Why you should rethink your travel bucket list immediately | Rachel Cunningham | TEDxMAIT

With millions of new citizens being pulled up into the wealthy middle class right now, more than ever, the world's population is traveling. And now, more than ever, your travel bucket list is growing as the internet shows you more of the world through social media.

Many tourist hotspots are being ruined by the influx of tourism due to social media “influencers” and pop culture references. Many of these destinations are starting to impose tourism restrictions to counter these bucket list box tickers.



Are you one of them? Are you willing to change your travel habits and your future travel bucket list in order to maintain tourist hotspots for future generations?



Rachel Cunningham is a superyacht chef and world traveler. She has visited well over 100 countries in the past 15 years and has been noticing how many of these places have been impacted by the tourism rise. Many towns she enjoyed 10 years ago have been changed with mass tourism in a way that is not sustainable. Other places have been shut down completely to tourists, such as Maya Bay in Thailand.



It’s not just governments who need to step in and shut down popular tourist spots. We need to take a serious look at our own travel habits too and potentially change our bucket list, or any of the places we aspire to visit will be ruined and unrecognizable for the next generation of travelers. Rachel Cunningham is a world traveler and works as a superyacht chef. Owing to her profession, she visits places all over the world and shares all her experiences on her blog. She has been to 115 countries to date and has been traveling the world for 15 years. Over her years of travel, she has witnessed the sunrise over Machu Picchu, learned to cook with a famous South Korean Monk from Netflix, taught children in Nepal, rode camels in Egypt and danced at a carnival in Trinidad, among many other amazing adventures at exotic locations. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx