Responsible and sustainable tourism – are not the same concept
There are some important differences between responsible and sustainable tourism. To understand them we need to go back to some of the lessons learnt from their forerunner, ecotourism.
The much quoted ‘leave only footprints, take only photographs’ mantra of nature based eco tourism had three major flaws. Firstly, local communities felt strongly that tourists visiting their homes and environments should leave behind more than footprints. In short, tourism must benefit local communities as well as nature conservation.
Secondly, all type of tourism – not just nature based – could and should be more responsible. Finally, the ecotourism concept was easily green-washed because so little emphasis was put on measurable and demonstrable results.
Responsible tourism emerged in response to this, and in the wider context of the sustainable development movement. Responsible tourism is about ‘creating better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit.’ In that order; unlike early ecotourism it places local people at its heart.
We’ve seen past winners of The Responsible Tourism Awards come from all sectors of tourism – niche, mainstream, cultural and nature based. That all forms of tourism (not just nature tourism) should and could become more responsible is essential if we are to create the change we need.
Responsible tourism differs from sustainable tourism in several important ways. Despite important benefits to communities and conservation globally, responsible tourism, especially when it involves flying and associated CO2 emissions, does not and cannot claim to be truly sustainable.
Sustainable tourism approaches tend to involve attempts to tackle long lists of social, economic and environmental impacts. Responsible tourism does not. Responsible tourism recognises that (apart from climate change, which is a global issue) the impacts of tourism are very different in different places, and that some impacts are always more important than others.
For example, in Sub Saharan Africa water conservation is a big issue, in Wales it’s not. Switzerland does not need to concern itself with poverty reduction as a priority, Peru does. The issues are different everywhere, and the solutions must be too. Furthermore, the 80/20 rule is true in tourism too – and it’s always far better to focus a few big and locally relevant issues than global criteria.
Finally, and most importantly, responsible tourism is about everyone involved in tourism (including the tourist) accepting and taking responsibility for their impacts and doing something about it. It’s not enough to perform lots of actions if there is no measurable result. It’s not enough to have good intentions and make a little progress (as many sustainable tourism certification schemes reward) if the progress does not, and can never match the scale of the problems.
Responsible tourism is a local movement, being developed by different people in different ways around the world based on different local issues. It embraces all type of tourism, and is focussed on results not actions. That’s why it’s working and flourishing.
Harold Goodwin and Justin Francis
important point of view, thanks.
Responsible tourism is about everyone involved in tourism (including the tourist) accepting and taking responsibility for their impacts and doing something about it.
Gracias Susana por tu trabajo de difusión entre otros,….
Very helpful and clarifying approach.
I am weary of rhetorics and green/ethical washing of Tourism Industry. An industry's primary objective is to 'produce' and 'sell' for profit. Any adjectives added to tourism as long is it is promoted/considered as an industry, will not steer it on a responsible, sustainable and ethical path. These adjectives are often added as an icing on the cake to boost the sale in an ethical market. Natural and cultural heritages of destinations continue to be 'sold' as 'products'. The stale argument that competition only can reduce prize and improve quality is atleast not valid when you enter an ethical market. Visit us for a radical perspective, if not an an antithesis at http://www.traveltocare.in.
When you say that 'responsible tourism is about everyone involved (including tourist)' amounts to belittling the role/importance of tourist/traveller. In fact traveller is the most crucial stakeholder. See more at http://www.traveltocare.in.
I like this distinction from Cape Town: Responsible tourism and sustainable tourism have the same goal, namely sustainability and they share the same pillars – environmental integrity, social justice and maximum local economic benefit. Responsible tourism asks individuals, organizations, governments and businesses to take responsibility for their actions and the effects of their actions. Everyone involved must be responsible for sustainability. More on the Planeta Wiki http://planeta.wikispaces.com/rt.
Thanks for the article. It is interesting to see where the RT movement is trying to position itself.
One small quibble. I don't believe it is entirely accurate to paint Ecotourism as lacking commitment to "local communities" when in what is generally agreed as the first written description of Ecotourism by Lascurian in '83 he states "…through a process which… favors the active and socioeconomically beneficial involvement of local communities". Furthermore, Honey's Principles of Ecotourism went on to add "Supports human rights and democratic movements" in 1999.
The Ecotourism movement can not be held responsible for the fact that the wider tourism industry in their rush to "Green Wash" generally chose these principals as the first to jettison.
Having worked on projects that have been variously termed "Ecotourism", "Sustainable Tourism" and "Responsible Toursim" seemingly simply depending on the Donor, the decade or the country I don't see the point in highlighting the short comings of a previous terminology/movements especially when it maybe not be entirely accurate. I think few would disagree that it was "Community Based Ecotourism" that pioneered the adaptation of the participatory planning process from one that was generally used in a Development Aid context to one that could be applied with local communities when dealing with encroaching tourism development. Just saying lets give credit where credit is due.