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A double impromptu visit at FITUR

A double impromptu visit at FITUR

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Eric Mottard
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Perhaps the impromptu, the unexpected, is the best thing about events. Sitting down with a client you know or a prospect to talk business is fine, but each event can offer you connections you never thought you would make, and this serendipity is perhaps what I like most about events. And this is what happened to my colleague Teresa and I when we decided to go and see the stands of Israel and Palestine at FITUR. Not to judge (which we already spent the whole day doing… without ever listening to those we judge, of course), but to say hello, to understand the situation of these lands in relation to tourism, and what visitors could contribute to them. Here are some observations:
  • When you talk to someone, if you go with a minimally open mind, you lose the desire to judge. Seeing each other is a blessing, an eye-opening moment, it is the best antidote to the toxicity of X (Twitter) where everyone knows everything and condemns violently from a distance. Judging from our sofa a Palestinian who has never known full freedom, whose half of his family has died, is not very correct. Judging an Israeli who feels that the very existence of his people is threatened and who is still traumatised collectively with the shoah, the worst industrial massacre in history, is also disputable. I am not saying that there are not enormous, horrible things that are condemnable, things that make us forget our very humanity and that have personally kept me awake at night; but I, who have not known these two traumas, would be arrogant to judge populations (policies can be condemned, but not people).
  • Tourism is much more than a mere visit. In fact, these two stands have highlighted the same thing: that what is left of tourism now (more requests than actual trips especially in the case of Palestine) is religious tourism and a tourism that we can call “of solidarity”, by people who want to support this or that community at a sensitive time, on an economic but also symbolic level. Tourism is a message beyond a hotel reservation; Tourism means getting close to a land, talking to a people, showing your closeness. “Here I am, with you,” say the tourist, or at least some of them.
  • But the best thing is that the impact of tourism can go far beyond this moral and economic support. As I mentioned in the first point, and as we discussed with our hosts, tourism should i visits to include conversations with the two communities. And from these conversations, only something better can come out than the distrust and demonization that comes from making snap judgments in the “filter bubbles” that are our daily bread. Abraham Lincoln said it perfectly: “I don’t like this man; I should get to know him better.” This act of getting closer to someone from whom we would like to stay away is what we need most. And tourism, if it is not seen as something ideological but human, has an almost saving value for that. And beyond tourism, meetings and events have a huge value in this polarised world… as long as you invite people with different points of view and listen to all of them.

Thanks to our hosts at these two stands. It has been a luxury to have these brief conversations, without hatred on either side. Soon we have to plan trips to Palestine or Israel. It can only open our minds, and perhaps also theirs, a little more. This somewhat idealistic and flower-power article does not solve everything, it does not take away the horrors of the past and the present against which we have to fight; these are not sufficient ideas. But perhaps they are ideas that we should have a little more. Seeing each other at a trade show and ideally on a trip, is incredible. And if you can’t travel there, at least check out this gem from TED, where an Israeli and a Palestinian speak with a shared humanity: Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon: A Palestinian and an Israeli, face to face | TED Talk.

We need to see each other and talk.

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