An Open Letter to Journalists, Travel Writers, Guides and Other Travel Enthusiasts: We all have a
This administration has made the U.S. a very unwelcoming place for international travelers. New York City alone will lose up to $600 million in international tourism spending just this year. And even domestic travelers are rethinking plans and considering staying closer to home given the uncertainty our country is facing.
The open, engaged world that all of us wish for is being threatened—and it’s time we defend it. If scientists can band together to protest, so should we.
We’ve already laid the groundwork and hope you will join our Travel in Peace (TIP) movement.
We’re starting with our #FeelThePainBOY Travel Boycott, a travel boycott against the original 13 Confederate slave states that will last as long as Trump is in office. With this boycott, we have a means to express our collective anger and cause economic pain when politicians, governments and/or companies violate our values. #FeelThePainBOY gives us all a way hit what really matters to Trump and his cronies—their bank accounts.
Instead we’re encouraging people to travel for good by investing their travel dollars in communities and businesses that share our core values.
We want to shift the travel paradigm to embrace the Airbnb model and end package tours in order to make travel more affordable and accessible to all, because we know that travel makes us better, more understanding, more creative and more able to solve the problems our country faces. Travelers who spend all their time ensconced on tours and in big corporate hotels don’t actually get to know the place and people they’re visiting.
You know more than anyone the positive impact that travel can have when it’s done well. As Maya Angelou said, “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” That is what we want to encourage.
We’re also forming the Travel in Peace Political Party to form a counterpoint to the Tea Party. This will be a place for all of us who feel like the mainstream Democratic Party is not listening to us or pushing hard enough for continued progress on social issues to help us make the party more progressive and travel friendly.
You are key to pushing this movement forward and making our world a more travel friendly place. We hope you will not only get involved politically, but also as business partners, creating itineraries and leading tours as part of TIPNation.
To join this movement, please reach out to me at go@TipNation.Co. Together, we can change the world.
Cyber Freedom Fighters
TipNation.NYC