Travelers do not just enter towns or cities with their luggage, cameras, passport and other travel essentials, but more so with their hearts, minds and attitudes. They can leave traces of themselves wherever they go, and though most do not realize it, they can also deeply impact the environment and the lives of communities that they visit. Community-based tourism helps mindful travelers to ‘check into’ the lives of communities rather than merely a hotel; to ‘sign into’ a community project rather than just their mobile phones, and to create collective memories rather than singular ones for themselves. It is, in its true essence, a mindful journey that prioritizes and respects the culture, the environment and the development of local communities. An example of such an initiative that aims to bring these terms to life, and push community-based tourism forward in Egypt, is the ‘U for Urban Impact’ platform, co-founded by urbanists Salma Osman and Lobna Anous in 2019. Essentially, the platform aims to “reshape the urban context by offering projects for people to work on developing cities while traveling the world”, as it states on its website. Rising shift towards…
Travel for Impact: How This Egyptian Platform Encourages Community-Based Tourism
May 24, 2022
