Why do TikTok influencers like Molly Mae's sister have to ruin travel for the rest of us?
And yet, it happens.
Call me dramatic – a snob, even – but many influencers, especially those with particularly large followings, tend not to venture outside the confines of their 5-star resort unless it is for something with the crowd-pleasing aesthetic that you could find anywhere in the world.
Case in point: the fitness influencer (and Molly-Mae Hague's sister), Zoe Rae, who this week bemoaned the famous Indonesian province, Bali, because it wasn't how it looked on social media.
In a YouTube video about the trip, she described the high expectations she and her husband, Danny, had when they visited for their wedding anniversary. 'We had seen on social media that everyone was having such a lovely time. Lovely places to eat and beaches, and lovely gyms and coffee shops.
'But I don't think the reality of Bali is shown much at all, and I do think it is down to a lot of influencers posting the more luxury side of things.'
Almost inevitably, the couple left Bali after 48 hours in favour of Dubai.
Now, don't get me wrong. Had Rae cited safety concerns, an incident or even a lack of satisfaction with the resort she had (presumably) forked out for, that would be one thing – it was a special occasion, after all.
But she didn't. She didn't even expand on what bothered her about the 'reality of Bali', beyond the purported lack of 'lovely cafes'. I don't know about you, but when I fly for 16+ hours, the thing I am most desperate to see is not a coffee shop.
What's more, Rae is slating a destination to her hundreds of thousands of followers that not only is part of a developing country, where an estimated four per cent of its people live below the poverty line, but where tourism accounts for 60 to 70 per cent of its regional GDP. It's also pretty tone deaf in this climate, as many people cannot afford to go away, full stop, let alone jet off to another location on a whim two days later.
To me, it confirms something I have long feared to be true: that critical thought is dead and, what's more, the art of travel is, too – all because of social media, where having content to share afterwards can seem to matter more than the trip itself.
What happened to exploring? Whatever happened to doing research and using more than one source to figure out your plans?
As an avid solo traveller, I tend to do a lot of research in advance – mainly because I want to ensure I am safe and I don't get caught out. Unlike travelling with friends or a partner, you only have yourself to rely on. I also have an irrational fear of dining somewhere mediocre or a tourist trap due to a lack of foresight.
That said, I don't have a detailed itinerary with set times, and I only book a place if I genuinely would hate to miss it. I certainly don't visit places because of TikTok-induced queues or novelty dishes that will end up in the bin after a mouthful filmed for the 'gram.
To go to any country and not experience an iota of its culture is pretty ghastly.
I'm not saying recommendations are without their benefits – nor am I saying that giving them is reserved only for journalists, authors or the elite. Before TikTok, there was Instagram. And before Instagram, there were travel blogs, reviews and – stretching back a bit here – almanacs. In some ways, these platforms have made travel far more accessible and community-focused.
However, and I believe this to largely be because influencers' experiences are often #gifted, many online recommendations now are not based on authenticity, quality or even value, but rather, aesthetics. It's all about 'the scene'. And even the genuinely good recommendations have been ruined by word of mouth and, therefore, overtourism.
That isn't what travel is about. We shouldn't rely on being spoon-fed to figure things out, nor should we travel halfway across the world just to take a photo in some cafe.
Can we please go back to independent thinking and, perhaps, even normalise 'gatekeeping'?
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