Responsible tourism in England

Regenerate, regenerate

Many parts of England, particularly seaside towns and other coastal areas, are heavily dependent on tourism, an industry renowned for seasonal, low-paid employment. They’re steadily being hollowed out as young people seek opportunities elsewhere, leading to deprivation which in turn affects tourism numbers. In countries such as England where the main tourist season is quite short, earning a sustainable income year-round can prove difficult. Resorts including Hunstanton, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Skegness and Scarborough retain plenty of historic charm, but underfunding and inaccessibility, combined with a shift of focus to destinations elsewhere, has allowed them to fade.

How you can help
Simply put: don’t follow the crowds. Skip the city breaks, and give England’s crowded tourism hotspots a swerve, instead looking to idyllic, isolated accommodations in the countryside. If you do really want to see the Tower of London, or the beaches of Cornwall, then consider visiting outside the busy summer months instead when you’ll have a more pleasant experience, and tourism businesses will benefit from income in low season. And next time you fancy a visit to the seaside, remember there are many other attractive resorts around the English coast that aren’t Brighton and Falmouth.

Wherever you go, think: spend local. Much of the English tourism industry is small-scale, making it quite easy to inject money into the domestic economy. You’ll get a warmer welcome from a locally owned bed and breakfast than you will from a faceless international hotel chain. You’ll eat fresher (and better) dishes with local produce, and also dramatically slash your holiday’s carbon footprints. And the money you spend will stay for longer in the local area, boosting the community and providing employment prospects for local people.

Growing pains

One of the most controversial infrastructure developments of recent years in England (including Boris Johnson’s characteristically ridiculous Garden Bridge fiasco) is the ongoing saga of the Heathrow Airport expansion. The project, due for completion in 2026 assuming it goes ahead as planned, will involve rerouting the M25 motorway, diverting rivers and the demolition of over 700 homes in order to construct a new runway, while the airport’s other expansion plans will cost billions and take some 30 years to complete. The proposed economic benefits of Heathrow expansion, disputed by some, are taken to be around £5.5 billion a year, but of course the cost to the environment, as well as the surrounding community, will be calamitous.

The world is facing a climate crisis. With the aviation industry one of the fastest growing contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, the plain fact is that we need to be encouraging people to fly less, not more. Responsible Travel is one of the few travel companies to oppose Heathrow expansion, and we continue to believe that this misguided project will, eventually, have to be abandoned in the face of cold reality and public disapproval.

Of course, Heathrow is not the only airport thinking about expansion. Another London airport, Stansted, wants to increase its own passenger volume by five million a year. When the council delayed the project, there were inevitable complaints from tourism officials who claimed “the move could prevent tourism growth”.

We say growth at the expense of the environment, and local communities, is the height of recklessness. It’s high time that the English tourism industry, along with the government, started to focus on sustainable management of the numbers and destinations we already have, not rampant expansion and profit that jeopardises all of our futures.