The New Tourist: Waking Up to the Power and Perils of Travel

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A genuinely helpful framework for thinking about our own voyages (The Atlantic), The New Tourist explores how tourism has shaped the world, for better and for worse, and offers essential reading for anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the implications of their wanderlust.

Through deep and insightful dispatches from tourist spots around the globefrom Hawaii to Saudi Arabia, Amsterdam to Angkor WatThe New Tourist shines a light on an industry that accounts for one in ten jobs worldwide and generates nearly ten percent of global GDP. How did a once-niche activity become the worlds most important means of contact across cultures When does tourism destroy the soul of a city, and when does it offer a place a new lease on life Is last chance tourism prompting a powerful change in perspectiveor driving places we love further into the ground

Engaging and thoughtful (Kirkus Reviews) and filled with page-turning revelations, The New Tourist spotlights painful truths but also delivers a message of hope: that the right kind of tourismand the right kind of touristcan be a powerful force for good.

Reviews

[A] fun and breezy way of looking at different aspects of modern travel.
Alex Schwartz,The New Yorkers Critics at Large
[A] nuanced approach to tourism is baked into the premise ofThe New Touristyet McClanahan remains unwavering in her belief that tourism can be a net good.
Cond Nast Traveler
Proposes a genuinely helpful framework for thinking about our own voyagesTraveling, McClanahan suggests, helps people more keenly discern the difference between a states positions and the culture of its people by seeing it with their own eyes.
The Atlantic
Insightful[A] smart balance of informed critique and hopeful discussionsof the travel industrys potential for positive change. Its a trip worth taking.
Publishers Weekly
Opens a world of conversation about the role of travelMcClanahan's approach is to sit with strangers from both sides of the argumentthose cautious of over-tourism and those excited for tourisms expansionresulting in a comprehensive understanding.
Booklist
Engaging and thoughtful.An instructive engagement with the world of travel writing and a first-class exemplar of its practice.
Kirkus Reviews
MANY TRAVEL BOOKS TELL YOU WHERE TO GO.THIS ONE TELLS YOUHOWTO GO.The New Touristwill change the way you think about travel. A must read for anyone planning a journey near or far.
Eric Weiner,New York Timesbestselling author ofThe Geography of Bliss
As youll discover here, theres plenty of good and bad in modern tourism, but the mixture is, in this authors hands, A FASCINATING READ.
Tony Wheeler, cocreator of theLonely Planetguidebook series
With infectious curiosity and clear-eyed prose, McClanahan provides EVERYTHING YOU EXPECT FROM THE BEST OF TRAVELfascinating scenery to gawk at, rich history to imbibe, and eccentric characters to meet.The New Touristfulfills the true transformative promise of travel, giving us not just new ideas, but new ways of seeing ourselves.
Benjamin Lorr, author ofThe Secret Life of Groceries
In this LIVELY AND REWARDING book, Paige McClanahan wrestles with the complexities of twenty-first century tourism, deftly exploring the joys and the real-world consequences ofworld travel. I highly recommendThe New Tourist.
Elizabeth Becker, author ofOverbooked:The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism

InThe New Tourist, Paige McClanahan takes us on a many-faceted journey through the vast and complex world of the tourism industryand like all great tour guides, she makesthetrip ACCESSIBLE, MEANINGFUL, AND FUN.
Rick Steves, author ofTravel as a Political Act: A Radical Guide to Meaningful Travel

A REMARKABLE READneither travel guide nor social history but a thoughtful and deeply researched amalgam covering the symbiosis of traveler and destination and their effect on each other's souls.
Catherine Watson, author ofRoads Less Traveled: Dispatches from the Ends of the Earth

AN ENGROSSING JOURNEY through the rise of mass tourism in the 20th century and the forces threatening it in the 21st .Paige McClanahan makes a powerful argument for a new kind of tourist and with it a new way of seeing the world.
Sarah Stodola, author ofThe Last Resort

An essential reconsideration of the impacts of tourism in our increasingly connected times. Its about time that someone wrote this book, but only McClanahan would have made it so DAMN ENTERTAINING.
Thomas Kohnstamm, novelist and author ofDo Travel Writers Go to Hell

A THOUGHT PROVOKING, FASCINATING, AND VERY READABLE book for anyone who travels, wants to travel more mindfully, works in the tourism industry, or is interested in countries and destinations around the worldso, pretty much everyone.
Eliza Reid, First Lady of Iceland, former UN Ambassador for Tourism

Travel has changed radically over a generation while its impact on the world has grown. If you want a FRESH AND NUANCED take on what it all means, buy this book. McClanahan is an embodiment of the New Tourist herself thoughtfully traveling the world with curiosity and an open heart. Id follow her anywhere.
Ethan Watters, author ofCrazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche

GROUNDBREAKING.The New Touristwill enable you to have much better travel experiences. McClanahan understands that what we make of tourism has to do with the ways we interact and behave when we holiday in other peoples' homes. The choices we make about how, when, and where we travel make a real difference in whether we have positive or negative impacts.
Harold Goodwin, Professor Emeritusat Manchester Metropolitan University and Director of the ResponsibleTourism Partnership

Author Bio

Paige McClanahan is an American journalist based in France. A regular contributor toTheNew York Times, she has reported from more than a dozen countries, writing for publications likeTheGuardian, the BBC, andTheWashington Post, among many others. Her reporting has covered multilateral trade negotiations, humanitarian crises, economic development, and, for the past five years, the tourism industry. Her travel journalism has been recognized by The Society of American Travel Writers and the North American Travel Journalists Association. A graduate of Williams College and Duke University, she has lived in five countries since she left the United States in 2008.