Tsunami plea: rebuild responsibly
Tsunami plea: rebuild responsibly
Tuesday, 25 January 2005
In the wake of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Brighton ’s online travel agent, responsibletravel.com, is challenging the tourism industry to take stock and help rebuild the Asian coastline for the benefit of local people.
Writing for The Guardian in January, managing director and co-founder Justin Francis, explained: ‘The Indian Ocean will become a testing ground for the industry to prove it can fulfil not only the dreams of tourists, but also provide real benefits for the local people whose environments we visit.’
Francis’s business has been a distinctive voice in the growing eco-tourism market. In 2004 it publicly called for big tour operators to take their ethical and social responsibilities more seriously, forcing three of the largest players to pledge their agreement to publish corporate plans.
The fast-growing company has conducted research into consumer attitudes to travel. Results revealed the emergence of ‘light green’ travellers, who are far from cavalier about the destinations, conditions and the lifestyle of local people they visit.
Francis believes the Tsunami must concentrate the minds of holidaymakers, the industry and governments. ‘Tourism will be judged on more than how much money it donates to emergency funds,’ he says. ‘The real question is whether the industry and tourists will be able to look into the eyes of the poorest local people – those we’ve watched suffering on our TV screens – having found new ways for them to share in the benefits of tourism.’
Unregulated tourism development over the past 30 years had contributed in part to the disaster, he believes. Thailand ’s mangrove swamps and coral reefs - which had served as a natural barrier against tides - had been devastated. ‘We now must design something better,’ he said.
Francis contends that ‘better tourism’ rather than ‘more tourism’ is part of the answer. The number of international visitor arrivals should no longer be a measure of success. A more effective measure would be how much cash reaches local people’s hands, balanced against the impacts of tourism on natural and cultural heritage.
Far too many tourist hot spots are owned by overseas investors rather than local people, he argues, and it is these that are likely to be rebuilt quickly on the back of insurance claims than the business’s of uninsured locals.
‘Sustainable travel starts with finding creative ways for the established tourism industry to work with local craft sellers, fruit vendors, tourist guides, fishermen and other micro enterprises to offer tourists more authentic holidays that financially benefit the poorest in local communities,’ says Francis.
A trustee of The Travel Foundation, a charity set up by UK government to improve sustainable tourism, he calls on tour operators to sign up to a voluntarily administered scheme to apply a small levy on tourists to help. He also calls on tourists to ask tour operators if they have done so before choosing a holiday.
Responsibletravel.com has established a national voice on sustainability in tourism. It was widely quoted in The Times and Sunday Times during January and Francis continues to contribute to The Guardian this month. On January 23 a 16-page promotional supplement on the company was published in The Observer.
Tuesday, 25 January 2005
In the wake of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Brighton ’s online travel agent, responsibletravel.com, is challenging the tourism industry to take stock and help rebuild the Asian coastline for the benefit of local people.
Writing for The Guardian in January, managing director and co-founder Justin Francis, explained: ‘The Indian Ocean will become a testing ground for the industry to prove it can fulfil not only the dreams of tourists, but also provide real benefits for the local people whose environments we visit.’
Francis’s business has been a distinctive voice in the growing eco-tourism market. In 2004 it publicly called for big tour operators to take their ethical and social responsibilities more seriously, forcing three of the largest players to pledge their agreement to publish corporate plans.
The fast-growing company has conducted research into consumer attitudes to travel. Results revealed the emergence of ‘light green’ travellers, who are far from cavalier about the destinations, conditions and the lifestyle of local people they visit.
Francis believes the Tsunami must concentrate the minds of holidaymakers, the industry and governments. ‘Tourism will be judged on more than how much money it donates to emergency funds,’ he says. ‘The real question is whether the industry and tourists will be able to look into the eyes of the poorest local people – those we’ve watched suffering on our TV screens – having found new ways for them to share in the benefits of tourism.’
Unregulated tourism development over the past 30 years had contributed in part to the disaster, he believes. Thailand ’s mangrove swamps and coral reefs - which had served as a natural barrier against tides - had been devastated. ‘We now must design something better,’ he said.
Francis contends that ‘better tourism’ rather than ‘more tourism’ is part of the answer. The number of international visitor arrivals should no longer be a measure of success. A more effective measure would be how much cash reaches local people’s hands, balanced against the impacts of tourism on natural and cultural heritage.
Far too many tourist hot spots are owned by overseas investors rather than local people, he argues, and it is these that are likely to be rebuilt quickly on the back of insurance claims than the business’s of uninsured locals.
‘Sustainable travel starts with finding creative ways for the established tourism industry to work with local craft sellers, fruit vendors, tourist guides, fishermen and other micro enterprises to offer tourists more authentic holidays that financially benefit the poorest in local communities,’ says Francis.
A trustee of The Travel Foundation, a charity set up by UK government to improve sustainable tourism, he calls on tour operators to sign up to a voluntarily administered scheme to apply a small levy on tourists to help. He also calls on tourists to ask tour operators if they have done so before choosing a holiday.
Responsibletravel.com has established a national voice on sustainability in tourism. It was widely quoted in The Times and Sunday Times during January and Francis continues to contribute to The Guardian this month. On January 23 a 16-page promotional supplement on the company was published in The Observer.