Whose Sedona Is It, Anyway?

The Arizona City—Long Defined by Visitors and Outsiders—Is Fighting Over the ‘Right Kind’ of Tourist

You’d think that a town dependent on tourist dollars could never stop advertising itself. But in Sedona, Arizona, as wealthy residents’ weariness of riffraff jamming up their roads sparked a bitter rift over what constitutes “the right kind” of visitors, that’s just what has happened.

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sedona’s city government and chamber made a joint agreement to quit advertising the town in glossy national travel magazines and doing social media posts targeted at rich people, reasoning that such money would be wasted during an international shutdown. …

What Should We Do About Instagram
Colonialism?

Social Media Is Ruining Tourism Hot Spots Like Tulum—And Even If We Don’t Stop Traveling, We Can Stop Posting

This summer, a record-breaking, estimated 220 million U.S. tourists—85% of American adults—have been on the move. Many of them will head to Tulum, Mexico, which I also recently visited. Businesses …

Wild Sights

Originally from Canada, illustrator Sarah Campbell moved to Australia in 2010. A graduate from the Design Centre Enmore in Sydney, her work is featured in children’s books, editorials, logos and …

Could Your Vacation Change the World? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Could Your Vacation Change the World?

Tourism Has the Power to Shape Politics, at Home and Abroad

As the United States sends stockpiles of weapons to Ukraine, another transatlantic mobilization is underway. Freed from two years of COVID restrictions and testing requirements, Americans are once again traveling …

Sisson Callahan Trail

Where I Go: Hiking the Mountain That Almost Killed John Muir

Finding an Adventure Story and a Portal to the Past Beneath Mount Shasta

The great outdoor adventurer John Muir—who had skipped over glaciers in Alaska, surfed an avalanche, and gleefully rode a wildly swaying tree in a storm in the Sierras—lay in a …

Hawai‘i Doesn’t Need More Tourists, It Needs Better Tourists

From Kaua‘i to Croatia, the World’s Increasingly Crowded Vacation Spots Seek Visitors Who Spend More Money—And Actually Talk to Locals

Rapidly rising tourism in Hawai‘i and around the world poses new and complicated economic, environmental, and cultural challenges that in turn will require better management and well-designed restrictions on visitors, …