How should an ethical traveler select places to visit?

[planeta]

How should an ethical traveler select places to visit? -- This question will be reviewed in the Ethical Travel Dialogue, June 13-July 21, 2006.
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/etd.html
viewforum.php?f=79

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REFERENCES

How to choose a tour
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/choose.html

World travel directory
http://www.planeta.com/worldtravel.html

Guidebooks
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/reviews/bibtour.html

[Gerhard]

Two personal opinions as a traveler to many lesser known tourist countries and communities:

In general I believe that in most cases the question about where to go is far less important than what we do there.

On the question of where NOT to go, obviously there is a case to be made for boycotting countries with a particularly unethical governement to force them to change (in fact my home country South Africa was a point in case in the 1980s and before), but if you travel independently with a social and environmental awareness, spending your money with the local population rather than with big business or government tourism organizations (not easy in some cases though), this becomes less valid. AND who decides where the line of acceptability is?

On a local level I believe the most convincing reason NOT to visit any place is if there is a known feeling communicated by the community that tourists are not really welcome or wanted, something I have come across twice on my travels: by some indigenous jungle communities in Ecuador and by a Rastafarian community in Ethiopia.

Gerhard

[northerncanopy]

Gerhard,

I was wondering how you found out about the communication from those communities that tourists were not wanted there? Did you find out when you got there and felt uncomfortable? How would one know about communities that don't want tourists before she/he gets there?

Kristen

[Gerhard]

To answer your question: In both cases I had read about them (one in a guidebook, the other in a magazine) before reaching the surrounding area and it was confirmed upon asking around in nearby towns and I consequently didn’t visit.

I believe that ethical travelers can prepare themselves by learning about the places they wish to visit – reading and asking on online forums or in person once in the area.

I admit that this can be rather subjective, and depends very much on who you ask and the information you find, BUT I believe that the best we can hope to do in terms of ethics is finding a few very widely accepted common denominators as very basic terms of conduct and then it becomes more individualized for each country, community and person by adding to these general terms.

For the tourism industry an ethical response to a community opposed to tourism would be for agencies to stop visiting, possibly even with official regulation. Insensitive, patronizing guides and agencies from outside of the community, who leave little or no benefits in the communities are a very likely cause of opposition to tourism. I believe the ethical tourist can also assist in making public any such behavior they witness.

A question: does anybody know of any country that officially protects the rights of communities that do not wish to receive tourism against exploitation from tour guides and tour agencies?

[planeta]

Kristen asks: "How would one know about communities that don't want tourists before she/he gets there?"

Gerhard's response is first-rate and I'll just add that you learn about such places during your research. Guidebooks are a terrific source of info, so are other travelers. In South America, there's a group called South American Explorers -- http://www.saexplorers.org -- which provides travelers with up-to-date information. Clubhouses in Quito, Lima, Cusco and Lima are great sources of info. Online you'll find traveler gossip via Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree -- http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com

On a related note, I'm collaborating with Gerhard in creating an online survey focus on travelers' experiences with rural tourism guides.

The survey will be launched later this week (!) and we are asking travelers want they expect from guides in rural communities and what they find bothersome. Often development agencies encourage communities to develop tourism services without adequately explaining what travelers are seeking. This leads to miscommunication and a lot of frustration from travelers, locals and everyone in between. When the survey comes online, we'll announce it here.

[MichaelBKK]

I would disagree to some extent to the statement that guidebooks are a great resource. Yes, they might be able to tell you where you're not wanted, but I don't think they're much help in being a responsible tourist.

As someone who publishes an online 'guidebook' this is the big challenge: I think most people, if asked, would say they want to be a responsible tourist, so how do I give them the information to help them fulfill that desire? For that matter, how do I figure it out?

I've been thinking about and researching this for a while now, and I can't say it's becoming any clearer. For one thing, a lot of the guidelines others have published don't really sound practical, and I would argue that some of them are downright wrong.

Take for example the oft repeated guideline to not stay at big international chains. Now, there's lots of reasons to avoid the big chains if you can, but being responsible isn't one of them. I know from my own research here in Thailand that Marriott is a much more responsible member of the communities it operates in than any Thai owned hotel. They exceed local environmental requirements, donate needed equipment such as water tanks to local schools, and participate in community based recycling programs.

If we are to successfully get more people to travel responsibly, we need to give them clear, easy to follow guidelines that don't require them to give up to much in exchange for feeling better about their vacation. For people like me, the challenge is figuring out which accommodations or activities are good members of their communities and which are not. Some are easy, like don't ride elephants on the beach and don't visit places that let you play with baby monkeys, but how do I find out about environmental programs or community relations?

[planeta]

How should an ethical traveler select places to visit? A guidebook is a very good start, particularly if those involved in the guidebook preparation were treated in an ethical manner.

The value of guidebooks (online or print) lies in how authors and editors respond to feedback from travelers and communities. I think several authors and titles deserve credit for raising the issue of ethical and responsible travel.

Standards need to be explained on tourism portals as well as tourism business websites. If more outbound travel operators explained online what they expected of inbound partners, we could see a radical improvement in how tourism is developed and marketed. Thinking outloud, it would be good to see a section on Asia for Travelers -- http://asiaforvisitors.com -- dedicated to responsible travel or explaining the criteria for how sites are linked.

BTW, Planeta's criteria for web links is online
http://www.planeta.com/web/weblinks.html#Criteria

Links for travel companies
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/resour ... l#Criteria

If we could see each other as partners, we might find ways to collaborate and work together whether we are activists, or ngos or policy-makers or media.

New York Times ran a terrific essay this weekend: A Job with Travel But No Vacation -- http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/fashi ... RAVEL.html -- that cites the blog Killing Batteries -- http://www.killingbatteries.com.

Killing Batteries' Lief Pettersen writes: I’m in a bit of a huff in regards to the comments made by Michael Spring the publisher of Frommer’s, who freely admits to paying his authors $1,500 to write an astounding 150 pages of new text (that’s $10 per page or about $0.025 per word, a rate that no professional freelancer in their right mind would consider in a million years"

This is another example of why we need to consider fair trade for travel writers, one of the few Planeta.com "campaigns"
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/period/fairtrade.html

Mind you, as a campaign there's not much impetus. Writers are quite individualistic and either reluctant to lacking time to collaborate in such endeavors. But if we do not look at how information is generated and if we do not demand that writers receive better wages, then it's no surprise that guidebooks are not doing a better job of promoting ethical travel options.

[planeta]

New on Planeta.com
http://www.planeta.com

Survey on Community Tourism Guides 

The Survey on Community Tourism Guides takes place online in July and August, 2006. The survey highlights expectations travelers have about local guides in rural communities. We would like to hear about your experiences with guides contracted in rural communities.

By focusing on rural guides (rather than regional or international guides who lead travelers to a rural community) the survey will provide these guides (many new to tourism) with insights on what travelers expect.

Where have you had your best experience with a local guide? We'd like to know what you find important and what you find bothersome.

Results will be published on Planeta.com and relayed in other publications and events. Information will be shared with rural guides who wish to know what travelers are seeking.

The survey was developed by Gerhard Buttner and Ron Mader with assistance from colleagues.

The survey is online
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=585242178073

Details
http://www.planeta.com/planeta/06/0607community.html

[MichaelBKK]

Thinking outloud, it would be good to see a section on Asia for Travelers -- http://asiaforvisitors.com -- dedicated to responsible travel or explaining the criteria for how sites are linked.

Hey, that's why I'm here. :-)

A link policy is a place to start. I'm actually very picky about links, perhaps too picky, but that's another discussion.

I'm more concerned about how I can go about determining if a hotel or resort is 'responsible' so I can factor that into which ones I recommend. That leads us back to what it means to be 'responsible' and how do you tell if a place is a socially responsible member of a community or not?

There's some 'easy' criteria, like land encroachment (there's yet another story in today's Thai newspapers about tourist places built on national parks) but even this is hard to research. It looks more and more like this is something I'll have to let evolve as I go along.

[xfont]

Interesting that Lonely Planet was mentioned. I have been speaking to them about the limits of their corporate social responsibility. My answer was that they have a responsibility to promote sustainability amongst their suppliers (and there I didn't mean providers of paper for their books, but the properties they list). Being in LP does make a significant difference, so they have the power to ask firms to change their behaviour, to go through a sustainability pre-screening before being shortlisted to be considered for their publication.

Another example I like is that of http://www.worldhotel-link.com They are promoting sustainability practices amongst the hotels that want to be listed. As it is a commercial venture (before an IFC project) that has to be self-financing, a good number of their properties aren't sustainable. But the issue is that they are trying to use their marketing power to promote smaller hotels, that had no access to internet, to have a presence. Sustainability is rated by consumers after their trip, much like you rate ebay sellers. Much more cost-effective (if imperfect) than top heavy standards based systems.

Check a report in http://www.leedstourismgroup.com marketing section on the responsibility and possibilities of different distribution and communication channels, if you are interested in this subject.

[chinacontact]

If we assume that an ethical travel has the moral self discipline to research where they go then they will find the information in guide books, internet and through NGO sources.
The wider problem are people who do not prioritise ethics but would still rather not cause damage to where they go, or would like to do something positive in the destination. They are often well meaning but not experienced in independent research. I think this sector is growing and marketing to them requires some market based thinking.

examples of websites that have sustainability indicators is great, deffinitely a good step. I hope that the larger tour operators will start placing sustainability and responsibility markers next to the other hotel information now available, like air con or swimming pool. You could have information on waste treatment, recycling, laundry, work with the community, conservation etc. depending on where the place is.

So many labels have been used in the past that most are meaningless in really detemining ecological or ethical merits of a place. Green, Eco etc. have been abused. It is up to consumers to ask the right questions from their oeprators if they book a package, and from suppliers and local people if they travel independently.

I also would not go to a destination ilike Burma since the democratically elected leadership has asked tourists not to go, since even independently you are made to give foreign currency to a military dictatorship.

the choice is also to travel to places where you can me more of a positive force, smaller communities that receive less tourists and less income. Normally next to a very popular destination there are the less fortunate places that are not as famous and therefore do not see the benefits of tourism. By selecting them and promoting what you experienced, you can spread the benefits.
Roy