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Travel information

A good preparation will help you to understand the destination better – thus you will have more enriching experiences.

The more you know about your destination, the less likely you are going to hurt the feelings of locals.
Start the journey in your head! You can find information in guidebooks, specialised literature and documentaries on the radio, on television and on the Internet, like www.tourism-watch.de/en, www.fairunterwegs.org and www.nf-int.org.
Good guidebooks don't only describe tourist destinations and sights, but also people, their everyday lives, and their culture. You can also acquaint yourself with the current political situation, environmental issues and human rights. Local non-governmental organisations and international organisations often provide information on your destination in English.
You will get better insight into the lives and thoughts of people in different parts of the world by reading contemporary literature. More and more writers from developing countries are being translated.
Talk to people who know the country you want to travel to – such as people coming from these countries, who live and work among us now.

Would you have thought that…

… the competition for scarce resources like water and affordable housing in tourism exacerbates rapidly and brings along displacement? During the preparations of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, for instance, several Favelas were destroyed for the construction of stadiums and hotels, displacing many thousands inhabitants.

… tourism employees often work under highly precarious conditions? This also affects whole families. In Zanzibar for example, the majority of interviewed hotel employees stated that their salary is not sufficient for feeding and clothing of their children.

… 40% of the eighteen- to thirty-three-year-old choose their next travel destination according to the amount of “instagrammability” – which means the amount of attention and likes that the holiday pictures will receive on Social Media? For many, the intentions for travelling change from self-fulfillment towards more self-staging and self-verification.

… the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects the number of air trips to double up between 2016 and 2035 towards 7.2 billion annually? Thereby, emissions caused by air traffic will rise dramatically and accelerate climate change. In addition, the construction of new airports and expansion of landing strips and terminals will take up vast areas of land.

… a cruise ship with more than 6,500 passengers needs at least 150 tons of heavy fuel oil per day and emits 450 kilograms of fine dust? This is equivalent to the emissions of more than 21 billion VW Passat Variant 2.0 TDI of 190 PS. Economically, cruises have very limited monetary benefits for the destination countries. In Honduras for example, only half of the passengers are even leaving the ship.

… many travellers use two to three water bottles per day, especially in developing countries? This adds up to more than 50 bottles in three weeks. Plastic bottles stay in the ocean for more than 450 years, posing a huge risk for the maritime ecosystem.

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