最近，瑞典警察粗暴对待中国游客的事件在网上引起了许多讨论。来自美国的自由职业作家Edward Knight有着丰富的旅行经验，去过很多国家的他通过文章和我们分享了他的看法。一起来看看吧！
Stockholm, Sweden
最近中国游客在瑞典与当地警察发生冲突的事件，使他们本该愉快的旅程蒙上了阴影。我去过很多地方，并且知道在旅途中你最需要的就是感到安全，感到当地警察值得信任。如果你不小心陷入麻烦并且和警察产生了冲突，那么这不仅会毁了你的旅行，也会破坏你对这个国家的看法。
大多数人旅行都是为了放松，让自己抛却固有的生活，去看看著名的风景，或者去当地体验那些你不曾体验过的东西。所有的这些原因都将旅行者置于了一个弱势地位。作为一个远在异国他乡的旅行者，你经常像一个异类一样，可能不会说当地的语言，或者不了解那里的风俗和文化。甚至是像点餐、搭乘地铁或者走路这样简单的事都会就此变得不一样。而最糟糕的是，你还经常需要遵守这些你并不怎么了解的规则。
你旅行的次数越多，你就越容易意识到并且克服这些问题。但对于普通的旅行者而言，他们并不会考虑这些事。对于第一次去瑞典、法国或者美国旅行的人来说，他们很难提前考虑当地的风俗习惯等问题。
这就是为什么我说和警察产生矛盾会毁了你的旅行。一方面旅行者需要遵守当地的规则，另一方面警察也应该更理解游客，避免歧视游客。然而很不幸，这些问题我们都在这次瑞典事件中看到了。冲突、误解和歧视会导致非常大的问题，使旅客的安全感大打折扣。这不仅会对当事游客产生恶劣影响，也会影响到所有其他国家的游客。
除了瑞典，另一个类似的例子是埃及。埃及曾是全球最热门的旅游目的地之一，然而过去的几年埃及却落下了一个不安全的坏名声。我去年曾到过那里，看到的事实和传说完全不一样。埃及已经变成了一个安全的国家。但是许多人仍然对它抱有不好的印象，而这也大大影响了这个依靠旅游业发展的国家。
瑞典事件是否会使欧洲以及瑞典的中国游客锐减，我们不得而知。我希望事情不会朝这个方向发展，但只有时间能给出一个答案。
Recent incidents with Chinese tourists running into conflicts with Swedish police overseas have cast a dark shadow on what should be a time to enjoy themselves. I have traveled to many places, and two things that you need to be able to count on when you travel is safety and to trust the police. If you run into a problem where you suddenly are in conflict with the police, it cannot only ruin a trip, but spoil one’s view of a country.
Most people travel to relax, get away from their daily life in their home country, see famous sights, or experience things they couldn’t otherwise. All of these reasons naturally put the traveler in a vulnerable place. As a traveler, you can often be a stranger in a strange land. You may not speak the language or know the customs of that culture. Even things as simple as how to order the food, or ride the subway, or walk down the street, can be different. What’s worse, you’re often expected to follow these rules you know nothing about.
The more experience you have with traveling, the easier it can be to find and overcome these pitfalls, but for the average tourist, they may not consider these things. Going to Sweden, France or the US for the first time can be overwhelming when considering the local customs.
This is why problems with the police can utterly ruin a trip. While it’s true that tourists need to abide by the rules, it’s also true that the police should be understanding and not discriminate against travelers. This is something that unfortunately can happen as we’ve seen in the case of Sweden, which hopefully will be resolved soon. Conflicts and misunderstandings, as well as discrimination, can create massive problems that undermine traveler’s feelings of safety. This not only can have an effect on the individual traveler, but on people from all countries.
Besides the case of Sweden, a good example is Egypt. Previously, Egypt was one of the most popular destinations around the world for tourists. However, the past few years have given the country a reputation of being unsafe. I myself went last year and can say this is now not the case. Egypt is once again very safe. However, many still have this negative impression of the country and it has drastically impacted the locals there who rely on tourism for work.
We’ll have to see if the incident that recently occurred in Sweden will make Chinese tourists less inclined to travel to Europe or Sweden. I hope that this is not the case, but only time will tell.
来源 | ChinaExpat
