Many people have told me they are just so confused with all the different names for tourism. One of the most common is what is sustainable tourism?
Sustainable tourism is simply tourism which has minimal impact on the location you visit. Sustainable tourism could be in a city just as it much as in a pristine environment. The best way to describe it is to look at the financial meltdown of Europe. People, banks and now governments have borrowed more money than they can pay back – is that sustainable? Could that last forever? As we have seen the answer is no. Linking this to tourism if you exploited the environment or mistreated people would that last forever?? The answer is no.
So how to make sure your holiday is sustainable?
1) Ask about the facilities environmental and social policy;
2) Pay money direct to the facilities rather than buying through an agent;
3) Ensure you visit the local villagers and if you like their products buy direct from them;
These are just three ways to ensure your holiday is more sustainable, for more information the best website we have found is http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/
Ecoteer has just got their licence to sell tour packages and will start to sell only true sustainable holidays. The website is http://www.ecoteerresponsibletravel.com
Daniel
Volunteer abroad
Thanks for sharing this. Nowadays, we are bombarded with news and views on how tourist spots die before even reaching the dawn of its dreamt success in terms of visits. I have visited a place in the Philippines named Sohoton Cove but while they have the banner “Take nothing but picture, leave nothing but footprints….(there are other phrases but they just fly away from my memory)…, tourists are still violating the same. The place is so awesome that even if you add Boracay, Bohol, Palawan, and Camiquin, they would not even equate its beauty but sadly however, the scenic spot is in danger of being abused by no less than the tourists themselves. This is something which must be put to halt lest we will just shake our head in frustration in the future.