Peak Travel
Winner of 2024 Signal Award for Best New Podcast!
Travel can do amazing things: broaden horizons, build relationships, and rejuvenate the soul. But often, those experiences come at a cost.
This is Peak Travel, a new podcast from WHYY about how travel shapes communities in hot-spots around the world. We’ll share the wonder that comes with exploring new places, as well as the harm that our worst travel habits can cause. And we’ll try to figure out how we can do it better.
Each episode transports you to a new destination. You’ll meet the people who call that place home, hear their stories, and come to understand how tourism has changed their everyday lives. Supported by rich, on-location sound from around the world, Peak Travel unpacks the $1.9 trillion travel industry and its impact on people and the planet.
All Episodes
Many westerners associate Rwanda with the brutal genocide that overtook the country 30 years ago. But since then, Rwanda has made a huge ...
Air Date: February 25, 2025
Listen 24:56
Rick Steves: America’s Favorite Tour Guide
If you’re an American who likes to travel, you’ve probably been influenced by Rick Steves. He’s known for his guidebooks about visi ...
Air Date: February 18, 2025
Listen 33:08
The Tourism ‘Crisis’ in San Andrés
When two budget airlines collapsed in Colombia, tourism to the small island of San Andrés suddenly dropped. The travel industry makes up ...
Air Date: February 11, 2025
Listen 25:44
With an estimated 100,000 tourists heading to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX, we’re exploring a classic American pastime: the tailgate.
Air Date: February 4, 2025
Listen 21:27
Travel can do amazing things: broaden horizons, build relationships, and rejuvenate the soul. But often, those experiences come at a cost ...
Air Date: January 28, 2025
Listen 2:15
Social media has turned Bali’s shrines and temples into a playground for disrespectful tourists, but residents are fighting to preserve ...
Air Date: September 24, 2024
Listen 20:06
The Nashville Bachelorette Party Industrial Complex
Nashville has become the bachelorette party capital of the United States, and residents worry the influx of loud, visible tourists threat ...
Air Date: September 17, 2024
Listen 21:52
The Disneyfication of Barcelona
The transition of Barcelona’s historic La Boqueria market from a place filled with fishmongers and specialty mushroom vendors to chain ...
Air Date: September 10, 2024
Listen 22:32
The High Cost of Cheap Rentals in Mexico City
A partnership between the Mexican government and Airbnb forces generations of families out of the most desirable neighborhoods in Mexico ...
Air Date: September 3, 2024
Listen 23:53
Why Can’t Africans Travel in Africa?
Because of inequities in passport and visa systems, Europeans and westerners can visit Africa with ease — but Africans themselves face ...
Air Date: August 27, 2024
Listen 23:51
The Missed Opportunity of Trains in the U.S.
While other developed countries have invested in their rail systems, the U.S. has leaned into more individualistic ways of getting around ...
Air Date: August 20, 2024
Listen 27:18
You Don’t Want to End Up Like Venice
Venice has long been considered the poster child for overtourism in Europe. As ever-growing waves of tourists aboard boats and cruise shi ...
Air Date: August 13, 2024
Listen 28:37
Peru’s tourism industry is best known for Machu Picchu, a wonder of the world, where adventurers go for a once-in-a-lifetime hike. But ...
Air Date: August 6, 2024
Listen 27:59
The Paris Olympics: What Happens When The Circus Leaves Town?
The Olympics bring a burst of excitement to host cities, but in places like Rio de Janeiro, Sochi, and Atlanta, they often leave behind a ...
Air Date: July 30, 2024
Listen 28:55
Hawaii: Please Don’t Come Here
After wildfires ripped through Lahaina in August 2023, the Hawaiian government had to decide if and when to welcome tourists back to Maui ...
Air Date: July 23, 2024
Listen 26:07