Tourists the ubiquitous witnesses: No escape

Mass tourism has become so ubiquitous that it is hard to imagine any event anywhere that might escape the attention of holidaymakers. The tragedy at New Zealand’s Whakaari/White Island marine volcano is a perfect and just the latest example.

As the tragedy, which left at least six people dead and eight missing, presumed dead, unfolded, police said there were 47 people on the island— 24 from Australia, nine from America, five from New Zealand, four from Germany, two each from China and the UK, and one from Malaysia. Some survivors were so badly burned that they may not survive.

Tourism has been considered a viable commercial activity for centuries but all over the world communities are beginning to resist its relentless impositions and the environmental consequences of unlimited air travel.

This seems a perfect cultural and business dilemma for Ireland. Do we persist with long-established practice and the ambition to attract ever-more visitors or do we recognise, in time to do something about it, how our world is changing?