Read, Review, Travel: Overbooked
I finished reading this book over a year ago, and it took me quite awhile to read it, as it has over 375 pages! Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism by Elizabeth Becker looks at almost all aspects of the travel industry. The copyright was in 2013, so it’s a bit dated now, but still very informative.
Elizabeth provides an in depth look at the tourism industry and its beginnings. Some countries’ governments do not see the value of tourism, while others embrace it as they understand how it can affect their economy, usually in a good way. It is quite interesting how different countries handle tourism, including the United States. Some Presidents understand the importance of tourism and include it in their economic plans, while others take a different approach. It does help when hotel, airline, and other travel executives lobby Congressmembers.
Overbooked is broken down into several parts with a few chapters per part. Some of the parts include information on different types of tourism such as cultural, consumer, and nature. Within the consumer tourism part is a chapter on cruising. Ironically, I read the chapter about cruise ships while on a cruise ship! My husband and I were on an Alaskan cruise ship (Ruby ship of the Princess cruise line) in May 2019. It was quite eye-opening! I had known to some extent the less than ideal environmental aspects of the cruise industry, but this book opened my eyes even wider!
Elizabeth sheds light on companies such as Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean. She highlights the atrocious wages the workers earn, as well as how some cruise lines evade U.S. taxes by registering as a foreign corporation and flying the flag of countries that have the least amount of regulations. She even goes into detail about the art auctions and jewelry stores on the ships (don’t buy either!!!!). The appeal for us to go on an Alaskan cruise was that I didn’t have to plan how to get from place to place in Alaska. I could wake up and be in a different city. Also, I didn’t have to do the leg work to find excursions and fun things to do each day. The cruise ship did it for me; I just had to choose which one I wanted to do, and they took care of all of the logistics. Since Alaska seems so much like the wilderness to me, it just made sense to have someone else take care of the planning. Yes, I could have looked into a tour company that was more ethical and environmentally friendly, and I think I’ll do that the next time I’m tempted to take a cruise.
Elizabeth does cover the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and how that affected the tourism industry. I think the author should add a chapter on how the global pandemic has affected tourism and publish a new edition! If you’re interested in studying tourism management, then I highly recommend you read this book unless it’s already required reading for your classes! This is quite an informative and detailed read! It’ll take you awhile to finish, but it is worth it!
