Is there Sustainable Consumption and Production in Tourism?

 © UNWTO - International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development

by Marcela Torres

Do you ever wonder where the food you eat at a hotel comes from? How much water and energy the hotel consumes? Do you consider sustainability when choosing a hotel or tour operator? Or when you buy things for your trip?

These are questions worth pondering upon in a week in which the world celebrated Environment Day on June 5 and held the Ocean Conference in New York, in addition to the fact that 2017 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. And questions like these are being discussed in the massive open online course (MOOC) on “Sustainable Consumption and Production”, organized by the UNDP through its NBSAP Forum, which I’m facilitating in its Spanish version.

What is the role of consumers in promoting sustainability in tourism or any other industry? Well, the main role is to exercise their power on the demand side of the economy. More and more, efforts are being made by international organizations and advocacy groups to promote green consumption and many countries and companies have already incorporated principles such as “the polluter pays” into their legislations or business strategies.

Nevertheless, there is still a myth that individual consumers are the most responsible for sustainable consumption and that by providing them with information about the social and environmental consequences, sustainable consumption can be achieved through the market. However, research by the United Nations 10YFP Sustainable Lifestyles and Education Programme has shown that there are some mental blocks:

ideologies (“I should be free to buy what I want” or “Technology will solve environmental problems”)

social norms (“I’ll look strange if I do it” or “why should I do it if they don’t?”)

‘lock in’ to unsustainable capital (“well I already have the car…”)

mistrust or denial (“Those eco-labels are just a marketing ploy!”)

perceived risks of sustainable consumption (“what if the photovoltaic cells don’t work reliably?” or “won’t my colleagues think I’m poor if I take the train?”)

feeling that individual actions won’t make a difference (“I’m just one in 7 billion”)

emotional manipulation through marketing and advertising (“You’ll be happier with these products.”)

Don’t get me wrong. Consumers can and should make a difference, either individually or collectively. But being informed is not enough for them to take action. Sometimes they don’t have options. How many recycling facilities are close to their homes or (in the case of tourism) in their hotels? What is the cost of choosing a sustainable option over another one that is unsustainable?

I have previously discussed this in a paper published in 2013 by the Journal of Ecotourism. One of the biggest hurdles that must be overcome by the responsible tourism movement is that this type of tourism is usually more expensive than traditional tourism. If you scour the internet for marketing data, you’ll find many statistics indicating responsible tourism is a growing global trend and that today’s consumers expect travel companies to build sustainability into their product offer. You will also find many surveys reporting high percentages of people who declare they will prefer a sustainable travel company over an unsustainable one. But how true is this really?

There’s a catch… I can’t say that people necessarily lie during a survey, but their answers may often be influenced by what they consider to be polite or politically correct responses. Honestly, would you ever say (given the global evidence of pollution) that you “don’t care about pollution” or that you “like to pollute”? Probably not.

On the other hand, they may actually want to choose sustainability but are unable to. The truth is, in general, people don’t “mean to pollute” or choose unsustainable options. But sometimes they don’t have alternatives, because there are no sustainability initiatives where they live or stay, because they have strong mental blocks, or because they simply can’t afford them.

The good news is that, more and more, the responsible tourism philosophy is permeating many of the traditional tourism companies. While traditional mass tourism perhaps will never disappear, I do think that all companies will, in the end, include at least some measures to contribute toward sustainability and that tourists (as consumers) have an important role to play in this process.

Celebrating Women in Tourism

Silvia Vogel, owner of Alpacas Machalí, a rural tourism entrepreneurship in Chile. 

© Marcela Torres

by Marcela Torres

March 8 marks International Women’s Day and I’d like to honor all the women who work hard each day to develop tourism around the world, sometimes under very trying circumstances.

According to the United Nations World TourismOrganization (UNWTO), in most regions of the world, women make up the majority of the tourism workforce, they also tend to be concentrated in the lowest paid and lowest status jobs in tourism, and they perform a large amount of unpaid work in family tourism businesses.

That’s why the UNWTO and the United Nations Women Organization are developing a joint Action Plan to Empower Women through Tourism that seeks to enhance the positive impact of tourism development on women’s lives, and, in so doing, contributing to the achievement of the Third Millennium Development Goal – "promote gender equality and women’s empowerment".

The Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010 –which was launched during the ITB 2011, in Berlin- was the first concrete result of this collaboration. Among other things, the study revealed that women are well represented in employment but tend to be working at a service or clerical rather than professional or decision-making level. It also showed there are proportionally fewer women graduates in services than in other fields.

One of the study’s most interesting findings is that in Entrepreneurship, women are almost twice more likely to be employers in the tourism industry than in other sectors, and often employ more women than men.  That’s exactly what we see in Chile, particularly in rural areas.

During my visit to the WTM in London last year, I had the good fortune of meeting an Italian journalist, Iaia Pedemonte, who runs a very interesting website to promote gender responsible tourism around the world and to help women by spreading ideas and good practices in tourism.

After a decade of work on responsible tourism, Iaia put together this unique initiative that, among other things, is contributing to collect experiences, knowledge and tools , promote handicrafts and products made by women in tourist destinations, and bring together supply and demand, local people and institutions, southern and northern  hemisphere countries. The site also has a forum for networking in Gender Responsible Tourism, which is a great space for all stakeholders involved to exchange experiences and get to know each other.

It’s inspiring to see how many women around the globe are pushing forward the principles of responsible tourism and also making progress with alternative livelihoods that can be sustainable and, at the same time, help conserve natural and cultural resources that are valuable for all.

Happy International Women’s Day!

This entry was originally posted by the author on March 8, 2012.

World Tourism Day: Bringing Cultures Together

by Marcela Torres

Each year, on September 27, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) celebrates World Tourism Day, with the purpose fostering awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value. In 2011, the celebrations are focusing on tourism and bringing cultures together.

According to the UNWTO, in 2010, 940 million tourists travelled to a different country, coming into direct contact with tangible – art, monuments – and intangible – music, food, traditions – culture. World Tourism Day 2011 (WTD 2011) is a celebration of this unique interaction and aims at furthering understanding of the values of cultural diversity.

“The message on this World Tourism Day is that, thanks to tourism, millions of people from different cultures are being brought together around the world like never before,” says UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. “This interaction between people of different backgrounds and ways of life represents an enormous opportunity to advance tolerance, respect and mutual understanding”.

WTD 2011 also draws attention to the importance of preserving and promoting the cultures of the world in all their forms. Culture, which compels millions of tourists to travel and spend, is of immense value in itself, but is also a vital tool for the development of a sustainable tourism sector. As such, it must be thoughtfully managed and protected, as set out in the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism which states that: “Tourism policies and activities should be conducted with respect for the artistic, archaeological and cultural heritage, which they should protect and pass on to future generations”.

Ancient cultures in Chile

In Chile, the State acknowledges and Chilean indigenous peoples are the descendants of human populations that have been present in the national territory since Pre-Hispanic times, that conserve ethnic and cultural traditions and have the land as the basis for their existence and culture.

The State acknowledges the following as Chile’s main ethnic groups: Mapuche, Aymara, Rapa Nui or Easter Islanders, those of the Atacama or Lickan Antay communities, Quechuas and Collas in northern Chile, and the Kaweshkar or Alacalufe and Yamana or Yagan in the southern fjords.

According to the last census carried out in Chile in 2002, 4.6% of the interviewees identified themselves with one of these ethnic groups. Of these, the majority (87.3%) declared to be descendent of the Mapuches. They are followed by the Aymaras (7%) and the Lickan Antay (3%). The rest (Colla, Rapa Nui, Quechua, Yamana and Alacalufe) add up to 2.7%.

Protecting cultural wealth

Tourism is an economic sector based on human interaction, exchange and dialogue. WTD 2011 is a call to all those involved in tourism to act in a way that is conscious and respectful of culture, which promotes intercultural dialogue and ensures that local communities fully participate in, and benefit from, the development opportunities of tourism.

“Culture is one of our most precious assets and needs protecting. As we launch World Tourism Day 2011, I call on all people to conduct tourism in a way that preserves and enriches the cultural wealth of the world for future generations,” says Mr. Rifai.

This entry was originally posted by the author on September 26, 2011.