese floating markets.
They are young, beautiful and energetic. And they're mostly male, white and middle class. They use it like some sort of colonial crusade, as they live with the tribes' people of Chang Mai or volunteer at Rwandan orphanages.
This virtual signalling has become tiresome and unrealistic. Most of us go travelling to let off steam, relax and reset.
We rarely get the view of solo women who aren't in their 20s. We never see black or POC travellers. And we never see the harsh reality of the countries they're visiting.
The scars, the pitfalls and the fears.
It's all so fantastical and unreal, that people can't relate and therefore will never convert. As incredible as the Atlas Mountains look, I won't trek up there and camp. I may visit for a few hours, spend a day, but that's it. As awesome as diving in the Great Barrier Reef looks, I won't go further than swimming through the crystal clear waters.
It's great for the armchair traveller, to see things that I would never dare do or have the desire. I would like a traveller to give me a good idea of a city/country and its people. Anthony Bourdain was a master at this, but he did it through the lens of food and fun, not with culture or history on top.
Think about your average holiday or the holidays of your friends and family. They most definitely involve food, bars, restaurants, markets, etc. They most definitely involve sightseeing of the major places. And they most definitely involve a lot of existentialism.
While people who embark of "gap year" type travel look like they're having the time of their lives, most of us, the people with money, don't have the luxury or will to take so much time off work.
And as our differences are celebrated and the world becomes more environmentally, socially and politically conscious, it's important to address these issues while travelling. To have a more ethical and philosophical stance on it. As well as short-term recommendations of places to go that aren't full of dreadlocked, hemp wearing stoners.
Influencers need to evolve so they are representative of the majority market - the people who shun resorts and want to go off the beaten track, but are more decerning and time poor. We all like a bit of escapism, but travel with a huge dollop of realism and social/political conscious will go a long way.
