For a long time now, the term ‘revenge travel’ has made me cringe.
Don’t get me wrong, I love traveling as much as the next person. In fact, as a parent, I consider it an integral part of raising my son and helping him become a global citizen who has empathy, values other cultures and ways of life, and is keenly aware of the many challenges the planet faces.
However, I’m also someone who worries about the condition of the planet my son will inherit. With that in mind, I always try to be thoughtful when planning my family’s travels. That effort includes the activities we engage in, the foods we eat, the souvenirs we purchase, the companies we travel with and even how often we travel each year and the destinations we select to visit.
Revenge travel, at its worst, represents the polar opposite of thoughtfulness. Of course, that’s not always the case. The basis for the term revenge travel lies in consumers simply making up for time lost during the pandemic.
“Revenge travel describes a phenomenon where people, after experiencing extended periods of lockdowns and travel restrictions, exhibit a strong desire to travel more frequently and extravagantly than before, to make up for lost time,” Virgi Schiffino Kennedy, the founder of Lux Voyage, a Philadelphia-based private luxury travel consultancy, tells me.
That pent-up urge to travel is often characterized by a willingness to spend more on trips, continues Schiffino Kennedy, choosing more luxurious or exotic destinations, or engaging in more extended and elaborate vacations than one might have considered previously.
But looking at travel as a form of revenge can also be an excuse or a blank check to make decisions based purely on one’s own needs and desires after years of being vacation starved.
Underscoring my own feelings, Schiffino Kennedy adds that the term revenge travel has more recently begun to raise concerns regarding sustainable and responsible travel.
“The impulsive nature of revenge travel can lead to issues like overtourism, environmental strain, and cultural insensitivity, as travelers may prioritize personal fulfillment over the impacts of their travel choices on destinations and local communities,” says Schiffino Kennedy.
Indeed, at least with regard to overtourism, the fallout of revenge travel was in full effect last summer across Europe and in plenty of other locations, as well. Prior to COVID-19, the travel industry was busy discussing and implementing actions to address overtourism.
But as the world went into a global lockdown, that momentum was lost and many destinations ended up right back where they started once travel resumed, trying to cope with unabated hordes of visitors.
It’s an issue that’s not likely to fade anytime soon. A recent study from Allianz projects that 2024 will set a new record for travel. Rather than revenge travel easing as each post-pandemic year passes, Americans show no signs of slowing down their plans to tick off as many destinations as possible annually.
A recent USA Today article underscores this mindset among American travelers, as well as the accompanying results, which include demand in some destinations far outpacing local resources.
“The problem with revenge is that we end up hurting ourselves, in this case being distracted from addressing the impacts of massive travel – on our cities, our environment and the marginalized. If we think about it, before COVID, climate action was picking up pace within the industry. The impacts of overtourism were front and center. Inclusiveness was gaining some real momentum,” Russ Hedge, CEO of Hostelling International USA, said in a blog post on the topic.
Individually and as an industry, we must rapidly refocus actions to address larger challenges. Otherwise, far from taking revenge on COVID, we will be compounding its damaging legacy, says Hedge in his post.
For instance, more trips mean an increased carbon footprint for the planet at a time when we can least afford it. For many revenge travelers, it also means more rushed trips and not necessarily engaging with local cultures during those trips. Ultimately, it’s an economy and mindset that prioritizes quantity over quality.
“Revenge travel encapsulates a rush to make up for lost time, often characterized by overconsumption and impulsive travel behaviors,” John Lyotier, CEO of the travel platform TravelAI, suggests. “This mindset can inadvertently harm the very destinations people are eager to explore, undermining long-term sustainability efforts.”
“While understandable from a human perspective, this approach is inherently unsustainable,” adds Lyotier.
Flipping Revenge Travel on Its Head
So what’s to be done?
Perhaps most simply, as you plan trips, remember that travel under the best of circumstances is about more than just quickly breezing through one—or as many destinations as possible. It involves meaningfully engaging with a place and its people and taking the time to consider the environmental, cultural, and economic impacts of our travels.
Tourist interacting with indigenous Brazilian young man. (Photo Credit: Getty/FG Trade)
Importantly, being a sustainable traveler isn't merely the effort to reduce harm, but also creates positive impacts–including actively seeking opportunities as a traveler to support local economies, preserve cultural heritage, and foster environmental conservation.
For my son and I, this often means being thoughtful about the places we eat when traveling (opting for small, local businesses), the souvenirs we buy (again, seeking out locally and responsibly made products) and the activities we book. All of our trips, for instance, include activities that engage with locals, allowing us to learn about different cultures.
We also find other ways to give back during our journeys, whether that's visiting a local conservation program and supporting it with our dollars, planting trees in-destination, or booking local guides who we can support with our money.
Additional options to be thoughtful as a traveler include opting for low-carbon methods of adventure, such as biking, hiking or walking tours, or finding ways to develop a deeper understanding of the destination’s biodiversity and cultural heritage.
None of these choices mean that travel has to be any less fun.
But they underscore a mindset of remembering that travel is a privilege and that travel provides a valuable opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted: The opportunity to create a positive impact for destinations.
And perhaps that’s the best “revenge” of all, says John Sutherland, director of community impact for the global non-profit Tourism Cares.
“The term revenge travel should be flipped,” Sutherland tells me. “As in the best way to get real revenge on the economic destruction of the pandemic is to use your travel dollars as a force for good to help secure the future of these destinations and not take them for granted as simply backdrops for social media.”
That's a form of revenge travel I can definitely get onboard with.
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