A few months ago, the Singaporean newspaper Straits Times did a great piece on what is called "beg-packing," a phenomenon whereby foreign tourists, often whites from developed countries, finance their backpacking trips across Southeast Asia by selling knickknacks like postcards or performance arts on the streets of their travel destinations. Sitting on the street sides, these tourists get handouts from local people drawn by curiosity of foreigners practically begging on the streets.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon is not one limited to the streets of Southeast Asia. Here in South America, there are plenty of white people going around the streets, laughing and playing as they approach locals walking by to ask for donations. The merchandise they sell often have little monetary value, especially in the local context, making what they call "business" little more than glorified exchange of cash for satisfaction in supporting poor foreigners' trips around the world.
As Straits Times have correctly argued, the practice of "beg-packing" is completely unethical. In this phenomenon, foreigners from wealthy countries are asking locals from poor countries for money, at the expense of locals using the same money in more productive ways (whether it be personal spending or donating to local beggars who really need help). Tourists who use local money for their expenditures are not supporting the local economy as much as they would if they were using money from back home.
But the biggest problem is that it denigrates the very idea of international travel. Traveling abroad is a luxury for only people who are financially stable and prudent. It is not a right that everyone has nor should have. For those who cannot really afford to travel, like the "beg-packers" in question, they should first think about how to earn the money they need to travel, from real jobs they can find back home, rather than get on the road without the necessary financial preparations.
Simultaneously, "beg-packing" creates negative image for the countries where the "beg-packers" come from. As poor travelers with little financial power, these "beg-packers" will do anything to make their dollars stretch as far as possible. That means sleeping on the streets, not caring about personal hygiene, aggressively haggling for everything they buy to a point of complete unreasonableness, and not tipping when the situation clearly demands it. All of such behaviors are bound to create conflict with locals.
The local tourist industry can certainly do without these cheap travelers. While sucking up local resources for their own travel-related pleasures and making a fuss about every little expenditure, they really create little benefits for the tourist industry. Their penny pinching ways will ensure they do not buy any more than the bare minimum to survive, and their presence, in the long-term, will ghettoize certain travel destinations so much that wealthier tourists with greater spending power will be deterred from coming.
It is time that countries take measure to ensure these "beg-packers" do not show up in the first place. And the solution is surprisingly easy. It is as simple as requesting all incoming foreign passengers, including those from countries with visa free access, to demonstrate sufficient funds in the bank accounts before they are allowed to board the international flight. By setting the minimum per day reasonably, governments can filter out "beg-packers" without deterring real tourists who are willing to spend.
It is worth repeating just how much of a menace "beg-packers" are, to their home country in terms of negative image, destination country in terms of conflicts seeming from penny pinching, and to the whole travel industry for taking up resources with the bare minimum of revenues earned. And as more countries become more open to international tourists in hopes of earning more money from foreign currency, the menace of "beg-packers" will only become greater over time. It is time governments take action to root them out once and for all.
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