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By Naren Karunakaran Sun, sea and sand are not enough. Add sustainability to your holidays. The new trend of responsible tourism goes beyond eco-tourism. It looks at the triple bottom line - tourism's impact on the local economy, society and the environment. Kerala's Periyar Tiger Reserve is perhaps the finest example of the transformation of a mass tourism destination into a high-value, low-impact zone
Tourism is often described as the world’s biggest industry thanks to its contribution to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment-generation and the number of clients served. According to the UN World Tourism Organisation (WTO), international tourism roughly accounts for 36% of trade in commercial services in advanced economies, and 66% in developing economies. It constitutes 3-10% of GDP in advanced economies and 4% in developing economies. And the numbers are continuing to rise.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) pegged the travel and tourism business at $ 6 trillion for the year 2006. The council indicates that it will be twice this figure within the next decade. But along with the rapid growth rate are growing concerns about the impact of tourism. Tourism has been considered an elite, insensitive industry, bringing with it a host of problems. Although the initial concerns were largely environmental -- the impact on fragile ecosystems and biodiversity – the focus now for civil society, governments and changemakers in the tourism industry is on the economic and social aspects. This trend is also symptomatic of changes taking place across the board, the corporate responsibility movement, and growing support for ethical consumption, organic food and fair trade. Prodding from within One of the principal drivers of change has come from originating markets. “Tourists are demanding richer engagements with destinations and communities,” says Harold Goodwin, a passionate advocate for responsible tourism and Director, International Centre for Responsible Tourism, UK. Several surveys have made this very clear. In the US, more than three-quarters of travellers “feel it is important their visits not damage the environment”. This 2003 study (Travel Industry Association of America and National Geographic Traveller) estimates that 17 million US travellers consider environmental factors when deciding which travel companies to patronise. In Britain (the Tearfund study), 66% of travellers said they placed importance on the fact that their last trip “had been specifically designed to cause as little damage as possible to the environment”. While cost, weather and quality of facilities are important, 42% of British tourists look for the quality of local, social, economic and political information available. At least 37% identified opportunities to interact with local people as important. “More than the British, certain parts of Europe are perhaps more attuned to caring for the environment and interacting with host communities,” says Anneke Vooruualt, a Dutch national who considers India her second home. Waning sun-sea-sand tourism It’s not just a section of tourists who are waking up. Tour operators are also coming round to the view that an element of responsible tourism can often be the tie-breaker for a traveller to make his or her choice, all other things -- destination, quality and price -- being equal. Perhaps there’s also the niggling realisation that the usual sun-sea-sand tourism has matured as a market, and that the focus is shifting towards a form of tourism that celebrates nature, diversity, culture, heritage and individual contribution/volunteerism. Enlightened tour operators are examining economic and social impacts seriously. Small-sized British tour companies (2000 survey) estimated that around 70% of their trip costs remained in the local economies of their destinations. Medium companies put the figure at 30%. Large tour companies were unable to make any estimation! A handful, nevertheless, have embarked on a clean-up drive. Pressures are being applied on hotels and other facilities they patronise. The Tour Operators Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development is a network of 25 operators hosted by UNEP, Paris. The mandate is to incorporate sustainability principles into all their business operations. The Tourism Partnership of the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum has also been driving the responsibility agenda (11,100 hotel properties and 1.8 million rooms). The Tour Operators for Tigers (TOFT), a British alliance of top 30 operators, is already making a difference in some of India’s national parks. “We are in the process of aligning entire tourism supply chains in Indian reserves to certain norms. This we do with motivation. Mere legislation or finger-pointing is not enough,” says Abhishek Behl, Director, TOFT-India. Climate change and tourism Tourism is trying to look at the big challenges as well. Global warming and climate change. First Choice Holidays, a British charter operator, has promised to offer all customers the chance to make donations of ₤ 1 per adult and 50p per child towards offsetting the carbon that will be used during its flights. Flying to and from the UK contributes 6% to the country’s total carbon emissions. According to global estimates, air traffic contributes around 10% to global warming. The release of pollutants in high altitudes only means that air traffic has a greater impact on warming than an equal level of emissions on the ground. To start with, First Choice will make a contribution equal to that raised by customers. The proceeds will be invested in carbon-saving projects -- protecting rainforests, clean, alternative energy. Part of a wider global movement It is encouraging that the tourism sector is responding to the demands of civil society and, in a way, the market too. It is actually a wider movement sweeping across several other sectors as well. It was inevitable that tourism would be sucked into it. Some of the perceived villains of big business, for instance the mining and oil leviathans, are undergoing a change of heart and mindset. Big global players, Rito Tinto, BHP-Billiton, Shell and BP now realise that ensuring business sustainability would necessarily mean adhering to corporate responsibility norms along what is called the ‘triple bottom line’: impacts of the business on the economy, society and the environment. Tourism has borrowed the concept and now acknowledges the triple bottom line with its emphasis on equitable tourism that benefits local communities in multiple ways -- skills training and jobs for locals; encouraging partnerships; improving markets for local goods and services. Trends to watch The trend towards sustainable or responsible tourism, in a way, started in the 1990s with the concept of eco-tourism gaining wide acceptance. But along the way the term got corrupted as more and more companies jumped onto the green bandwagon without understanding what it entailed. Eco-tourism began to be confused with ‘nature tourism’. “It’s about time the government examined the need for policy directives on responsible tourism and not limit itself to eco-tourism, a niche,” says Jija Madhavan Hari Singh, Managing Director of the Karnataka chain, Jungle Lodges and Resorts Ltd. The urge to seriously place tourism in the development paradigm came about early this decade. In 2002, the WTO released a report ‘Tourism and Poverty Alleviation’ in which it was argued that tourism was one of the few developmental opportunities for the poor. The first International Conference on Responsible Tourism Destinations was held in Cape Town as a side event preceding the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in 2002. This led to the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism and called for efforts towards “better places to live in, better places for people to visit”. The responsibility has been placed at the doorstep of all stakeholders -- government, national and local, NGOs, industry, conservationists, communities. “Responsibility cannot be outsourced,” says Goodwin. “The focus however has to be on partnerships and identifying and setting local priorities.” Step up The trend is apparently gathering steam and has also engendered a sharply focused pro-poor tourism agenda. Earlier approaches to tourism assumed that benefits would eventually trickle down to the poor. The pro-poor tourism approach focuses on changing the very nature of tourism development so that it increases the flow of income to poor people, or increases their assets and participation. The WTO’s Sustainable Tourism-Elimination of Poverty (ST-EP) initiative, launched in 2006, is already presiding over 44 projects around the globe. The wake-up call for change in the conduct of tourism has been ringing for some time now in the form of people’s movements and community campaigns. Some striking examples are: - Access to resources: In Peru, locals were enraged when unscrupulous private companies sought to privatise their heritage sites and secure 25-year leases for the pathways leading to Machu Pichu, thus denying them their basic right of access to resources. A sustained campaign was started to set things right.
- ‘All-inclusives’: In Gambia, people’s organisations have convinced the government to discourage the ‘all-inclusive’ model of tourism. ‘All-inclusives’, promoted by western tour operators, offer little benefit to locals, as all payments go to the tour operators, supported by vertical integration in the sector.
- Socio-cultural sensibilities: In Ajmer, Rajasthan, the administration has had to heed the demands of locals and issue a set of guidelines to foreign tourists. This followed incidents of insensitive and inappropriate behaviour. The booklet advises tourists on social norms and religious sensibilities, especially on consumption of alcohol, smoking and public displays of affection.
The pressure from civil society, and rising expectations of recent years, has seen the emergence of a number of good practices in India lately. “Being responsible, apart from the numerous benefits it brings, makes eminent business sense too,” says Sidarth Dominic, Director, CGH Earth, a Kerala-based chain of resorts. Kerala’s Periyar Tiger Reserve is perhaps the finest example of how a mass tourism destination has been transformed into a high-value, low-impact zone through community-based initiatives. It revolves around Eco Development Committees (EDCs): 72 in all, covering 58,000 villagers. Scores of tribal families that once eked out a living by illegally stripping the bark of cinnamon trees, for instance, have been brought into the fold through the Thekkady Tiger Trail, a trekking and camping scheme. In Khonoma village, in Nagaland, northeastern India, an alternative model of community-led tourism is making waves. The village council is at the core of this initiative. The Sunderbans Jungle Camp in West Bengal has made it to the list of 12 finalists for the WTTC’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2007, considered the ‘Oscars’ of the travel and tourism industry. It is one of the two finalists in the ‘Investor in People’ category. The ball has been set rolling. What remains to be seen is whether the tenets of responsible tourism permeate deep and wide. “Tokenism can be perilous. A long-term perspective is vital,” says Venu V, Secretary, Kerala Tourism. Tourism’s many dimensions Eco-tourism: The International Eco-tourism Society describes eco-tourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the wellbeing of local people”. Eco-tourism is often interchangeably used with ‘nature’ or ‘adventure’ tourism but there is a qualitative difference. The latter focuses on what the traveller is seeking, while the former focuses on what the traveller does, plus the impact of this travel on both the environment and the people of the host country. It is expected that the impact is positive. Community-based tourism: This type embraces local people’s involvement in tourism and is usually small-scale -- campsites, guesthouses, homestays, local excursions, etc. The Explore Rural India initiative could be categorised as this type of tourism. Mass tourism: This is the traditional, large-scale form of tourism that started in the 1960s and 1970s. While it could contribute to the economic development of a country, mass tourism has debilitating effects on society and the environment. Sustainable tourism: This form of tourism basically draws on the principles of eco-tourism and is seen as a more responsible form of mass tourism development. It seeks to minimise the negative footprint of tourism development and also contribute to conservation and community development. Responsible tourism: This is not about niche tourism like eco-tourism, it encompasses all forms of tourism and seeks to minimise negative economic, environment and social impacts. It generates greater economic benefits to local people and enhances the wellbeing of host communities. It also makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, and maintenance of the world’s diversity. Pro-poor tourism: This is defined as tourism that generates increased net benefits for poor people. Any type of tourism can potentially reduce poverty. Pro-poor strategies ensure that net benefits reach the poor -- whether economic (wages, sales revenue, donations) or non-financial (increased household security, access to education, health services, or transportation). The focus is on net benefits because engaging in tourism can involve costs and negative consequences too (for instance, people may lose access to natural resources; loss of commons). Source: ICRT, UK; Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex; Conservation International, US; UNEP (Naren Karunakaran is a Delhi-based journalist) InfoChange News & Features, May 2007
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