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 listening!john.swarbrooke@plymouth.ac.uk