What is
Sustainable Tourism?
We don’t have to go too far or search too long to find the terms “sustainable tourism” and “responsible travel” in today’s tourism lexicon. Most travel and tourism businesses ardently acknowledge their relevance and necessity. Yet, the application and practice of sustainability, in all its forms, remains far more elusive. In part, this can be attributed to an absence of information available to the public about existing practices. This, in turn, has led to a chasm between the perception and realities of sustainable tourism.
A few years back, like many others, we realized that travel and tourism were not always the carefree constructs we believed them to be. There was a wake in our path, which was often littered – figuratively and literally. Since then, our aspiration has become to authentically engage with sustainable tourism, working to share this information with the travel community and travelers constructively.
Most of us first became aware of sustainability when we learned that by picking up our towels off the hotel’s bathroom floor, we would single-handedly save the Amazon rainforest. It didn’t quite work out that way, as lovely as it sounded. “Greenwashing,” as it is known, still exists today, in more subtle forms and usually as marketing gimmicks. Unfortunately, public perception about sustainability has not progressed much past this, despite an increasing number of travelers eagerly looking to incorporate these practices into their journeys. Other misperceptions surround responsible travel as well. One is that it costs more to travel sustainability; it does not. Responsible travel is as much a mindset as it is a tangible practice. A desire to consciously approach our journeys is an essential first step to understanding our role in travel and then educating ourselves about how to do it.
Environmental impact is one of the three core pillars of sustainable tourism and is undoubtedly the most recognizable. Yet, there are two other equally important components: protecting cultural heritage and maximizing benefits for the local economy. Taking these three elements into account, the core of sustainable tourism ​can be drilled-down to “acting and treating the people and places we visit with respect, the same way we expect others to act when they tour our homes and communities.” It is effectively the practice of “do no harm” and leave the destination as you found it, if not better, for those that come after.
Environmental impact is one of the three core pillars of sustainable tourism and is undoubtedly the most recognizable.
Yet, there are two other equally important components: protecting cultural heritage and maximizing benefits for the local economy. Taking these three elements into account, the core of sustainable tourism ​can be drilled down to “acting and treating the people and places we visit with respect, the same way we expect others to act when they tour our homes and communities.” It is effectively the practice of “do no harm” and leave the destination as you found it, if not better, for those that come after.