Are you an ice cream tourist?
I recall my first experience in a cruise port in Mexico on the big cruise day. I was warned “don’t buy anything on Thursdays because the prices go way up for for the cruise tourists.”
I was reminded of this recently on a trip to Valladolid in Mexico when bus after bus arrived from Cancun and the Mayan Riviera on their way to Chichen-Itza. The effect on the locals is dramatic.
This type of “ice cream tourism” (where visitors only stop to buy ice cream or similar low interaction visits) is the bane of many towns caught in the trap of having to provide facilities for tourists and only a small amount of real monetary return.
Many tour operators and cruise companies are making strides to become more responsive to issues like this, but when you are talking about thousands of passengers at a time from big cruise ships or nearby resorts the shear numbers are just unmanageable.
Has the time come for travellers to start making more thoughtful choices for better travel?
The reality is that most people don’t think too much about their effects as an ice cream tourist. But the stress on public facilities, the increase water demands, the pressure on public infrastructure like roads, sidewalks and public walkways in many tourist stops is immense. The experience for tourists and locals is also degraded and conflicts can arise. Crime can also follow. Without many ways to extract reasonable funds from short stop visitors it falls to locals to bear the costs.
We offer better travel options for people and can help steer you onto the road to more satisfying experiences. It can mean choosing a different time of year to travel, or taking a different type of program like a small ship adventure cruises or or small group tours. Self guided, tiny tour and private guided options can be workable. We also feature river cruises and barges.
Ice Cream Tours
Don’t let it be said I’m against ice cream. In fact I think an ice cream tour is a great idea. Any interest? I’m game.