Tourism Initiatives to Save the Earth

Turtle hatchling in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

© www.viceroyzihuatanejo.com

by Marcela Torres

If you’re still not convinced that the tourism industry can actively help save our planet, you’ll be surprised by the initiatives we’re covering in this week’s blog in anticipation to this year’s Earth Day celebration, on April 22nd. From recycling to hands-on conservation projects, tourism companies and not-for-profit organizations across the world are contributing to conserve the environment for future generations. Hopefully, you will be inspired to play a part!

Just a Drop

Did you know that 1.4 million children die every year from diarrhea because of unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation? That is 4,000 children per day. “I started to think about how I could encourage businesses in the travel and tourism industry to give back to the places in which they operated – thus improving the lives of children and their families,” says Fiona Jeffery, who launched Just a Drop in 1998 at the World Travel Market (WTM), in London. 

Fiona named the charity ‘Just a Drop’ to reinforce that it only takes a small amount of money to help prevent the unnecessary loss of life that occurs many developing countries due to the lack of safe, clean water. Until now, Just a Drop has funded projects in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East, providing water and sanitation to marginalized communities. 

To ensure sustainability of the projects, the organization works with beneficiary communities from start to finish, building local capacity and directly linking funders to specific projects in the field, so they can see very clearly the difference their support has made. 

In fact, Fiona is also the Chair of the WTM, where she has promoted the celebration of World Responsible Tourism Day (WRTD) since 2007, stressing the unique opportunity the tourism industry has in helping reduce poverty and conserve natural and cultural resources throughout the planet. “We have the means and the responsibility to help the local communities of the places that we visit,” she states. 

Clean the World

Have you ever wondered what happens with the bits of bar soap you leave behind in hotels when traveling? Well, Shawn Seipler and Paul Till did. They were shocked to find out how many bars of soaps are thrown away and how much they could help prevent millions of deaths caused by hygiene-related illnesses every day. So, they created the Florida-based Clean the World Foundation in 2009.

What do they do? They collect, sort and process discarded soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion product donations from participating hospitality partners and hygiene products from manufacturers. They recycle these product donations at the facilities in Orlando, Florida, and then deliver these recycled products to domestic homeless shelters and impoverished countries suffering from high death rates due to acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease.

Until now, Clean the World has put over 9.5 million soap bars and 200,000 pounds of shampoo and conditioner back into human use, while eliminating over 600 tons of waste. Check out their video to learn more!

Saving Turtles and More

Many tourism businesses are undertaking initiatives to conserve wildlife throughout the world. In Mexico, for example, several eco-resorts have successfully developed marine turtle conservation programs –some of them since the mid-1990s- in which guests, staff and local community volunteers help move turtle eggs to a protected area on the beach and then release hatchlings to find their way to the sea.

And in the State of Queensland, in Australia, tourism companies with permits to operate in public protected areas collaborate with local authorities to monitor the environmental conditions of the places they visit. Among other things, they record visitor numbers, campfire facilities, road kills, number of species and feeding sites and any disturbance they encounter during their trips. This helps park authorities to act quickly in case of any emergency and keep updated information on the sites.

These are just a few examples, among many others carried out in other places. Are you feeling inspired? I bet you are! So, get out there and find out what you can do to save our beautiful planet and leave it even better for the next generations.

Happy Earth Day!

This entry was originally posted by the author on April 20, 2012.

WRTD 2011: Tourism can help reduce poverty

Harriet Lamb during the WRTD 2011 opening ceremony at the WTM.

© Marcela Torres

By Marcela Torres

 “We have the means and the responsibility to help the local communities of the places that we visit and empower them to overcome poverty,” said Fiona Jeffrey, Chairman of the WTM. She also dedicated some words to the many and often unknown industry champions, highlighting that there’s a growing number of people who are working day to day to protect our culture, defend our destinations, conserving biological diversity and contributing to secure the sustainability of our home, Earth.

The official opening speech for this fifth version of the WRTD was presented by Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation. Lamb remembered that “twenty years ago, when I started talking about paying fair prices to small farmers for their coffee many people laughed at me saying nobody would be willing to pay more to help people sustain their livelihoods. Well, they’re not laughing now!”

Actually the fair-trade movement has expanded throughout the world and more and more consumers are demanding products with a fair-trade certification. And it’s not just about coffee farmers. The concept applies to all kinds of products and trade areas. Lamb said that 50% of consumers in the United Kingdom, for example, are willing to pay more for a product that is certified as fair-trade.

“And the good thing is that it also makes sense for the businesses,” Lamb said. “Think about it. A large supermarket chain that sold some excellent chocolate actually made the connection while talking to us and they realized that if they did not pay their cocoa farmers well enough, those people would run out of business and they wouldn’t have farmers to supply them cocoa beans to produce their chocolate bars. No beans, no bars. It’s that simple!”

That commercial advantage has also been understood by several tourism companies who are not only paying fairly to their suppliers but also –in many cases- have gone a step further and set up foundations to support education, conservation and even tap water community projects throughout the world.

There is much to be achieved still, however, and Fiona Jeffrey made a call to the entire tourism industry to hop on to the responsible tourism wagon: “This is not just a cultish craze or the latest in-vogue trend to be replaced with something else in a year or two. Increasing numbers of consumers are recognizing that the world –or the industry for that matter- cannot go on in the way it has since mass tourism first came into being.” With more than 300 delegates from all over the world, the World Responsible Tourism Day 2011 was celebrated yesterday at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, stressing the unique opportunity the tourism industry has in helping reduce poverty throughout the planet.

This entry was originally posted by the author on November 10, 2011.