Last year, Ecuador held a conference called ‘Conscious Tourism’, which was hailed as a wonderful success and a beacon to lead the way forward for tourism. Ecuador made a very bold statement then.
This new strategy was based on the principles of sustainability and ethics; and promoted the values of peace, friendship, respect and love of life as the essence of tourist practice.
I chose the slide above from the presentation made by the keynote speaker and founder of Conscious Travel, Anna Pollock. It is a beautiful saying from Malaysia, that captures how the very wise indigenous people see our planet. The Native Americans knew/know how precious our wondrous planet is, they used only what they needed to live. They did not have laws, they did not need them. They looked out for each other and lived peacefully, and America was bountiful. Then the white man came and brought the evils of egos and empires, and America changed beyond recognition. It’s the same in most countries. I haven’t gone off on a tangent, it’s not too late to listen to what they say, it’s not too late to save this planet. But . . . . .
Reading what had been said at the conference by representatives of different countries and of the UNWTO; I, and many others, were filled with a new hope. No more of the old industrial model of mass tourism, but a new respect for what each country has, their unique cultures and characteristics.
And now there is a race to save Ecuador’s Yasuni national park from the oil lobby. Green groups are frantically campaigning for a petition to force a national referendum to block President Correa’s unilateral sanction for drilling. Yet again, it’s all about the money and not nature that gives us life.
Talk is easy, the annual conferences have ‘leaders’ of tourism, saying wonderfully scripted promises for the future – but it is action we need. Action and a shared aim to conserve and celebrate what we have and not just go on developing for its own sake. We do not need same old, same old . . . . We need determined change, we need commitments from governments to make the changes.
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very well expressed Anna – communication – especially listening is so lacking – no need to say more – youve said it
Great post Lynne – thank you. I am weary of declarations and thick reports from UN agencies using language that simply doesn’t communicate to working people trying to make a living in such a volatile world. When you aggregate tourism statistics to the global level, it all looks very rosy but the picture on the ground for so many operators is very different as they experience first hand the impact of events like cyclones, tsunamis, currency fluctuations, disease, negative travel advisories, let alone U-turns in government policies. At the local level demand charts often resemble the eratic heart beats of a patient with tachycardia. It takes enormous fortitude and ingenuity to steer any kind of straight course given all that buffeting!