Ron Mader of Planeta talks To VISION on Sustainable Tourism

Ron Mader

Q What do you see as the greatest sustainable tourism achievement to date in the industry as a whole?

A Perhaps the greatest achievement is that we are more aware of the challenges in developing sustainable practices. Overall, we are much more conscientious of the environmental and cultural impacts of our travels and tourism in general. The good news is that we have learned a lot in the past twenty years. A hotel owner on a beautiful reef told me that they used to stand on
coral as kids but they have learned why never to do that again. It’s important to protect the coral they understand, not just for the tourism
dollars, but for the respect of the reef itself. Around the world campaigns have become mainstream and it’s hard to develop a resort on an ecologically sensitive area without awakening droves of critics. And after eight years of
silence, we’re even talking about sustainable practices in the United States! The trick lies in figuring out which voices to listen.

Q And on Planeta.com?

A The biggest achievement has been surviving and growing 15 years! We’ve hosted twenty e-conferences and developed a series of webinars, all of this while steadily making slow progress on our guides to cities and countries around the world. Hindsight makes everything easier, but the journey has always been based more on intuition and leading the curve in a creative fashion. The site has consistently explored the ways to connect various communication channels. We’ve explored various new avenues for communication, be it a gopher, a website or the Web 2.0 battery of tools including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube. The 2001-2009 tourism fairs in Oaxaca let us test the waters of making the most eco-friendly, people-friendly I sgrassroots event we could.

Q How do you define responsible travel?

A We ask a lot of tourism these days … that it be eco, that it be sustainable and that it be responsible. Global tourism has changed in 00s
and the signs are encouraging. A growing number of travelers want their journeys to be less invasive and more beneficial to the local community. They want to better understand the culture of the places they visit.

Responsible tourism is treating others the way they wish to be treated. While tourism campaigns have long touted ‘destinations’ — in fact we are
simply entering a place that is someone else’s home.

Perhaps responsible tourism goes a step further, to what is called the Platinum Rule — treating others the way they wish to be treated. If those
working in the tourist trade embrace the values our counterparts wish developed, then we can make a leap forward. The trick lies in listening to
the locals, listening to visitors and creating the opportunities that connect top-down and grassroots efforts. Travel agents, travel providers and travelers are the principal players. Sounds complicated? Try this — imagine
what irresponsible tourism looks like and then imagine its opposite.

Q Planeta.com has a long history of working toward a better understanding of indigenous peoples and tourism. What are you doing in 2009?

A It’s used to be a given that as a traveler should pay proper respect to the traditional landholders. After the debut of Planeta.com in 1994 I fell into an email conversation with activist and indigenous leader Deborah McLaren
who was working on what would become her book Rethinking Tourism. Much of Planeta.com’s coverage of indigenous peoples and tourism came into focus after conversations with Deborah and dozens of other indigenous colleagues.

What would be critical for Planeta.com would be to cover places not only for their eco-friendly values but how they showcase indigenous stakeholders. One of the challenges we’ve identified is that many indigenous tourism
operations themselves are unclear of how to present themselves to the world.

So in 2007 conversations began with Oliver Hillel of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to develop something that would encourage operations to finess their websites as a tool not only for sales but also
for education so that visitors are informed ahead of their journeys. The result I’m happy to say is the Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Website
Award which showcases 15 indigenous-owned operations around the world.

Q What do you see as a key factor to riding the storm in 2009?

AWe need to listen better. When you asked about achievements in sustainable tourism, I said we are more aware, more conscientious. The question is ‘how deep is our awareness?’ Riding the changing waves requires paying deeper attention to environmental and social concerns. Green remains the new green and ignore this at your peril. While today a larger segment of the travel
market is now insisting on closer-to-home vacations (for environmental and economic reasons), then we should be attentive to their interests. That said, local travel operators depending on international visitors need to
step up their online presence. Far too many independent operators update their sites on a bi-annual basis (if that often!) when they need to be conversing and sharing their stories now to catch the attention of potential visitors.

Q The future looks pretty challenging – climate change, global political instability, the economic situation, fuel, food, water, population
increases, changes in tourism source markets. Which of these challenges do you think hold the most danger, and which hold the most potential
opportunities?

A I think the all-of-the-above answer suits best. We really need to find ways to integrate a battery of solutions to deal with these hot topics.

Q What do you suggest should be the industry’s key focus issue in 2009?

A I’d like us to reimagine the concepts of participation and dialogue. So many of the ideas put forth by tourism leaders have not taken root simply because there has not been authentic consultation. I’ve said many times that we need
to see creative tourism events that include the participation from those who cannot afford the time or money to attend in person. If we focus on
improving our conversations and our relations with one another, I have no doubt that we will actually grow and prosper in what otherwise could be a trying year.

How would this work? One example would be to convene online town meetings on critical topics such as understanding the linkages between tourism and climate change. Then break spend time within a collective wiki environment to produce a collaborative paper and showcase this report at various tourism events. The traditional model is to hold review sessions behind closed doors
with a select group of people who mostly agree with one another. This approach no longer cuts the mustard simply because it does not encourage adoption.

Q And what will be the focus on Planeta.com?

A Our two current e-conferences are Food, Health and Building Community, and Tourism and Climate Change. These are critical topics that deserve in-depth reflection … and a lot of reading! We’ll be presenting summaries at events
throughout the year.

Q It’s pretty difficult to see the future at the moment, after all EVERYTHING could change. Are you willing to be a little brave and tell us how you see it in 2020? 2050?

A I see big changes underway in the next five years. It might be wishful thinking but we have an emboldened constituency in favor of making travel more responsible and more fun. By 2020 tourism and everything else will be more fully ensconced in the world of the digital natives. 2050? I see a green version of the Jetsons, perhaps with a retro party (circa 2009) in
full swing.

Q Planeta, as one of the leaders of the movement, has made tremendous strides in the last few years notably challenging the industry in debates, prizes, opportunities to share information and techniques Where do you see your involvement leading, and what are the next few steps?

A Personally I’d like to offer more online coaching … and get paid for it!

I’ve developed a series of workshops that go over the new generation of web tools which are easier than ever for both locals and visitors. I suspect
we’ll see more capacity building workshops for local operators andgovernment officials as the economic slow-down will prompt governments to
invest more in infrastructure and training.