WTM Global Hub

Is there a business case for Responsible Tourism?

london skyline responsible tourism

The answer is yes and no.

Yes, because as I have written about here before, the market research demonstrates that increasing numbers of travellers, from all source markets, are looking for sustainable travel options. They report that sustainable travel is difficult to find and are angered when they are frustrated in their efforts to be sustainable. There is a clear market opportunity for those of you who are taking responsibility for making your product or destination more sustainable and communicating it well to your clients and potential clients. Suppose you are minded to riposte that surveys only record aspirations. Why would you take the sustainability aspiration less seriously than their aspiration to holiday in your part of the world?

No, because the business case is not singular; it is plural. There is a range of business cases.

At the launch of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards in 1994 Sir Colin Marshall, then Chair of British Airways, said that tourism and the travel industry “is essentially the renting out for short-term lets, of other people’s environments, whether that is a coastline, a city, a mountain range or a rainforest.” He went on to make the classic enlightened self-interest business argument for sustainability. “These ‘products’ must be kept fresh and unsullied not just for the next day, but for every tomorrow.” Our industry is mostly reliant on selling products, places, other peoples’ homes that we neither own nor maintain. Worse, as so much of tourism takes place in the ungated public realm where there are no effective limits on the exploitation of the place. Overtourism is spreading and intensifying. We are degrading our product. Tour operators move on, and accommodation moves down market, destinations rely on volume rather than quality and yield declines. It is a downward spiral. It is a classic tragedy of the commons where the result of the exercise of individual self-interest reduces the product’s value.

So what are the arguments for Responsible Tourism?

These are difficult times for our sector; Covid-19 is still spreading in many destinations. There is easy talk of building back better, but it remains to be seen to what extent this is achieved, for sure some destinations will do better than others, those with foresight, motivation and the necessary skills to make better places to live in, and better places to visit. The mega-resorts with one management have a better chance than those with multiple players. However, strong well-governed cities like Amsterdam and Barcelona and states like Kerala are demonstrating what can be achieved. Will others follow these pioneers where business and government work together, to keep our products “ fresh and unsullied not just for the next day, but for every tomorrow”?

Responsible Tourism Leaders 

Listen to Harold Goodwin being interviewed about the Platform for Change by Shannon Guihan, of The Travel Corporation

Entries and nominations for the WTM Global Responsible Tourism Awards are now open, and this time they’re global. They’re free to enter, and the deadline is August 31st 2021.

Categories:

In 2021, for the first time, we are launching Global Awards for each category – selected from the Gold winners in each of the regions: India, Africa, Latin America and the rest of the world.

Exit mobile version