June 1, 2005
It’s all the internet’s fault
Nudist tourism puts on a layer of opulence
The once bare-bones ambience of the archetypal U.S. nudist camp is turning posh as owners add amenities from full-service spas to high-speed Internet. But there’s still no need to dress for dinner.
In fact, much of the industry has cast off the term “camp” in favor of “resort” in the conviction that it better reflects the growing number of upscale venues.
…
“The bar has been raised,” says Nancy Tiemann, owner of Bare Necessities, an Austin travel agency that specializes in nude travel. “(Nudist resorts) have come from being 5 miles down a dirt road behind a junkyard fence to really upscale resorts that are a far cry from that.”
Driving the trend, they say, is the growing number of mainstream vacationers who don’t necessarily identify themselves as nudists but nevertheless are willing to shed their inhibitions at a nudist resort. At the same time, they’re not willing to sacrifice a certain level of service and comfort.
“We addressed a market segment that has heretofore not been addressed,” says Stephen Payne, founder of Desert Shadows Inn Resort & Villas in Palm Springs, Calif., where rooms start at about $200 a night. “These people don’t belong to any nudist organization. They’re not pitching tents. They visit us just like they would any other resort.”
But besides concierge service and the like, Desert Shadows offers amenities not encountered in so-called textile resorts. There’s nude hot-air ballooning, in-the-buff moonlit hikes and naked drive-bys (via tour bus) of the homes of Palms Springs’ rich and famous.
Naked drive-by’s? I’m not sure what to make of that.
But I think this must be another triumph of the internet. 10 years ago, freaky hippies who wanted to hang out and be naked together were spread all over. They didn’t have any clear way for finding other freaky naked hippies, and didn’t have any simple way to find establishments catering to freaky naked hippies. Now, it seems that all that has changed.
So it looks like the internet has created one more new industry: naked tourism. It may not be as intellectual as the blogosphere, have the far-reaching powers of communication of e-mail, and isn’t likely to transform our world. But a more efficient way of bringing people to the services they desire is a good thing.
Even if they’re freaky naked hippies.
Hat Tip: Wizbang
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Not so closely related, Lucy and I were in Acapulco, many years ago attending a convention. At the same hotel they were also having a Miss Central America beauty pagent. We were invited as guests and made an interesting observation; the folks who had the most expensive jewelry had on the least amount of clothing. We sat next to a middle aged woman wearing some fancy gold bangles and a very flattering fish net “almost” clothing. For all practical purposes she was naked. “When in Rome”; not this time, we just reminded ourselves that we had “less money” and more clothes.
To each his/her own, I suppose. I don’t get it, but I’m not exactly an exhibitionist.