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Sustainable Travel Report
The Responsible Tourism e-Newsletter
A Message from STI President
I am happy to report that STI has opened a new office in Hood River, Oregon just outside of Portland. Set within the Columbia River Gorge, the region where our new office is located was designated a National Scenic Area in 1986 to protect scenery, cultural and natural resources and recreation.
With the establishment of an office on the West Coast, we hope to further strengthen our work in the U.S. and within the greater Pacific/Asia region and promote communication among those involved and interested in sustainable tourism. Back in Boulder, Colorado, our office will be operated and managed by STI Vice President Peter Krahenbuhl.
We appreciate any questions or suggestions you might have about our expansion, e-Newsletter and work inside and outside of the U.S.
Yours sincerely,
Brian T. Mullis
President
brianm@sustainabletravel.com
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Designing Your Sustainability Policy
Your first step toward embracing sustainable business practices entails creating a sustainability policy. Your sustainability policy will define and help you to clearly communicate your organizational goals and objectives as they relate to your environmental, socio-cultural, and economic performance and related impacts.
Keep in mind that the purpose of your sustainability policy is to help guide decision-making, management and the daily operations of your business in a sustainable manner. To help you prepare an effective sustainability policy, consider the following six steps:
Step 1
Begin by clearly stating your business' commitment to achieve environmental, socio-cultural, and economic performance goals and objectives. This approach will provide a solid framework for developing an effective management plan for implementing your policy.
Step 2
Write your sustainability policy in such a way that its clear, concise, and the language and orientation match your existing literature so that it fits into your mainstream business operations.
Step 3
Determine your company's positive and negative impacts, such as the amount of energy and water consumed by your business, the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by your business, and the economic benefits you provide to local and indigenous communities.
- Ensure that your policy provides guidance about the specific environmental, socio-cultural, and economic issues and impacts that are important and relevant to your business operations;
- Prioritize your efforts according to your most significant impacts; and
- Establish a framework for your plan of action.
Step 4
Address your connection to stakeholders. Determine how you're going to cooperate with your employees, clients, other service providers, and local communities:
Employees
To a large extent, implementing your sustainability policy successfully depends on the active participation of your employees. Your staff must receive the training required to positively contribute to your sustainability goals and objectives. It is essential that you obtain their support of your company's sustainability policy.
Clients
Communicating your efforts toward sustainability to clients is a great way to stimulate interest and cooperation. It's also a great selling point! Promoting your related goals and objectives in your marketing materials will encourage your customers to do their part in contributing to these efforts. Stimulating client involvement is also a good way to educate them and raise awareness of the sustainability issues you're trying to address.
Service Providers
Many tourism providers subcontract services from other companies. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure that these service providers adhere to sustainable standards as well. Find out if they have a sustainability policy, if they are certified by a sustainable tourism program, or if they follow specified standards. Many providers have a corporate responsibility or environmental policy statement that may lay the foundation. If you find that your service providers are not as devoted to sustainability as you'd like, then consider educating them so that they can achieve a higher level of sustainability and meet your requirements.
Local Communities
Local communities and their environments are central to many tourism operations, and they should be invited to play an active, collaborative role in your business. Working with one another to enhance economic development that equally benefits your business and the locals should be a regular process by which your organization interacts within its region(s) of operation. It is essential that local communities where you operate feel like your organization is part of their social system.
Step 5
Your sustainability policy should also focus on continuous improvement. Set fixed objectives, which can be quantified by measuring your impacts, and then create systems to measure your progress. So you know what's working and what isn't.
Third party assessments and customer feedback are also good ways to monitor your progress. You may also seek assistance from a third-party environmental specialist when dealing with your facilities and their impact on the environment.
Step 6
Last but not least, review and update your sustainability policy annually to ensure that it's up-to-date. Eliminate practices that aren't working and develop new ones to address issues that may have come up during the past year. Your sustainability policy should be a living document - something which will evolve along with your business.
Examples
Good examples of sustainability policies include:
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Responsible Travel:
Visit the "Mana" of Turtle Island
The "mana," or magic, of Turtle Island includes 14 white beaches, colorful fish, the famous Blue Lagoon and tropical forests all of which are protected by an environmental consciousness.
Richard Evanson, an American cable-television executive bought the 500-acre (202-hectare) South Pacific island in 1972. He felt it was appropriate to restore the island - which had been overrun by wild goats - to a tropical paradise. Evanson's philosophy has led to the replanting of more than 300,000 trees and the protection of wetlands and coral reefs.
In addition, the island's natural springs provide water, which is heated by solar panels. Food is harvested from an organic garden that spans 3 acres (1 hectare), and the limited number of people (14 couples) who are allowed to visit the island stay in traditional thatch-covered, two-room "bures," or bungalows. Composting and recycling also are practiced.
To ensure the island remains environmentally conscious, Turtle Island participates in ecotourism studies conducted by Ecotourism Consultants Fiji. These studies have provided guidance with such projects as installing boardwalks that leave the surrounding vegetation undisturbed and have provided literature to help visitors understand the island's biodiversity. After all, the island has been described as "a precious gift of nature and something to be treasured and protected ... ."
Turtle Island won first prize in the Green Globe Achievement Awards for 2000 and Green Hotelier of the Year in 1999 by the International Hotel and Restaurant Association. For more information, visit www.turtlefiji.com.
Please note: This article appeared in the Jan/Feb 2004 issue of Eco-Structure Magazine.
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Spanish Lessons for Better Tourism
and a Better World
When you travel, knowing the local language can mean the difference between a good trip and a great one, staying healthy, getting lost or sitting on the most beautiful, silky sand beach you've ever seen.
Speak Shop is doing its part to promote healthier, happier trips to Spanish-speaking countries while helping to alleviate poverty in those countries. Through private tutoring and simple video conferencing technology, Speak Shop makes it easy for people throughout the world to take face-to-face Spanish lessons with experienced instructors in Guatemala. Before a traveler sets sail for Latin Aerica, they can take one-on-one Spanish lessons from home through their computer using video, audio and text chat. Every lesson is personalized and can be scheduled at the traveler's convenience.
For example, a Spanish teacher earns about $1.50 per hour working in Guatemala and faces layoffs during slow seasons, but at Speak Shop they can teach year-round and set their own rates. At the same time, students receive affordable private tutoring, paying just $5 or $6 per hour, and avoid the hassles of driving to lessons or committing to fixed class schedules.
Speak Shop was awarded "Best Social Return on Investment" in the 2005 SET Inventors Challenge: Social and Environmental Technology for the Developing World, a business plan competition for companies that generate social or environmental benefits in developing countries.
Speak Shop plans to expand beyond Guatemala and Spanish in the future. "We hope to create an international online community and make it easier for people all over the world to communicate," said Co-founder Cindy Cooper. "Globalization has connected our economies, but people are still divided by cultural, political and religious beliefs. Understanding and acceptance start with language."
About Speak Shop
Speak Shop is the new kid in town. "We just joined STI in June, and we are looking forward to being part of the community. Since our launch in March of this year, people around the world have been using Speak Shop to 'Learn Spanish for Good.'"
Speak Shop was founded by Clay and Cindy Cooper, and its mission is to increase access to foreign language education while providing new economic opportunities for tutors in developing countries.
For more information, email Speak Shop, visit their website or call 971-563-5245.
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Conference Corner:
3rd Global Summit on Peace through Tourism
The 2005 Global Summit on Peace through Tourism will be held at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort in Pattaya, Thailand from October 2-5, 2005.
Theme
One Earth One Family: Travel and Tourism - Serving a Higher Purpose.
Aim
To develop a 21st Century Agenda for Peace through Tourism that addresses the key global issues of our time.
Summit Goals
1. Provide a forum for leading government, industry, donor agency, and NGO decision makers, as well as leading educators, researchers, professionals and practitioners, to debate and reach consensus on the contribution of the world's largest industry to the global issues of our time, including:
- A coordinated and sustained travel industry response to redevelopment and revitalization of tsunami affected countries
- Poverty reduction
- Healing the wounds of conflict
- Preventing conflict by promoting cultural and international understanding, tolerance, and cooperation
- Ecological Enhancement and Preservation of Biodiversity
2. Facilitate strategic government, private sector, donor agency, and NGO alliances to achieve the these goals.
3. Demonstrate current progress towards these goals with "Success Stories" and "Models of Best Practice."
4. Through marketing and promotion of the Summit, support the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in disseminating the message that: Tourists and travelers to tsunami affected countries are welcome and needed; that tourist enjoyment of a destination sends an authentic message of caring, solidarity and support for recovery; and that all tourists are assured of a warm welcome.
U.N. Millennium Development Goals
The 3rd Global Summit on Peace through Tourism is in support of the U.N. Decade of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, and the U.N. Millennium Goals.
Keynote Speakers
Speakers will include world leaders, travel industry statesmen, and leaders in related sectors such as environment, culture, sport, and sustainable economic development.
For More Information
Email the International Institute for Peace through Tourism or visit www.iipt.org. To register for the event, email Ms. Sonny at Pacific World Ltd. in Thailand.
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Laos has a wealth of outstanding cultural and natural attractions that in combination with Lao people's warm hospitality make it a great place for ecotourism activities. The Lao National Tourism Administration is working hard to establish a sustainable tourism industry that can help to protect these resources and alleviate poverty while developing Laos into one of the world's premier ecotourism destinations.
For those interested in experiencing ecotourism in Laos first-hand, the country has more than 20 brand-new programs, ranging from 4 day trekking expeditions in the mountains of Luang Namtha to leisurely boat and elephant rides in Champasak's Mekong Valley. All of these tours operate according to similar principles - using ecotourism as a tool to boost local employment, raising funding and awareness for biodiversity conservation, promoting the use of local products, building human resources, supporting the preservation of indigenous knowledge and informing local hosts and travelers about the significance of the places they visit.
For more information on the country's sustainable tourism strategy and the exciting new ecotourism programs that have been developed, please visit www.ecotourismlaos.com.
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