Tourism according to Jamaica Kincaid

"The thing you have always suspected about yourself the minute you become a tourist is true: A tourist is an ugly human being. You are not an ugly person all the time; you are not an ugly person day to day."

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                Through her writing, Jamaica Kincaid speaks volumes about the negative aspects she sees in the tourism industry, and in tourists themselves. She seems to dwell only on the negative aspects that tourism has brought to Antigua, ignoring that maybe it isn’t tourism that is the cause for all of this. Maybe these problems can be attributed to other problems, such as corruption and inequality, and one of the symptoms present is the “ugliness” of tourism on the island.  To call every tourist an ugly person is to generalize a group of people who come from all walks of life in order to explore a new place in the world.

While some tourists and their practices might be exploitative towards the natives in whatever region they happen to travel to, it can’t be denied that tourists also serve to improve local conditions in many cases. They bring money into otherwise poor yet beautiful areas, which helps the locals fund things such as schools, hospitals, parks, etc. The situation is obviously not so black and white, as tourists can and do cause harm to local monuments or fauna, but the situation is not as black and white as Jamaica Kincaid makes it seem through her writing.