How to Be a More Responsible Tourist: a Traveler’s Guide to Ethical Tourism
At the risk of starting this post with a generic travel cliche, being a responsible tourist is a journey – not a destination. You make responsible choices little by little, learning from your mistakes and aiming to do better each trip. There may never be a 100% ethical way to travel, but there are hundreds of informed, thoughtful steps along the way that can help, a little bit at a time, to make a positive impact. And some of those steps may actually be missteps, and only helpful in hindsight.
But importantly, the choices you’re making in an effort to be a more responsible tourist don’t exist in a vacuum: as a traveler, you are a consumer of the tourism industry, and your demand – what you’re willing to pay for – determines the direction that the industry takes.
As a tourism consumer, demanding more transparency, more ethical travel experiences, and a more inclusive and sustainable travel industry pushes the tourism industry forward. And the tourism industry represents a stunning 10% of Global GDP. That’s huge. The potential for positive impact is enormous.
Before we dive into how you can be a more responsible tourist, I want to begin this post by saying that I am not an “expert” in ethical tourism. I am not an academic or a “thought leader.” I’m just a member of the tourism industry with a large platform, and a lifelong learner who is constantly striving to do better and to make a positive impact. I’m really more of a work in progress than an expert.
But over the five years that I’ve been working professionally in the tourism industry, I’ve come to realize that whether or not I’m a Certified Expert, I have a responsibility to be as informed as possible about ethical tourism and a duty to use my platform as a way to educate other travelers – many of whom may be even less knowledgeable than I am. Read More…
