Natural disasters – to visit or not?
The 24 hour global media brings images into our homes of natural disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes and flooding. It’s a sign of the times that many of us are moved by what we see, and are keen to help in some small way. When the disasters happen in tourism areas such as Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia or New Orleans very quickly after the clean up we often here that ‘the best thing that you can do it to visit as a tourist,’ but is this the best thing to do when people are grieving?
What the tourist first needs to understand before travelling is the majority view in the local community as to whether they would welcome tourists after natural disasters. The best way to understand this is to book through a responsible tour operator who will have excellent links with communities in destinations.
I visited Phuket shortly after the tsunami where local people were telling me that the fact that tourists had stopped travelling was creating an ‘economic tsunami,’ meaning that their suffering was being compounded by lack of income from tourism.
I’m certain that you will get an exceptionally warm welcome in Phuket if you travel later this year, or around the tsunami anniversary. However, that does not mean the situation might not be different in other disaster areas, and it is these sensitivities that you need to understand.
How you travel is as important as whether you travel.
My top 5 tips are -
- By staying in locally owned accommodation, rather than overseas owned resorts, more of your money will "trickle down" into the hands of those who need it most - local people.
- Hire a local guide - not only will they be sensitive to local people's feelings and earn an income, but they will give you unmatched insights into local cultures.
- Use public transport, and visit local restaurants rather than eating in resort hotels - it's a terrific way to support local economies and meet local people on their terms.
- Before you travel ask your travel representative what would be the most useful gifts for you to take out for local people at this time. Ask if there are any social or environmental projects that you might visit during your trip, and how you might productively be involved.
- Before you leave the destination buy your gifts for people back home directly from local craft sellers.
The answer is a bit of both, but those of you who are serious about your contribution need to feel confident that the project that you will be working with has been well set up.
It’s very important that the skills that you can offer are indeed the skills that are required in the affected areas. Too many well meaning but under skilled people volunteering to help can create more problems than solutions.
Finally, providing that you’ve done your homework properly your trip to an area affected by a natural disaster can not only be of much needed assistance to people in real need, but also a trip of a lifetime for you. It’s the sense of purpose, community and reaching out to others that the world needs more of.
By Justin Francis
How to donate: DEC www.dec.org.uk or call 0870 60 60 900
Interested? Find out how to help on our tsunami support and volunteering pages,
or take a look at our responsible holidays in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.