Businesses that are taking responsibility need to be able to secure differentiation in the marketplace, use their positive impacts in their PR to secure market advantage from their efforts and enable consumers to make sustainable choices. Concern in the parliament about the impact of the Green Claims Directive on small businesses was one of the major reasons that it was abandoned.

Green hushing won’t help us travel more responsibly – and neither will certification.

If you are being told that you must certify to protect your business from mis-selling, reflect on the fact that certification has been remarkably unsuccessful across Europe. Recent research by Xavier Font and colleagues reveals that only 9.3% of European hotels in a sample of 82,301 properties on the Booking.com platform were certified in 2024. Certification is highly concentrated among chain-affiliated, large, high-end hotels.

The Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (ECD) will apply across the EU from September 2026 and will address further areas of mis-selling. The changes most likely to impact tourism businesses are:

1. making an environmental claim that is unsubstantiated, or not based on a product’s entire life cycle
2. making an environmental claim without “clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments.”

It is no longer acceptable to claim that a product is green without considering how it is dealt with as waste. Obviously, this would make it impossible to suggest that potable water in a plastic bottle was “green” or that potatoes sold in non-biodegradable bags were “environmentally friendly.”

I am deeply sceptical of the value of certification schemes, most of which are based on tick boxes.  Having a certificate will not provide “clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments.” Nor will a certificate carry any meaning or make any connection with your potential guest. From the beginning of the Responsible Tourism  Movement in the 2002 Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism  in Destinations, we have recognised the importance of “more enjoyable experiences for tourists through more meaningful connections with local people, and a greater understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues.”

I cannot be sure from a certificate that a hotel composts food waste or pays above the minimum wage. Certification is opaque; the consumer cannot find out what specifically the business does. An issue hammered home to me during the drought in Cape Town in 2018. It was impossible to find out which hotels used the least water per bednight and make an appropriately informed choice about where to stay.

Worse when, as requested, you place your used towels back on the rail to reuse them, the room attendant replaces them with freshly laundered towels you cannot seek redress. The consumer who finds that the hotel fails to deliver on sustainability has little chance of securing redress; the guest cannot find out what the hotel has been certified for and has no contract with the certifying agency from which they might otherwise secure compensation for mis-selling.

Way back in 2017, I posted on the WTM Global Hub Certification: what comes next?

“Certificates are awarded for effort rather than achievement. I am less concerned about how a hotel reduces its energy consumption per bed night than that it reduces the consumption. Wouldn’t it be amazing if certificates were awarded for achieving an acceptable level of water and energy consumption per bed night, for paying wages above minimum wage levels, and meeting a minimum set of labour standards?

Wouldn’t it be even more amazing if hotels and operators published their operational performance against the standard, and the certifiers audited that performance and signed off on the evidence, thereby taking real responsibility for their certificates? Metered electricity consumption would quickly reveal the real performance of the hotel – and whether or not the room key light switches were being overridden. We need to know what the business has achieved that makes them worthy of the certification, and we need to know how they compare with others. Then, when travelling to a water-scarce region, I could choose to stay in one of the hotels with the lowest water usage per bed night or the one with the best employment conditions. Then certification would carry real meaning.

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Responsible Tourism takes a much more transparent approach:

1. Consider what issues arise in or from the impacts of your operations and affect your neighbours.
2. Which of these issues could you address through your business, alone or working with others?
3. Decide what you can afford to do without bankrupting your business and destroying jobs.
4. Tell you suppliers, customers, neighbours and other businesses what you are doing and how?
5. Report your impact using verifiable evidence.

Booking.com has annually reported for some time that large majorities of tourists want to travel more sustainably, but the same consumers say that there are few sustainable options available.

“Our research indicates that as many as 68% of travelers want to travel more sustainably in the coming year. However, the supply of options meeting credible sustainability criteria remains limited, and standards are often inconsistent or difficult to assess. As a result, travelers face uncertainty and lack clear, trusted information to guide their choices.” Booking.com stated in its 2025 Sustainability Report.

It just may be the case that certificates are opaque and fail to meaningfully communicate what responsible travellers are looking for. If you want to see examples of effective Responsible Tourism marketing, take a look at Responsible Travel with user content collateral.

Professor Xavier Font wrote a series of guides for tourism businesses more than a decade ago. The one produced for Failte Ireland using local examples opens with a quote from Simon Ashe of Ballynahinch Castle:” Your customers will only value your sustainability efforts if you make it fun and you communicate it with passion but without making them feel guilty.”

It is important to make your messages meaningful for your target customers – you can’t do everything, as we have seen, you need to choose. Consider your market, amongst other things, when you choose what to take responsibility for.

The Failte Ireland “Green Marketing Toolkit” was published back in 2011, and VisitWales published “Keep it real” in 2012.

In February 2025 Accor, Booking.com and the University of Surrey published cutting edge research on how to engage travellers and “deliver effective and engaging sustainability communications to guests.”

• Highlight sustainability practices – including for less sustainable amenities – and show how guests can easily contribute
• Balance appeals to pleasure and comfort for optimal results
• Empower guests, don’t constrain or dictate to them
• Help guests act as responsibly as they do at home

Follow the link for really helpful guidance.

The most recent research by Booking.com reveals that 85% of travellers say that more sustainable travel is important or very important to them. Older generations demonstrate greater commitment to specific, more sustainable behaviours than their younger counterparts. Less than half (47%) of the Boomer survey respondents (61+) say they want to travel more sustainably in the coming 12 months, compared to 60% of Gen Xers (45-60), 71% of Millennials (29-44) and 75% of Gen Z (18-28). Research shows that perhaps their actions speak louder than words.

• Of those who intend to travel more sustainably over the next year, two thirds of Boomers (67%) say they will reduce general waste when travelling compared to 56% of Gen X, 52% of Millennials and less than half of Gen Z (48%).
• 60% of Boomers intend to reduce energy consumption (such as turning off air conditioning and lights in their room when they aren’t there), compared to 51% of Gen X, 46% of Millennials and 42% of Gen Z.
• 59% of Boomers say they will shop more at local, independent stores on their trips compared to 50% of Gen X, 44% of Millennials, and 42% of Gen Z.
• And perhaps, unsurprisingly, older generations were much more likely to report plans to travel outside of peak season: Boomers (63%), Gen X (48%), Millennials (41%) and Gen Z (36%).

The market is increasingly complex, requiring businesses to carefully evaluate what truly matters to their clients and target audiences. Success depends on identifying and building meaningful connections that drive sustainable growth and long-term value.

L’article Cheaper and smarter ways to prevent mis-selling without certification est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Certification has been remarkably unsuccessful across Europe. Recent research by Xavier Font and colleagues reveals that only 9.3% of European hotels in a sample of 82,301 properties were certified in 2024, according to the Booking.com platform. Certification is highly concentrated among chain-affiliated, large, high-end hotels.

There is a case for certification as a basic assurance for businesses concerned about their supply chains, particularly tour operators. However, businesses in destinations remain highly vulnerable to pressure from source markets demanding certification.

A second issue is that certification does not provide verification for specific claims.

Working with Glynn O’Leary, a professionally trained corporate accountant, ICRT.global has developed a method enabling businesses to report and differentiate themselves in the marketplace based on the local economic benefits they generate through sourcing and payroll. They can also report on their national and local tax contributions. Verification can then be provided by their accountants at a marginal additional cost.

Most accommodation providers already pay for water, electricity, and fuel for vehicles and generators. Data on consumption per bed night could therefore be reported, with accountants independently verifying the claims made by businesses.

Using accountant-audited accounts to report local spend, emissions, and water consumption is currently a work in progress, with collaborations including easyJet holidays and Transfrontier Parks Destinations.

I will be speaking virtually at the third Eswatini Responsible Tourism Conference on Creating Shared Value. The event will bring together policymakers, tourism operators, academics, and community leaders to explore practical strategies for strengthening responsible tourism and ensuring that tourism development benefits local communities, protects the environment, and celebrates Eswatini’s rich cultural heritage.

Date: Tuesday, 28 April
Location: Piggs Peak Hotel, King Mswati III Highway, Eswatini. Register here to attend either in person or virtually.

L’article Out of Africa: verification without certification est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The dominant theories and models of economics used by academics, policy makers, regulators, and businesses dismiss greenhouse gas emissions as mere externalities; they are not included in the cost side of calculations. These pollution costs, like climate change, impose very substantial costs on others, but the polluter does not bear the cost; others do.

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I now vaguely recall the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) first introduced in 1972 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where the polluter was kept responsible for the pollution. It was reaffirmed globally in the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Aviation is just one of the industries where the polluter does not pay.

Aviation fuel production, drilling, refining, and delivery are not without externality costs. However, the real environmental damage is caused by the burning of the fuel. Bristol-based Firefly Green Fuels, about its company’s plans to turn sewage into sustainable aviation fuel.

Taking sewage sludge from water utilities, Firefly puts it into a high-pressure reactor to separate it into two useful materials: Biochar, a fertiliser for the agriculture industry, and bio-crude, which can be refined into jet fuel.

 “Firefly’s route to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is unique in that it uses a completely biogenic and otherwise problematic material as a feedstock – sewage,” James Hygate, Firefly Green Fuels CEO, said. “This cheap and abundant feedstock will never run out and the SAF we can produce with it is almost identical to fossil jet fuel.”

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The SAF it produces will then be “almost identical to fossil jet fuel,” burnt in the same jet engines it will produce very similar emissions. Some biofuels do burn without greenhouse gas emissions, but those based on sewage will not reduce emissions – and emissions are the issue.

Peer reviewed research published by Cambridge University engineers reveals that reducing contrails could reduce aviation’s global warming impact by nearly half. “aviation contributes around 2–3% of global carbon dioxide emissions, but its total climate impact is larger because of non-CO₂ effects such as contrails. Interest in contrail avoidance has grown rapidly in recent years as governments and airlines search for ways to reduce aviation’s climate impact while the sector transitions to lower-carbon fuels.”

Lead author Dr Jessie Smith, from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering says “Contrail avoidance can often be as simple as changing the flight paths, Often it’s even simpler than that – just moving slightly to a higher or lower altitude to avoid the areas of the atmosphere where contrails form.”

L’article Aviation: inconvenient truths est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Unseen Tours, founded in 2010, grew out of The Sock Mob, a volunteer initiative that used a simple gesture, offering warm socks, to engage with rough sleepers and vulnerable individuals across London. What began as an act of human connection evolved into something more ambitious: creating meaningful encounters between people who might otherwise never meet.

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The concept is simple, but powerful. Individuals with lived experience of homelessness or insecure housing are supported to develop and lead guided tours through neighbourhoods they know intimately. These are not conventional walks. They are narratives shaped by memory, resilience, and perspective.

Since its inception, Unseen Tours has worked with more than 28 guides across eight areas of London. Each year, the organisation delivers over 450 tours, welcoming more than 6,500 participants. But the impact cannot be measured in numbers alone.

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For the guides, the initiative provides paid work, renewed confidence, opportunities to develop skills, and a pathway towards social inclusion. More importantly, it offers something often denied to those on the margins: a platform to be heard. They are not subjects of observation, but storytellers and teachers.

For visitors, the experience is equally transformative. It challenges perceptions and invites reflection. The homeless, like people with disabilities, are often viewed through labels that obscure their humanity. Yet they are, simply, people like us, navigating different circumstances.

This model is not unique to London. Around the world, similar initiatives have emerged, offering travellers the chance to engage with places through the eyes of those who live at the edges of society. Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest in experiences that move beyond traditional tourism, towards encounters that are more authentic, more uncomfortable, and ultimately more meaningful.

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Travel, at its best, is about encountering difference. It is about understanding “the other”, if only briefly. Yet this raises important ethical questions. Such encounters can risk becoming voyeuristic or exploitative, particularly when they involve poverty or marginalisation.

So-called slum tourism illustrates this tension. For many, the idea of visiting deprived neighbourhoods as a tourist activity feels deeply uncomfortable. The imbalance is clear: visitors arrive with time, money, and mobility, while those they observe often lack all three.

And yet, when done responsibly, with agency and benefit for those involved, these encounters can create genuine value. They can foster understanding, challenge stereotypes, and provide economic opportunities for communities that are too often excluded from tourism’s benefits.

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The question, then, is not whether such experiences should exist, but how they are designed, who controls the narrative, and who ultimately benefits.

For those interested in this evolving space, I maintain a list of organisations, businesses, charities, and NGOs that enable these kinds of encounters. If you are aware of initiatives that should be included, I would welcome hearing from you.

Tourism has the potential to connect, to humanise, and to transform. The challenge is ensuring that it does so with dignity, respect, and fairness for all involved.

L’article See London differently through unseen voices est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The differently abled are very like you and me; they are you and me with “disabilities” which make them or us differently abled. In the Responsible Tourism Awards, we have not looked specifically at holidays for the differently abled for a while; we will in 2027.

Responsible Travel commissioned YouGov to survey accessible adventure travel. The survey revealed that accessibility is a mainstream, not niche, part of travel. Two in five UK adults – 41% – now travel with accessibility in mind, including those who regularly travel with or care for someone with access needs. There’s more than a moral and social responsibility to making travel more accessible – it’s a business imperative. And it benefits everyone. The survey shows that after cost, it is confidence, not a lack of interest, that is holding back millions of people who travel due to access or health considerations. Their accessible holidays survey report is here. It’s the first of an annual study they will conduct to compare the travel experiences of people with, and without, health and accessibility needs.

Campo and Parque de Sonhos hotel have shown that people with disabilities can take part in nearly all activities typically offered to able-bodied visitors at adventure resorts. Awarded Gold at the 2014 Responsible Tourism Awards, Campo and Parque dos Sonhos demonstrate what is possible when accessibility is placed at the heart of an activity-based resort. By prioritising inclusive design and a mindset that values ability over limitation, the team creates an environment where everyone can participate and enjoy shared experiences.

As José Fernandes, who developed the adventure park for all, explains, “A 2-year-old child descended the shorter Tyrolese in total safety, while an 84-year-old lady broke the age record in the 1-km long Tyrolese”. The Park of Dreams attracts novices, adventure sports enthusiasts who want to try several experiences in one day, school groups, corporate team building groups, and those who want to make commercials. Being accessible for all makes commercial sense.

I asked José why he had pushed the boundaries of what is possible for people with disabilities so far. It was, he said, because we all have disabilities in our lives, we all start life being pushed, in a pram or pushchair, and most of us will live with or develop disabilities. Pushchairs and wheelchairs need the same ramps.

The resort offers a wide range of activities, including five zip lines, a canopy walkway, rappelling, climbing, a rope swing, caving, trekking, fishing, cycling with 10 types of accessible bikes, river tubing, horse riding, and swimming in natural pools and beneath waterfalls. Visitors can come for the day or stay for several days or weeks in fully accessible accommodation. People with disabilities are able to take part in all activities at no extra charge.

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This makes commercial sense

“Our non-disabled clients also create a great admiration and loyalty to the hotel just by knowing how we go the extra mile for the disabled and people with reduced mobility. Furthermore, the non-disabled visitors also benefit from the adaptation for all types of disabilities. For example, the built-in kennels for guide dogs (for blind people) at the accommodations encouraged families who own a pet to stay at the hotel. All the equipment (light switches, towel hanger, telescopic mirror, etc) at an accessible height for wheelchairs also served to children who could become more autonomous, which caused them to love the place and encouraged their parents to return to the location. Ramps were also vital for parents with strollers, and we also began to receive groups of elderly people during the weekdays to enjoy the comfort and security of accessibility,” José explained.

“The biggest challenge of all was to overcome the prejudice that most people had about having ‘crippled’ people involved anyhow in any business. From our team to our clients, and even from business partners and competitors, everyone doubted accessibility could bring sustainable growth to the business,” he added.

When I visited, I watched an 86-year-old lady use the vest for a paraplegic or quadriplegic to be able to do rafting and zip lining. Humbled, I could not summon up the courage to do as she had done.

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Differently Abled Indians

There has been a great deal of progress in India, where the language of the differently abled is increasingly used and provision for those with disabilities is being extended.

Inclusivity in tourism applies to both consumers, the tourist, and those working in the industry. Lemon Tree Hotels won Gold and were also the Overall Winners in the 2016 Responsible Tourism Awards.

Lemon Tree Hotels in India is by no means a niche operator; Lemon Tree has defined mainstreaming “Opportunity Deprived Indians” (ODIs) into its workforce as a core goal. ODIs include those who are speech and hearing impaired, orthopedically handicapped, acid survivors, visually impaired, or with low vision, Down syndrome, or autism.

Their barrier-free employment strategy is at the heart of their CSR programme, but not of their marketing strategy.  Patu Keswani, Chairman & Managing Director of Lemon Tree Hotels, challenged his managers to find ways to employ the differently-abled and disadvantaged Indians because  “the brand should stand for more than ‘just profit’.” Lemon Tree is a large, successful and growing company encompassing several brands, 8,000 rooms in  91 hotels across 49 destinations, and it is committed to barrier-free employment.

The commitment to employing ODIs, Opportunity Deprived Indians, is clearly stated on the website – if you look for it, you have to hunt for it.

“We believe that persons with disabilities (which can be physical, social or economic disabilities leading to an opportunity deprivation) must be provided the same opportunities as others to realize their full potential and live with dignity. By creating a supportive environment in the organization that allows them to deliver their best, we are able to play a part, however small, in social inclusiveness, opportunity/livelihood creation and therefore nation-building.”

Watch the video here, Aradhana explains how they have transformed employment opportunities at Lemon Tree Hotels

Report by Skyscanner, Inclusive Travel: What Travellers with Disabilities Need to Know About Their Rights, breaks down the current landscape of accessible travel in Europe; dives into the rights of disabled travellers spanning different areas such as mobility, service animals, and travel insurance; and offers practical advice for accessible holidays.

L’article All-inclusive holidays: accessible tourism made inclusive for all est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Although this quote is widely attributed to Albert Einstein, historians note that it never appeared in his writings. The phrase first surfaced in a 1981 guidebook for people recovering from addiction published by Narcotics Anonymous, warning readers that repeating the same mistakes while expecting different outcomes is a path to failure.

Yet the sentiment resonates strongly when thinking about climate change and the tourism industry. Too often, the sector continues to operate according to a familiar pattern: business as usual.

More than two decades ago, tourism entrepreneur Justin Francis launched the Responsible Tourism Awards and invited Harold Goodwin to chair the judging panel. Since 2004, the awards have uncovered hundreds of inspiring examples of tourism businesses and destinations choosing to take responsibility, demonstrating that sustainable practices are not only possible but often economically successful.

As industrialist Henry Ford famously remarked: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

The challenge facing responsible tourism today is therefore not a lack of solutions, but the persistence of outdated habits.

Sharing knowledge to accelerate change

Recognising this challenge, Debbie Hindle has convened a panel of European changemakers to exchange ideas and showcase proven initiatives during an upcoming webinar organised by ICRT.global.

The organisation’s mission is simple: to share the collective knowledge of those who have already taken responsibility and demonstrated how tourism can be improved.

Through training programmes, awards, research and events, ICRT.global highlights initiatives that move the industry away from business as usual and towards more sustainable, resilient and successful tourism models.

The philosophy echoes the famous words of Isaac Newton: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

By sharing real-world examples of responsible tourism in practice, the aim is to accelerate progress across the industry.

Panel: progress in responsible tourism in Europe

The upcoming webinar will bring together tourism leaders and innovators to discuss practical opportunities for advancing responsible tourism across Europe.

Moderator
Debbie Hindle, Chair, ICRT.global

Panel

• António Buscardini, Founder, Travel Tomorrow
• Ged Brown, Founder, Low Season Traveller and Tourism Seasonality Summit
• Matt Callaghan, Chief Operating Officer, easyJet holidays
• Harold Goodwin, Founder, ICRT.global

European Responsible Tourism Awards highlight innovation

The Responsible Tourism Awards continue to spotlight tourism initiatives delivering measurable impact across Europe.

At the 2025 European Responsible Tourism Awards, several projects stood out.

In the all-inclusive category, Club Marvy in Turkey won Gold, while Castelli Hotel in Greece received Silver. Club Marvy later went on to win the Global award.

In managing waste, Liberty Fabay in Turkey and Skiathos Palace in Greece both received Silver.

In local sourcing and creating shared value, Emotional Sicily in Italy won Silver, while Delphina Hotels and Resorts in Sardinia took Gold and later secured Silver at the Global awards.

The peace, understanding, and inclusivity category saw MEJDI Tours, which organises tours in destinations including Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, win both Gold and the Global award. Via Transilvanica in Romania and Costa Navarino in Greece were awarded Silver.

In climate adaptation and resilience, Barut Hemera in Turkey received Silver.

Finally, in the nature positive category, UK tour operator Naturetrek won Gold and later secured Silver at the Global awards, while VisitBrabant in the Netherlands took Silver.

Full citations for the 2025 winners are available online.

Why entering the awards matters

Participation in the Responsible Tourism Awards is more than a competition. It is an opportunity to showcase initiatives that can inspire others across the industry.

If organisations do not enter the awards, judges cannot highlight their achievements, and other destinations may never learn from their experience.

Equally, if you know of businesses or projects whose efforts deserve wider recognition, encouraging them to apply helps spread innovation across the sector.

2026 responsible tourism award categories

The 2026 European Responsible Tourism Awards will recognise initiatives in the following categories:

• Local economic benefit
• Diversity, equity and inclusion
• Nature positive
• Championing cultural diversity
• Adapting to climate change
• Regenerative tourism

The awards are free to enter. Gold winners automatically go forward to the Global Responsible Tourism Awards, announced in London in November.

Key dates for the 2026 awards

• Launch: January 2026
• Deadline for entries: 3 April 2026
• Announcement of winners: Brussels, June 2026

Webinar: opportunities for responsible tourism in Europe

An online discussion exploring opportunities and best practices in responsible tourism will take place on Monday, 16 March 2026, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm CET. Participants who register will receive a link allowing them to watch the webinar live or later on demand.

L’article Progress in responsible tourism in Europe: breaking the cycle of “business as usual” est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The presentation I prepared for the launch event of John-Likita’s work is available on YouTube.

The Responsible Tourism movement arose towards the end of the last century as people became increasingly concerned about the parroting of sustainability whilst taking no discernible actions to achieve it. Sustainability still lacks a substantive definition against which delivery can be judged.

The UK volunteering charity VSO surveyed its volunteers around the world about the key issues facing the communities they worked in. Tourism came out top; a year or two later, it would have been HIV AIDS. I was invited to take part in their campaign for ethical tourism and funded to undertake some research with AITO members into how viable this approach is. Working with Richard Hearn, founder and then MD of Inntravel, we surveyed the membership and their views on adopting an ethical policy commitment.

We were surprised, perhaps more accurately amazed, by the volume, detail, and quality of the responses we received telling us about what AITO members were doing in the destination in 1999. We asked AITO members the open question: “What motivates you, or might motivate you, to follow an ethical trading policy?” The answers were then clustered, each reply being placed in only one cluster according to the balance of their response.

Ethical Motivations reported by AITO Members in Summer 1999:

It is striking that none of the individual owners or managers surveyed identified a commercial or market advantage. There is arguably an enlightened self-interest in the benefits of partnership and enhancing supplier and staff loyalty. However, the AITO owners and managers reported to their trade association that their motivation was largely personal or ethical (36%). One in six was concerned for the quality of the destination and the product. One in 14 saw it as part of their approach to doing business based on partnership and loyalty to suppliers and staff. Asked separately about how they characterised their supply chain, two-thirds saw their suppliers as like-minded partners, working with common goals.

Thirty-three members, about a fifth of the membership, reported that they were working with or investing in local projects intended to improve the situation of local people, to contribute to conservation or improve the local environment. One in three companies was making charitable donations to destinations. Half of respondents reported that they were concerned about the impact of tourism at locations featured in their brochures, and one in five reported concern about the impacts of their own company in destinations.

The final question canvassed their view on whether AITO members should share a stated commitment to ethical tour operations: 52% felt that they should, 20% sat on the fence, and 27% said that they should not. The AITO sub-committee concluded that the survey revealed “unexpectedly extensive good practice in responsible tourism”, that members operating within Europe as well as further afield were engaged, and that individual AITO members were making a significant difference.

AITO’s Responsible Tourism Committee. Chaired by Richard Hearn,  concluded that by “working together as AITO we can have a bigger impact, whether in initiatives which involve the whole membership or through members who share a common approach or a common destination working together to make change.”  After that survey, the AITO Responsible Tourism Committee grew from three member companies to seven.   However, it felt unable to commit to the word ethical, which it thought “carried with it unacceptable implications and inferences,”  and its recommendation to adopt a set of advisory rather than prescriptive guidelines was agreed in May 2000.

South Africa was the first country explicitly to commit to Responsible Tourism in its national policies. When the African National Congress took power in South Africa in 1994, it had not developed a tourism strategy. Under apartheid, the industry had been very limited due to anti-apartheid boycotts and the security situation. It was out of the democratisation of South Africa and the need to harness tourism for economic and social development in the new South Africa that the concept of Responsible Tourism was first used in a national government policy.

The 1996 White Paper was conventionally titled: The Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa. However, the ANC’s policy on tourism was radical in both the South African and international context. Responsible Tourism was in the graphics on the cover of the White Paper and used throughout. Responsible Tourism was defined in the White Paper as:

“…tourism that promotes responsibility to the environment through its sustainable use; responsibility to involve local communities in the tourism industry; responsibility for the safety and security of visitors and responsible government, employees, employers, unions and local communities.”

The new government recognised the breadth of opportunities which tourism could offer the country and in particular the informal sector:

“The tourism industry accommodates a thriving and dynamic informal sector – from craft and fruit vendors to beach vendors, chair rentals, and others. … there are many business opportunities to involve previously neglected groups in the tourism business: entertainment, laundry and transportation services, craft rental; arts, craft and curios sales; tour guides and walking tours of places of interest; teaching of African languages and customs to interested visitors; restaurants emphasising local cuisine; guest houses; beach manicures and pedicures; and much more.”

Tourism was identified as a missed opportunity. There had been “limited integration of local communities and neglected groups into tourism”,  which presented a significant opportunity for South Africa to create employment, draw on a multiplicity of skills, create entrepreneurial opportunities, bring development to rural areas and generate foreign-exchange earnings. Tourism was seen as a way of establishing a taste, and therefore an export market, for South African products such as wine. The paper also stated, “all the final touches (value) have to be added in South Africa… the value added in final stages of production is created in South Africa.” This was the “final good”: one of the advantages of tourism is the opportunity to capture the final retail value of the product in the country.

In 2002, these two strands of work came together and resulted in the Cape Town Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations held as an official side event to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The conference produced the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations, the founding document of the Responsible Tourism Movement.

L’article The Origins of Responsible Tourism: Ethics, AITO & South Africa est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Many ecosystems are unbalanced when the loss of top predators results in large populations of, for example, deer or lionfish, both destructive to the ecosystem of which they are a part. Culling is used to control populations within the ecosystem’s carrying capacity and is very controversial across Africa. Stakeholder views vary, conservation managers often favour waterhole closure “as a natural way to disperse elephants. … tourism stakeholders were more sceptical, with 59% worried that fewer elephants at waterholes would mean fewer sightings for visitors.”

Turning an environmental challenge into an economic opportunity

Cyprus is on the frontline with more than 1,000 invasive marine species entering the Mediterranean. Native fish have been hit hard, with stocks declining by up to 60%. Invasive species make up over half the catch in some places, valueless and discarded. easyJet holidays is supporting the “Fish the Alien Phase II” initiative, working with fishers, chefs, and hotels to introduce invasive species into local menus. This reduces pressure on native species, reduces invasive species by harvesting and eating them, and provides an enhanced sustainable dining experience for holidaymakers and employment for local people.

Lionfish are highly destructive, non-native predators. They possess venomous spines, reproduce rapidly (2 million+ eggs yearly), and have no natural predators, causing devastating 79–95% declines in native reef fish populations.

The Invasive Catch Alliance “promotes invasive fish as sustainable and delicious seafood, educating the public to make responsible food choices and protect Cyprus’ marine biodiversity as part of the holiday experience.”

In December, the Independent captured the story “Cyprus fishermen turn venomous species into tavern delicacy. The invasive lionfish have spread. Some are trying to eat the problem.”

According to NatureScot there are up to 400,000 red deer on open ground and up to 105,000 in woodlands, as well as up to 300,000 roe deer, 25,000 sika and at least 8,000 fallow deer. Numbers have roughly doubled since 1990. Red deer in particular are an iconic species with cultural significance in Scotland but in large numbers and in the absence of natural predators they are having damaging impacts on Scottish ecosystems, deer populations need to be reduced to bring them into balance with the rest of nature. The Scottish Wildlife Trust recognizes that “ repealing the Venison Dealer’s License could serve to remove some of these barriers by making the sale of venison accessible to smaller, independent dealers, thereby increasing the supply of affordable local venison to communities.”

Shooting, processing and retailing venison for consumption in order to reduce the deer population requires that the venison can be sold at a price and volume sufficient to fund the culling. The British Deer Society reminds us that “Populations are strong, widespread, and professionally managed. Venison is harvested with skill and respect, inspected, processed, and sold through butchers, farm shops, and direct from larders. It appears on Michelin menus and in village pubs alike. Supply exists.”

But it is overlooked.

“Venison ticks every box consumers claim to care about: local, high-welfare, low-impact, nutritious. Wild deer live free and die without transport stress. In a rational food system, venison would sit beside beef, pork, and chicken. Instead, it is treated like a visiting aristocrat: wheeled out seasonally, dressed up in juniper and port, then retired until autumn. The food economy prefers uniform, shrink-wrapped, price-matched protein. Venison is none of those things: it has seasons, it varies, it demands attention.”

L’article We should eat more deer and lionfish est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Sandhra wrote a powerful post on LinkedIn this week about the Footfall Trap, a phrase I suspect she created, a quick search on Google found some ugly images of animal and man traps. I am grateful to Sandhra and will be using the phrase, it is powerful. As she points out “High arrivals often mean: crowded sites, rushed visits, low spending, and minimal local benefit.”

Oorva is developing a scalable rural tourism model, preserving intangible lived cultural heritage and empowering local economies. As Sandhra points out in her LinkedIn piece, “value isn’t created by how many people pass through – it’s created by “how long they stay and how meaningfully they engage.”  “… destinations like Kerala quietly prove a different model: fewer visitors, longer stays, deeper experiences, higher spending.”

Kerala’s Responsible Tourism strategy has delivered for its people.

Kerala’s tourism is now deeply rooted in its local natural and cultural heritage and its lived culture, creating multiple additional income streams for local communities, avoiding dependency. Kerala’s tourism economy, reshaped since 2008, has met the growing demand for experiential tourism.

Kerala has not been alone in changing the way it uses tourism. At the World Governments Summit in Dubai earlier this month, H.E. Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, spoke about redefining tourism value.

We observed over the years that the volume of tourism that we were chasing did not create the type of returns to uplift our people. We’ve been transitioning our tourism product into a high-value product, one in which our culture is actually integrated into our tourism product. We’re getting more return tourists, and the visitor spend has increased significantly to the extent that our people are earning higher salaries and the actual rating of the destination has improved significantly. Antigua and Barbuda is now emerging as one of the most significant luxury destinations within the Caribbean.

Kay Walten published a Field Note on Tulum in January; make time to read it.

“Tulum was marketed as low-density, natural, and intentional. What followed was development without proportional investment in infrastructure, housing, or public access. Tourism revenue surged. Resident costs surged faster. No single actor caused it. But no one stopped it while they were still profiting. And no one stepped in when the gap became obvious.”

Kay is right, “Tulum isn’t an anomaly. It’s a preview. This same sequence is playing out in destinations where demand outpaces management. Where marketing accelerates faster than operations can follow. If any part of this walk feels familiar, it’s because the same conditions are already in place.”

The key question any community must ask is “Will they use tourism, or will they be used by it?” Village communities across Kerala rebelled and successfully sought to use tourism.

Justin Francis of Responsible Travel wrote a few days ago on LinkedIn about visiting “Applecross in Northwest Scotland. …  a remote area, defined by its fragile single-track roads and accessed by only two points—one of which is a narrow, alpine-style mountain pass.”

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“According to residents, they were never consulted before being incorporated into the “NC500” driving route and its surrounding marketing program. The result has been severe road disruption, much of it caused by day-trippers and motorhome users who often leave little economic benefit behind.”

As Justin argues, marketers “should have a formal, statutory duty to consult local communities before promoting them … when tourism is managed by private entities, such as North Coast 500 Limited, there should be clear regulations ensuring residents can opt out before marketing begins. … While Applecross is now well-known, there is no reason why the community should not be removed from official NC500 maps if they so desire.”

As Tourism Concern reminded us for years, “we take our holidays in other people’s homes”. Kerala has managed it well, benefiting hosts and guests; there is much to learn from the work of the Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission Society.

L’article Avoid the Footfall Trap, create local community benefit est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

“If your interest in art stretches to wanting to have a free, long, close, uninterrupted view of a painting, so that you could see the brush strokes, take a look at Claude Monet’s work. I have recently enjoyed visiting the “digital twin” of St Peter’s Basilica, unveiled by the Vatican last year.”

These are virtual experiences in a very similar way to watching gorillas in a BBC wildlife documentary narrated by Richard Attenborough. When I visited Bwindi, I didn’t venture into the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to view the gorillas, but rather enjoyed time spent with communities living in the buffer zone. I can converse with them.  These are of course, matters of individual preference, but I am not alone in preferring to enjoy a really good coffee table guide to the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu or Chan Chan on Tapestry. The sights devoid of tourists are more interesting to me.

Back in 2022, I wrote here about Barcelona as you have never seen it before. You enter the Mirador Torre Glòries through the basement of the tower, which offers Hyperview Barcelona, created by Media Pro Exhibitions, they present the city as you will never have seen it before: stunning, enlightening, memorable.

“…. using real-time big data to create multi-media sound and visual effects, you feel the pulse of the city. Barcelona is experienced “as a living organism that beats, with rhythms and cycles where people, ecosystems, infrastructures, and technologies all intertwine.” Think of James Lovelock’s Gaia Principle applied in sound and vision to Barcelona. For me, the experience was transformational.”

This is probably best described as hyperreality – the exhibition enhances reality. Reality is made visible to us, the tourist or resident. The language of “digital twins” is used to describe digital replicas, like the “digital twin” of St Peter’s Basilica unveiled by the Vatican in 2024. Virtual cities are increasingly used to explore different “… periods of significant architectural and cultural change for visitors, researchers, local history groups and communities to understand its people’s growth, changes and lifestyles over time.” Kevin Flude runs  And Did Those Feet, which reviews ways of exploring cities, for example, Amsterdam, online.

Madrid has developed a Digital Twin, “a virtual representation of Madrid that uses IoT, AI, and 3D modelling for efficient management of the city and its services. The system enables real-time simulation and evaluation of the city’s infrastructure and policies, improving the quality of life and well-being of its citizens. It is also used to ensure the safety of public events and to optimise sustainable urban planning.”