EDITORIAL

In 80 days around the world

 

In 1873 Jules Verne published his novel “In 80 Days Around The World”. Back then, travelling the world in

80 days was a real challenge. Today it is a real challenge to get 80 days off, whereas you can make it around

the world in less than 24 hours. A weekend in London now sounds more like the order for a military operation

than a relaxing excursion.

 

Phileas Fogg, the protagonist in Verne’s novel, was rich. He had to be, because travelling was expensive – so

expensive in fact that Fogg had to spend almost half of his considerable wealth on the endeavour. Today,

travelling is cheap, which on the one hand has set off a democratisation process for holidaymakers, but on the

other hand has also caused brutal pressure on prices among the providers, casting social and ecological shadows.

 

What today is the tertiary sector, for Jules Verne was Passepartout, Phileas Fogg’s butler. The name can be

seen as programmatic for today’s service industry: “passer” (passing) partout (everywhere) is often the motto

that calls for fulfi lling the client’s every wish, no matter the cost.

 

Jules Verne’s book is also a snapshot of the possibilities available at that point in time. In the 1860s, the first

railway connection across the USA was fi nished, the Suez Canal had just been opened, and steamers were

replacing sailing ships all around. Thus transportation was thrust into the hydrocarbon age, with all its economic

and touristic advantages and ecological disadvantages.

 

All these factors continue to resonate through the tourism industry, infl uencing the sector in both good and

bad ways. Speed can often only be achieved at the expense of the environment, and low prices hinge on the

exploitation of the environment and the social component. The modern-day Passepartouts, i.e. the tourism

workforce, are used beyond their job description and often all the way to their emotional core. Reason enough

for us, then, to have a closer look at modern mass tourism and its implicit challenges from a sustainable

perspective in this edition of ERSTE RESPONSIBLE RETURN – The ESG Letter.

 

Sincerely

Mag. Gerold Permoser

Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Chief Sustainable Investment Officer (CSIO)

Gerold Permoser is Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of

Erste Asset Management. In this function he is in charge

of the asset management activities and investment

strategies of all investment funds of the Erste Asset

Management Group in Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic,

Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.

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