Green tourism: waste of time and money?

or this…

Green tourism, responsible tourism, ecotourism they are all methods of making tourism sustainable, but the fact is that extractive black tourism actually makes the money that we need.
 

Like all the extractive industries, tourism is not yet at the end of its resources. The major consumables – destinations, environments, cultures, fuel are still available and at a reasonable enough cost to package, market and turn a reasonable profit.

And the profits and cash-flow have been sufficient to propel the industry from a standing start 50 years ago to nearly 900 million annual passengers and a global turnover of some US$1,000 billion a year.

Some growth, and it’s not going to diminish any time soon. With the BRIC countries with their 3bn population coming on line shortly, international tourism is set to make yet another leap forward.

Remember too that these figures are only international tourists – domestic tourism is an even bigger industry sector. So let’s say that these enormous figures and dramatic growth represent only the tip of the tourism iceberg.

Peoples jobs depend on tourism nowadays – maybe 10% of the global population depends on tourism one way or the other for their livelihood. It’s a big responsibility to make a dramatic change.

Plus, we need every penny, nickel, yuan, euro we can get at the moment when economies are so tight and employment and wages so challenged.

So why change? Why go green and flakey? Why take a risk with a formula that is still bringing in the money and putting food on families’ tables?

Because of global warming?
Because of globalization of cultures?
Because of natural and built environmental depredation?
Because of social disharmony?
Because of a market trend that indicates that tourists are prepared to pay a miniscule premium for sustainable travel arrangements?

Well…global warming hasn’t happened yet; globalization of cultures is maybe a good thing (take Starbucks and MacDonalds as examples); we can repair what we break and if not we can go somewhere else; and the police should be dealing with social disharmony.

And the green market trend? It’s pretty easy to incorporate some sustainable phrases in our mission statements, tack on a little sustainable tourism department and bring out a dinky little niche brand or two to soak up the real greenies.

Job done?

Actually, there is one missing factor in this equation – the views and principles of the destinations themselves. As long as they are unprepared to view the actual cost of tourism against its income, as long as they are prepared to trumpet their arrival numbers and income without recognizing the costs, as long as they are unwilling to preserve their own destinations for their heirs – there will be no change.

International tourism will carry on mining the destination’s gold without a care in the world.

As they say, it takes two to tango.

Valere Tjolle

Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite, special offer at: www.travelmole.com/stories/1142003.php