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TRAVELING WITH A PURPOSE

Excerpted with permission from the March 2008 National Geographic Traveler.
© 2008 National Geographic Society.

By Keith Bellows

One of the influential voices in travel publishing belongs to a man you probably wouldn’t recognize—and he means to keep it that way, as you can see in the photo below. Since 1979, Andrew Harper has written about secluded hotels and resorts around the world, and he always travels incognito. He does this so he can evaluate a property objectively—like an ordinary traveler, without any special favors. His monthly newsletter, Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report, carries the tagline “A connoisseur’s worldwide guide to peaceful and unspoiled places. ” Lucky man: Along with his wife, he personally visits each and every hidden gem that he writes about. And he always pays his own way.

Why did you start your newsletter?
Launching the Hideaway Report was the product of a midlife crisis. Prior to age 37, I had worked for several advertising agencies. But as time went on, I realized that the structured corporate lifestyle just was not my cup of tea. I decided I wanted to do something I truly loved. I always loved traveling, and I liked writing, so I decided to combine the two. My wife and I started visiting places, just doing basic research. We started finding these wonderful hideaways and would tell our friends about them, and they would get excited and want to know more. So I thought maybe there was a market for a publication on secluded and unspoiled places. I would tell people about places in a more personalized way, and I’d be very forthright with my appraisals. We have no advertisers, so I feel I can write whatever I want about a destination.

Can someone get to know a place if they’re cocooned in the lap of luxury?
Obviously, I’m writing for a fairly affluent clientele, and a number of my readers do cocoon themselves. I think it’s sad. I tell people to get out of that hotel and visit the local marketplace, the villages. You have to explore, talk with people. You have to go down to the local restaurants and cafés. If everyone is eating a certain kind of fish, don’t order a cheeseburger. I just came back from French Polynesia. I visited a hotel that many of the leading travel magazines were raving about. And I was really appalled. The first thing that hit me when I walked into my over-the-water bungalow was the 42-inch plasma television. I said to myself, “Why is that necessary? ” You’ve come to French Polynesia, and the natural beauty is astonishing. I also found that the lagoons there were gorgeous. One should swim in them. It astounded me that all the guests were going down to a man-made beach. They were sitting around with their iPods and laptop computers. And I thought they might as well be in California or Florida. They were not getting any sense of place.

Are you finding it harder to discover authentic places?
There are so many places in the world that still have a feeling of authenticity. But there are places where the residents may be playing up to the tourists, and they are losing a sense of authenticity. We have a way of finding a paradise, and then developers come in and beat it into submission. In Morocco, for instance, the one place everyone goes is Marrakech, and I, too, love the medieval suqs there. The market square is like a carnival. But I’ve found over the years that the nomads who come in to the main square are thinking of the tourists. I feel they are putting on a show more than before, when everything was natural. Yet to the north, Fez is probably the most haunting and authentic medieval city in the world. Little has changed in 500 years. The old city is called Fes el-Bali. I’ve been back many times, and it absolutely amazes me that here is place where time has virtually stood still.

Do you think the idea of sustainability is real or a fad?
I think it is real. One of the places in which I see it more than anywhere else is Africa. A lot of luxurious lodges are opening up there, especially in southern Africa. Part of the agreement is that these lodges are owned and staffed by the local tribes. The local people have come to realize that, “Gee, if we kill that elephant, we are killing the golden goose. That is why these people are coming here. ” And it works marvelously in Africa. That is the kind of sustainability we can all applaud. Major hotel chains are also getting into sustainability. I think they get into it because it’s what clients want. The more guests demand such things, the more hotels will change.

Will we be able to preserve endangered places such as the Galápagos?
Sad to say, but some places will fall. Our population keeps increasing, and more people have disposable incomes, so more people will travel. It will be a great strain on certain places. But people today want to preserve things, and it is only that public outcry that will save places like the Galápagos. Obviously, we’ve got to put a cap on the number of tourists in some places. Botswana is a good example. To try to preserve the primate nature of things, only a certain number of travelers can go to the country’s parks and reserves. So, I’m optimistic, but I’m not optimistic about every place.

How do you feel about the power of travel?
If I had to choose between sending someone to travel the world and sending him to college, I would send him around the world. You will learn far more about the world by traveling, far more about your own life, what the future of this world is. More solutions to problems like global warming, poverty, and war would result if people did more traveling, because that is how you find out that others are just like you. They want peace. They want decent jobs. They want to make the world a better place for their children. Having traveled all these years, I’ve concluded that the citizens of the world are far more open and tolerant and hospitable than governments, overall. Most people are kind, generous, and open-hearted. They really want to welcome you. What is interesting is that the poorer the country, the more generous the people. That is one of those remarkable things in life.