Photo: Penang Ferries, Malaysia
As the ‘Responsible Tourism Award Winning Holidays’ newsletter arrives in my inbox from responsibletravel.com, and I read an article about ‘The Business Case for Responsible Tourism‘ paid conference held at World Travel Market I can’t help feeling frustrated by an industry.
The whole ethos and experiences that Make Travel Fair is built on have very little to do with the tourism industry in the way it is presented at trade fairs. I was a gap year student who went travelling for a couple years at the end of school like many others from my generation and subsequent generations. I returned this year from another period of extended travel. The biggest purchase I’ve ever made before leaving home is a plane ticket and some travel insurance.
To me ‘responsible tourism’ is not about buying a holiday off the shelf from this year’s ‘Best Tour Operator’ according to the Responsible Tourism Awards, or heading off on a package deal to a luxury eco-resort that was highly commended; it’s about travel, about having an experience and giving places the time they deserve. Independent travel is accessible to everyone and is what we should encourage, the problem is there’s no money to be made in promoting it unless you’re a transport company. The once lucrative guide book industry was built on independent travel and is pretty much sewn up these days by a few major publishers and the internet as consumers demand more free content, there is little money to be made here anymore (read our interview with Moon Guidebooks author David Stanley). The much discussed responsibletravel.com have recently made efforts to try and show an interest in independent travel by setting up a new website called ‘I Know A Great Place‘, but they are simply another travel agent trying to sell holidays that would like to replicate the success of Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree.
The travel industry feeds the needs of consumers, it’s a business that turns travel into a commodity and caters to convenience, turning a profit by doing so. I wrote recently about ‘the essence of travel, no additives or preservatives‘ and how that is where real, educational and personally fulfilling travel experiences are to be found. I realise that there is always a market for the travel agents and tour operators that will sell you a trip to the other side of the world but that’s not what Make Travel Fair is about, and it is for this reason that we are happy to talk about our conflicting opinions with anyone wishing to engage in a debate.
The industry is slow to change, you can see that by reading Catherine Mack’s well written synopsis of ‘The Business Case for Responsible Tourism’ paid conference held at World Travel Market this year. It seems that there was very little new information on offer, except news from companies showcasing their commitment to sustainability. The organisation of Responsible Tourism events at the World Travel Market, engaging the bigger travel companies and helping them reform themselves is commendable work being carried out by the International Centre For Responsible Tourism (ICRT), and is obviously having an effect. I’m glad that there is an organisation like the ICRT doing the work that it does. For me though the industry is just so slow to move, and sells travel in a way that I just can’t bring myself to agree with. Independent travel is where the real experiences are to be found and we plan to stay true to that.
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