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How to travel responsibly ?

A festival for travel lovers in Avignon

This year again, we are very tempted by the idea of attending the Escales Voyageuses Festival which will take place in Avignon from 23 to 26 March 2023.

This festival is marvellous because it invites us to travel; it transports us elsewhere; it offers us the opportunity to meet travellers at heart, unparalleled adventurers, lovers of encounters, of exoticism, of truth, of the other, of the far away…

Are we right to love travelling like this?

But we wonder… what if travel also meant knowing how to discover and marvel at what is around us; what if exoticism was not only within reach of the wings of a plane… what if it was possible to jump from train to train so that the rails of borders would pass by… what if we finally realised that tourism accounts for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions and that, of course, intercultural encounters are an absolute asset, but that we need to rethink the way we travel and encourage mobility that is gentler than air transport, at the risk of not being able to overcome distances as easily.

Perhaps, this question is all the more difficult to ask and to consider in any case, since as tourism actors, we aspire to make our guests aware of the environmental impact of their travel but at the same time, we are in a bad position because we necessarily encourage our customers to come to us.

Are there any solutions?

One remedy is to slow down. The journey is not just the destination but the path leading to it. So take your time, stay, slow down… don’t visit, live, look, like, enjoy.

Does the Escales Voyageuses Festival ask itself those questions? “By travelling the planet every year and perceiving the world’s hectic pace and changes,” have the festival and its organisers been able to observe the upheavals that affect our environment ? The debate remains open.

The festival in practice:

Quartier des teinturiers :

Théâtre du Chien qui Fume

Théâtre de la Luna

Benoit XII Theatre