How to Be a Responsible Tourist

In a world where globalization is occurring at a rapid rate and travel is becoming more and more accessible to everyone, it is important to understand the effects of the tourism industry on the communities that support it.

It has come to light in the last few years that travel, while a huge economic factor for many countries, can also have some devastating effects both socially and environmentally.

The truth is, we can all be better travellers.

Thankfully, the good news is that while the research behind tourism’s negative impacts can be difficult to understand at times, the steps to take towards fixing these problems are really easy.

Here, I have highlighted 7 of the most pervasive problems in tourism, and the simple ways to become a more responsible traveller.

Resort Culture

I, personally, have never been a fan of big, all-inclusive resorts. But hey, I get it. For a lot of travellers, breaking up with resort culture is hard to do. After all, they do provide guests with a sense of safety as they are gated outside of the local community (we can talk about the harsh social implications of this later) and filled with large security teams. They also offer a lot of convenience to guests with everything they could possibly want or need in one place.

While these are generally seen as a good way to grow the local economy, the truth is that they are often owned by Multi-National Corporations and very little of the money trickles into the local communities. Yes, they do provide jobs and thus, wages for locals which is not nothing. However, these wages are often very much below a standard living wage. These conglomerates will help improve a countries GDP, without really doing much at all to change living conditions within the surrounding communities.

In fact, they often create such a drain on resources that they become even more scarce for the locals, especially in developing countries.

Alternatively, small, locally owned hotels have a high multiplier effect and have a proven record of creating real economic growth. They are very low consumption, and better for the environment. This emphasizes community stability and well-being and is overall, a much more ethical choice.

Carbon-Offset When Possible

Perhaps one of the largest arguments to be made about the negative impact of travel around the globe is the introduction of large-scale air pollution. While the simple answer here would be to fly less, it’s not always possible to get from point A to point B without airfare. Also, in many cases, other forms of land travel are not that much better when it comes to pollutants.

Instead, I recommend that whenever possible, you should try to carbon-offset your flight. Carbon-offsetting refers to funding efforts that are made to reduce amounts of carbon dioxide in the air, proportionate to the amount emitted during your flight. Many airlines will offer you the opportunity to add carbon-offsetting to your bill as a “donation” of sorts. This will generally cost you $20-$80 round trip, but this will obviously vary by airline and duration of your flight.

While certainly less popular, there are some airlines who have fully committed to carbon- offsetting, who have simply built it into their general flight pricing such as British Airways. Though many of these specific airlines claim shoulder the majority of the cost on their own, as does British Airways, it is fair to assume at least some of this cost is passed down to the passenger. While you are looking at an additional investment either way, booking a flight through one of these airlines will cost you less, since it does not rely on opt-in participation and the cost is shared evenly amongst EVERY passenger.

While it may not always be possible to carbon-offset your flight based on personal finances, or availability of flights to your destination through these specific airlines, participating when you can will make a great difference for the environment. Also, the more travellers opt-in to fantastic efforts like carbon-offsetting, the more companies will be forced to take on additional corporate social responsibility, as the implication will be that it is important to the consumer and it will become generally expected.

Choose Your Tour Providers Intentionally

Sometimes you have to do a little digging - but besides choosing to support reliable local tour providers than big companies, a quick google search of “socially responsible tourism” + “(insert destination name here)” will quickly provide you will all the information you need to make good choices about who to support.

Companies who provide environmentally or socially responsible tourism are very proud of it, and will often go into great detail on their websites about how they support their community. A lot of times, you’ll even be able to find local hotels that go out of their way to be a driver of social change. Whether these companies participate in important social development work, donate proceeds to charities, operate on an eco-friendly, zero-impact mandate, or simply provide you with culturally sensitive activities, you will feel really good knowing that your travels not only avoided being a negative drain on the local community, but had a positive impact.

In my experience, these tours are also better than the excursions promoted by big resorts. If you want authentic, unique experiences you will remember for years to come, this is definitely the best way to get them.

The Local Villages Are Not A Museum

This one can be a tough pill to swallow because it means admitting that our curious nature, at times, has lead us to infringe on other’s rights without even knowing it. None of us intentionally treat others like they are part of an exhibit in a zoo, and it natural to want to learn about the place you are visiting, and about the people who live there.

Be aware of the commodification of culture. Ultimately, when you travel, many host communities will want to share their culture with you. But remain on the lookout for where culture is being “sold” to you.

Any time a very significant artifact, for example, is replicated and sold as a souvenir, this cheapens the meaning of the item. Try to buy meaningful souvenirs where possible and learn the full history and intention behind any religious or ceremonial experiences you take part in.

It is not okay to pay to attend a religious celebration, without at least informing yourself about it origins, and current function in society.

Lastly, do not take photos of the locals if you do not have a very specific reason to, and explicit consent. I cannot stress this enough. You should really only ever take a photo with someone whom you have established a relationship with. If a woman taught you how to make bread and you spent the afternoon together, or a man has been your tour guide for the last few days, then by all means it is reasonable to want to commemorate that experience with them. As a general rule of thumb, you should know the persons name and have reasonable expectation that when you tell the story of the photo three months from now, you will still remember.

Learn About and Respect the Culture

The main reason tourists get a bad rep for being ignorant, is because it simply ISN’T HARD to respect the local culture. You are visiting someone else’s country, someone else’s space and someone else’s home. Therefore, your preconceived notions about what you should and shouldn’t be allowed to do are not relevant. These people are hosting you and their guest, and you must be respectful their space and their customs.

If you are visiting a muslim village where females must cover their hair, cover your hair.

If you are visiting someone’s home in Poland where shoes must be removed indoors, remove your shoes.

If you are visiting a monument of great historical atrocities, it maybe isn’t the best idea to rambunctiously hoot and holler and run around taking photos of you sticking your tongue out.

It may help to do this research before you leave, but if you are ever unsure, simply ask a local what would be respectful, and expected.

The Debate on Voluntourism

This one can be a little bit tricky. Especially for those of us who consider ourselves to be ethical travellers, it’s pretty likely that at least once we have participated in, or considered participating in, a volunteer trip. After all, isn’t volunteering a good thing?

While the intention of these trips are inherently good, there is a lot of debate about the actual impact of them. The most prominent criticism of these trips is that volunteers are taking jobs from skilled workers in the area. Looking for a company that takes a “teach a man to fish” approach is a good way to make sure your project is really helpful. These trips often promote reliance on international aid, with a “we can do it and you can’t” attitude, and often leads to ineffective changes that are unsustainable.

This isn’t to say that all volunteer trips are unethical. In fact, many are very effective and appreciated by host communities. Just make sure you ask yourself some questions such as “What job am I being sent to do? Am I the most qualified to do it? Is this something a local could do? Is this something locals would benefit from training in, instead?” about the project you are signing on to.

Make sure you will truly be a valuable member of the team and your money is being well spent on the project. Organizations often spend more of their resources tending to the interests of their volunteers than the local community. These volunteer trips cost thousands of dollars to ensure that the volunteer is not an economic drain on the project, but these funds would easily be better spent donating to an organization that is already doing the work locally, and planning a visit to see the results.

Travel in the “Off” season

In the instance where there is not a diversified economy and a community is entirely reliant on the flow of tourists to sustain themselves, the “off” season, when tourism declines drastically, creates a tough financial reality. By choosing to book your trips during these periods of the year (which are specific to every destination) you will help to balance the stream of income and reap some pretty significant benefits for yourself.

While you may have to deal with slightly less ideal weather, the primary factor for these tourism spikes and declines, you will also have experiences that remain untainted by the overflow of tourist traffic, and possibly find really good deals on flights and accommodation.

Above all, the most important things to consider when travelling are “how am I affecting people? How am I affecting the planet?”

If the answers make you uncomfortable, you can easily take some of these steps to improve your impact on host communities.