This was published 6 years ago
All-inclusive holidays: The world's most popular way of travelling
By Ben Groundwater
Around 75 per cent of travellers are opting for all-inclusive holidays.Credit: Alamy
Here's a pretty amazing statistic. Only 15 years ago, according to G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip, 10 per cent of travellers were taking all-inclusive holidays. Only one in 10 was opting for the low-hassle option back then, of heading to a beach resort and just relaxing while everything was taken care of.
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But here's the amazing part. That number now, just 15 years later, has gone from 10 per cent, to 75 per cent. Seventy-five per cent. That means three in every four holidays being taken around the world is now all-inclusive. A crazy 75 per cent of people are heading to big resorts or onto cruise ships where everything is already paid for, where meals and drinks and experiences are already included.
That means only one in four travellers is now doing things the traditional way, striking out on their own, exploring, taking chances, having adventures, risking things going wrong in the name of things going very, very right. Only 25 per cent of people do that now. The rest spend their holidays cloistered in fancy surrounds, eating from the bain marie, sipping on drinks with umbrellas in them.
There are probably a few reasons for this enormous change. One is the rise – and rise and rise – in the popularity of cruising. Fifteen years ago cruising was a niche travel style, something limited to the very rich, or reserved for the Fairstar the Fun Ship crowd. Now, there are cruises for all budgets and interests.
There are ocean cruises and there are river cruises. There are party cruises and there are expedition cruises. You might say you're not a fan of cruising, but you've probably already been on one. Maybe it was a boozy jaunt around the Croatian islands. Maybe it was a bucket-list journey around the Galapagos. Whatever form it took, you've probably cruised.
Credit: Alamy
The other contributing factor to that statistic is the changing demographic of travellers. The Chinese are now travelling in huge numbers – Chinese travellers made more than 136 million overseas trips in 2016 alone – and they tend to lean towards the luxury end of the market, which includes a big chunk of the all-inclusive sector. Plus the aging population in Western nations has also contributed.
Still, you have to look at that 75 per cent statistic and wonder. That's an overwhelming proportion of worldwide travel that is being conducted in a very specific manner, in a very predictable and safe manner, a manner that might not seem like it's much of a problem – if people want to go all-inclusive, then surely they should be allowed to – but is actually insidious in certain ways.
The main problem is that travellers on package holidays aren't actually contributing much, if anything, to the destinations that they're visiting. The vast percentage of all-inclusive holiday resorts are foreign-owned, meaning while they might employ local people, most of the profits will end up offshore. So you might be taking a holiday in a developing country, somewhere like Cambodia or Myanmar, and reaping the benefits of the affordability that that offers, but you're not giving anything back to those places, not improving them or helping them in any way.
Cruises are even worse for this. They don't employ any locals. They don't contribute much in the way of taxes. And, more significantly, their passengers rarely need to buy anything in the places they visit, like food or drinks, because everything is included in their holiday. So these huge hotels of the sea arrive in port, disgorge their passengers who roam around for a few hours soaking up the atmosphere and not spending any money, before they all get on board and head to the dining room as the ship casts off and disappears.
That's not what travel should be about. Travel should be interactive, and inclusive. It should be about meeting local people, seeing the world through others' eyes, and contributing in some way to the places you visit. Otherwise travel is just voyeurism. It's just gawking. You're enjoying all the benefits of travel in developing countries – the affordability, the warm welcome – and giving nothing back in return.
There is a middle ground here, of course. You don't have to be a hardcore independent traveller to feel like you're giving back to local communities. All you have to do is look out for tour companies that utilise local guides, that stay in locally owned accommodation, that have programs in place to ensure some of the profits of your organised travel stays in the place you're visiting.
G Adventures does this. Intrepid Travel also has an excellent model. And there are other, smaller companies doing similar things. You could think of these tours as being all-inclusive, given most of the dramas are taken care of for you, but it's travel with a conscience, travel that insures you're mixing with locals and spending your money on the ground, so that you're at least making some sort of difference to the world around you as you gawk your way through it.
If 75 per cent of travellers did that, the world would be a much better place.
Do you take all-inclusive holidays? Do you think they're a good thing, or a bad thing? How do you decide which companies you'll travel with?
Email: b.groundwater@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Instagram: instagram.com/bengroundwater
See also: 13 things you will never hear an Australian traveller say
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