ABSTRACT
This chapter has considered the impacts of globalisation on culture and travel patterns, particularly in a Western, urban context. It is ironic that the standardisation of culture in the ‘global village’ is sometimes probably the very factor driving its citizens to travel more than ever! This is the only way in which they can experience cultural differences and authentic ‘reality’. In the globalised environment of high technology, media and communications, virtual reality, hyper-reality and simulations, it is difficult to differentiate between fiction and fact. Perhaps, in travelling to a place where life is lived at a slower pace and some remnants of tradition can be found, the global citizen finds his or her own respite from the frenetic intensity of global living. Tourism has been viewed traditionally as an escapist phenomenon, one which is based predominantly on elements of fantasy, fictions and myths. Therefore, who would have thought that we would reach a stage where our everyday lives would become even more ‘unreal’ than the tourist destinations we visit? This certainly gives the post-tourist something to think about.
