I am writing this from Amritsar, India, in the state of Punjab. The Sikh Golden Temple here is one of India’s leading attractions, and last night I shared space with thousands of people over the course of four or five hours. In that time, I saw only two people who might qualify as white Westerners.
That simple observation — and my travels over the past year to Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal, Mexico, England, Argentina and Colombia — have led me to a theory about the future of travel: The world is entering a new era in which exotic journeys are for more of a travel elite than a moneyed elite.
International travel is rebounding in comfortable “core” locations (for Americans, at least) such as Mexico, London or Dublin. But people are less keen on going farther afield. “Comfort travel” — by which I mean not just nice hotels but familiar surroundings — will be OK. “Challenge travel” — involving not only faraway places but also unaccustomed experiences — faces a more uncertain future.
