‘There is more to tourism than what meets the eye’ is the proposition I make
in this repost of a June, 2010 column written for the ‘Daily Financial Times,
Sri Lanka. I present it today for your critical thought.
Believe
me, there is more to tourism than what meets the eye. What we see are the
tourists; the statistics quoted by tourist boards of increasing numbers, some
of the foreign exchange earned, commissions made on purchases, entrance fees to
sites, hotel swimming pools filled with guests, pickings from the buffet
tables, air-con coaches plying the roads, busy guides leading tour-parties,
roadside vendors falling over each other to sell, beach operators, hotel
lobbies, hustlers and convention attendees. I may have missed a few from the
long random list of what they form, depending on who they are and what they
want to do. Basically, what’s enumerated makes a good canvass of the tourism scenario
as most of us observe and know.
But
then, there is more to it than that. For tourism today, define another
dimension that touches on better quality, being experiential, up-market giving
higher yields, being conservationist and most of all being ethical. As I had
discussed in an earlier column, this also forms the dividing line between a
tourist and a traveler.
Jeff Greenwald & Christy Hoover in a report identifying
the ‘10 best ethical destinations of the world for 2010’, defines ethical travel as “travel that
is mindful: an awareness of our impact and responsibilities
as we explore the world”. Reference to it can be
found on the website at www.ethicaltraveler.org. A project of the Earth
Island Initiative, located in Berkeley, California it was founded by David Brower, the first
executive director of the Sierra Club. The objective of identifying the ten
best ethical travel destinations of the developing world is to “steer travelers toward
countries that are working hard to protect human rights, build social welfare,
and preserve the environment”.
The report goes on
to state that since travel and tourism has become one of the planet's largest industries
- on par with oil – identifying the economic power of travelers, to be enormous. It cites the questions before
ethical travelers to be those such as “Which countries should we visit? Where
should we spend our money when we get there? How do our interactions with our
hosts promote international goodwill and cross-cultural understanding?”
Unlike many other
organizations that is critical of tourism for its negative impacts the ‘Ethical
Traveler’ views all travel as a potentially positive act. They “like to see
people step off the beaten path” and states that the places on their annual
list may not be as popular yet as Thailand or Italy, but they abound in natural
wonders and fascinating cultures. These destinations are “serious about
preserving their natural assets, promoting mindful-travel and building an
economy in which local communities reap the benefits of tourist revenue”. The
Ethical Traveler claims that “travel to these countries encourages such
efforts, and inspires neighboring countries to support these values as well”
making a clarion call to support such travel.
The nominated list for 2010 includes
destinations Argentina, Belize, Chile, Ghana, Lithuania,
Namibia, Poland, Seychelles, South Africa and Suriname and notably excludes all
Asian destinations. With the prime nomination criteria being environmental
protection, social welfare and sensitivity to preserving human rights, this is
indeed an alarming situation.
In an explanation,
the report says that “the global economic downturn has inevitably hindered efforts
towards sustainability, responsible tourism, and environmental stewardship, even
in highly developed countries. Progress in these very important areas tends to
decline in times of economic hardship. Given that developing countries with a
strong reliance on the tourism sector have been particularly hard hit, we have
seen a slowing of progress almost across the board”.
Notably, not a
single Asian country made it to the Top 10. Irresponsible development, human
rights abuses, and a lack of strong environmental policy kept them all off the
list again this year. Perhaps surprisingly, though, four African countries -
three on the mainland, and one island republic - made the final list. We
believe this bodes well for the future of these nations and, hopefully, for the
African continent”.
Costa
Rica, a destination that made the top of the list in 2008, has dropped off as a
result of the alarming increase in the incidence of the sex trade related to
its tourism. Several other destinations have not made this list and its
designers themselves have admitted that it to be not an all perfect presentation.
The
point I wish to make is not about its accuracy or its validity. It is about the
fact that the world of travel and tourism is moving in a direction that will be
very different to what we knew in the past. Ethical travel is but only one such
element of that direction. There are many others that define high yield travel
that has to do with the conservation of our natural resources, providing
dignity and direct benefits to the communities, it touches.
We would
do well at this time of our seeking tourism growth, to ensure that social ills
associated with tourism are minimized. What it takes is sound mindful thinking
based action on the investment, product development and promotional fronts.
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