Mass tourism seems incompatible with veganism

I know that this is a heated issue because it touches on lifestyle and consumer choices, but I'd like to address it as constructively as possible. My goal here is to just ask people who might be contributing to the issue to simply consider changing their habits.

I've been seeing some posts where people ask things like "I'm going on vacation for 3 days to X, are there vegan options?"

I have several issues with this: - flying, in particular, is very harmful for the environment. Not only does it cause air and water pollution, noise pollution is a major concern too, as it disrupts ecosystems and shortens the lives of people who live in proximity to airports. Pollution overall causes diseases, deaths and renders certain environments inhabitable for the people and the animals who live there. - places that are overexploited by the tourism industry encounter a lot of issues with local ecosystems and sometimes see local people displaced to make space for hotels and other structures. - the benefit of going somewhere for a short amount of time is more than questionable, as you typically don't get the opportunity to truly discover and connect with the local culture and you only visit the "tourist" locations. I personally struggle to define this as "travelling", because it just doesn't provide the human experience of diversity and growth you'll get from staying somewhere for a long time and making the effort to connect with another society.

Now I understand that this isn't a direct exploitation of animals, but the harm they suffer is a direct consequence of the strain we put on our shared environment. "I don't want to catch and cut this fish open, but I don't mind it suffocating in polluted water" just doesn't sound... cruelty free.

I truly believe that "bucket listing" a bunch of capital cities or whatever is simply unethical. I have been guilty of that in the past, but that also applies to consumption of animal products. Once you understand the issue, you stop. It's one of these things when a little but of your pleasure might not be a good enough justification for causing harm.

There are more ethical options for vacations. I'm sure you all live in relative proximity to other beautiful cities, amazing nature and what not. You absolutely can choose to spend your 3 days off work closer to home, still see beautiful things and enjoy a good break from everyday life.

The most relevant information depends a lot on your current location and the destinations you want to visit. I'd really like to ask you to take a moment to google how to travel ethically, what issues are created by the tourism industry at the place you're planning on going to and what choices you could make to mitigate the impact.