At the eighth annual Points of View Summit, everyone is just happy to be there. Which is not to say that that’s not usually the case for this assemblage of travel specialists and editors. But flight delays from the government shutdown left many of these usually unfettered frequent fliers uncertain as to whether or not they’d make it to New York. The fact that turnout is high means morale is the same, and the day is off to a solid start.
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After welcome remarks from senior features editor Rebecca Misner and Global Editorial Director Divia Thani, we were off to the races with a day of panels concerning everything from foodways in the South Carolina lowcountry to the changing face of tech in travel (hello, AI!) and the value of finding those “in-between” spaces. Read on for a recap of the days’ events.
Authenticity in travel
The morning’s first panel, on the subject of authenticity in travel, was hosted by Articles Director Lale Arikoglu. Panelists included Julie Earle-Levine, media strategist and founder of Julie Earle-Levine Consulting who is deeply embedded in Australia’s tourism industry; Thierry Teyssier of Dar Ahlam and regenerative travel company 700,000 heures Impact; and David Rockwell, founder of Rockwell Group who has designed extensively for hospitality.
“The modern traveler is eager,” said Arikoglu, “more so than ever before, to dig into a destination. They’re looking for real, authentic travel experiences. But what does that mean exactly?” The consensus amongst the panelists was clear: travel cannot be considered “authentic” without intentional connection to the people that live in a given destination. If you will, the relationship between traveler and local must be symbiotic. As an example, Earle-Levine spoke about the transformation of Australia’s tourism industry with regard to the country’s Indigenous peoples. “Not long ago, you might have seen ‘indigenous tourism’ represented as a didgeridoo player, perhaps even a white player,” she said, “and now you’re seeing Discover Aboriginal Experiences, a collective of more than 50 Indigenous-owned operations, kind of running the show. [Travelers can] walk with the Palawa people in Tasmania, or learn about rock art in Uluru.”
For Teyssier, connection is a matter of scale. “When we were younger and backpacking,” he says, “we were naturally connected to communities. But we were young and we had time.” Now, overtourism and the shortening lengths of trips—”we used to travel for months!”—make organic connections difficult to stumble into. Rockwell felt similarly, and plans his own travels such that he can spend 10 to 15 days in a single place, getting to know the “in-between places” where life actually happens. Using Guadalajara, where he spent the formative years of his childhood, as an example, these spaces may be the market where locals shop or the interior courtyard of a home as residents and guests come and go.
Foodways and culinary connections in the lowcountry with Hilton Head Island
Next up was Hannah Towey, associate editor of transportation & travel news for Condé Nast Traveler, who was joined by Andrew Carmines. Carmines is a fixture on Hilton Head Island for his work at Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks. It’s an impressive operation: 90% of the seafood served at Hudson’s is harvested directly from the surrounding waters (the restaurant sits, as its name suggests, dockside on Skull Creek). Their Shell Ring Oyster Co. grows, according to Carmines, “half a million oysters every year” as well as “about half a million clams.” In recent years, Carmines has observed increased consumer interest in where their food comes from, and subsequent delight that so much of the fresh seafood on the menu has only just been pulled from the water.
