PLANETA

Fall in Love with Responsible Tourism Week

RESPONSIBLE TOURISM WIKI

Publication date: February 2011

Free Poster! 2011 Responsible Tourism Week

FLICKR ALBUM: Responsible Tourism

Planeta.com hosted an online discussion focusing on responsible tourism around the world. The unconventional unconference took place online February 14-18, 2011.

"Responsible Tourism Week is a fun mash-up connecting responsible tourism, the local travel movement, evolving ecotourism and the like with practical and inexpensive Web 2.0 technologies," said Ron Mader, founder of Planeta.com and creative catalyst for Responsible Tourism Week. "We want to continue our conversation started last year across Web 2.0 channels including Delicious, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Gowalla, Slideshare, TripLine, Twitter and YouTube."

Financial sponsorship is provided in part by the City of Cape Town and Transitions Abroad.

"Simply put, this online unconference is an excellent way to broaden and deepen our dialogue about sustainable practice and tourism. The event encourages participants to articulate their core values and the way they put noble ideas into practice. And for those who can keep track of a hashtag -- #rtweek2011 -- it's a new window to the world!"

Mader said that the discussion will be decentralized and moderated via the policies of individual websites. To keep track, Planeta Update and Ron Mader's blog featured synthesis reports and the Responsible Tourism Wiki was edited on a regular basis.

This was not the typical conference! Instead, the unconference discussion depended on participants organizing themselves in productive and inspiring ways. "The hope is that Responsible Tourism Week -- now in its third year -- contributes broadly and deeply to the global dialogue," said Mader.

Among the topics for discussion - supporting responsible tourism initiatives during the economic recession, creating a code of conduct for academics and evaluating the success of community-based tourism operations: what are the lessons learned, what are suggestions for making improvements. Other topics will be introduced by participants using the unconference approach.

FUTURE STEPS

We are seeking additional partners and financial sponsors for follow-up workhops, events and publications. Those interested should contact Ron.

Upcoming events prompted by Responsible Tourism Week include Slow Adventure Saturday (March 12) and Responsible Tourism in Cities (May 6).

CITY OF CAPE TOWN

In 2002, the first international conference on responsible tourism in destinations was held in Cape Town, with the ratified Cape Town Declaration becoming the world's definition for responsible tourism. Since that time, responsible tourism has become the foundation of the City of Cape Town's tourism development framework, and an official policy has been adopted by city council, committing all of the resources and structures of the municipality to adopt a responsible tourism approach. Information on Cape Town's journey to becoming a responsible destination along with resources to assist and background on the partners involved can be found at www.responsiblecapetown.co.za.

TRANSITIONS ABROAD

Transitions Abroad compiles the very best resources and websites for countries and regions around the world, while drawing from its ever-growing article archives to offer some of the most complete information for cultural immersion travel, study, work and living.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Since the discussion takes part on various Web 2.0 platforms, we asked participants to become acquainted with (and register online) Delicious, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube. Those with smartphones are asked to register online Gowalla and Foursquare. Keep track of all the new links and resources on the Planeta Wiki.

Tag relevant pages and tweets with the hashtag #rtweek2011

Those interested are asking to reflect on what responsible tourism means philosophically and via specific actions. Shine a light on a particular place. We love process so if you can show us something taking place this week, all the better! On the ground you might want to document how responsible tourism looks where you live. You might want to share the lessons learned from abroad with your neighbors!