AHC: The Hippie Trails in Eurasia continue

[Deleted member 114175]

What if the Hippie Trails between Europe and Asia continued?

The hippie trail (also the overland) is the name given to the overland journey taken by members of the hippie subculture and others from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s between Europe and South Asia, mainly through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (including Jammu and Kashmir) and Nepal. The hippie trail was a form of alternative tourism, and one of the key elements was travelling as cheaply as possible, mainly to extend the length of time away from home. The term "hippie" became current in the mid-to-late 1960s; "beatnik" was the previous term from the later 1950s.

In every major stop of the hippie trail, there were hotels, restaurants and cafés for Westerners, who networked with each other as they travelled east and west. The hippies tended to interact more with the local population than traditional sightseers did.

The hippie trail largely ended in the late 1970s after the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan closed the route to Western travelers.

 

[Gudestein]

It certainly means/requires better stability in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
I would argue that it was largely replaced by flights skipping the Middle East, which also brought more mass tourism.
So there is a subculture which for a longer time experiences other cultures, which I consider a good thing. The subculture would likely remain culturally influential, but as a minority, there are limits. We could hope for a more tolerant European society, but that would more be an impact of the POD leading to peace in the Middle East.

 

[Sol717]

Another factor that you have failed to mention is the slow decline of the hippie subculture. While most people think of the hippies as a purely '60s phenomenon, they persisted into the 70's with a decent amount of relevance; they only started to really decline in the 80's as the increasing prevalence of technology and other issues such as the Satanic Panic took centre stage culturally.

 

[Salvador79]

Yeah, as other have mentioned already: the hippie subculture was fading anyway, and another wave of expansion of availabaility of travelling options to wider parts of the population was under way (although true low cost flights only became available towards the end of the 1990s).
Either way, things like the Hippie Trail and lots of similar patterns have changed the culture of tourism to some extent way beyond the 1970s. They have left a lasting legacy of valuing "tourism outside the beaten path", they are a subtly lingering model for young people's backpacker tourism which has only ever increased since then etc.

 

[overoceans]

Regardless of whether or not Iran, Afghanistan and maybe a couple of other places remain open to outside tourism, the general region is still going to be a major draw for young western backpackers, and will continue to exert whatever hold it has on the popular imagination back home. The fact that you can't do "Istanbul to Bangkok" as one unbroken trek isn't going to make a huge difference in the number of visitors or how they perceive the area.

 

[overoceans]

Now, if INDIA erupts into prolonged warfare and/or gets taken over by violent nutbar ideologues, that is going to have an impact on the number of young people going to the region, and what kind of tourism they undertake. But if India becomes like that, SE Asia overall, not just in regards to tourism, is going to be very different from what we know in OTL.

 

[Deleted member 90563]

Regardless of whether or not Iran, Afghanistan and maybe a couple of other places remain open to outside tourism, the general region is still going to be a major draw for young western backpackers, and will continue to exert whatever hold it has on the popular imagination back home. The fact that you can't do "Istanbul to Bangkok" as one unbroken trek isn't going to make a huge difference in the number of visitors or how they perceive the area.

I don't think Iran is closed to tourists in general, but I don't know if you can cross into Pakistan from there and transit to India. You could take the route through the Stans and China, though.

 

[Francisco Cojuanco]

I don't think Iran is closed to tourists in general, but I don't know if you can cross into Pakistan from there and transit to India. You could take the route through the Stans and China, though.

Yeah, Iran mostly restricts travellers from the US, UK and Canada, and bars visitors from Israel for the obvious reason of "we're at war with them" but it's otherwise open to tourists.