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The Future of Responsible Tourism
Professor John SwarbrookePlymouth University, UK
Introduction Brave or foolish offering to attempt to predict
the future in such volatile times
Assumes there will be a future for RT – this is not a certainty
Indeed there is no certainty about the future of us or our planet!
Factors that will influence the future of RT
World events, everything from climate change to terrorist attacks, the refugee crisis to water resource shortages
Even more importantly perhaps is how these events will be reported by the global media
Regulation by national governments and supra-national bodies – will there be more or less?
Our knowledge of the impact of tourism on destinations, the environment and the tourists
More factors … Tourist demand and whether attempts are
made to suppress it particularly in emerging markets. How will tourists react to any such attempts?
Changes in the nature of the tourism industry-bigger and bigger companies and/or more and more SME’s
The evolution of tourist behaviour and attitudes towards everything from authenticity to human rights, luxury to risk
Even more factors … Consumer attitudes towards sustainability
challenges Will we see ‘sustainability fatigue’ and a
backlash? Will corporate social responsibility become a
normal part of business practice or be a passing fad?
Will the idea of responsible tourism be tarnished by companies abusing it to improve their 'bottom line'?
Does history give us any clues to the future?
If so we may not have grounds for optimism! We have been almost more obsessed with
terms than with action – green, intelligent, soft, agro, ecotourism, sustainable, responsible etc
Public sector bodies have failed to have a significant impact in terms of either responsible demand or supply
DMO’s are still focused on numbers and marketing not quality, responsibility and management
More lessons from history … Industry has led consumer demand largely
rather than responding to consumer pressure We tend to assume we know everything when
we make a policy, we do not Tourists who want to be responsible still do
not know what they should buy as there are no globally accepted standards
Democratic governments tend to shy away from imposing taxes to reduce demand so are totalitarian but enlightened governments the only hope for responsible tourism?
We need a new mind-set Well managed mass market tourism has to be
seen as the solution not a problem Tourists have rights as well as responsibilities Social inclusion and tourism – how can we
reconcile this with responsible tourism? Workers also have rights that cannot be
ignored What is so good about volunteering? What does the term community mean in a
time of mass migration, ICT etc?
Will the price be more than we are willing to pay?
Tourist free ‘no go’ areas No more telling others what to do – are we
prepared to practice what we preach? Responsible tourism will be less comfortable
and more expensive than irresponsible tourism
Less flying will have the greatest impact on the poorest countries that rely heavily on tourism. Will we be prepared to compensate them for their loss?
Beware the three cows of sustainable tourism!
Sacred cows – ideas that are accepted as fact and never challenged
Cash cows – those who see sustainable or responsible tourism as simply a way of increasing income
Mad cows – ideas which may well have worse consequences than the problems they purport to wish to solve
What will it take to make more responsible tourism happen?
Making the connections between responsible tourism, politics, the distribution of wealth and human rights
New business models based on value not price and profit
Caring consumers who have enough knowledge and awareness to make informed purchase decisions
Enlightened governments committed to respecting the rights of their own citizens and the their tourist guests
And you and me being willing to change our
behaviour!As citizens and consumers
not just as tourists
And as academics ... No more conferences in exotic destinations? Ensuring students understand that RT is a
political issue not a technocratic challenge Being prepared to challenge irresponsible
government or corporate behaviour even if it costs us research and consultancy funding
Recognising what we do not know Working with enlightened people in industry,
communities and government to make change happen
Dream or nightmare scenarios? People vacation near home and discover their
own ‘pays’ Tourists boycott destinations with
irresponsible tourism sectors or poor human rights records
Local people decide the kind of tourists they wish to welcome into their communities
Travellers search out authentic experiences and reject everything else
More dream or nightmare scenarios ?
DMO's start to focus on the quality of tourists rather than the quantity
Governments increase taxes on travel to reduce demand
Governments restrict foreign travel for their citizens
Destinations close their borders to tourists or impose quotas as in EU fisheries policy!
The realities of all of the possible scenarios
They will all have costs and benefits. The issue is who gains and who pays? And who decides this?
Depending on how we implement possible solutions even the potential dream scenarios could turn into nightmares!
The issues in tourism are so complex they will not be solved by technological innovation alone
We may achieve more responsible tourism by default or because of apparently unrelated phenomena
But the price we may pay for this could be horrendous!
Terrorism and RT Terrorist threats may well lower the global
demand for travel which will reduce the carbon footprint of the industry
Fear of terrorist attacks could make tourists behave more respectfully in destinations
It may also focus the minds of governments on ensuring that their citizens gain a fair share of the economic benefits of tourism
The 'bottom line' RT is useless, and impossible to achieve,
unless we can resolve the bigger issues such as climate change, water resources and human rights
If we do not resolve these other issues tourism will be the least of our worries!
These issues have to be resolved globally not just in particular countries
And finally ... Sorry if my presentation seems pessimistic
but I think we need to be quite brutal with ourselves
I will continue to do what I can to make tourism more responsible
But I will be doing it more as a political activist than an academic I think
And I will not forget my local community for RT is not just something for other countries!
Thank you for [email protected]