Tourism is big business. Millions o

Tourism is big business. Millions of people around Europe spend their winters planning their destination for the following summer, and their summers jetting off to foreign countries for two weeks in the sun. They are the modern-day descendants of the
aristocrats and the wealthy who would take months to complete the ‘Grand Tour’ of
Europe. But unlike their forefathers, tourists these days get a bad press. They’re not interested in the local culture, we’re told; they’re just after the chance to behave a bit more wildly than they do at home. What’s more,we are told: they damage the local environment and don’t respect the locals and their way of life.
But are tourists really to blame? Or is it the criticism of the tourist industry,
which has failed to provide reasonably-priced alternatives? And if the local resort only
offers a succession of bars for the tourists to visit, can we really criticize them for not doing more cultural activities?
One holiday company, Far and Away,claims that tourists are crying out for more cultural holidays and believes that it has resulted to come up with a range of package holidays which are affordable, culturally interesting, and environmentally friendly. Their brochure, which is to be brought out later this month, offers 200 holidays based on cultural themes, including history and architecture, learning the language, meeting the locals and war and politics.
Will Far and Away succeed where other companies have failed? Next summer’s
tourists will be the ones who decide.