Hidden gems: should we preserve them or share them?

I’ve kept quiet about them... to preserve them. Those are the words of a passionate traveler who recently wrote to us. For years, he’s been discovering rare, authentic places... and chooses to say nothing. Out of respect. Out of fear of destruction. Out of love for secrecy. What would you do? You stumble upon a magical spot, still untouched by mass tourism. Do you keep it to yourself... or do you open the door, gently, to other travelers? At DIRECTRAVEL, we’re asking ourselves these questions. Can sharing be an act of passing something on? Or is it always the beginning of the end for these preserved places? Read the article here.

Photo credit: Frédéric Soltan

Word of mouth can be a double-edged sword. Maybe even more so on English-speaking forums than on French ones.

Over time, I’ve noticed that many travelers keep their little slices of paradise to themselves. They know all too well what it’d feel like to find themselves surrounded by crowds of disrespectful visitors.

But to me, the real issue is this: why should we share our best discoveries with people who’d never do the same for us?

Hey, personally I say it without specifying because it's impossible for me to geolocate the place without internet while traveling (for example in Colombia) "La Mojana" – a region in the north where I've never seen a single tourist, and yet I saw way more animals there than those who go to the Amazon It's a very poor region mostly made up of indigenous and local people who are absolutely lovely, always smiling, and a bit naive (naive like me when I paid a smuggler to get my car across on a disastrous raft where my fear-o-meter was at zero). Meanwhile, a makeshift bridge was hidden just around a bend in the track right next to it 😂