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“Don’t shy away from ethics in the boardroom”

 (Article first  published on Travelmole (www.travelmole.com), 17 November 2008)

 Jane Ashton, Head of Sustainable Development at TUI Plc, and just voted Responsible Tourism’s Person of the year, was quick to put her cards on the table in front of some of the industry’s leading tourism providers, at the Business Case for Responsible Tourism Conference at this year’s WTM. “Responsible tourism is the right thing to do. Although we are talking about the business case for responsible tourism, my advice is don’t shy away from ethics in the boardrooms”.Village Ways, described his company as one that was ‘born to responsible tourism”. People buy their products because they are responsible products, and their carefully formulated village-to-village walking holidays, in the Kumaon region of the state of Uttaranchal in India, are now being replicated in others regions. Stressing the bottom line, Hearn pointed out that even if you have the most ethical product, it will not be sold unless there is a market out there to buy it. He emphasised that the business must be “profitable for communities as well as at the top end. Putting the bottom end first and the social purpose is fundamental” and concluded that he believed “we have impassioned consumers because they understand this”.

Although the aim of this conference was to discuss the benefits of responsible tourism for the bottom line, there was little evidence of shying away from ethics. Ethical consumerism is a new trend, according to Professor Harold Goodwin of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism, giving mainstream examples of companies such as Marks and Spencer’s recent publicity campaign, “Plan A, because there is no Plan B”, and illustrating the need for the mainstream tourism sector to follow suit. Fiona Jeffery, Chairman of the World Travel Market, said that “Ethical consumerism is here for the long term”, citing Fair Trade’s targets to achieve £1 billion turnover by 2010 and £2 billion by 2012.

Amanda Marks, Managing Director of Tribes Travel, was also keen to keep ethics at the forefront of the business case for responsible tourism, pointing out that “you don’t have to bypass ethics to have a successful profit-making business”. Her award-winning company has grown from 45 passengers in 1999 to 1000 in 2008 with recent growth at 30% per annum. She emphasised the importance of communicating all social and environmental practices to customers. Tribes Travel has created its own ratings system for hotels they use on their tours. This, apart from benefiting the communities they visit, and encouraging questions and feedback from customers, has also had an important impact on staff motivation and the relationships they have with suppliers. Marks pointed out that when everyone involved in the business, from top to bottom, shares this common link of responsible tourism, this ultimately makes all business practices simpler. It also leads to a clear business ethic, which filters down to the clients who, according to recent customer surveys, are consequently creating further business through recommendations and repeat bookings.

Intrepid Travel’s co-founder and MD, Geoff Manchester added to this point about responsible tourism offering major marketing benefits, with 45 % of their business being generated by repeat visits. “Once a person has travelled in this style or manner, they keep coming back. Word of mouth is now our most important form of marketing”. He also agreed with the importance of staff motivation through responsible tourism, and how it can bring huge amounts of cost savings in the long term; “Our staff satisfaction is 4.18 out of 5, and we attract great employees, often from outside the tourism sector, and we retain them really well. The cost savings here are huge”. Jane Ashton concurred, pointing out that TUI Plc’s sustainable tourism policy is “a driver to recruitment as well as to retention of staff” and that people seeking employment in the tourism sector prioritise TUI Plc because of their policy. She pointed out that sustainability is now “formally embedded in training across the board” at TUI Plc.

This emphasis on the positive social impacts of responsible tourism, as well as their associated cost savings, were in keeping with the main theme of this year’s World Responsible Tourism Day at WTM. There seemed to be a conscious effort to steer the emphasis away from the environmental impacts of tourism which, although crucial, are not the only focus of the responsible tourism movement. Social and economic impacts are also major concerns. Spotlight magazine, published to celebrate World Responsible Tourism Day, was dedicated this year to the ‘people who care’. As stated by Fiona Jeffery in the magazine’s Foreword, it tells “the real stories behind the super-human efforts of so many brilliant individuals who, often, against all odds, have battled authorities, governments, prejudice and ignorance to make a better world and a more caring industry”. So, as Jane Ashton rightly pointed out, there is no shying away from it in the boardrooms anymore.

 


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Hands on holidays

Some holidays itineraries read like this: “Day one – snorkelling, Day 2 – kayaking, Day 3 waterskiing, Day 4 – museum, Day 5 – camel ride, Day 6 – indigenous village trip”. More often than not, visiting the local people is thrown in on the end of an itinerary like a last minute thought. Personally, I am wary of companies which offer such trips at the end of the holiday, as if the local people are just attractions, like the ‘song and dance’ number at the end of a show.

 

There is nothing showy about The Adventure Company, however, and its leading responsible tourism provider status has been recognised by many awards.  Each trip they offer supports a specific project or charity, which you can either visit while you are there, or donate to on your return. They have set up their own charitable foundation for this purpose, and support small independent projects which would not otherwise get international funding. Most of their family holidays encourage children to mix with local children, through a school visit or a meal in a local family’s home. Indeed, their mission is to invest in education, not only by supporting schools abroad, but by educating their clients at the same time.

They have just taken things one step further by offering ‘hands on’ holidays in 2009. These offer travellers opportunities to not only go on extraordinary adventures in exquisite destinations, but to also get involved in worthwhile local projects while they are there. On a family trip to Namibia, for example, you and your children will climb some of the highest sand dunes in the world, and also stay in a community-based tourism project run by Namibia’s San people. Still struggling to hold onto their traditional hunter gatherer lifestyle, they are keen to share their culture with visitors, and will teach you the skills of tracking wild animals and gathering bushfood.

 

There is plenty of wildlife viewing on these holidays too of course but, in keeping with their stringent educational and ethical policy, it is usually done hand in hand with a conservation project. On the Namibia trip, you can watch the big cats the country is famous for from the base of the country’s largest conservation charity, The Africat Foundation, where you also camp for a night.  Similarly on their trip to the beaches of Costa Rica’s Tortuguero National Park, the green turtle’s nesting ground (as well as the much rarer loggerhead, giant leatherback and hawksbill turtles), you spend two days working with a turtle conservation group.  What better way to immerse yourself among the region’s precious natural heritage than by assisting biologists and research assistants as they patrol the beaches in search of endangered species, protecting their nests, and collecting research data?

 

Because the company is so hands on with the communities it works with, the type of activity you can do will always be changing, depending on what is happening in the destination at the time of your visit, and where help is required. If you are helping at a school, for example, one month they might ask you to teach, and another you might have to fix the roof.

 

These holidays are not cheap, as many are to far-off destinations, and require a lot of careful management in order to maintain a good ethical status. But if real jungles and real people are more your thing than the Disney version, your family trip of a lifetime won’t cost you a lot more than the full works in Orlando. But the memories, experience and inspiration, will, almost undoubtedly, be priceless. See www.adventurecompany.co.uk for details.

(This article was first published in The Irish Times, 1 November 2008)

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Don’t forget the climate crunch


I was recently asked by another publication to write about the credit crunch. I’m no economist, but they wanted something about people becoming more ethical in their travel choices as they start to feel the pinch. An interesting idea, and indeed many people are  choosing to stay closer to home this year. Christmas shopping in Nutgrove rather than New York, or choosing the slopes of Kilternan over Kitzbuhel. Realistically, however, I don’t think that carbon footprint is at the forefront of most of their minds somehow.

So, I didn’t write the article in the end. First, I don’t really believe it, and second, I try to write about people taking a more ethical approach to travel, not just for Christmas or credit crunches, but for life. Being an ethical traveller is about standing back and seeing the bigger picture. Not just about panic reactions to this current economic shock which, relative to climate change, should be pretty short-lived. Yes, perhaps some of us are flying less, as our credit cards are munched in the crunch, and we could feel better about ourselves for that. Or, as we are forced to sell our holiday homes, we could bask in our angelic glows as local people in small European villages can once more contemplate buying a house at semi-realistic prices. How philanthropic we have all suddenly become. Until the economy starts to pick up again that is.

Instead, we need to see this as a time to create a more long-term sustainable travel movement for everyone.   As we all take a bit of a breather, it gives us time to sit back and really try to understand the impacts we are having on the world and how, if we don’t change our ways urgently, it will be too late.  We have all played a part in climate change, and we must keep fighting it during these hard times.  I don’t know how many people I have heard say over the last few months, thank goodness the Celtic Tiger has gone, and we can all just slow down a little. That’s part of the secret to seeing the bigger picture in travel too. Slow down, cycle, canoe, climb a mountain, chill. Holiday at home for once, and help the Irish tourism business survive this downturn. In doing so, you will not only benefit the environment and local economy, but you are pretty much guaranteed to have a better holiday experience by following the slowdown rule.

The economists out there may be able to put us back on the right road to economic security. But who will pull together to stop our precious natural coffers running dry as our already carbon-choked world goes beyond its tipping point? We all have a role to play in protecting the world we love to call our oyster.

 

So beware of the cheap ‘escape the credit crunch’ holidays which are going to be the new trend for a while. A few hundred Euros so that we can fly thousands of miles to swap the heat of the stock exchange for that of a concrete jungle. The tourist compounds which pack thousands of people into over-heated pools, over air-conditioned rooms and over-watered golf courses. If you are lucky enough to be still having a holiday abroad, please still think before you click that ‘confirm purchase’ button, and buy ethically. If you are staying closer to home, take a copy of Paul Cunningham’s brilliant climate change book, Ireland’s Burning, with you. Just in case you need reminding that it’s crunch time out there in the big world, and not just for credit.

(This article was first published in The Irish Times, 18 October 2008)