THE PYRAMIDAL PECKING ORDER IN TOURISM

Large parts of the holiday world apparently hate 'whistleblowers' and contemporaries who share their knowledge on the internet. One can come to this conclusion by looking at the current threads in some Facebook groups. Superficially, the protagonists are concerned with the well-being of the destination 'Lanzarote', which is worth protecting.

If you dig deeper, however, you will very quickly recognise the true motives, which may serve as a motive for action for many of those involved.

The social pecking order within the tourists on Lanzarote seems to be clearly defined and climbing the ladder is apparently just as difficult here as in the time-honoured Indian caste system.

The vertical structure begins, if one believes the prevailing opinion of the holidaymakers, at the level of the lowest form of visitor to the volcanic island, with the cruisers.

This is the type of holidaymaker that descends on Lanzarote like a locust and leaves after only a few hours. Followed by the 'band tourists', those holidaymakers who spend an 'all-inclusive' holiday in a hotel and are just barely tolerated, even if they are not accepted as 'real Lanzarote fans'.

The real 'Lanzarote aficionado' begins, according to the interpretation of the digital opinion leaders, with the holidaymakers who have found shelter in a private domicile, who are, so to speak, in close contact with Lanzarote and somehow already (want to) belong to it.

This grouping is then only topped by the alphatians of this pecking order: the 'repeaters', those repeat offenders who have already spent several holidays on Lanzarote. This group of people can usually be recognised by the fact that they first use a conversation to verbally mark their territory. The scents used for this purpose often begin with formulations such as: "Well, we have been coming to Lanzarote since 1983" or "This is already our eleventh stay on Lanzarote! Followed by a short dramaturgical pause and an applauding look.

And this is where the territorial disputes with the 'whistleblowers' named at the beginning occur. The formation of status in the pecking order of tourists also includes the accumulation of information about sights and 'secret places' that no one else, at least not from the lower pecking order strata, knows about.

If this knowledge is now shared and disseminated inflationarily and free of charge on the internet, then this does not destroy Lanzarote, but rather the imaginary advantage that one has painstakingly acquired and cherished as a secret.

At the latest since the option to mark places in social media and thus make them conveniently findable for others, this form of 'unauthorised information sharing' has been frowned upon, even among those whose business model insists on knowledge about precisely these places.

The last hope now is the vague hope that holidaymakers will be persuaded that they are encouraging vandalism by posting key geographical data.

However, this assertion is a rather steep hypothesis that cannot be proven by anything.

In general, the same should apply here:

Those who want to share their joy about experiences and sensations should do so comprehensively and in as much detail as they like.

Whoever hears or reads these suggestions should be inspired by them, because we need curious and interested people to get in touch with this wonderful island.