Behind the glittering veil of tourism, there's a sometimes ugly reality.
Some tourists pollute the environment they visit, and they often dilute the very culture they come to experience. This summer Western Washington University students Tony Carrigan and Nicole Schierberl went down to Peru to understand what happens when tourism goes wrong and study how to get tourism right.
"I had a pretty bleak outlook on tourism to begin with," says Carrigan, a Western junior. "If it's done wrong it can lead to a lot of problems down the line. It was neat to see it done in good ways."
The students took their cues on good tourism from a Seattle group called Crooked Trails, which paired with Western's recreation department to offer the travel class to the students. The group, started by Western graduates, focuses on the importance of responsible travel and community-based tourism.
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