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Discussion: Don't call Tourism names
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renton |
Don't call Tourism names
Jul 20 2008, 8:45 AM EDT
Ayubowan! (The Sri Lankan Greeting meaning 'May all beings on earth have long life' ) Thanks for the definitions on sustainability. About a decade or so ago a good friend of mine and of PATA, a man orginally from Oregon living in Singapore at that time, most respected for his pioneering work on conservation of our heritage through tourism, late ROBERTSON COLLINS said, and I will never, ever forget or discount those profound words.... He said " Please don't call Tourism NAMES.... for all tourism must be sustainable, conserve the resources it utilizes, be eco-friendly... all tourism must benefit communities and all its stake-holders, all tourism must negate social ills and enhance nature, culture and heritage.... all tourism must be good business and must profit all alike. If you MUST call Tourism a name, he said ... please call it GOOD Tourism" . I urge all of us to ponder on what Late Robbie Collins said before we attach every adjective available in the English language, before the word 'Tourism'. Please note that the context in which Robbie said it and I was personally there, when he said it.... It was to demonstrate the danger of attaching adjectives such as eco or sustainable as lables to tourism and as tags for gaining promotional mileage and thereafter with passage of time, believing ourselves that what we do is eco firendly or sustainable. This contribution is also in honour of Late Robbie Collins for the very significant contribution he made to heritage conservation and to PATA in the 80's and the 90's. For sustainbility must also have a sense of history, a profound knowledge of the present and a realistic vision for the future. Renton de Alwis Sri Lanka Tourism Please visit www.earthlung.travel or www.srilanka.travel to learn of how little Sri Lanka contributes in our own small way. Thank you 10 out of 11 found this valuable. Do you?
Keyword tags:
ecotourism
PATA
responsible tourism
sri lanka
sustainability
tourism
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AnnaPollock |
1. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Jul 31 2008, 1:29 PM EDT
Dear RentonTHANK YOU for making such an important observation. This is the crux of the matter. Unless mainstream tourism adopts a truly sustainable mindset, our tourism community will make little or no contribution to the challenges we face living within the natural limits associated with our host environment. Every label, while of some functional use as a form of shorthand, actually serves to divide and separate. So we can have wonderfully earnest people sharing similar values in boxes called ecotourism, responsible tourism, wellness tourism, sustainable tourism all sharing a common vision but seeing themselves as unique. We are being called - as a tourism community - to reach higher levels of rigor and disciplined thinking; to collaborate to an extent we have done achieved in the past; and to focus on what we can do to ensure that tourism is a contributor of NET benefit. It's a pleasure to join this wiki and be in such great company Anna 7 out of 8 found this valuable. Do you? |
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renton |
2. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Aug 1 2008, 8:22 PM EDT
Ayubowan! AnnaThanks a million. As you said, this discussion needs to be a central theme when we discuss the very future of tourism. I remember how in the 70's when environmentalists spoke of the impacts of our wasteful lifestyles on Mother Earth and when we quoted Red Indian Chief Seatlle, many said they were doomsday soothsayers or pie in the sky. Most of us went on regardless operating in a world, where we either 'sold' ourselves or 'got sold' by others. Today, not only have those doomsdayers been proven right, what they said have become issues impacting on our very survival. Let this discussion on GOOD TOURISM not only be limted to this Wiki, but be part of the mainstream thrust of tourism when we take on the many trillion dollar investment for new air craft, cruise ships, highways and the like, to move the many travelling millions.Let it be debated at tourism schools, debated by those who carve out the future with policy and strategy formulation, let it be in the text books, let it be in agenda of international fora of UNWTO, PATA, WTTC and the like. Although ROBBIE Collins could not live to see his words take firm root, I could touch his soul to let him know that they were not words in vain .... and were somehow instrumental in shaping the future of this great industry of ours and also support the survival of Mother Earth. Renton de Alwis Sri Lanka Tourism 3 out of 4 found this valuable. Do you? |
tiskand |
3. Re: Don't call Tourism names
Aug 2 2008, 4:06 AM EDT
Creating this thread in honour of the late Robbie Collins is a beautiful way of remembering him. He was my guru in the area of sustainable tourism, I learned much from him when I was PATA President in 1989 (just as Renton was my guru for the Internet!). Let's keep it simple and real, "GOOD Tourism" is especially appropriate in today's cluttered, chronic and complicated world. 3 out of 4 found this valuable. Do you? |
ecotourismguru |
4. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Aug 2 2008, 9:25 AM EDT
Good , Renton - valuable observation . We have all been busy in creating all other adjectives and indeed movements like sustainable tourism and ecotourism etc which have all done their bit .However given the fact of the rapidity of climate change and tourism industry's global impacts , we cant exclude strain of tourism in not being good tourism . Currently the currency seems to be Responsible Tourism but as far as I am concerned , call it Good , call it Responsible , LETS DO IT . Here's to Robbie Collins then - bless him .
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connectedtraveler |
5. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Aug 2 2008, 1:26 PM EDT
Dear Renton,Several years ago I named the sustainable tourism section of my connectedtraveler.com Good Travel in honor of our old friend Robbie. Unfortunately, I have also had difficulty with the term "tourism," which, as an "ism" has the ring of a political movement. But I am not inviting discussion of that. My wife Pat and I just spent a week with friends who moved their Silicon Valley engineering firm, with business around the world, to Jacksonville, Oregon, Robbie's town. They took over, and restored, a second floor retail space that was not getting much traffic, in one of the historical buildings that Robbie helped save. Tourism thrives in Jacksonville in the summer with its historic center and summer-long arts festival. But, like other tourist towns, suffers greatly in the winter. What is encouraging to me is that Jacksonville's charm and quality of life is attracting compatible small business so that hopefully it will become sustainable year-round and not just a seasonal tourist town. That was part of Robbie's philosophy. 4 out of 5 found this valuable. Do you? |
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renton |
6. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Aug 3 2008, 9:36 PM EDT
Ayubowan ! (May all living beings on earth have long life) AllThank you all for providing input on the GOOD TOURISM thread in honour of our friend Late ROBBIE COLLINS. Now it is for us to further explore how we can take this debate to the real on the ground domain from the virtual. What can we in tourism do .... to make sure that the rif-raf is sieved and the GOOD in tourism is highligted. What about a union of the GOOD .... We know that there are many niches ... many awards ... many efforts ... what seems to be the problem, is that the GOOD stays divided and in niches, while the cliches are united and go about the 'NO MATTER WHAT GROWTH IS GOOD AND MORE IS BETTER' game ... where tourism is either 'selling' and or 'getting sold'. Mandip set guidelines in India, Ambica in Nepal, Russ new initiatives in heritage conservation, Anthony Wong on the ground in the wilds and TI through ideas leadership in Malaysia.... Hiran in Sri Lanka, Steve in Australia, Les in New Zealand, Several in Costa Rica and UNWTO, UNEP, UNESCO, PATA, the many other associations, organisations websites etc.etc.... What about us getting together to develop a simple but profund and easily embraceable (as Tunku and Anna says) TEN COMMANDMENTS (I don't particularly like the idea of 'commandments' but it has somewhat worked historically). The idea is to present to the Tourism World at large (especially for those who make the lables and/or make things happen on the growth front) to stop and take stock of what is happening. I believe that we need to cut through the many issues now on the table (Climate Change, sustainability, eco-friendly, conservatory etc , etc) to Robbie's simple idea of being and doing GOOD in tourism. What do you all think please? Renton 3 out of 4 found this valuable. Do you? |
@lisbon |
7. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Aug 10 2008, 5:11 AM EDT
Dear Renton,Thank you for your comments. It is indeed a pleasure to join this wiki and be in such great company, as Anna said before. Could you be more specific as to what you mean in your last post? I mean I'm from Portugal, EU, and find the Internet a great tool of communication to get in touch with like-minded people from around the world. It would be very difficult to meet you all on the other side of the world... Kind Regards, Maria Do you find this valuable? |
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tiskand |
8. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Aug 10 2008, 11:13 AM EDT
Hi Renton, You have started a very good initiative with this blog ! Regarding the TEN COMMANDMENTS, I don't quite agree with that as the original TEN COMMANDMENTS were mostly (8/10) to do with negatives i.e. Thou Shalt Not ....! Have you read the book "The Secret" ? There is something described there as the Law of Attraction. In countless Internet blogs, supporters of "The Secret" tell how shifting from negative to positive thoughts radically improved their lives. http://www.kensavage.com/archives/the-secret-book/ Hope you don't mind the digression. Best regards, T.I. 2 out of 3 found this valuable. Do you? |
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renton |
9. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Aug 10 2008, 8:14 PM EDT
Aubowan ! AllThanks again. You know what I like most about this blog now. Everyone joining it, has a face. We must be heading somewhere. Maria ... In simple terms what I meant was that the leaders and the leadership organisations of the tourism industry must all get together in one voice to present a Ten or whatever number 'Commandments' of defining what GOOD TOURISM could be and all work with one vision to achive it. As T.I. thinks, it is a positive & perhaps must be kept very simple. What we now have are too many messages and too many messengers. I know it is a tough call in a divided world. But do we have a choice? I also beleive that we should not be the ones developing the Commandments from here. The idea of GOOD TOURISM needs to be widely debated at fora although it sounds very simple and unsophisticated, unlike the the clutter of the many names we call tourism that perhaps need be exposed so the true essence and a wider buy-in could emerge. In a way this is a very 'back to basics' approach. Best regards to all Renton 1 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
nayaznoor |
10. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Aug 14 2008, 1:18 PM EDT
We all know that the PATA convention is being held in Hyderabad, my home town, this Sep 2008. I urge PATA executives to define "Good Tourism" so we can all have a "commandment" to follow. The term is very vague and needs to be explicitly defined so we can all attach a meaning to it.
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jecochrane |
11. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Sep 5 2008, 6:33 AM EDT
HelloI've just joined this wiki! I quite agree that far too much time (and several acres of trees) have been wasted on discussing the minutiae of what constitutes sustainable tourism, etc. All of us need to ensure that we understand how to make tourism GOOD so that it contributes to the environment & society. We need to understand how to make tourism RESILIENT so it can do this! Best wishes Janet 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
cheriemccosker |
12. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Sep 18 2008, 9:57 PM EDT
HelloI've been watching this thread closely. I similarly think there is a lot of unnecessary debate about various different tourism names. But, I also wonder how this will change if we name tourism to "GOOD Tourism", as it is still yet another name. If we create 10 commandments - we are adding to the deforestation by coming up with yet another definition and theory to add to the mix... I'm not knocking the idea - I like the idea of Good tourism, plus it is always good to be forward thinking to the next challenge. The confusion about names is definitely a challenge. I'm just not sure whether this will further confuse people or whether it will make it easier... because - what is 'good'? It depends on who does the talking.... For example, I work for a small NGO, so I think GOOD means - opportunities for the people, fair pay and working conditions for the people, environmental sustainability,cultural sustainability. But, what if i was a cut-throat investor? Maybe GOOD would mean high ROI at the expense of the environment and people?? Ie mass-tourism? Because Mass-Tourism would be perceived as GOOD business to most of the industry players.... Confusing... Best regards Cherie 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
Gillenium |
13. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Sep 25 2008, 5:21 AM EDT
Hi all….. yes I do think the ‘name’ or ‘terminology’ itself is rather irrelevant… I think it’s the positive actions and behaviours that HAVE to be adopted for all kinds of tourism that needs to be focused on. So, to keep fuelling the great discussion going on here, I’ve added a number of actions/characteristics of tourism I feel are at the essence of what we all seem to be getting at. Would love to hear further ideas/thoughts!1) Build strong cooperative relationships with all potential stakeholders (governments, locals, business, NGO’s etc) 2) Involve locals in the planning, decision making and management of tourism projects 3) Spread the economic benefit widely to the local community 4) Improve the social structure, whilst maintaining and promoting local culture 5) Preservation and education about local history (architecture, buildings, inhabitants, historical events etc) 6) Protecting the local environment and wildlife 7) Providing experiences and facilities for people with disabilities and the elderly. 8) Help to educate and ensure visitors travel responsibly in destinations Obviously it would be very hard to tick all these boxes, but at least its something to strive for. Even a couple of boxes ticked is better than none :) 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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@lisbon |
14. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Sep 25 2008, 12:08 PM EDT
Hi Gillenium,We are at another thread - Moving to Resilience - . Joign us there. Best wishes, Maria Lemos. www.sustainablesideofthestreet.com Lisbon PORTUGAL 0 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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renton |
15. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Sep 25 2008, 2:59 PM EDT
Ayubowan! Janet, Cherie, Gillenium and now MariaThanks to you all and I do not understand why we need to shift gears as Maria has suggested. What we do not have is the resolve to resolve on any one direction. Too many adjectives, too many organisations, too many initiatives working on the same objective, but without a singular focus. We often get divided and do not stay united ... I mean the 'Good' people.The bad stay united and are Mafias of their own to rape mother earth. I want to thank Janet, Maria and Gillenium as the most recent contributors on the focus you maintain. We must disagree but must come out with solid solutions. I am writing to you now from Lima, Peru, where UNWTO invited me to be on a Think Tank on 'Tourism: Responding to the Climate Change Challenge' to be held on World Tourism Day on 27 September. I spent 25 hours travelling here from Colombo, Sri Lanka and am guilty of, if what I willcontribute will help offset the many (estimated 200,000 gallons of fuel divided by the number of pax on the planes I flew to get here). The contribution I will make can be assessed at www.earthlung.travel .Please visit as it is updated with a lot of what we do in little Sri Lanka, where tourism contributes to mitigating climate change. The Inca Calendar is said to end in 2012.... Does this mean that the Incas foresaw what can happen to our mother earth? Food for thought nevertherless..... In Hyderabad, India last week, at PATA events, I saw a sign in front of a new shopping mall which said in bold letters 'Greed is Good' .... Well I do not know where that takes us. One of my tourism colleagues seeing that said 'how true if not for greed of those seeking travel. we won't be in the tourism business'. Over to you all to ponder .. I do think that we need now to go beyond pondering into fast action if we are to practice "GOOD Tourism". Do you find this valuable? |
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renton |
16. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Sep 25 2008, 3:37 PM EDT
Ayubowan! and Thank You GilleniumGreat stuff.... what about adding 9. Educate local people on the current state of the health of Mother Earth and mobilise them for positive action 10. Share best practices among those who care to care and bring others to the folds of the caring The best Renton Do you find this valuable? |
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Gillenium |
17. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Sep 26 2008, 4:50 AM EDT
Good additions Renton.....Ill also add a post to the other discussion (more engagement the better)... but I think what we lack, as touched on earlier, is a SIMPLE, common sense, easily applied set of guidelines that transgress segmentation and definitions, and give some clarity to the ‘genre’ and enables a set of easy to understand guidelines/actions/behaviours that can be applied to ANY destination?And sorry for not signing off in the earlier post… Im Shaun, so perhaps I need to choose a better user name ;) 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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renton |
18. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Sep 26 2008, 9:03 AM EDT
Ayubowan! ShaunGood now we have something to take off from.... Know that there are many others who have initiatied similar stuff... Can we all the 'GOOD' people get together topresent a simple way ahead so the buy in will be greater and some real action on the ground will take firmer root .... Here is what we have now: 1) Build strong cooperative relationships with all potential stakeholders (governments, locals, business, NGO’s etc) 2) Involve locals in the planning, decision making and management of tourism projects 3) Spread the economic benefit widely to the local community 4) Improve the social structure, whilst maintaining and promoting local culture 5) Preservation and education about local history (architecture, buildings, inhabitants, historical events etc) 6) Protecting the local environment and wildlife 7) Providing experiences and facilities for people with disabilities and the elderly. 8) Help to educate and ensure visitors travel responsibly in destinations 9. Educate local people on the current state of the health of Mother Earth and mobilise them for positive action 10. Share best practices among those who care to care and bring others to the folds of the caring Let us add , substract, adapt and adopt as you all deem fit.... This must be a process and the process is as important as the outcome as we must build trust and affinity among all.... I have resolved to shut up for a while and leave all of you to do the talking ..... Wishing the best for Mother Earth as we celebrate World Tourism Day this weekend (September 27). Renton 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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JohnSandford |
19. RE: Don't call Tourism names
Oct 4 2008, 10:45 PM EDT
Kia ora Renton,Maybe another way of approaching your concept is to consider the term we use for participants (as opposed to providers) in tourism. I think the widely used term, "tourist" is exclusive (as opposed to "inclusive"), harsh (not least of which because of the explosive consonant "t' at each end of the word) and downright unfriendly. How about we abandon the use otf the term "tourist" entirely and adopt universal use of the term "visitor". Best regards. John 2 out of 3 found this valuable. Do you? |
