In many ways tourists are the shock troops of globalisation. Tourism wreaks havoc with the environment, social systems, local cultures and badly warps local economies. It's a plague, a virus that is as destructive as it is pervasive and it shows no signs of slowing down or becoming less virulent. In Tourist Trap crime writer Patrick Blackden, author of Danger Down Under turns his attention to one of the less obvious dark sides of global travel.
With an eye on the effects that tourism has on local communities, in particular the economic and social disparity between local poverty and the affluence of visitors, Blackden explores the criminal activity that sees the tourist as a potential victim more than as a recipient of local hospitality. A wide range of cases are explored, both in terms of geographic scope and in terms of the types of criminal behaviour.
The Charles Sobraj case is examined in some detail, as is the case of Australian serial killer Ivan Millat. However there is coverage of lesser known crimes, from the lynching of Japanese tourists in Guatemala to the sex tourist abroad in third world. In the latter instance Blackden avoids cliché and does not launch into simple tabloid condemnation - the issues are far too complex for that. He even addresses the issue of female sex tourism, a subject that was all but invisible for many years.
This is a very different take on the issues raised by global travel, and Blackden never strays from the weird dynamics of cultural and economic chaos that are the inevitable result of the massive growth of the travel industry world-wide.
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