Seems that travel influencers are doing more than just telling you about the next best vacation spot. Recently, they have been responsible for putting indigenous tribes at risk. Now, people are enraged at these influencers' ignorance and clout-chasing behaviors.
Travel Influencers Put Indigenous Tribes At Risk
Getty image by ANDREYGUDKOV
Recently, travel influencers have been venturing to new places, often ones they had not visited before. In those places, some of the travel influencers stumble upon indigenous tribes. Rather than leave the be, many influencers are choosing to interact with and record those tribes for clout. Besides being disruptive and insensitive, they are posing an even greater risk to these people.
These influencers are exposing the indigenous tribes to new diseases, which could be detrimental to their health. When speaking to the London Times, an indigenous rights advocate stated, "The results of the contract are catastrophic - the devastating and predictable deaths of children, parents, siblings, and friends on a genocidal scale."
Indigenous Tribes Under Threat
The NY Post shares that the paper "Uncontacted Indigenous Peoples: at the edge of survival" discusses this harsh reality. In that paper, the authors share that there are "196 uncontacted indigenous groups around the globe. A whopping 95 percent are concentrated in the Amazon rainforest, while the rest are scattered throughout Asia and the Pacific."
Now, between tourists, missionaries, and travel influencers who are deliberately seeking contact with these tribes, they are being exposed to new and risky diseases. It does not matter that many of these locations, such as North Sentinel Island, are forbidden for visitors. They are clout seekers marching themselves in there and interacting with the tribes all the same.
That same report also stated that British travel writer Miles Routledge bragged about visiting the island. Claiming that "satellite data shows the Indian authorities are not properly monitoring the island, making it easy for him to get there illegally." All of this for clicks and views without considering the deadly consequences.
