This last year has forced us to reconsider the concept of tourism completely. The lockdown, in particular, has sometimes made the familiar landscape of our cities feel inaccessible and even dangerous. The summer of 2020 was different from anything most of us had ever experienced: many were unable to plan holidays or even short trips, with the result that some of our cities, for the first time in living memory, were empty of tourists and only inhabited by residents. This is exactly how many people have approached a form of practically cost-free tourism that is usually hardly mentioned within the industry. Can rediscovering one’s own city be called tourism at all? We believe it does because it enriches those who practice it and it can have positive effects on the local economy.
“The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
This famous Marcel Proust quote works perfectly in this context. There is more to local tourism than taking a walk through the city centre for the first time in a decade and discovering that there is a civic museum we didn’t know about. The subjective experience of travelling, after all, depends more on the person who undertakes the journey than on the place they visit. This is why rediscovering one’s hometown means first and foremost learning to look at it from a different perspective, trying to forget our daily routine and notice details that have escaped us for years. This applies as much to those who live in large and famous art cities as it does to those who live in smaller towns in the countryside.
Book a hotel room close to home (or… don’t)
What is the point of spending a night in a hotel in your own city? For some people it is a way to indulge in some unusual luxuries: ordering room service, splurging on a continental breakfast, spending time alone, or with a loved one in an unusual environment. However, you don’t need to stay overnight to enjoy the benefits of a hotel experience. Many hotels have spas in which you can book yourself in for a full day of pampering. Or you can choose to treat yourself to dinner in a five-star hotel’s rooftop restaurant after a whole day of local sightseeing.
Treat yourself to sustainable luxury
Choosing not to go on holiday to faraway places, preferring instead to rediscover one’s own city, is a highly sustainable form of tourism, as it does not involve long-distance transport. For the same reason, this type of tourism is also cheaper than the average holiday. The entire budget can be used to indulge in unusual and gratifying experiences: from dinner in a Michelin-starred restaurant to a spa day or a shopping spree. Most of these activities are out of bounds to the average tourist who has had to invest a sizeable chunk of their holiday business on plane fares.
Get to know your own culture
Anyone who has ever resided in an art city or an otherwise popular tourist destination knows that laziness often gets the better of curiosity. There are many Rome residents, for instance, who have never seen the Colosseum from the inside or visited the Sistine Chapel. When we travel, on the other hand, we get caught up in the frenzy of seeing as much as possible in a limited time and we binge-visit museums and landmarks along prearranged routes. Local tourism, on the other hand, is a great way to learn more about one’s own culture, traditions, ancient local customs, and history.
Travelling takes on a new meaning
Is local tourism really just a “fallback” for a strange and unique year, during which most of us couldn’t afford a proper holiday? We don’t think so. Instead, we believe this kind of experience has real value, and that it is a way to re-educate our perception, our senses, our mind, and our spirit to the meaning of travelling itself. It can help us “centre” the perspective of our travels, reminding us that the focal point of every journey is the traveller and the cultural and emotional enrichment that they can attain by immersing themselves in any place they choose to visit.