discussion keeps the world turning this is roundtable you're listening to
roundtable with myself her young I'm joined by Lee Yi and Steve Hatherley in
the studio coming up can the desire to see endangered landmarks before they
disappear be harming them in the process we discussed the impact of last chance
tourism on the preservation of our world's most vulnerable treasures and
bag charms those playful and decorative accessories that dangle from bags are
making a huge comeback why are these tiny add-ons causing such a buzz among
Gen Z around the world our podcast listeners can find us at roundtable
China on Apple podcast and you can reach us via email roundtable podcast at QQ
dot com now let's shift gears every travelers bucket list includes natural
wonders such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef or the mare de gloss glacier in
the French Alps these spots are attracting more visitors these days not
just because they offer in once-in-a-lifetime experience but also because
people worry they might not be around forever it's called last chance tourism
but is it doing more harm than good Steve what is happening right now yeah
travel-related story and it's an interesting trend in the travel industry
you know travel and tourism is responsible for between eight and eleven
percent of global greenhouse gas emissions that's from a 2021 report from
the World Travel and Tourism Council and as the planet is getting hotter as
it's warming up many of our natural wonders for example coral reefs or as
you mentioned glaciers they are at risk of damage and disappearance at risk of
damage and disappearance is a quote from the New York Times and that means that
some of these man-made greenhouse gases created from us from the travel and
tourism industry it could be exacerbating some of the really big
changes that are putting these locations like coral reefs like the
Great Barrier Reef like the mare de glass glacier glacier putting those
places in danger because of increased tourism to those spots we've heard the
word over tourism a lot well this is like over tourism to places that are
already vulnerable right and also on top of that there are lots of really
beautiful archipelagos yes and these are a group of islands and the sea
surrounding them and often these are nations that are really clinging their
fingernails on the cliff of survival because of rising sea levels which means
that these islands could be gone the Maldives is an example yes exactly so
it's a really dire situation for some of these nations and the existence of a lot
of these islands yep you're right and again they call it last chance tourism
and if you look at some travel websites you'll see that term used on travel
websites everybody's aware of this term these days and the reason they call it
last chance tourism is because it stems from this belief amongst travelers that
there's an expiration date on certain travel destinations whether because
they're changing so quickly or maybe that people fear that they won't have
the chance to ever visit these places because these places will disappear
eventually and there's a lot of examples of this but the example that I wanted to
talk about today specifically is Iceland I've never been myself have you have you
been before but I know this is a very popular tourist destination for Chinese
middle-income households these days yeah and the chief of operations for
Icelandic mountain guides said that half a million people now are visiting
Iceland for glacier tours every single year and the reason people are going to
the glaciers in Iceland is because they want to see it before they melt last
chance tourism there was a tragic story from earlier this year as a matter of
fact there was an American tourist who was visiting an ice cave in Iceland at a
glacier in one of Europe's largest national parks and that's when a frozen
arch of ice collapsed it killed him it and injured his girlfriend and it's not
that this accident or this incident is directly related to climate change
experts say that but they also say that his temperatures rise the recession and
disappearance of the glaciers has popularized this type of tourism and
it's creating an atmosphere at places like glaciers where it's accelerating
the process of it disappearing yeah talking about last chance tourism or
where tourists be into places that are pretty distant and valuable I think we
have had this previous discussion on the show and I think glacier tourism is
also popular here in China I mean among Chinese tourists I think last November a
magazine a very popular magazine called Chinese National Geography they launched
a 17-day tourism and study group for a tour to South Pole and you know it can
just cover 130 places on the tour and which can be quite expensive actually
can cost you nearly 100,000 yuan and there could be more that's about 1400
US dollars and per person and that project product was soon sold out after
it was released and also according to the local travel agency I mean online
travel agency called two new and the trip to South Pole can be quite popular
among Chinese tourists and one 17-day trip also combined and travel to
Argentina and also the ice-bound continent with departures in December
and the next of February this is the most popular choice among the travel
portals South Poles on offerings so I think this glacier tourism and also the
concept of going to extreme places these concepts are also being popular
among especially younger generations of tourists maybe a typical slogan is that
is that why not going to these places right now rather than you know wait for
like years later I think this is also a trendy thing here in China can you just
add an observation on to what you just said I think this might also reflect
people's disposable income levels and also how experienced people are as
travelers and in this country after reform and opening up and after
traveling has become sort of like a staple thing on a person's annual plan
for some folks of a certain income bracket and in China oh also just now we
talked about Millennials and Gen Z are kind of known for that they're willing
to pay for experiences and this is part of it Chinese Millennials and Gen Z
well maybe this is voting by their wallet that they're willing to pay for
these experiences and I can see the social I wouldn't say status but sort of
like a sort of like a social image that's attached to oh you've been to
such-and-such place and you share it on your social media and back then years
ago it was like okay it's cool that you show that you know we show off that
you've been to Europe or the US or Japan or whatever it is now it's like
well where is that obscure place where is that place that nobody else is
sharing that they're going in the upcoming national holiday yeah yeah so
that becomes a social cache of some sort and people are willing to pay for it and
go experience it well and yeah they're willing to pay for it they're willing to
experience it and they are aware of it because of social media there's an
example on TikTok where there was a video blogger who was in the the streets
of Venice and the streets were waterlogged at the time and in the
TikTok video it was saying you know I want to cry because the streets of
Venice you have to come here now you have to come now or you're never gonna
get the chance to come see Venice and then the comments were saying oh I have
to go to Venice now before it disappears and so social media you could
argue that's a good thing or a bad thing getting that information out there but
yeah social media is is adding to the problem of over tourism in these
disappearing spots and the the people in charge you know that's from the tourists
side but going back to the tour operators sides and going back to the
example of glaciers this is forcing the tour operators to do things like add
safety precautions like bridges on a glacier or handrails on a glacier and
that might sound like yeah okay putting extra stairs in place that's a good
thing but what we're doing here is we're adding infrastructure the people who
need to be there to build that infrastructure the point is there's more
and more and more traffic there and this is adding to the problem as well see I
have really mixed feelings about that but isn't this what us human beings have
been doing in interfering with nature since the beginning of our history hmm I
mean you could see you could use the word interfering but I'm not sure that
that's really fair because Trevor Kresner he's the general manager of exit
glacier guides in Alaska and he said the problem isn't necessarily the fact that
there are more people more enthusiasts coming to visit the glaciers the problem
is that the glaciers are not in the same condition as they were in the 1980s if
they were this would not be a problem at all the problem is the glaciers are
melting because of global warming and that's what's making this a bigger
problem yeah I think it's it just reminds me of my also one of my
previous interviews with a director who has been yeah that interview is quite
inspiring because she has been conducted this like filming underwater
in oceans across the globe and she said that there is you know I also asked this
question I mean we're always talking about protecting the ocean but meantime
how do you prevent people from going into the ocean and meantime not
disturbing lives of those creatures living in ocean she said that there is
actually a very fine line between respecting ocean and disturbing ocean
it's not that you don't you're not really allowing people to go into that
places you just need to tell people how to behave properly I think same thing
applies here in this glacier tourism or last chance tourism I think we can't
really you know prohibit people from going into places right it's it's really
their freedom to choose where to go and if travel agency you think that is a
very good selling point that's okay because that's your major function to
sell this travel packages but meantime I think you need to warm people off I
mean what's the correct I mean what's the proper behavior if you want to go to
these places and what can be something you can do to protect the local natural
natural environment because local did the local place is quite fragile yeah I
agree with that I can say however that I was pleasantly surprised to see that
the travel websites that I visited talking about last chance tourism they
use that banner right last chance to visit this location but they also
included information by increased numbers of tourists to these locations
be careful when you're there because this is almost doing a disservice to
nature in itself and I thought that was kind of responsible actually for the
travel websites to be putting that information there not just using last
chance tourism as a plant as a as a way to make more money but yeah it's it's
related to air travel it's related to how we get to these destinations air
travel is one of the things they talk about as a big kind of culprit I don't
necessarily agree with that because if what they're saying is people are
traveling through the air to get to the Maldives to get to Antarctica or to get
to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia okay but if they didn't go to these last
chance places they'd be going somewhere else and that's why I don't completely
agree with that argument but this one I do the footprint the global footprint
ecological footprint of tourism I mentioned eight to eleven percent of the
world's carbon emissions are linked to the tourism sector and it's not just the
travel to and from that impacts the environment the bigger impact think about
it the hotels the restaurants the little shops where you can buy trinkets all of
that infrastructure adds to the impact on the environment as well yes and
that's a really tough one actually you guys mentioned all these natural wonders
and Venice is not a natural wonder but for even in my short life I've heard of
this more than 20 years that people say oh go to Venice before it's gone a city
that seems to float on water as if by magic and it's got all these breathtaking
cultural and artistic treasures which I absolutely love but it's at danger
because the water levels are going up and then you know there's this worry
that one day it could be gone forever and we've seen that from this year the
is it the city government of Venice the authorities there have started charging
a tourist tax yeah we talked about it on round table which we did and I remember
in that discussion we used the example of in Spain Barcelona and saying that
locals aren't particularly friendly or some locals aren't particularly friendly
towards travelers because that city might turn into completely a tourist
city and look at Venice I'm sorry to say it probably already is nobody who's
actually living a life that has nothing to do with the tourism industry lives
there so when in sorry to stick with the example of Venice a little bit
longer but it doesn't seem like there's any turning back and now it's already
developed into a tourism place that's what it is and I don't really see any
solutions whatsoever about this but this is a really worrying trend so guys one
last message if you could send to our listeners about what do you see as you
know the way forward it's not easy to answer that question because as a
tourist or as a traveler of course you want to see these places of course you
want to have the experience of visiting a glacier of course you want to see the
Great Barrier Reef and Venice and all of these wonderful beautiful places that
our earth has so is it that you should feel guilty I think so I don't think so
I disagree with oh really I think so what are we supposed to do with our
vacation time go stand in a closet you have better things to do seven days
that's not fair I think it's quite it's a tough one especially after the
pandemic I mean people have experienced a long pandemic time and and I think
globally there is like this consensus among especially younger generations or
other generations that we should cease the moment you don't really know what
will happen tomorrow especially after experiencing so much uncertainty is
during the pandemic so it can be really hard to tell people not go to
specifically some place right now but I think we can tell people to be a
responsible tourist I think that applies to anywhere you go for example you can
consider maybe taking more public transportation buses subways instead of
taking a taxi and also thinking about supporting local small businesses and
not really leaving trash I think these are very basic principles that we can
follow no matter where we go carbon offsetting we can be the carbon
offsetters when we travel and also just very quickly as my final point perhaps
limiting the number of tourists put that responsibility a little bit on
the tour operators as well making sure that they work hard to keep those
places in as best condition as they can right so you got to have like the local
authorities as well as the tour operators the businesses involved the
government involved in coming up with better policies and I'm not preaching
that people should feel guilty about this but okay I'm just gonna be radical
here I don't understand why you have to go there you have to punch in you have
to own a piece of this place to appreciate it in my humble opinion if
this place is in such a fragile state of existence all right I will generously
give up my chance so that Steve can go but I think you know I I believe that
just appreciate it my speech had no effect on him and therefore I just feel
that you don't have to be there or own a piece of the physical thing or the
so-called memory but you can still appreciate it and I know there are
plenty of people who are gonna go anyway so there you go coming up why are bag
charms a suddenly everywhere from runways to everyday life join us as we
explore how these small decorative accessories are creating a big impact in
the world of fashion stay tuned looking for passion how about fiery debate want
to hear about current events in China from different perspectives then tune
in to round table where East meets West and understanding is the goal it's the
hour of roundtable with myself her young I'm joined by Steve Hatherley and Lee
here's an unexpected luxury bag trend maximalism is back with the bang for
2024 it's all about enhancing your favorite accessories with bold bag
charms runways are showcasing bags decked out in silver chains key chains
and tassels in everyday life we're seeing people embrace this trend to
Olympic champion Chen Hong Chen was even seeing flaunting a whole bunch of these
cartoon turtle charms and tassels on her backpack was driving this
fascination with personalized flair and we'll talk about how to embrace it in
your wardrobe in a second so do explain this latest fashion trend here is the
quotes big charms bag charms are about to be the biggest thing in fashion the
bag trend is a genuine phenomenon and it's about to hit the real world that is
from glamour magazine and that quote was referencing New York's fashion week and
also Copenhagen fashion week as well we have massive massive brands participating
in this bag charm trend mu mu name them Balenciaga Louis Vuitton Fendi Hermes you
name the big brands there in on it and if you don't know what we're talking
about imagine a handbag small or big and that handbag doesn't have anything on
the exterior there's nothing hanging from it now imagine you take a keychain
and you clip it to right onto the handle of is it called a handle on a purse or a
handbag I think so right there's not a different term for that okay imagine you
clip your keychain now imagine you clip another thing and another thing and
another thing now imagine and these are the charms by the way these are bag
charms and people now are clipping these sometimes cheap sometimes very
expensive but always creative charms to their bags this is the trend yes and
this year it has to be a whole bunch of them if you're only having one on it
sorry you're out of fashion you have to have five or something like that and
what's driving this trend of back charm well I think for younger generations is
always about self-representation right and firstly it's it's on social media
and now it's becoming offline so I think this back charms really help those
younger generations to speak to speak about who they are for example I've also
got this little toy you know which is given by my friend she actually made the
toy by herself and I carry that toy you know alongside my handbag that they're
carry every day to work and for me personally I think that's something that
I can tell to the outside world that you know even though I try really hard to
pretend I'm a professional person at workplace I do have this my private life
and I do have this little cute world that besides the professional image at a
workplace so I think that's you know different layers of self images or eagles
that you're trying to convey through this little things charms this isn't new
either by the way you remember what's her name Jane Birkin yes yeah at the
Birkin bag very famous in the fashion world right if you don't know she was a
British French actress she was a singer as well mostly in French cinema cinema I
think was where her films came from anyway she lent her name to this very
famous Hermes Birkin handbag which is still really really popular today it's
all around the world right now people are going crazy for it I was on the
Louis Vuitton website for the first time in my life I really heart yeah seven
hundred and seventy dollars for one bag charm these things can be really
expensive if you want them to be yeah and the last time bag charms were huge
was about ten years ago and I remember it was Finney which back then it was
still Carl Lagerfeld who was at the helm of the designers seat and it's very
smart of them to come up with these expensive charms and you could totally
understand it you know it's just another way to make money but this time I think
there's something different of course on top of that there is definitely this
urge to sort of show who you are without actually saying anything and I think
that's also part of fashion it's you are what you wear in a way of course
let's not look at this too superficially because I do believe that we're so much
more than that but it's almost giving this really bold statement like Lee
wants to say I'm more than an office worker there's this other side in my
world and you know what I'm being generous to show it to you and I love
it that young people sort of they're not shy to to show this side of them
which also in the past in a professional setting I'm not so sure if it was
welcome but now I think in a way it is I think you're right you know people get
earrings and people dye their hair pink and purple and that's a way of self
expression but that's doing something to your body this is another way of self
expression but you don't have to change any colors on your head you can simply
add a little charm to your bag to express yourself and also they can be
super functional right you can also maybe put your keys and your cars inside
certain charms which can also be practical I think yes and fashion does
come in cycles for a few seasons we've experienced quiet luxury I suppose and
now maybe it's saying more is more and you better expect it except it both yeah
in this trend of over-the-top bag charms perfectly mirrors our times where
individuality a little bit of nostalgia and bold expressions are celebrated in a
world craving personal connection and vibrant self expression these charms
offer a fun and visible way to stand out and make a statement and that brings us
to the end of today's roundtable thank you Steve Hatherly and Lee for joining
the discussion I'm Hyoung we'll see you next time
