The Responsible Traveller: Taking the road less travelled

Friday, 28 November 2008

Travel. This is a word that conjures up notions of excitement and adventure. When I close my eyes and envision travel, it gives me butterflies in my stomach and I can almost taste excitement as all my past memories rush in a hustling race to the front of my mind. Travel is something that when started, grips its unwitting participants in an iron-clad hold, creating an ongoing need for wanderlust.

However, travel can have dire impacts upon communities and their environments. It can cause environmental disaster, social desecration, and cultural degradation. Hence why there is a need for travellers to start looking at their motivations behind travel, and once that’s understood, to change behaviours to ensure positive impacts when travelling.

Last night I gave a presentation on my experiences of getting to the point of being a responsible tourist (I was hedonistic once) to a group of 50 eager and willing travel enthusiasts at YTrip’s General Assembly held at R.O.X last night. This was followed by a discussion on the Travel Code and Profile of Responsible Traveller that can be found on the right-panel of this blog.

By the end of the talk and based on the feedback I received, I realised that I had failed to mention one vital piece of information – becoming a responsible traveller takes time. It isn’t something that you should expect to become overnight, so please don’t worry if the list is overwhelming and perhaps a tad on the prescriptive side.

The code and the profile is the ideal – it is the goal to work towards. If there is one thing I’ve learnt in my quest to lower my ecological footprint – the journey I’ve been on since early 2006 - it is that we should go forward slowly. We should be gentle on ourselves if we slip up from time to time – as after all – we are just human, we make mistakes, there’s no need to beat ourselves up over it.

Perhaps the most important thing is to really think about the background reasons of “why” we are going down this path. Let those reasons sink in – then the effort will be real and will have tangible meaning behind it. The actions will then flow naturally, with ease.

Goodluck on your journey to becoming a responsible traveller, and know we are all in it together – we can support each other, we can grow together.

Responsible Travel Code

Be prepared
– Learn as much about your destination before you go and try to learn a few basic words of the language

Think local
– Stay in locally owned accommodation
– Buy locally produced food and drinks in preference to imported goods
– Choose locally made crafts and souvenirs, preferably fair trade
– Hire a local guide – you’ll discover more about local culture and lives, and they will earn an income

Think about where your money goes
– Be fair and realistic about how cheaply you can travel
– Haggle with humour and not aggressively, but always make sure you pay a fair price. Keep in mind the skill and work that went into the craft and pay according to value

Embrace culture
– Open your mind to new cultures and experiences
– Think carefully about what’s appropriate in terms of your clothes and the way you behave. You’ll earn respect and be more readily welcomed by local people

Consider your ecological footprint
– Help preserve local wildlife and habitats by respecting rules and regulations
– Avoid buying products made from endangered plants, wild animals, shells or hard woods. Instead buy products made from renewable materials
– Be mindful of resource usage. Switch off lights and turn off appliances. Use water sparingly, tourists tend to use far more than local people
– Reuse plastic bags, take used batteries home, and refill your water bottle or use purifying tablets so you needn’t buy bottled water
– Get closer to people and places by using public transport, bicycles and walking
– Consider offsetting carbon emissions for your flights

Outdoor adventure
– Seek out local guides, but do check their safety standards
– If diving or snorkelling, never touch or step on coral or any other marine creature
– If trekking with the option of a porter, it’s always better to hire a porter and pay a fair price
– Avoid washing in streams, rivers and springs. If there are no bathroom facilities, bury toilet waste away from water source and dispose of toilet paper properly

Photography
– Always ask before taking photos of people. Some people don’t wish to have their photos taken and you should respect that. It is best not to pay people (especially children) for taking their photograph
– Sometimes you might be offered to have your photograph taken with a ‘wild’ animal (eg tarsier, snake or eagle). It is best not to encourage this behaviour

Guidebooks
– Guidebooks are a great source of information, but use them only as a guide. Talk to the local people, do your own research, discover your own adventure!

Profile of a Responsible Tourist

The responsible tourist is of no specific age, sex, occupation, race, class, religion or other demographic.

The responsible tourist comes to the country armed with background knowledge and understanding of the complexities surrounding the political climate and social issues.

The responsible tourist supports human and animal rights.

The responsible tourist supports the local community and economy in every way possible.

The responsible tourist views travel as an educational experience for themselves and for their host communities and as an opportunity to share information and engage in a true cultural exchange.

The responsible tourist doesn’t support any form of sex tourism – especially child sex tourism, instead the responsible tourist speaks out against it.

The responsible tourist has a firm commitment to the environment.

The responsible tourist supports the value of local customs and cultures, which includes being sensitive in their own actions and dress code.

The responsible tourist tries to make a positive impact in each and every action.

Are you ready to be a responsible tourist?

Positive & Negative Impacts of Tourism

Each and every action a traveller makes either has a positive or negative impact. The following list describes examples of such impacts:

Positive Impacts
- Supporting economic opportunities for the local people - this includes customing hotels, restaurants, transport operators and tour guides that are locally owned and managed.
- Supporting rural livelihood opportunities - by visiting locally-run rural tourism initiatives, this helps to reduce urbanization which is increasing at an alarming rate.
- Supporting diversification of the local economy by spending money at small businesses - this includes anything from buying fruit from a street-side vendor, to buying stationary, to buying local music or clothes shopping.
- Helping conservation by supporting initiatives aimed at environmental protection; not littering; bringing own water bottle and filling it up regularly or using iodine tablets; catching public buses; avoiding flying; not accepting plastic bags for purchases if not necessary; when at beach resorts, not taking shells or touching coral or marine wildlife.
- Encouraging women’s participation by supporting traditional local initiatives such as handicraft shops, but also supporting family-run establishments that encourage the active role of women in the family (for example, tea-shops & family run hotels)
- Helping to encourage educational opportunities, including the formal and information vocational and language training required to support tourists; tourists can also volunteer to teach English or other vocational skills.
- Sensitivity to political, cultural and social climate
- Cultural exchange through interaction with the locals

Negative Impacts:
- Supporting economic leakage by customing outside-owned and managed establishments (including national and multi-national chains)
- Supporting cultural exploitation – ie watching cultural shows that are put on for tourists’ benefit as this can have the impact of devaluing the meaning of the cultural activity. In some cases, especially for the ethnic communities, the people themselves may not choose to be tourist attractions and therefore may not receive any of the benefits.
- Partaking in activities that enhance environmental degradation
- Supporting sexual and child exploitation
- Not respecting local culture and customs - for example by dressing inappropriately, exhibiting forceful or rude behaviour, public displays of affection.

The Responsible Traveller

Taking the road less travelled