Never in my life did I ever think I’ll have to deal with tourism. In the first instance, my academic and professional experiences were far off from the field of tourism and such has been a topic or concept I truly never identified with. So I wasn’t particularly on my reins nor was I keen on getting immersed in tourism when I “seemingly” felt thrusted into the group. From my own local experiences back home, there isn’t much talk and fuss about the tourism industry but much debate and reports have seemed to prove the economic benefits that this area could bring or contribute to the GNP. Our research project “Tourism Kills Neighbourhoods” as earlier mentioned, was not a topic I was keen on working on, but nonetheless out of sheer curiosity, I engaged myself with the process, to understand in what ways this particular sector can be of benefit or negatively impact a country’s growth and development process.

Though exhaustive, the fieldwork process was seemingly exciting as I began understanding clearly the “all not so glorious” angle of tourism following recent demonstrations in major European cities on the negative impact of mass tourism in these cities. Amsterdam i’d say was an interesting field site because I could clearly experience and feel the tourism trend flowing throughout the city landscape. While I didn’t entirely feel grave resentment amongst local residents and authorities about the mass influx of tourists in the city, there was from every indication a passion and desire to stem the flow of such, which seemingly was rendering residents and their somewhat peaceful lives non existent. I gradually felt the tourism experience as I immersed myself as an observant participant, taking in the sights of beautiful Amsterdam and began connecting my own dots as to the pros and cons of tourism to economic growth and urban liveability. Though most of what I experienced on the field is not totally replicated in my local context, the experience opened me up to looking at tourism from a totally different perspective. The title “Tourism Kills Neighbourhoods” made sure of this and I seemingly am beginning to look at tourism now in my own local context in a totally different way.

Although getting into the entire seminar process seemed to be “a put off” to me, working as a team or in a group has always been a very difficult yet peculiarly exciting process to engage in. Working with people from various cultural backgrounds with differing opinions and perspectives usually seems pretty chaotic but that is ironically what shapes group dynamics and allows for creativity and intuitiveness.