Why we talk about local people and not the locals

It’s not woke, it’s a wake-up call to realise that by adding one key word to an expression we can change the tone of tourism in a small positive way. That word is people. In the tourism industry, we have been guilty of using the term ‘the locals’ over ‘local people’ more than any other industry. At The Natural Adventure, we are endeavouring to change this on our website, external and internal communications. Why? Because people shouldn’t be seen as an anonymous collective. They are residents, community members, parents, children, elders and, in many cases, protectors of the precious places we seek out on our travels. So, lovely people, hear us out as we share our top reasons for putting people back in the picture.

Local people’s expertise and stories are what we remember from our travels. This man of music is one of our hosts on a Kosovo walking holiday.

It’s just kinder and more respectful to recognise those who live in a place where we are their guests, as people.
Labels in life are usually lame and lazy. People are multilayered and by putting this all important word back we salute that. It’s a tiny move towards showing that we see them as human beings with many of the same needs as ours, even though we are visitors in their country.
Referring to people as the locals can create an ‘us versus them’ dynamic, with tones of superiority on the tourism stakeholder’s part. Put the word people back, and the pendulum starts to swing back in the other direction, favouring all humans not just holidaying ones.
Thankfully, we’re stepping away from stereotyping and generalising in life. For example, people over a certain age shouldn’t be called ‘the elderly’ or people with access needs ‘the disabled’. Although we can’t list all individual identities and backgrounds in shorthand content, we can recognise that people are people.
There are colonial overtones when you say the locals and so it can feel patronising, especially if used by someone from a more privileged background or a different culture. And especially so if you are from the colonising nation. You wouldn’t talk about ‘the natives’ after all.
It’s simply culturally insensitive to erase the word people on your travels. It feels like a brush-off, or unwillingness to engage with unique culture and individuals on a deeper level.
We recognise that this isn’t a perfect solution to creating a more responsible, insightful form of tourism. But transforming tourism is a must, and by recognising that one term can cause offence, and changing that, is one small step to doing so. Also, for transparency, we are not perfect. We have a massive backlog of content, and we are slowly changing it, so bear with us as we strive to put our own house in order.
It just makes sense. Because it’s often the people we remember on our travels, not just the place. From a personal perspective, it’s the Berber guide who invited me to his wedding in the Atlas Mountains. It’s the Greek man who carved a catapult for my son, so that he could play with his son. It’s the Irish person who showed me how to cook seaweed spaghetti on an Atlantic beach. And the French woman who taught me how to make ravioli. Or the Catalan family who shared their picnic with me on a sleeper train through Spain. The list goes on, because the gifts of human kindness on our travels never seem to stop.