Responsible Travel
Justin Francis
14-May-07
Justin Francis co-founded responsibletravel.com in 2001 with backing from angel investors including Anita and Gordon Roddick from The Body Shop. The company is an example of effective green business in the noughties.
We are often asked how 'responsible' holidays stand apart from normal holidays. Well, in a nutshell, these are more authentic holidays that offer experiences that - contrary to the sometimes artificial confinements of mass tourism - respectfully explore the natural environment and local culture of a destination.
This not only offers economic opportunities for local people (culture and landscapes are often the biggest assets for poor communities), but also provides the traveller with a genuine insight into a different way of life and environment.
Responsible holidays come in lots of different shapes and forms and can provide something for everyone but the imperative factor is that they are carried out in a more socially and environmentally responsible way. However, some responsibility aspects may be less obvious to the naked eye, and that's why you sometimes need to ask your operator or guide to point them out.
All operators and accommodation owners on our site have been screened by us on their environmental, social and economic responsibility policies and they have demonstrated how they meet our responsible travel criteria.
In practice, this often translates as the following; A higher percentage of the income remains in country of destination. In conventional or 'package' tourism, up to 90 percent of the cost of your holiday may leave the destination. With responsible tourism, up to 70% of the cost of your holiday excluding flights (and 100% from community based tourism initiatives) remains in the destination. This means that local communities can achieve the same economic and social benefits with far less visitors and therefore environmental impact on their resources.
More local people are employed. We all know the image of resorts staffed by holiday reps from the UK. Responsible operators, on the other hand try to employ local staff and guides wherever they can.
You'll get a greater insight into local cultures this way.
This also increases local employment and provides the local community with an alternative or supplement to other, sometimes less sustainable activities.
Creating jobs and income also adds economic value to local cultural and natural heritage, and more reasons for local people to be able to conserve them.
Operators often support local projects or charities. Responsible tour operators and accommodation owners often support local projects and charities in the destination, or donate a percentage of their funds to charity. Similarly, for every holiday booked through responsibletravel.com, we donate £1 to charity. You can read about the projects we have supported here Minimising impact on the environment. This can be in many different ways; some holidays have very progressive technology, solar panels etc, some back to basic accommodations naturally have a small ecological footprint and work with nature, and some simply minimise the impact by using local transport, recycling waste etc.
All responsible tour companies should inform you what you, as a traveller, can do to minimise your environmental, and cultural impact.
Respecting local cultures. Responsible holidays are designed to maximise local benefits and minimise the negative impact, and cultural impact is a part of that. Groups are kept small and advice is provided to travellers on respecting the local culture and customs. The points above are just the fundamental benefits of responsible tourism - the list goes on and is growing. As the concept of responsible tourism develops and becomes more widely acknowledged, operators and accommodation owners become more innovative and experienced in maximising the positive, and minimising the negative aspects of tourism. They are constantly finding new ways to improve their operations.
WHAT ABOUT FLYING?
It is virtually impossible to avoid the current high profile debate in the media about whether we should be flying. At responsibletravel.com we believe that we should all be flying considerably less.
We believe that we are the first travel agent to say this, and are lobbying Government about the best way to achieve this. Tourists can cut back on short breaks and business trips, and take fewer, but longer and more responsible holidays that create a greater benefit for the local community. We do feel that a responsible holiday can have significant local benefits such as poverty reduction, landscape and wildlife protection and (as for example in volunteering holidays) environmental conservation that go a little way to balancing the negative impact of the flight.
It is also important to consider flying less as one element of a low carbon lifestyle. Contrary to popular belief, air travel currently only contributes less than 5% of emissions, and there are many other ways in which we can also reduce emissions from turning down the heating to cycling to work rather than taking the car (read more here). Furthermore, there is the possibility of off-setting the emissions from the flight. You can read more about our stance on flying here.
THINGS YOU CAN DO AS A TRAVELLER
Ask your operator how your holiday helps the local community and minimises impact on the environment if they don't have a clear answer, they probably don't take it very seriously so consider booking elsewhere, and tell the operator why you are not booking. Consumer demand is a great force for change in the tourism industry. During the trip, ask the guide to explain or demonstrate how your visit helps local people. If you have any concerns do not feel inhibited to raise them with your guide or tour leader. The sooner issues are raised, the more likely either something is done about it — or your mind put at ease. If neither happens, contact your operator upon your return home and raise the issues with them so that they can take it on board and rectify them on future trips if necessary.
Always try and minimise your own footprint, you can read some tips on how to do that here . If you feel an operator can do more to help local communities or the environment, then tell them.
MARKET CHANGES
As the world of capitalism develops a conscience, political leaders gather momentum to tackle climate change and businesses are responding to the ever-increasing demand for more ethical products.
The current trend, largely fuelled by the acknowledgement that climate change really is caused by anthropogenic factors, is rapidly moving business towards a more socially and environmentally responsible agenda — something green consumers and activists have long been asking for. With the increased awareness of the (good and bad) effects tourism can have on our planet, the 'responsible travel' movement is gathering pace around the world too.
Since our launch 6 years ago, those of us have argued that tourism needs to be re-invented for the long term benefit of everyone; local people, the environment, tourists, and not least the tourism industry itself have gathered momentum.
It used to be the domain of a minority, but responsible tourism is an ever growing trend that has earned its place in public consciousness as have other longer established and better known movements - such as organic, slow food and fair trade. And we at responsibletravel.com don't feel that this is a trend that is going to slow down anytime soon.People are a lot more aware of the effects their lifestyle choices have on the environment and local communities, and travel is a huge part of that. 'his is knowledge that we as a society and as individuals have built up, and will not just be forgotten or ignored. I believe it is a change that was long overdue, and the only way forward for a responsible tourism industry.'
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM OR ECO-TOURISM
Although the concept of eco-tourism has been around for a long time, Justin explains it should not be confused with the term responsible tourism. Eco-tourism focuses on the natural world, and sadly too many operators joined the bandwagon without any substance to their claims.
Responsible tourism on the other hand embraces all forms of tourism but there are a further 2 deciding factors: there needs to be transparency about operator's policies, and a form of independent checks & measures on their practices, which responsibletravel.com does through independent reviews from travellers.
RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL THEN AND NOW
When responsibletravel.com started 6 years ago (we think we were the first business to use the term), we found only 4 tour operators with responsible tourism policies. Today, there are over 250 operators on our site that have met our responsible travel criteria. In different ways we have worked with tourism companies ranging from small operators and accommodations to larger operators like for example First Choice, who have made headway with their responsible tourism policies and Environment & People report, which focuses on how they protect the environment and respect people both at home and in overseas destinations.
There are now various initiatives in the US - such as the Responsible Tourism Committee founded recently by The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) - and the UK, such as the Green Tourism Scheme, the Travel Foundation and of course the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards that we run. Organisations like Tourism Concern have been working hard with communities in destination countries to reduce social and environmental problems connected to tourism, and with the outbound tourism industry in the UK to find ways of improving tourism so that local benefits are increased. And finally, there will be the first ever World Responsible Tourism Day on the 14th November 2007. But it doesn't stop there - responsibletravel.com is making a difference to communities around the world, marketing small initiatives directly to the traveller and putting them on a level playing field with large scale operators.
Take this example of the Walker family, a family of twelve Aborigine sisters who've started a tour company to invite visitors to spend time leaning about their culture. Apparently their marketing used to consist of one of the sisters sitting on a rock outside their village inviting passers by to join a tour. They are now represented on our site, you can see their tours here.
Another example is our community based tourism initiative, linking community run tourism businesses, which often have an occupancy level below 5%, to established tour operators to ensure regular bookings as well as promoting them on responsibletravel.com.
There is a sense that responsible tourism now is a big community of travellers doing the right thing, and you as a traveller can be a part of that. Help us make sure that responsible tourism is here to stay by proving to the rest of the tourism industry that increasing numbers of us do care about destination & local people when on holiday... and have a more genuine experience and fulfilling holiday as a result! For further information visit:http://www.responsibletravel.com/
