Ethan Nguyen

It's charitable to say that a simple image of The Wave on a guide cover can truly spark a flame and inspire a deep desire to visit a destination. It's the initial starting point for many adventures, like an appetizing photo of a dish that makes you want to cook. However, this inspiration alone is not enough to standardize or structure an entire first trip, especially for off-the-beaten-path discoveries like less-known sites. Getting permits for The Wave, for example, is often a lottery and requires concrete planning far beyond initial visual discovery. Without this detailed preparation, this trip, no matter how inspiring, risks remaining a dream.

“Free” is good, but the preparation for the conference still costs time and money, doesn't it? A conference that requires hours of preparation and doesn't have a direct cash return is a loss that could have been avoided with a good all-inclusive travel package.

Talking about an optimal search with these tools ignores who really benefits from this "optimality". When a major event causes prices to skyrocket, it's the small local businesses that are often most affected, as their cost of living becomes unsustainable, like in Dakar during FESMAN where rents increase excessively. Platforms show prices, but they do not compensate for the unequal distribution of benefits or the costs borne by the local community. A cheap flight ticket does not make a trip "optimal" if residents can no longer afford to live at home.