IR
Responsible Tourism ... "What the...?"
Responsible Tourism is about
“making better places for people to live in and better
places for people to visit.” Responsible Tourism requires
that operators, hoteliers, governments, local people and tourists
take responsibility, take action to make tourism more sustainable.
Unfortunately, many are now beginning to use the language of
responsible tourism whilst doing nothing or worse being irresponsible.
The converse is irresponsible tourism.
Now there is a website (www.irresponsibletourism.info) that
allows whistle blowing, campaigning and discussion forum for
anyone who is concerned about irresponsible tourism and who
wants to draw it to the attention of others and the media; or
to discuss what can be done about it. Use this site to criticize,
debate and campaign. Exercise your responsibility, don’t
just mutter - call people to account.
Here are a few examples taken from the website
(NB not necessarily North by North East opinion)
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Topic:Carbon Offset - What are
the credible/certified/valid/transparent carbon-offsetting schemes
out there at the moment that are available to recommend to travelers
and operators? (and also those that should be avoided!)
Are there any watchdogs checking where the money is going and
the amount of carbon actually off-set?
In particular, I'm worried about:
* the potential for people to be ripped off by unscrupulous
opportunists
* the environmental & market implications of people being
able to 'shop around' for the lowest emissions estimates
* the likelihood of undermining the credibility of carbon offsetting
Topic: Remote resort hotels - What
about waste management? I am now in the Philippines, and a government
official and more than one university professor proudly proclaimed
from Manila that incinerating rubbish was against the law and
largely unpracticed. Then I went to more than one of the islands
and found that tourist resorts had no other option but incinerate
garbage - given there was no landfill in the proximity.
What are some economic and practical options that forum users
have seen out there for waste management for remote islands?
Some accommodations do recycle and compost, but what about the
non-biodegradable's etc? On beachside locations, is it responsible
for tourism resorts to build their own landfill sites - or will
this just contaminate the ground water?
Topic: Irresponsible travel whilst volunteering
- Recently I was in Nepal, where I revisited a site
where I had volunteered on a group program in the past. At the
time of my visit there was a group of volunteers who were there
on 3-5 month programs. I couldn't believe the behaviour of these
volunteers when they were letting their hair down. I couldn't
believe the rude behaviour when bargaining for souvenirs and
once when taking a taxi, were very cheap and fit 6 people in
one taxi and then refused to pay the final price. They also
complained about the price of food and drink in restaurants
in front of their local friends who earn so much less.
I had to distance myself from these volunteers as I found their
actions insensitive. I'm now working with the volunteer organisation
to write some responsible travel guidelines to include in the
orientation pack. I've also contacted some other volunteer agencies
to do the same for their respective programs.
It was just appalling to see how volunteers could change so
much from being sensitive and respectful in their host village
and families, yet when it came to the wider community acted
so irresponsibly.
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For more information on responsible travel services
please contact:
North
by North East Travel Services
Tel: +66 (0) 4251 3572
Fax:+66 (0) 4251 3573
e-mail: info@
north-by-north-east.com
Web site: www.north-by-north-east.com