There Is No Apolitical Travel

If there is any truth to the old adage “you are what you eat,” there is truth, too, in “you are where you go.” Travel teaches us to see the world in so many different ways, exposing us to new possibilities for how we live life. Yet, because we don’t exist in a vacuum, how we traverse the world as tourists also has the potential to do harm. That’s why I’m so tired of hearing that travel isn’t political. Everything is political, and travel is one of the most decisive political actions available to us. 

Tourism is a game of choices. Whether we like it or not, the money we spend traveling indicates something about us. If a state or country passes a horrific law that endangers people’s lives, and booking a vacation there in a way rewards that bad behavior. Injecting money into a local economy indicates that you passively endorse — or at least overlook — the government’s choices. Travelers could vehemently oppose the illegality of queerness in the Maldives, but spending thousands on a vacation there says the opposite. A pristine sand beach with a cocktail in hand doesn’t balance an eight-year jail sentence for homosexuality — even if penalties aren’t supposed to impact travelers directly. Color me unsurprised that the rest of the world will skip over the United States for their vacations for the foreseeable future. Can you blame them? I certainly don’t. We can’t reward bad behavior with mountains of tourism dollars. We all know that money talks — and tourism dollars are loud. 

In 2024, the United States was the most powerful travel & tourism market in the world. According to The World Travel & Tourism Council, tourism made up $2.36 trillion in the American economy. As a travel writer, I’d be remiss to ignore that powerful number. That number impacts people I love, respect, and cherish deeply. I myself am impacted by that number. Yet, it would be irresponsible for me to write about travel without recognizing the financial and social context of the place I’m writing about. 

No one should travel only to be surprised by hostility or discomfort, as can happen for a gender non-conforming queer person and visiting a reportedly queer-friendly place that is actually only friendly for gay men. Travelers can only know this if we talk about it, and will only be as informed as the travel media enables them to be. That’s why I firmly believe that as a travel writer with a public platform it’s my job to report the truth — even if that truth doesn’t come with a spoonful of sugar. 

Friends worldwide have spoken to me about avoiding the United States for the next few years. They don’t want to appear to support the current administration’s politics, let alone potentially endanger themselves or their loved ones. I’m positive this will financially impact my friends in the travel industry — writers, content creators, public relations, and others. There will be fewer available stories, or fewer opportunities to travel. In an already tumultuous economy, many of us are also taking a step back for the sake of ethics. This leads me to wonder why anyone is still arguing over whether travel is a political act. 

Even among seasoned travelers, this debate has come up repeatedly since last November. One would think people who spend so much of their time visiting other places — especially people who write about them — would know better. When people boycott companies for their unethical choices, it’s only fair we do the same for places with problematic laws on the books. 

Don’t get me wrong; I’m no saint in skipping over destinations. I love Walt Disney World, and some of my favorite people live in Florida. That doesn’t erase the fact that Florida is one of the most dangerous places for queer people in the United States. I admit I’ve spent too much money as a tourist there, even after so many dangerous laws have passed. We have to draw our boundaries, and we also must be willing to admit when we making less responsible decisions ourselves. Because travel is always political, it’s also morally and ethically ambiguous, and the ethics of place often have deep roots in history.

The places we go, the things we do, and the money we spend tell a story about our beliefs and the ethics we endorse. Travel is often expensive. Tourists must know they have value — and their decisions are a powerful financial and ethical bargaining chip.

Still, travel as a political act doesn’t have to be damning. As with any other political action, when enough of us come together, we have the potential to make real, lasting change. Just because a place does not currently earn your traveler dollar doesn’t mean it won’t in the future, and a place you haven’t considered before could become your new favorite destination. When you’re a traveler at heart, the world is your oyster — just make sure it hasn’t gone bad.

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