Last Updated on July 23, 2023
Understanding travel privilege is all about acknowledging that leisure travel is not accessible to everyone, and taking steps to address inequities in the travel community and industry.
It can be really difficult to recognize your own travel privilege, because it means you have to take notice of the subtle benefits you experience while traveling. And of course, many of those privileges are part of your life at home, too.
This guide is unpacking travel privilege, including what travel privilege is, types of travel privilege, and how to address it.
What is Travel Privilege
A travel privilege is an unearned benefit that you have because you fit into a specific social group, have a specific aspect of identity, or are born in a specific country.
Typically, these aspects of identity are ones we can’t change, like our race, gender, sexual identity or language. Travel privilege is usually granted by society to specific people, based on these aspects of their identity.
The concept of travel privilege is the same as general privilege in society. It has a lot to do with power systems like patriarchy, white supremacy, heterosexism, ableism, and more.
These power systems are what keep some people in a position of benefitting, while others are oppressed.
Unpacking 10 Types of Travel Privilege
When it comes to travel privilege, there are some types that are really common. In reading through these, you might recognize that you experience some of these privileges (or that you don’t).
1. White Privilege
White privilege is the ability to travel without concerns about safety, racism, and microaggressions. White privilege also comes with systemic benefits, for example, white travelers don’t face racial profiling while transiting through airports.
White privilege is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people. It becomes particularly evident if white and non-white people live within the same social, political, or economic circumstances.
2. Socio-Economic Privilege
Socio-economic privilege directly impacts who is able to travel. This privilege is the ability to save money to spend on leisure travel. Many people across North America and the world don’t have the luxury of expendable income that can go towards travel.
Socio-economic privilege doesn’t necessarily mean you are super wealthy. This privilege can simply mean not having to worry about putting food on the table, or being eligible to take loans out so that you can go to college.
3. Passport Privilege
Passport privilege is the ability to be able to travel throughout the world freely based on the passport you have. For example, a Canadian passport grants holders entry to 184 countries that don’t require Canadians to obtain a visa to visit (as of November, 2019).
There are more benefits to a “powerful” passport than just visa-free travel. There are economic benefits, like, visa-free entry into a country often means less (or no) processing fees. Powerful passports also often mean more opportunities to live and work abroad.
And for those without passport privilege, not only is travel less accessible, but immigration to escape war or other disasters is more challenging. A passport isn’t just a symbol of your national identity. For some around the world, it represents oppression, and for others, it’s a symbol of privilege.
4. Gender Privilege
In many regions of the world, men have gender privilege. They benefit from social, economic and political advantages or rights that are available to them only on the basis of their gender identity – the system that drives this privilege (patriarchy!) keeps them in positions of power.
Gender privilege is a type of travel privilege because it can impact how a person travels. For example, women often experience more concerns and risks when traveling solely because of their gender.
5. Accessibility Privilege
Accessibility is easy to overlook when you’re able to fly, get around, book hotels, and visit tourist sites without any issues or barriers.
For example, the bridges of Amsterdam are beautiful, but because they often have stairs, they aren’t accessible to wheelchair users or people who have limited mobility.
6. Language Privilege
It’s easy to overlook the benefits of speaking a widely used language like English. According to Babbel, out of the world’s approximately 7.8 billion inhabitants, 1.35 billion speak English. And less than half of those English speakers learned English as their first language!
Being able to communicate widely in your language means you face less language barriers, which in general makes travel easier. Checking into hotels, booking tours and transport, asking for help or directions – it’s all easier when your language is widely spoken.
7. Time Privilege
Our time, especially personal time, is precious. And the reality is, some people have less time to put toward leisure travel than others. For example, many people don’t work jobs that grant time off or better yet, paid time off.
The ability to pause not just work, but other commitments in your at-home, routine life to spend time traveling is not something to take for granted.
8. Body Privilege
Body privilege points to how many societies and the tourism industry benefit specific bodies that fit societal expectations of “normal” and “acceptable.”
Thin privilege is a type of body privilege. If you are slender, airplane seats are designed for you, and you benefit from fitting into the size of seat that is socially deemed “the norm.”
9. Christian Privilege
Christian privilege is a set of advantages that benefit Christians, but not people who practice other religions. It tends to be most prevalent in Western countries where Christianity is treated as a norm.
This privilege means that Christians can openly express their faith while people affiliated with other religions are marginalized, or othered.
10. Sexuality Privilege
Sexuality privilege is the benefits that society awards to people who sexually identify as straight (heterosexual).
In many places around the world, this privilege is obvious in marital law – only straight couples can legally marry. In some countries, queer identities are illegal. This poses a risk to travelers who identify as queer.
More resources for understanding privilege, and the privileges you benefit from:
- Take this quiz to learn what privilege you benefit from.
- Check out this short comic that explains privilege!
- Learn about intersectionality.
Does Travel Privilege Mean We Shouldn’t Travel?
There are lots of benefits of travel that shouldn’t be overlooked. Travel can be a form of education. It can help you learn about other cultures, religions, countries, traditions, and people.
Travel is known to foster cultural awareness and understanding, and it’s also a way to learn about yourself, and your own privilege.
Understanding our own privileges is a good way to start addressing inequity in society. If we, as travelers, can work to uncover the privileges we individually experience within our own community, we can help to improve the way travel is approached.
This could be in a multitude of ways, from reducing the ecological impact we have on our travels, to considering overtourism, and to learning how to give back to communities through meaningful action rather than voluntourism and other harmful practices.
Travel Privilege and Responsible Tourism
In 2015, two young Canadian travelers were arrested in Malaysia. They had stripped off their clothes on the summit of a Malaysian mountain that is sacred to the region.
In response to the arrests, Wade Davis, a professor of anthropology in Canada, wrote in an opinion piece for the Globe and Mail:
Travel is a privilege, not a right. And the purpose of travel is to be open to the wonder of the other, to be sensitive and respectful of the differences that lend meaning to a journey.
Wade’s comments always stuck with me. I grew up in a firmly middle class community, where travel was a treat, yes, but it was by no means inaccessible.
It took years of exploring before I began to understand the layers of privilege that are deciding factors when it comes to who on this planet gets to travel the world, and travel it safely and comfortably.
This blog, for example, is evidence of travel privilege. There are countless blogs floating around the internet, written by a specific demographic of people – who look very much like me: middle-class, typically white.
These endless blogs and images reinforce the privilege of travel, proving a pattern of whiteness associated with travel blogging success.
I am by no means an authority on travel privilege, but as a blogger and podcaster, I want to try my best to use my platform to open up discussions about travel privilege and equity in travel, and share information and tips that will (hopefully) help us all to be more responsible tourists.
Diversify Your Travel Community
The travel industry is lacking in equity and inclusion for Black and BIPOC travelers, and that’s mega problematic. Why? Because it isn’t representative of who travelers are, and this lack of representation contributes to ongoing systemic oppression.
One way to address this is by diversifying your travel community, and the travel media you follow and engage with. Here are some of my favourite travel content creators!
Oneika the Traveller is a freelance writer and journalist, and she’s been on the blogging scene for over a decade. Her blog includes a space dedicated to traveling while black.
Cory Lee is a wheelchair user who’s travel blog focuses on tips and guides for wheelchair travel.
Eulanda and Omo from Hey! Dip Your Toes In are a husband and wife team of travel content creators. They have an adorable dynamic and a super honest and real tone about travel and related issues.
Glo from The Blog Abroad has a distinct voice. Her writing is equal parts funny and insightful, and she isn’t afraid to tackle tough topics – for example, she’s blogged about how she traveled with a large ovarian cyst.
Local Adventurer is run by a traveling couple, but don’t worry, their Instragam feed isn’t a highlight reel of their relationship. They write great posts about free activities in cities all over the world.
Kirsty Leanne is a body positive blogger who writes general travel advice with lots of tips for plus size travelers specifically.
Chubby Diaries is an online community for plus size travelers who are passionate about seeing the world, experiencing new foods, and learning clever hacks along the way. You can also follow Jeff Jenkins, founder of Chubby Diaries, on Instagram!
Lee Litumbe is Cameroonian by birth, raised in the United States. I love the community stories section of her site Spirited Pursuit, which includes blogs about what it is like to travel on an African passport.
Dopes on the Road is dedicated to sharing travel content with queer travelers in mind. It’s full of great resources for queer travelers.
Calvin Young’s blog Seek the World focuses on deaf adventure. His content is a mixture of generalized travel information as well as resources for deaf travelers.
Want to read more about responsible tourism? Check out these posts:
- How to be a Responsible Tourist (+20 Responsible Travel Tips!)
- 12 Sustainable Travel Tips
- How to Avoid Contributing to Overtourism
- 10 Helpful Tips For Responsible Wildlife Tourism
- What’s the Difference Between Travel and Tourism?
Be sure to pin this post for later:
Erin has been traveling for over a decade, both solo, and with her partner. She’s now traveled to countries across 6 continents, and has lived in 2 countries abroad. Erin also hosts the travel podcast, Curious Tourism, where she interviews travel industry thought leaders and experts about responsible tourism. Learn more about Erin, and get in touch with her, here.
Travel is definitely a privilege just like education is a privilege as well. It’s always a great reminder to be a responsible and respectful traveler. I am totally guilty of country counting but I revisit most of the same countries over and over again…so I feel that I am lot losing quality by counting.
This is an important post! I think all the information is very accurate and should be out there! Keep up the posting!
This is a GREAT post! My husband’s family owns an Africa photographic safari company and he says so many people want to visit X country to see a certain type of animal and he will tell them that if they visit Y country, they will see more of said animal because X country isn’t great for safaris. They will tell him that they already went there and want to visit X country cause they haven’t been yet. Frustrated cause they just want to cross that country off their list. Guess "country counting" is everywhere!
Responsible travel should always be respected and yes travel is a privilege to see the world not to imposing our rules or asking our rights. It is duty of every tourist to respect the local law.
Yeah I hear you on this… sometimes we go to different places and tourists act like its their own country… disappointing to see!
Thank you for highlighting this important topic around privilege and travel. So many of us take it for granted. It’s important to note how many different types of privilege there is in travel.
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