The flip-side of tourism - Out of the Box 18

by Renton de Alwis

It’s not often that policy makers, strategists and mangers of activities that generate rapid returns, take a break to stop and think about the long term impact of what they do. In the 1980’and 90’s when tourism was in its ‘the golden era’ around the world, there were international and regional pressure groups that emerged, who often made planners and implementers of tourism activities breathe a while, to stop and take note of such issues. It was a healthy development and one that benefitted the shaping of many destinations in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Western hemisphere’s emerging nations of that time to be responsible tourism destinations, pulling away from the earlier three ‘S’ and R&R (rest & recreation) type activities that had developed earlier.

I repost this column of mine written in June 2010 for the ‘Financial Times, Sri Lanka’ with the hope that our tourism planners also take caution at this time when we in Sri Lanka are now engaged in a rapid paced growth path of the industry.

 

I am mindful that this column appears in a business journal, where its readers mostly seek information on the economy and the various sectors of business and its performance. In most instances, what we like to read and hear are of the positive side of things and not so much, the flip-side. Today we live in a world, where comfort factors for us are preserved with much effort and more uncomfortable issues get placed on the back-burners of our decision making agenda. As a friend of mine recently said “We live in a world where we either ‘sell or are sold to’, with little reference to understanding the ramifications of what we do have on the greater human community and it’s good”. I guess the recent addition to business concepts of seeking corporate social responsibility (CSR), is a refection of an attempt to deal with this issue. Sadly, CSR remains an appendage rather than a core element of the basic business culture of most of our operations.  

I have in my column today taken on a specific focus to attract your attention to the flip- side of tourism, for this column is on tourism. I do this with even more of a direct approach than I have done before, for I believe that ‘looking at the other side’ of what we do, needs to be presented with a more assertive approach than the attempts we make to ‘market or sell’ the already established dogma. I believe that the issues herein extend beyond the realm of tourism to all other areas of business as well.

Since this column will not allow me to explore each of the flip-side issues of tourism in detail, what I will attempt to do, is to attract your attention to the research, literature and action areas where these are discussed. My addressing these issues does not suggest that I fully agree with the views presented. Nevertheless, I believe they are worthy of consideration by all tourism policy makers, strategic planners, investors and operators of tourism businesses.

The Third World Network (TWN) is one of several organizations where ‘tourism alternatives’ have got a strong focus now, for over a decade. The name Anita Pleumarom, who coordinates the Tourism Investigation & Monitoring Team (tim-team) of the TWN, has been in the forefront with several other writers, in brining focus on these issues. I choose to present in summary the nature of some of the issues raised in tim-team publications to illustrate the concerns. Readers who wish to refer to them may do so through a Google search on subject headings.

Here are some of the flip-side issues raised:

1. Does tourism benefit the Third World? 

Says that governments of developing nations invariably justify the promotion of tourism as a driving force for economic development and questions this claim and says that it is time to stop treating tourism as a holy cow to be protected and nurtured at all costs.

2. Tourism, predatory and omnivorous –

‘Tourism consumes the places on which it alights,' says author Jeremy Seabrook in taking issue with its exaggerated claims of benefits for the host country and cautions decision makers to rethink strategies to ensure that community benefit and conservatory practices are maintained.

3. Financial leakages in tourism –

Any meaningful discussion of the benefits of tourism to a host country must address the issue of 'financial leakages' claims authors Minu Hemmati and Nina Koehler explaining the importance of retaining incomes generated through operational models that permit it.

4. Tourism, gender and equitable development -

Contrary to the claims of the UN World Tourism Organisation, the doors of tourism do not open to equal opportunities for women, but to scary worlds of inequities and exploitation; claims T T Sreekumar analyzing the negative impacts on women in areas such as prostitution.

5. Tourism feels the heat of global warming -

Climate is an essential resource for tourism and global warming is unquestionably a threat to tourism. Anita Pleumarom discusses the response of the industry to a threat to which it is contributing.

6. Tourism, biodiversity and indigenous peoples: New invitations for social change -

Most indigenous peoples are discovering that tourism is undermining their very basis for survival while suppressing the very cultural value systems which underlie biodiversity, says researcher Alison Johnston.

7. The myths of ecotourism -

John Mbaria questions the claim of touting ecotourism universally as 'responsible travel' to areas rich in wildlife that also helps to preserve the environment and to promote the well-being of the local people. He reports on Kenya's experience in raising serious doubts about such claims.

8. Will Angkor Wat survive the invasion of mass tourism? -

The temples of Angkor in Cambodia; those incredible monuments which have survived more than 1,000 years, including periods of great turbulence and decay, are now confronted by the greatest challenge of all from mass tourism says researcher Tom Fawthrop.

These are only some of the flip-side issues presented here for the purpose of attracting attention through illustration. The point I make is that, we as an industry and as a nation need to spend time and effort to reflect on these aspects for that will help ensure the sustainability and the good health of the tourism industry. Ignoring them, by placing them on the back-burners and not addressing them head-on, may mean the ‘killing of the goose that can lay ‘golden’ eggs’.  

A beach scene from Alexandria
A free Google image
posted by civicpole.net