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What is Responsible Tourism?
by Ron Mader

RESPONSIBLE TOURISM WIKI
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM FORUM

How do we make the hospitality industry more hospitable?
- Travel Notebook

2010 Responsible Tourism Fair (in colour!)

PHOTO GALLERY: Responsible Tourism


HEADLINES

g 2010 Responsible Tourism Fair



BACKGROUND

Responsible tourism is treating others the way they wish to be treated. It's common sense and it's good manners. A growing number of travelers want their journeys to be less invasive and more beneficial to the local community. They want to better understand the culture of the people they meet in the places they visit. Travelers should be mindful that we are entering a place that is someone else's home. Interpretation begins long before the trip and ends long afterward. Those who enjoy a trip will look back fondly for the rest of their lives.

We ask a lot of tourism these days ... that it be eco, that it be sustainable and that it be responsible. These signs are encouraging. Global tourism is experiencing a massive transformation in '00s.

While tourism campaigns have long touted 'destinations' -- we are simply entering a place that is someone else's home. Said Transitions Abroad founder Clay Hubbs in a 2004 conversation: "The golden rule is more and more recognized as the first rule of travel and adventure travel and I'm told that group organizers are rewarded by their customers for observing it."

Perhaps responsible tourism could go a step further, to what is called the Platinum Rule -- treating others the way they wish to be treated.

If those working in the tourist trade embrace the values our counterparts wish developed, then we can make a huge leap forward. The trick lies in listening to the locals, listening to visitors and creating the opportunites that connect top-down and grassroots efforts. Travel agents, travel providers and travelers are the principal players.

Sounds complicated? Try this -- imagine what irresponsible tourism is and looks lie and then imagine its opposite.

TRENDS

Travelers and locals are seeking ways of building constituencies with the shared goal of making tourism more responsible.

Says noted author and activist Deborah McLaren: "Responsible tourism is based on ethics and human rights. It also means support for community-based travelers' programs, including homestays, guest cottages, ethno-museums, and educational programs that bring tourist dollars directly into communities."

TOWARD CONSERVATION

Responsible travel means extending solidarity over time. Efforts that exhibit continuity make poor situations better and good situations great. How to stay in touch? As Rob Brezsny writes in Pronoia, "Choose worthy targets and ransack your imagination to come up with smart, true and amusing praise about them."

CONCLUSION

The work ahead lies in connecting top-down and grassroots efforts. Responsible travel means extending solidarity over time. Efforts that lack continuity, even if developed with good intentions, can make situations worse.

For a recommended overview, download the Responsible Travel Handbook published by Transitions Abroad.

What is the opposite of responsible tourism? How about irresponsible tourism?! There is even a web forum that discusses the troubling aspects in travel such as wildlife exploitation and irresponsible tour operators.

FEATURES

g Responsible Travel Photography
g Choosing where to go and what to do once you get there
g
Definitions
g Ethical Travel
g How to be a responsible traveler
g Government Websites, Ecotourism and Responsible Travel

CAPETOWN DECLARATION

Responsible tourism asks visitors to make choices about their vacations so that negative impacts are minimized. It is defined in the 2002 Capetown Declaration:

• minimizes negative economic, environmental, and social impacts;
• generates greater economic benefits for local people and enhances the well-being of host communities, improves working conditions and access to the industry;
• involves local people in decisions that affect their lives and life chances;
• makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, to the maintenance of the world's diversity;
• provides more enjoyable experiences for tourists through more meaningful connections with local people, and a greater understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues;
• provides access for physically challenged people; and
• is culturally sensitive, engenders respect between tourists and hosts, and builds local pride and confidence.

The declaration concludes with a commitment 'to work with others to take responsibility for achieving the economic, social and environmental components of responsible and sustainable tourism.'

PLANETA FORUM

g Responsible Tourism
g Belize Responsible Tourism Conference
g Ethical Travel Dialogue
GUIDELINES

OTHER FORUMS

b Irresponsible Tourism
b Responsible Travel - Afrikatourism
b Responsible Travel - Lonely Planet
RECOMMENDED FORUMS

FLICKR

g Responsible Travel
b Responsible Travel Group
ONLINE FLICKR

WIKI

g Responsible Tourism
g Responsible Tourism in Oaxaca
ONLINE WIKI

BLOGS

b Harold Goodwin
BLOGS

VIDEO

g Message for Responsible Tourism Conference (2009)
g Message for Responsible Tourism Conference (2008)
VIDEO

ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB

b Ethics and Sustainable Tourism - David Fennell (slidecast)
b Responsible Travel on Facebook - Afrikatourism
b Responsible Travel - Transitions Abroad
b Turismo Responsable - Buen Viaje
b Following up on the Global Leaders of Responsible Tourism Webinar - WHL
b Global Leaders of Responsible Tourism Webinar - Make Travel Fair
b The Good Tourist

EVENTS

g 2010 Responsible Tourism Fair (Oaxaca, Mexico)
g 2009 Responsible Tourism Conference (Belmopan, Belize)

QUOTABLE

Irresponsible travel to me is where the focus is entirely on the visitor, to the neglect and detriment of the host and their community.
- Jane Crouch, Ecoclub Interview

DEFINING RESPONSIBLE TOURISM

Google 'responsible tourism'
Newsgoogle 'responsible tourism'
Responsible Travel - Wikipedia


QUESTIONS

What is responsible travel?
What is irresponsible travel?
What are the boundaries of responsible travel?
How should we develop codes of conduct?

responsible tourism


SLIDESHARE






FREE DOWNLOAD

Responsible Travel Handbook, 2006
- This anthology focuses on responsible tourism around the globe and was prepared by the editors of Transitions Abroad. Free download as PDF (2 megs)

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