Tourism & Travel

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Tourism is fundamentally unsustainable. Travelling around, eating in restaurants and getting up to fun all take their toll on the environment. Generally this is not too much of a problem and will only add a little more coal to the global warming fire than ordinary life, but if flying is put into the equation then tourism begins to look decidedly harmful.

I do not intend to suggest that we all stop taking holidays and sit in a darkened, well-insulated room whenever we have time off. I do suggest that we think about what we are doing a little more and commit to becoming responsible tourists. Maybe a little less flying around would be a good idea, a few more European train holidays or even enjoying the spectacular scenery within our own fair shores.

Here are some figures to juggle with:

Tourism is the largest business sector in the world economy, employing 200 million people, generating $5.5 trillion in economic activity and accounting for one in every 12 jobs worldwide. There are currently about 800,000,000 international tourist trips per year, but by 2020 this is expected to rise to 1,560,000,000. These are mind-numbing numbers.

80% of the money paid for inclusive, package holidays remains in the hands of large, international companies. For ethical eco-tourism, 80% or more of your money goes into the local economy of the place you stay. Think of the numbers above and then think of the difference it will make to world poverty and therefore world ecology when we all become ethical tourists.

I have had the privilege of enjoying many long holidays in the past, almost all of which have consisted of low cost, independent travelling excursions within the developing world. $10 a day was always my upper limit, which meant that I tended to hitchhike a lot, take local buses, trains or walk. This was all very good for meeting the local people and experiencing society, but not great for getting in amongst nature. I did once hitch into the Etosha National Park, but about 10km into it a ranger spotted me and had apoplexy: he thought I might make a tasty meal for some hungry lion. Anyway, three days at the entrance trying to get a single lift to take me throughout the whole park taught me the benefit of organised tours.

This rather demonstrates another point, too. Independent travel is a good, ethical way to holiday if you are sensible. However, once one strays into the ways of gross stupidity, such as blundering around a game reserve unaided, then the ecological and social damage can be tremendous. I was lucky, but it could have gone horribly wrong and sometimes does.

Never forget you are a tourist, no matter how little cash you are spending or how much you smell. Whilst we are on the subject, try not to haggle too much in impoverished areas; the extra quid means next to nothing to us, but could give someone’s children a good meal that night. Will it ruin the local economy, making locals unable to afford the basics? No, it will just mean that we pay more than the locals, which is as it should be. So pay up, Scrooge.

OK, rant over.

Eco-tourism is now everywhere, or at least so tour operators claim. Their real eco-credentials can vary massively, with a lot of the claims nothing more than mere greenwash. With the Good, the Bad and the Ugly all making similar claims, it can be very difficult to sort the sheep from the goats, no matter how much one mixes ones metaphors, but there is some help at hand.

The information offered by Tourism Concern is a good starting point. The Ethical Tour Operators Group is made up of the following companies that really do care: Adventure Alternative, Baobab Travel, Cazenove & Lloyd, Different Travel Company,Expert Africa, Explore Worldwide, Gane & Marshall,Hands Up Holidays,Into Africa,Livingstone Tanzania Trust,Rainbow Tours,Saddle Skedaddle,Simply Tanzania and Tribes Travel

Pan Parks is an excellent resource for visiting Europe’s remaining wildernesses, with the organisation marrying tourism with conservation. There are a lot of tour operators, many locally based, offering everything from relaxing rest cures to serious survival challenges.

The International Eco-tourism Society has a good website and is a major resource for eco-tourism. Their Travel choice page has an excellent search engine for finding tour operators, hotels, lodges and transportation anywhere in the world. Lots of those listed are fairly small, local operations, which is good.

There are bound to be many more good organisations, directories and operators out there, but I think the above should be enough to get you started.

What to do

Flying is the real killer when it comes to tourism, so maybe it would be a good idea to go on fewer distant holidays, but make them really count when you do go on them. Between times, consider lowering the burden on pocket and planet by taking trains, buses and boats to destinations in the UK and Europe. It might take a little more imagination to find, but there is a bewildering variety of people and places in Europe, and some of the world’s most beautiful scenery. Adventure can begin surprisingly close to home.

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