When parents name their children they usually choose an existing name from their family or a friend, from a character in a book or film, or perhaps a celebrity’s name. But sometimes new names just pop into the head. And so it was with Creative Tourism.
At the end of 1999, my elder daughter was traveling through Southeast Asia and Australia on her way to New Zealand. Reading her emails at the breakfast table in England where we then lived, my wife and I were struck by what she was choosing to do on her journey. She enrolled in a week’s introduction to Thai massage in Chiang Mai, spent a day learning vegetarian cookery in Bali, and then set off to the Australian outback for a course on how to be a jillaroo, (the manager of a sheep or cattle station) before working as a volunteer on an outback property. She was excited to be learning new skills, but was getting even more satisfaction from learning about the lifestyles of local residents. She was interacting with a wide range of people in ways that most visitors never achieve. Her experiences had more meaning, both for her and her hosts, than most tourists encounter today. ‘Why isn’t there a name for this sort of tourism?’ my wife commented, before the conversation turned to the immediacies of the morning. “Pass the cornflakes,” said I.
