When we think of “travel”, we think a vacation of cruises, beaches, and Instagram-worthy hot spots. When we think of “migration”, we think of sunken boats, corpse-ridden shores, and overrun refugee camp hot spots. Despite the parallels of human international journeys, the implementation of law and social othering play essential roles in the huge disparities between citizens of Western powerhouses and laborized displaced peoples.

It is purely ironic that primarily capitalist countries fail to recognize material excess yet focus so heavily on “human excess.” Symptomatic of the objectification of humanity is not only through legal process and enumerations, but also through the increasing travels of the more privileged populations. While mediated by the exoticism of foreign cultures, many people of developed countries visit developing countries in search of “spiritual salvation” and “soul-seeking.” Southeast Asia has become a more and more popular tourist destination, with an increase of 10 million tourist visits from 2001 to 2005. Visiting “expats” often travel from weeks to months, sometimes even staying there for years before returning to their countries of origin.

Yet, they are not quite so negatively stigmatized like Latino workers of the United States or displaced people in the EU. Using the lens of De Genova, the ex can be observed to place more importance on these visitors’ country of origin rather than labeling by a need to stay as im-migrants. Vacchino highlights how power of a country’s socioeconomic status may change the perception of migrant people. Racial triangulation also portrays how in this context, white expats may still be both valorized and ostracised.