GLOBAL TOURISM: THE HIDDEN TRUTH

 

An Individual’s Social and Personal Responsibility to Sustainable Tourism - Making a Contribution While Leaving Your Footprints Behind

On November 2, 2011 the Center for Organizational Learning & Teaching (COLT) and the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture (SHTC) hosted Global Tourism: The Hidden Truth a GCE co-curricular event. This event supports Centennial’s GCE initiative that challenges all of us to think about our roles and social responsibilities in our personal and professional lives.

Clips from the renowned documentary Jamaica for Sale were shown to showcase the destructive side of the tourism industry on the island. This was followed by a presentation from Dr. Rachel Dodds, an Associate Professor in the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Ryerson University. The session wrapped up with an interactive discussion where students, staff and faculty engaged in a dialogue on the issues revealed in the film and the presentation.

From the afternoon’s presentation it is quite apparent that Jamaica represents a developing world economy that relies heavily on tourism as a major provider of its revenue. To understand why Jamaica, and other developing countries, 'sell' their countries to multinational corporations, an understanding of their bondage and dependency orchestrated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank is integral in this discussion.

Why is this dialogue so important? It is important that our students, the prospective workers in the field, become aware of the inequity of the tourism industry. This is of fundamental importance because the future of the industry lays in their hands and so by them becoming aware of sustainable issues today the probability of impacting policies and practices in the future increases.

In the meantime, while the macro-structures are at work, what can the average person do to combat the inequity that contributes to the lack of sustainable tourism in his/her personal and professional life as a participant at the micro-level?  As Dodd’s suggested on her Sustainable Tourism website, there are indeed many things that we can do to contribute to sustainable tourism as the engine of the tourist trade keeps on turning, these include:

• Before you go, ask your travel provider about the company's environmental and responsible tourism policies - support those who support responsible tourism.
• Be considerate of the communities and environment you visit.
• Support the local economy. Buy locally made souvenirs, eat at local restaurants - enjoy the local culture!
• Don't litter. Try to carry your own shopping bag to avoid contributing to the plastic problem in many countries of the world.
• Try to avoid excessive waste and the use of plastic bottles (in many countries there is no way of disposing of these, therefore creating plastic mountains due to tourism).
• Reduce energy consumption. Unplug your mobile phone charger and turn off the lights.
• Conserve water. Take shorter showers...the average hotel guest uses over 300 litres of water per night! In a luxury hotel it is approx. 1800 litres!
• Always ask before taking photographs. If someone says no, respect their wishes.
• Educate yourself about the place you are visiting and the people.
• Respect cultural differences - and learn from it! People in different places do things differently - don't try to change them - enjoy them.
• Dress respectively. Cover up away from the beach. Cover your head in religious places. Notice local dress codes and adhere to them.
• Do not purchase or eat endangered species (e.g. turtle egg soup, crocodile handbags)
• Do not give pens, candy or other gifts to local children - it fosters a begging economy. If you wish to donate, contact a local school or tour operator who can ensure the gifts are distributed fairly and properly.
• Do not support the illegal drug trade or the sex trade.
• Take public transit. Or if you must rent a car - why not a hybrid or electric one if available?
• Ask your accommodation provider (hotel, guest house, lodge) about their sustainability practices - do they compost? Recycle? Do they have fair labour laws? Do they have an environmental policy?
• Support local organisations – either in the place you visit or where you live.
• Support responsible tourism organisations - those operators who publicly are aiming to make tourism more responsible.

Therefore, at the micro-level, in our personal and professional lives we can play our part as global citizens by reducing where we leave our footprints.

Written by: Ann-Marie Fisher-Herdsman, Global Citizenship and Equity Portfolio Learning Advisor, COLT