29 July 2010

Green tourism: waste of time and money?

or this...

Green tourism, responsible tourism, ecotourism they are all methods of making tourism sustainable, but the fact is that extractive black tourism actually makes the money that we need.

Like all the extractive industries, tourism is not yet at the end of its resources. The major consumables - destinations, environments, cultures, fuel are still available and at a reasonable enough cost to package, market and turn a reasonable profit.

And the profits and cash-flow have been sufficient to propel the industry from a standing start 50 years ago to nearly 900 million annual passengers and a global turnover of some US$1,000 billion a year.

Some growth, and it’s not going to diminish any time soon. With the BRIC countries with their 3bn population coming on line shortly, international tourism is set to make yet another leap forward.

Remember too that these figures are only international tourists - domestic tourism is an even bigger industry sector. So let’s say that these enormous figures and dramatic growth represent only the tip of the tourism iceberg.

Peoples jobs depend on tourism nowadays - maybe 10% of the global population depends on tourism one way or the other for their livelihood. It’s a big responsibility to make a dramatic change.

Plus, we need every penny, nickel, yuan, euro we can get at the moment when economies are so tight and employment and wages so challenged.

So why change? Why go green and flakey? Why take a risk with a formula that is still bringing in the money and putting food on families’ tables?

Because of global warming?
Because of globalization of cultures?
Because of natural and built environmental depredation?
Because of social disharmony?
Because of a market trend that indicates that tourists are prepared to pay a miniscule premium for sustainable travel arrangements?

Well…global warming hasn’t happened yet; globalization of cultures is maybe a good thing (take Starbucks and MacDonalds as examples); we can repair what we break and if not we can go somewhere else; and the police should be dealing with social disharmony.

And the green market trend? It’s pretty easy to incorporate some sustainable phrases in our mission statements, tack on a little sustainable tourism department and bring out a dinky little niche brand or two to soak up the real greenies.

Job done?

Actually, there is one missing factor in this equation - the views and principles of the destinations themselves. As long as they are unprepared to view the actual cost of tourism against its income, as long as they are prepared to trumpet their arrival numbers and income without recognizing the costs, as long as they are unwilling to preserve their own destinations for their heirs - there will be no change.

International tourism will carry on mining the destination’s gold without a care in the world.

As they say, it takes two to tango.

Valere Tjolle

Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite, special offer at: www.travelmole.com/stories/1142003.php

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Your Comments (3)

The destinations have spoken

To argue that "the views and principles of the destinations themselves" have not been aired is to ignore the thousands of residents, activists and indeed enlightened business-people and policy-makers IN the destinations who have been working hard to highlight the damage done by industrial scale tourism development for at least the past 20 years. The list is endless; from Goa to Thailand, from Belize to Costa Rica, to myriad local NGOs and associations across the Mediterranean where I have worked, the short-sighted model of build and speculate has been consistently challenged. To see growth and corporate profits as the only measure of prosperity and well-being reflects poorly upon the tourism industry. This approach lies at the heart of the current catastrophe unfolding across southern Spain where dependence on a speculative real estate driven tourism industry has collapsed, leaving in its wake a blighted landscape of half built urban conurbations (whose real contribution to local economies is minimal and concealed by the chimera of rising visitor numbers) and few alternatives to fall back on.

By Raoul Bianchi, Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Amusing

"global warming hasn't happened yet;" >> Really? so, let's keep contributing to the warming until it has - and then it's too late - LOL ! "globalization of cultures is maybe a good thing (take Starbucks and MacDonalds as examples);" >> So you support exploitation of the poor via so-called "fairtrade" programmes that only add to illegal labour? Shall we also support the fast-food (meat) industry, which is the biggest contributor to...climate change? LOL! And what about the travellers who are increasingly making eco-issues a factor in their travel planning? Some destinations will soon be wilting in thier own goldmines...

By Meraj Huda, Wednesday, July 28, 2010
beyond the green sheen

What an essay! Kudos, Valere. Show me the tourism boards that are trusted and heralded by the local mom and pop business. The number is frighteningly low. Greening tourism could be as easy as improving the local dialogues within the industry itself. Desperately needed are dialogues that open a real conversation among those who live in a 'destination' and those who visit. On the international level, traditional tourism trade shows put those who are willing to sell their culture, their nature, their children's future in contact those who are willing to buy trips at the lowest cost. There might be a green sheen here and there but what remains constant is how little actual conversation occurs. Is there any wonder you're feeling a bit hustled?

By Ron Mader, Tuesday, July 27, 2010