Tourism - Spring 2009 - issue 139

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7KH 7RXULVP 6RFLHW\ Trinity Court, 34 West Street, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1SH T 020 8661 4636 F 020 8661 4637 E journal@tourismsociety.org W www.tourismsociety.org Registered in England No. 01366846. ISSN: 02613700 Designed and produced by Wharncliffe Publishing Contact Tony Barry 47 Church Street Barnsley S70 2AS T 01226 734333 E tb@whpl.net W www. whpl.net Š Copyright 2009 The Tourism Society Tourism is the journal of the Tourism Society.The views expressed in Tourism are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of the Tourism Society. Whilst unsolicited material is welcomed, neither transparencies nor unpublished articles can be returned.

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Tourism is only available to members of the Tourism Society and on subscription, it is distributed quarterly to 1500 professionals working in national and regional tourist boards, local government, travel agencies, and tour operators, visitor attractions, accommodation and catering, entertainment, information services, guiding, consultancies and education and training. Britain images Š www.britainonview.com

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Contents

Editorial Responsible tourism is well and truly on the agenda In the late 1980s, when I first became uneasy about the effect of tourism on vulnerable communities, few people concerned themselves with responsible travel. But as a guidebook writer and publisher specialising at that time in trekking guides I shared responsibility for introducing travellers to hitherto unknown rural areas, and as a trek leader returning year after year to the same Andean settlements, I saw with dismay how the villagers had changed from shy but curious observers to pestering beggars. And I realised that the trekkers who created this behaviour by handing out pens and sweets, wanted to help but didn’t know how.

Bradt travel guides have always carried advice on minimum impact, but in the 1990s we moved towards positive impact, setting out guidelines for interacting with the locals, cultural do’s and don’ts, and listing charities that welcome visitors.This issue of Tourism is full of heartening articles demonstrating just how far the industry has come in its willingness to ensure that tourism is a force for good.

In a recent meeting of the British Guild of Travel Writers the chairman questioned how many members were in favour of the expansion of Heathrow Airport. Only two hands went up; mine was one of them. I was particularly interested, therefore, to read the well-informed article on the subject by Oliver Bennett.The beneficiary of the ‘don’t fly’ lobby is British tourism, and green tourism at that. Only in recent years have holiday makers sought out accommodation and venues that strive to maintain a low carbon footprint. Only in recent years have tourists travelling abroad looked at ways of giving something back; the rise in the popularity of volunteering holidays is remarkable.

Responsible tourism is now well and truly on the agenda and the tourists seem to like it that way.

Hilary Bradt MBE | Chairman, Bradt Travel Guides Publisher of Wildlife & Conservation Volunteering | www.bradtguides.com

Tourism’s Footprint Patricia Barnett, Director,Tourism Concern

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Working to reduce tourism’s ‘footprint’ Sue Hurdle, Chief Executive of the Travel Foundation

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Sign of the times … Green Certification Schemes Jason Freezer, Sustainable Tourism Project Manager,VisitEngland

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The Importance of Running a Sustainable Attraction David Campbell FTS, CEO and President of AEG Europe,The O2

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Delivering Sustainable Games David Stubbs, Head of Sustainability for the London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games

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The Hospitality Industry: Operating Sustainably Philippe Rossiter FTS, Chief Executive, Institute of Hospitality

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Tourism must Grasp the Green Economy Opportunity 9 Professor Geoffrey Lipman FTS, UNWTO,Victoria University & The Christel DeHaan Institute Taking Responsibility: Volunteering and Insurance 10 Harold Goodwin FTS, Professor of Responsible Tourism Management, International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University Responsible Volunteering : Win-win for all Sallie Grayson, People & Places

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Setting up a Sustainable Tour Operator in Africa Ektah Shah MTS, African Sojourn Ltd

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Winner of the British Guild of Travel Writers’ Best New Overseas Project Award 2008 Sarah Monaghan, Editor, Gabon Magazine; Press Co-ordinator, BGTW

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Airport Expansion and Tourism Oliver Bennett FTS, Independent Consultant

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The Footprint of Pilgrimage Tourism Anngret Heiks, Masters Student, University of Surrey

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Book Reviews

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Membership News

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From the President’s Desk Crisis definitely brings out the best service in Britain. On ‘snowday’ Monday, whilst most wise people stayed at home, I left the north coast of Scotland for a three-line whip in Westminster. After a perfect journey to Inverness and an ahead-ofschedule arrival at Gatwick, the fun began trying to get to London. No trains, no coaches, no hire cars left, leaving taxis the only way to travel, meant a queue 200 yards long and for me a two-hour plus wait.

Now I could complain about the inability of our rail system to cope, or the lack of gritters which took the buses off the road, and the inconvenience of taking four and a half hours to get from Gatwick to the House of Commons (I made the vote by the way), but what really struck me was the heroic efforts of some BAA staff to

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bring order to chaos and keep the line moving. One man with a loud hailer kept us informed whilst another marshalled a team which grabbed incoming taxis at the drop off and got them to take people back with them, which is how I ended up sharing a black cab with a rather bemused Italian tourist.That team at Gatwick pulled out all the stops in a crisis and delivered outstanding service in difficult circumstances.

It would be so wonderful if that same commitment could become a part of everyday service, because I think we all, in a curious way, rather enjoyed it.There was something of a carnival atmosphere.

Strangers talked to each other, there was nothing anyone could do except grin and bear it – so that is what we did. I would bet the staff went home at the end of the

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day mightily satisfied and regaled their families with their exploits.

The trick for us managers must be to get the same enthusiasm and passion into everyday service.

Lord Thurso FTS | President | Tourism Society

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Tourism Concern

Tourism’s Footprint ‘Little did we realise then how graphic and emotive the description Footprint would become. It is such a well-used concept that today there are over a million references to Tourism Footprint to be found on Google’ The slogan for the most environmentallyfriendly travel used to be: ‘Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints.’ How times have changed!

Little did we realise then how graphic and emotive the description Footprint would become. It is such a well-used concept that today there are over a million references to ‘Tourism Footprint’ to be found on Google. Nowadays ‘footprint’ is inextricably associated with global warming and carbon emissions and is something we are all encouraged to reduce. It has an entirely negative connotation as it is transforming weather patterns in a frightening and disturbing way.

We already know that our way of life contributes to climate change and that it is the poorer countries that will suffer most. For those countries dependent on tourism for their economic well-being, this creates a cruel irony as flying perpetuates the problem.

Key to the carbon footprint is that it relates directly to personal lifestyle choices as well as to the impacts of businesses and industry. Although our footprints are made locally, the impacts are received globally. Individualising the carbon footprint to the point where each one of us is being asked to take responsibility for our behaviour in order to save the planet is an extraordinary opportunity for each of us to connect the local with the global. For many this is an uncomfortable choice as we don’t consider our lifestyles to be luxurious or profligate.

I would like to extend the idea of the need to take responsibility for our footprints to wider aspects of tourism’s impacts. Although there is much about

the tourism industry to be proud of, many of us are uncomfortably familiar with other, less welcome signs: the grey concrete where once were pristine beaches, the displaced communities eking out a living on the periphery of an activity they barely understand, the rubbish that soon begins to disfigure popular landscape.

Long before carbon became such a powerful issue,Tourism Concern argued that we need to rethink the way we manage, market and sell holidays, because some impacts are unacceptable. The footprint we talk about is on people’s environments, economies, social and cultural lives and on their human rights.

Many of those who tell us stories about how their lives have been changed by tourism are never given a choice. Many would like tourism to continue but in a way where they, their families and their communities can benefit.Tourism for them is a strange force that arrives without prior discussion or permission and irretrievably changes their way of life.

The footprint for them has nothing to do with carbon and everything to do with marginalisation and discrimination.

Although UK operators are now responding to social and environmental issues, there is still a considerable way to go. Operators contract hotels that have displaced people and ground handlers who carry out unfair practices. Tourism’s footprint accounts for huge numbers of displaced people who lived and worked on exquisite beaches and natural environments. Tourism’s footprint accounts for dismal wages and appalling working conditions and for the exploitation of children. It accounts for people being viewed as a backdrop to our holidays and not as stakeholders and

for plundering the very environment it depends on.

I say nothing new. What is new is that the Kayan women with brass rings around their extended necks, held in slavery for tourists to take their photos, now have their freedom.

What is new is that a determined group of Bahamian islanders have successfully fought to prevent the destruction of Bimini by outsider hotel and second-home developers. What is new is the growing movement of people around the world who are claiming their own right to earn income from tourism and who welcome guests with genuine warmth, because they have learned to manage their own community-based tourism.

If only there were over a million tourism footprint actions happening across the world!

Tricia Barnett |Director | Tourism Concern

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The Travel Foundation Working to reduce tourism’s ‘footprint’ ‘We want to see tourism maximise its potential in alleviating poverty and conserving traditional ways of life and skills’ Helping tourism benefit host communities and reduce its ‘footprint’ on the environment is at the heart of the Travel Foundation’s work.

The UK travel industry has always been at the leading edge, ever since the pioneering days of travel.The ‘package’ holiday itself was invented here, and so have most of the key tourism innovations since.

This edition of Tourism shows that we are still breaking new ground, now in understanding tourism’s footprint or footprints, not just CO2 but our effect on wildlife, destination environments and, above all, on destination peoples and their economies.

The industry – tour operators, travel retailers (high street and online), airlines and others – control the footprint of tourism from the UK, so it is only by change of and through the industry that a real effect will be felt worldwide.

The Travel Foundation, formed by the travel industry and NGOs with the encouragement of the Government, was created as a resource for the travel industry to help companies understand how to make tourism more sustainable.

This is essentially about building awareness of what a company’s footprint might be and helping to reduce it -through training, & practical tools to facilitate change and by demonstrating what good practice looks like in destinations.

Tourism is a unique form of trade in that it is largely free of the tariff barriers which often prevent poor communities trading themselves out of poverty. We want to see tourism maximise its potential in alleviating poverty and

conserving traditional ways of life and skills.

A major area of focus for us in destinations is enhancing local livelihoods – something tourism is ideally suited to.

We have been supporting efforts to try and encourage the industry to source locally and create opportunities for local businesses in agriculture, craft and excursions, all of which can enrich the holiday experience too. In The Caribbean and The Gambia, for example, initiatives have been established to help local farmers supply food to tourist hotels.

These new linkages are strengthened by training to enhance production and a schools’ programme to encourage the young to consider agriculture as a future option – important for future food security. The benefits have been significant, with farmers earning up to 300% more and hotels seeing quality rise and prices fall on some produce.

In Kenya, we have supported efforts to change the way excursions are purchased, which has helped Maasai villagers increase their income from tourism by a startling 800 per cent from the same number of tourists (see our short online film at thetravelfoundation.org.uk/help.asp).

A vital role for the UK industry in minimising its supply chain footprint is to encourage and help destination suppliers

to source locally and appropriately.

Turning to the environment, we are focused on encouraging hotels to save water and energy. A good example is a pilot project carried out with 106 hotels last summer in Cyprus. Many hotels achieved significant savings in water and energy – generally between 5 per cent and 15 per cent – saving many tens of thousands of tons of water, enough to provide household water to a small town of local families. One hotel alone saved 2,747 tons of water (15 per cent), and 107,139 kilowatts of electricity (nine per cent). The total cost savings to the hotel was nearly €50,000 a year. The results from Cyprus are really encouraging, showing what can be done in just a few months.This is evidence that reducing your environmental footprint can certainly benefit your bottom line.

Besides destination projects like these in 12 countries across four continents, the Travel Foundation has also developed a range of resources for the UK industry.

These tools help companies educate staff and customers about sustainability, for example, climate change and tourism, as well as helping integrate sustainability within the business, for example through training for managers.

Contact us to discuss how we can help your business to secure a sustainable future.

Sue Hurdle | Chief Executive | The Travel Foundation

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Green Certification Schemes Introduction In the past year, the number of businesses in the Green Tourism Business Scheme has grown by around 40 per cent. Still, the overall numbers are relatively low, with less than four per cent of known accommodation in Britain being ’green’ schemes participants. It is clear though, that there is motivation from industry to have these programmes, and an imperative from the public sector to support them, helping to illustrate how their sustainability targets are being achieved.

A wealth of different programmes, schemes and eco-labels are available.

Careful selection adds real value for a business, avoids claims of ‘greenwash’ (unsubstantiated claims of being green) and develops a marketing edge that attracts increasingly aware consumers. But what is right for each business will depend greatly on its own individual circumstances and aspirations.

Certification or accreditation?

Certification programmes, schemes or eco-labels are where a third party (i.e. the scheme operator) gives written/ documented assurances that a product meets specific criteria. Accreditation, according to Xavier Font et al [2003], is the process of ‘ensuring the certification bodies operate to high standards, ensuring rigor to both industry and markets, by guaranteeing the competency of certification programmes and the validity of the standards they work to. It does, in effect, certify the certifiers’.

VisitEngland and Visit Wales have both committed to a process of accreditation for sustainable tourism schemes, providing clarity for industry and confidence for consumers.

The process, (by the International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds) ensures that the schemes we recognise and promote are robust and credible, which in doing so helps deter greenwash.

This process does not necessarily imply others are of a poor standard but that they do not yet meet the expectations of such a programme.

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Why have certification schemes?

There is much debate about the need for certification. It does have a purpose and value, primarily from the recognition businesses gain for their efforts, not only in terms of marketing potential, but as a badge of pride. Schemes also add value to businesses that need direction, providing them a framework around which to form their sustainable development plans and therefore achieve the real benefits embodied in embracing sustainable tourism.

However, work is yet to be done to establish the full extent of the value of certification. Claims exist that businesses can hide behind a badge, that their efforts are reduced to a minimum as soon as they have achieved the accolade.

This of course goes against the principles of sustainability, where a business should be striving for continual improvement and monitoring their impact on an on-going basis.

An associated challenge is the

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increasingly savvy consumer, who will start to question businesses when they don’t see the manifestations of the certification label. Many actions that interest a business in the early stages (cost savings around resource efficiency) are predominantly ‘back of house’ and less visible to the consumer. With increased consumer-facing aspects, for example, local food, comes the need for provenance. The ability of a scheme to measure the impact of such social or community aspects is problematic and needs complete transparency.

Are there alternatives?

Certification is not right for everyone but other choices exist.

Green Start is a programme piloted by VisitEngland that aims to be a stepping stone process for businesses to start learning about sustainability. It seeks to engage, educate and prepare businesses for the next steps of gaining a badge with one of VisitEngland’s validated schemes.

Green Start is currently being redeveloped following the pilot:

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‘The choices for businesses are extensive: they need to be certain about what they are trying to achieve when embarking on this journey’ www.visitbritain.com/green.

Organisations such as Cornwall Sustainable Tourism Project (CoaST) exist as a network to support businesses in their efforts to be sustainable. A wealth of information is available to CoaST members on their website – www.cstn.org.uk and membership is not limited to businesses or residents in Cornwall but open to all who are interested. A similar organisation is being developed in Kent www.kentstn.org.uk.

Awards programmes are too numerous to mention here but I will mention VisitEngland’s Enjoy England Excellence Awards where we have a sustainability category. Meanwhile Virgin Holidays Responsible Travel Awards are internationally renowned. (www.responsibletourismawards.com).

In Wales, the Wales Business and Sustainability Awards promote and celebrate the success of organisations that have improved their environmental performance and considered all aspects of sustainability in their operations. www.walessustainabilityawards.com

Conclusions The choices for businesses are extensive: they need to be certain about what they are trying to achieve when embarking on this journey.

In the longer term British national tourist boards are aiming to have

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sustainability principles as an integral part of the quality standards.

Whilst this will take time it could result in great steps forward for sustainable tourism in this country.

The market will ultimately decide if integration into standards is a positive step forward or if continued use of sustainable tourism labels will remain

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relevant, but in the meantime businesses need to have direction and guidance.

Selecting the right certification is a difficult task.

However, no matter the reasons for it, the purpose of certification is generally a principled one – to get businesses engaged in a journey on the road to sustainability.

Jason Freezer | Sustainable Tourism Project Manager| VisitEngland

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The O2 Arena

The importance of running a sustainable attraction

I guess it is fair to say that The O2, by its very structure, is an iconic building.

However, as everything under the tent is built from scratch, we had the chance to include strong sustainable elements in the design of the arena and the buildings along Entertainment Avenue.

As well as housing the world’s most popular music arena,The O2 is also home to a state-of-the-art 2,300 capacity live-music venue, indigO2, an 11-screen Vue cinema complex, an exhibition centre (The O2 bubble), Matter, a 2,500 capacity nightclub, and an entire street of bars, restaurants and leisure attractions.

Sustainable techniques used during construction included minimising lorry movements, off-site component manufacturing and maximising the reuse and recycling of building materials.

As well as building the O2, AEG Europe are the operators, so we recognise our responsibility to ensure we provide a major boost to the local economy. We engage effectively with the local community and commit appropriate resources to reduce the environmental impacts of our business. We pride ourselves on a wider agenda than just ‘environmental’ with a strong social strand to our sustainable approaches to running a major attraction.

On the ‘green’ side, we have energyefficient lighting with LED illuminations making The O2 not only striking when lit, but five times more energy efficient than its previous lighting scheme. I am particularly proud of ‘Big Hannah’, our on-site composter – she composts 100

‘On the ‘green’ side, we have energy-efficient lighting with LED illuminations making The O2 not only striking when lit, but five times more energy efficient than its previous lighting scheme’ per cent of all arena food waste. We plan to use the compost on local parklands on the Peninsula when all the appropriate checks on quality have been made. All our visitors are encouraged to recycle and the back-of-house waste minimisation is excellent. We are working closely with our tenants and their suppliers to ensure the O2 is as one of the world’s leading green venues.

As we can expect around 30,000 people for an evening arena event, our travel plan, which is very ambitious for an operation of this scale, places a major emphasis on the use of public transport.

It has proven effective with over 76 per cent of visitors using boats, tubes and other forms of public transport.

On the social side, our strong local labour policies have been key. Before the launch, we developed the Preemployment Training programme with GLLaB (Greenwich Local Labour and Business) which set about getting local people job-ready through the combined design of the recruitment and training mechanisms. AEG then guaranteed successful participants the opportunity to come forward for interview. Now nearly

David Campbell FTS | CEO and President of AEG Europe | The O2

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half of our workforce comes from the local area which has been instrumental in securing the plaudits we have received for good customer care. This model has been adopted by the five Olympic boroughs as a way to get local people into jobs now being created by the 2012 Olympics.

Following this theme, we are embarking on a major events volunteering programme using the same principles of local engagement through volunteering opportunities at the World Gymnastics Championships hosted at The O2 later this year. As an Olympic host venue for both the gymnastics and the basketball finals, we hope that this programme will be viewed as a pilot to see how venues, with planning, can manage and promote volunteering in a positive way, even perhaps creating some jobs in the process. Later this year we also host another major sporting event – the ATP World Tour Finals.

We operate a wide and varied schools’ programme that includes ‘Clipper Classrooms’ (learning activities on Thames Clippers river boat service in which nearly 2,000 pupils have so far taken part) as well as a large community engagement programme securing local people access to events and activities at The O2.These ensure we remain rooted in the area. We continue to strive to do more as we know this not only makes good business sense for AEG and The O2 but our customers expect it.

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London 2012

Delivering Sustainable Games – Our Vision Our vision for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is to use the power of the Games to inspire change.

London 2012 is the first Summer Host City to embed sustainability at its core from the bid-stage.

Put simply, we aim to host the Games within the resources available to us, without affecting the ability of future generations to do the same.This a broad and rich prospect, one which is certainly far more than simply managing the impact of staging a few weeks of international sport competition.

Achievements so far The London 2012 Sustainability Plan: ‘Towards a One Planet 2012’ outlines our framework to deliver sustainable Games.

This spans the three phases of the Games: building the venues and infrastructure, staging the Games themselves and legacy.

We certainly want the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be distinctive. But this does not automatically mean bigger and grander than previous Games – far from it. We place great emphasis on long-term legacy value; use what we have, build only what we need and provide temporary facilities for the rest.

At the half-way point between winning the bid and staging the Games, there have already been significant achievements: I Regenerating one of the most deprived areas in the UK I Ensuring 75p in every £1 is going on the long-term regeneration I Designing a compact Olympic Park Supporting people living around the Olympic Park to access jobs on site I Reusing/recycling more than 90 per cent of construction waste I Cleaning and reusing more than 80 per cent of soil at the Olympic Park I Integrating sustainability into contracts and agreements eg sponsors, training camps, inspiring four of the seven domestic sponsors to focus their activation on sustainability I Planning for 102ha of Metropolitan

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Open Space in legacy

Plans in the Pipeline Clearly we are only part-way there and many challenges lie ahead. Climate change and carbon footprinting is a key focus area for us this year. We are currently working with leading NGOs (such as WWF and BioRegional), businesses and individual specialists we are developing a comprehensive approach to defining and measuring the Games carbon footprint.This will be a valuable tool to help us identify further opportunities to reduce our impacts and will serve as a knowledge legacy for future Games and other major events.

In the same way we are tackling complex and inter-related sustainability challenges of waste management, food provision, transport, accessibility, biodiversity, healthy living and community engagement among others.

Measuring Success Finally, how will we know we’ve achieved our objectives? How do we know we are on track to deliver a sustainable London 2012?

An independent and authoritative body has been set-up to provide strategic scrutiny and assurance across the London 2012 sustainability programme.

The Commission for Sustainable London 2012 keeps regular track of our process though annual and topic-based reports.

However, the real test will be whether the Games can make a positive and lasting difference: to the local environment; to people’s quality of life; to

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the way people and companies behave and make choices; even to our knowledge and understanding of sustainability itself.

Setting an example The Olympic and Paralympic Games are the world’s two biggest sporting events. We want to set new standards by staging them in a sustainable way.The work has already started and we have developed sustainable event guidelines to ensure we are delivering our events in the most sustainable way.

The guidelines were tested out at the Visa London 2012 Party in The Mall last summer (pictured) and the first edition will be published this year.

Some of the measures implemented at the Visa London 2012 Party included: I Sourcing UK based suppliers, locally sourced and seasonal, organic and fair trade produce – using the new Sustainable Sourcing Code I Minimal packaging I Recycling and using recycled products where possible I Providing an accessible viewing area was provided including sign language interpreters, audio description and stewards David Stubbs | Head of Sustainability | London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games

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The Hospitality Industry Operating sustainably ‘The industry may not be able to tackle climate change on its own, but it is able to pursue sound policies on waste management, recycling, energy efficiency and water conservation’

Dealing with the challenges presented by the world’s current woes will be the main preoccupation for businesses over the next couple of years.There is so much uncertainty at present, that it is understandable if they focus most of their efforts on survival.

Yet, in this situation, what happens to the growing realisation that business sustainability is inextricably linked to the long-term health of the planet? There are suggestions that in the face of the economic downturn enthusiasm might wane. We have already seen that this at a consumer level where sales of organic produce have reduced dramatically in the past few months. For Richard Gillies, Director of the Marks and Spencer Plan A project, the economic drivers have become even more important. “Energy prices continue to rise as do raw materials and commodity prices. Anything that can be done to save those resources hits environmental, social and hard-nosed business targets. They are in synergy with one another.�

According to the Carbon Trust, hotels account for some 40 per cent of the hospitality industry’s external CO2 emissions, estimated at around 10.7 metric tonnes.The majority of these emissions are associated with the consumption of electricity and gas within buildings. It is no wonder therefore that companies have directed their efforts in this area, especially in the wake of the substantial rises in energy prices we have seen over the past couple of years. Most

of the major hotel companies, such as InterContinental, Accor, Hilton and Thistle have introduced low carbon initiatives which concentrate on establishing better controls, policies and staff awareness.The Carbon Trust estimates that these initiatives have contributed to reduction of CO2 emissions of between six per cent and 19 per cent, with annual cost savings for the companies involved ranging from four per cent to 21 per cent.

But it is not just the big boys who are introducing changes in this area. Many smaller properties, especially those in a rural setting, are taking a more pro-active stance in adopting green measures. Often blessed with an attractive site, these smaller hotels want to capitalise on the uniqueness of their environment which is often one of the key influences in driving custom to their door. One good example, amongst many, is Down Hall House Hotel in Hertfordshire (pictured) where general manager Sean Quinney has been keen to create a strong environmentally-friendly product amidst the 100 acres of grassland and woodland which surround the property. Not only has the hotel introduced energy saving measures, but it has also switched to a renewable electricity source, developed waste management controls, established a vegetable garden, and purchased a ‘green’ car, as well as working with the Essex Wildlife Trust. In addition, the hotel has subjected itself to an eco audit, and is implementing all of its recommendations.

Philippe Rossiter FIH FTS | Chief Executive| Institute of Hospitality

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Sean Quinney recommends this is a worthwhile investment, but also stresses that ‘the engagement of staff, suppliers and clients is critical in positioning the business as a green champion’.The results have been impressive with a 60 per cent reduction in energy usage, 20 per cent less waste to landfill and an improved profile leading to increased business.

Further measures will take the hotel towards its ultimate goal of being a carbon-neutral business.

The industry may not be able to tackle climate change on its own, but it is able to pursue sound policies on waste management, recycling, energy efficiency and water conservation. At a time when Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an integral aspect of the economy, no sector is immune from the same drivers of this philosophy. Hotels are, however, better placed than many by being able to demonstrate their commitment to CSR through the adoption of visible environmentallyconscious modes of operation.

Customers will thank them for their initiatives, society will be the better for them, and, most important of all, the benefits will go straight to the bottom line.

References CBI Business Guide: People, products, planet; Jan 2009 Carbon Trust Insights Consumption & Savings Data Carbon Trust Down Hall House Hotel presentation; Hospitality Show 2009, Birmingham

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Tourism and climate change: Impact and mitigation Tourism must grasp the green economy opportunity In December this year governments will seek to finalise a replacement for the Kyoto agreement on Climate Change. It is a massive opportunity to link global economic stimulus with the transformational potential of a lowcarbon energy regime, a point recognised in the Obama stimulus strategy as well as by the EU, China, Brazil, India and an increasing number of states around the world.

Climate Change won’t retreat because the economy has gone pear-shaped, extreme weather events continue to increase. A new climate agreement will radically change consumption and production patterns. The bottom line is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions progressively, to levels where global warming is tolerable, to maximise use and development of renewables and conservation, to link new energy technology with new information technology, and to ensure an increasingly equitable distribution and financing of benefits to integrate the weakest into the new green economy.

This will mean a brave new world of country and company carbon targets, of cap and trade auctions, of bio-fuel and renewables support, and of efficient building, smart grid and hybrid vehicle investment as well as green technology funds, taxes and fiscal incentives.Thomas Friedman has called this the 21st century equivalent of the Industrial Revolution and the only way to respond to the challenges of depleting resources, skyrocketing population and massively increasing globalised demand.

It is important that the tourism sector grasps the importance of this potential revolution and gets its own transformation right. Our product depends massively on climate. Business and leisure travel produces some five per cent of global emissions. Aviation, the key international delivery mode, creates some two per cent of CO2 but this is growing fast in the absence of non-fossil fuel alternatives. For all of the world’s poorest states, ecotourism is a primary export,

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‘We have passed the analysis and declaration stage and have had plenty of ‘leadership initiatives’’ employment and investment base. It’s the main economic stepladder for equitable development and air transport is the only possible way to get there. We are a unique catalyst for other sectors of the economy – services and manufacturing – generating significant jobs and wealth across the economy.

Frankly we have only scratched the surface of our clean, green potential, looking at the issues at best sporadically, at worst opportunistically. Many individual companies have engaged but most have dealt with these matters at a technical or public relations level – not at a boardroom level where they belong.

Now it’s time to mainstream. How many hotels use solar panels? How much transport uses renewable energy? How much infrastructure reflects green building standards? How much investment contains sustainability criteria? And how many jobs include environment training?

We need to be at the forefront of this new green economic change to ensure that essential characteristics of our industry are reflected as a wealth and jobs creator and a social integrator.

First, we must recognise the

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transformation potential and get squarely behind the Green New Deal. We must work to position the sector now when governments are putting together stimulus packages and when transformational funds for climate adaptation and aid for trade are being put together.

Second, we must learn to measure our impacts, and to do so in a way that not only tracks with Tourism Satellite Accounting, but also with mainstream green economic measurement.

Third, we must create vehicles to promote the Green Economy across the sector and with key audiences.This will require us to integrate the concept and our role in transformation into mainstream structures, meetings and events.

Fourth, we must build the quadruple bottom line into all policies and programmes, adding climate to economic, social and environment fundamentals in the sustainability equation.

Fifth, we must replace talk and lofty statements with action. We have passed the analysis and declaration stage and have had plenty of ‘leadership initiatives’.

What we need is committed implementation starting now and evolving with the framework to be agreed in Copenhagen a few short months away.

Professor Geoffrey Lipman FTS | UNWTO, Victoria University & The Christel DeHaan Institute

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Voluntourism

Taking responsibility: volunteering and insurance Over the last ten years there has been a rapid growth in the sale of volunteering opportunities abroad. Some of these opportunities are sold to gap-year students, some to people taking a career break and some to those who are retired but still with the energy to give something back. Increasingly, there are holiday volunteering opportunities where volunteering is tacked on to a holiday or a volunteering opportunity is built into the package.There has been a rapid growth in demand which has created a wide range of volunteering products in what is now a highly competitive market place.

The margins remain attractive and there is now a wide range of providers from specialists to tour operators who have seen it as a relatively easy product diversification.

In some cases, volunteers seek out their own insurance, others purchase their travel insurance from the operator supplying the volunteering experience.

The volunteer’s requirement for insurance is different from, and often greater than, that of a traditional tourist.

Organising and selling volunteering opportunities abroad is a specialist activity and it requires specialist management in placing the volunteers and ensuring that both sides in the transaction – the volunteers and the communities they assist – get real value from the encounter.The obligation on the provider to take responsibility for the quality of the opportunity and its delivery also applies to the insurance.

Sainsbury’s Travel Insurance surveyed over 2,000 people in November 2008; 17 per cent of respondents said that they had not been informed of the policy cover and exclusions (see Insurance Daily January 1 2009).This survey covered ordinary holiday insurance, the issues become more complicated when volunteering is involved. In large companies, in particular, there may be issues around the quality and accuracy of advice being given when staff have been briefed on the holiday aspects but are

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Harold Goodwin FTS | Professor of Responsible Tourism Management |International Centre for Responsible Tourism | Leeds Metropolitan University

insufficiently trained on the issues raised by volunteering and may miss-sell.

Very rarely does travel insurance cover people who are working whether they are being paid or not; it is holiday insurance. Business policies do not generally cover the kinds of activities which volunteers may engage in.

Generally speaking, backpacker holiday and business travel policies will not be adequate. Policies which cover dangerous activities generally do so by listing them – this cover will not protect a working volunteer. Policies which cover all kinds of adventure sports and activities are unlikely to cover volunteering.

Those volunteers who are teaching in schools may be covered by travel insurance but it would be wise for volunteers to check. Companies which are selling travel insurance to volunteers need to take responsibility for the quality of the cover and to be clear and explicit in writing about what it does and does not cover including any liability issues which may arise for the volunteer.

Volunteers purchasing travel insurance to cover volunteering activities should be

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advised to check that they have cover for all the activities which they intend to undertake.They should insist on having it in writing that their activities will be covered, and be aware of what will not be covered. I know of only one policy in the marketplace designed explicitly to offer volunteer insurance abroad.

If companies or organisations are selling or advising on particular policies then they need to take responsibility for ensuring that the policies are explicit about what is or is not covered and that both the volunteers and local partners and organisers share that understanding about what volunteers can do and what they should not do. For example it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get cover in the UK for physical building work above two metres or the use of power tools.Volunteers need to be very clear about what risks they are insured for and the limits of that insurance before they travel. Organisers should take responsibility with their overseas partners for undertaking risk assessments and ensuring that volunteers are appropriately covered and briefed.

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Responsible volunteering

Win-win for all ‘Those of us that sell or facilitate volunteer placements need to be thorough and cautious about who we do business with’ While many have celebrated the merging of service to others and development with tourism, some critics have emerged and rightly so.Things can get complicated when for-profit businesses get involved in eco or community-based projects. Some operators sell a smoke-and-mirrors volunteer placement, obscuring the details, and making the volunteer feel uncomfortable about asking pointed questions.Too often volunteers are told money goes into the community, only to find out that 75 per cent of it stayed with the inbound operator.

So, as in any travel transaction, the consumer needs to be encouraged to ask questions.There should be clarity. ‘Those of us that sell or facilitate volunteer placements need to be thorough and cautious about who we do business with.

While it is difficult to turn down business, we need to develop long-standing partnerships. It’s not that complicated. Who do you want to do business with? What are the chances of it leading to a long-term sustainable business for yourself and of real benefit to the communities with whom you work?’ Paul Miedema of Calabash Tours, our local partner in Port Elizabeth.

For host communities, there are a number of issues that need to be considered in order to minimise negative impacts. A common occurrence is that communities, who are often vulnerable and eager for assistance, are bullied or exploited by volunteer service providers.

All too often a project receiving volunteers has little say in the volume or experience of volunteers placed.The result is sometimes a school with 10 or 12 volunteers hanging around with little

to do other than get in the way of hardpressed local people. I have witnessed this myself.

I believe skills need to be matched to community need.These may be life skills not professional qualifications, but they should be appropriate. I also have serious doubts about certain volunteer projects that require no skill, but only labour. Most countries that attract voluntourists have high unemployment rates; cheap labour is not needed. Another sensitive but critical issue is the screening of volunteers who often work with children in poor communities and with vulnerable adults. It takes real courage for commercial organisations to reject potential customers but to run a responsible programme, they must.

The (www.icrtourism.org/capetown.html) Cape Town Declaration states that tourism should ‘actively involve the local community in planning and decision-making, and provide capacity-building to make this a reality.’ This approach should also be applied to volunteering.The most effective and sustainable projects originate in the local community, not with inbound operators. Many volunteer organisations justify the lack of community involvement by asserting that communities often cannot identify their development needs and do not have the capacity to monitor and manage the projects. I do not buy into this. It is

challenging to work with grass-roots projects but there are local people who know their communities far better than inbound operators ever could, for example local ground operators who already demonstrate their commitment to their communities and the objectives of responsible tourism. With the support of such organisations, communities can identify where they need help.This is the model we have chosen to work with; there are other models that will deliver a meaningful programme.

A well-prepared, screened, skilled volunteer can make a positive impact in host communities. Well-run volunteer placements can develop a deep level of social interaction and understanding.They can give a face to poverty and vulnerability, and are often a life-changing experience for the volunteer, an experience that shapes purpose and belief, and can shift consciousness towards the understanding of a shared humanity. It can and does lead to an understanding of our interconnectedness as people. ’I went to offer what help I could. They gave me so much more in return’. If wellmanaged it can be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders: profit-making commercial operators, travellers and, most importantly, the communities themselves.

Sallie Grayson | People and Places

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Overseas Case Study

Setting up a sustainable tour operator in Africa ‘Our mission is to be a global leader in promoting niche tourism and sustainable forms of tourism. Personalised tours are created for each client, tailored to their tastes and needs’

After I finished my Tourism Management degree at the University of Hertfordshire in 2007, I went home to Kenya to look for work. I found it more viable to set up African Sojourn LTD, a niche tour operator which specialises in sustainable forms of tourism.

Why did I set up African Sojourn? Three main reasons: I I was looking to promote a form of tourism that is eco-friendly and does the least damage to the surrounding environment.

I I saw a gap in the Kenyan market which needed to be filled.

I Kenya has a lot to offer visitors but I felt that the tourism industry was not managed nor developed for the longterm.

Our aim is to ensure that we provide our clients with the best possible service, while simultaneously providing a product which is environmentally sustainable and friendly.

Our mission is to be a global leader in promoting niche tourism and sustainable forms of tourism. Personalised tours are created for each client, tailored to their tastes and needs.

When I first moved back, I did a lot of luxury and backpacking travel around Kenya using various tour operators to get a feel of the industry. Most of the tourism promoted and developed was not sustainable. I visited numerous

conservation centres, for example Daphne and Sheldrick, and I saw the positive aspects of tourism which make it worthwhile.Take the Maasai Mara, every visit to the park is different.The natural environment has degraded, the carrying capacity has been greatly exceeded; animal numbers are reducing and as soon as tourist vans approach wildlife, the animals disappear.

Kenyan tourism saw a positive change recently, park entrance tickets for Maasai Mara can no longer be bought at the gate with cash but instead banker’s cheque or, in advance from Somak Travel in Nairobi. I think this is a step forward because it stops corruption and the money can be used to benefit the park instead of ending up in the wrong hands.

Mombasa is a mess; hotels clear seaweed off the beaches to attract clients for the short-term monetary benefits, but what about the long-term effects? The removal of a naturally-occurring plant which sustains life has led to deterioration in the coral reef around the coastal beaches.

I keep asking myself 'is it all worth it?'

‘Are they being eco-friendly?’The simple answer is no. My degree has changed my attitude to tourism, in a good way. I now see what is right and wrong; which hotel chain uses ecotourism and sustainability as a marketing tool only and which actually practices the principals.

Maybe I can make a positive change in the many aspects of the tourism industry?

Maybe I cannot? Maybe I am living in a dream-world thinking this change will happen? But I cannot just sit and watch it all go wrong without trying to do the right thing and hope others will learn from my example. I want to make a difference, spread the eco-friendly word and ensure tourism is developed sustainably.

I work with a number of tourism and conservation organisations in Kenya and globally, which will help me achieve my goals. For example, two companies ‘Bush and Beyond’ and ‘Cheli and Peacock’, are both market-leaders in eco-friendly tourism.The Gallmann Memorial Foundation, run by Kuki Gallmann, promotes coexistence of people and nature in Africa.They do a lot of sustainable development and conservation work in Laikipia, Kenya. I have started doing some charity and conservation work with this Foundation since my return to Kenya.

My goal for the future is to incorporate aspects of tourism planning and development to ensure that this industry is sustainably developed without exploiting the resources which allow tourism to exist. At the same time, I want to ensure tourists get an eco-friendly ‘Journey to the African Sun’.

Ekta Shah MTS

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Breaking new ground

‘We will never have 20 Jeeps around a waterhole shining lights into animals' eyes’ says Rombout Swanborn, Director of Loango National Park in Gabon, West Africa.

Tourism was unknown in Gabon when Loango began as a pilot project between the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and this private investor. Its ethos from the start was 'ecotourism pays for conservation' and its creation followed the trail-blazing decision by Gabon's President Bongo in 2002 to light the touchpaper of ecotourism development by designating 11 per cent of his country as 13 brand-new national parks. Only Costa Rica had ever set aside more land percentage-wise for conservation.

In 2007, Loango National Park was launched, opening the doors to 'Rainforest Africa' and in 2008, Africa’s Eden was declared the winner of the British Guild of Travel Writers’ Best New Overseas Project Award.To achieve this international prize, the park had to prove it was of social and economic benefit and had management policies which minimised adverse environmental impacts.

A mosaic of grassland, rivers, forest and mangroves, Loango offers a unique safari experience on the African continent because the wildlife is so spectacularly varied.This is Equatorial Africa so expect a safari very different from the southern half; you won’t find zebras, giraffes or lions here. Gabon is 85% covered in tropical rainforest and Africa’s least densely populated country. With only five people per square kilometre, you are more likely to bump into a western lowland gorilla than a fellow human being.

Gabon is staggeringly rich in wildlife. It has Central Africa’s largest population of forest elephants (a different, straightertusked variety from the East African species), hippos, leopards, crocodiles, buffalo, antelopes, hundreds of tropical reptile and bird species, and primates galore – including 20,000 gorillas, 30,000

Images: John Van Helvert

Winner of the British Guild of Travel Writers’ Best New Overseas Project Award 2008

chimpanzees, and thousands of the world’s most technicolor monkey, the red-and-white faced mandrill, which lives in groups of up to 700 individuals. Wildlife sightings depend on the season and include dolphins, leatherback turtles and humpback whales migrating from Antarctic waters.The Gabonese coast is an important marine breeding ground, with the biggest concentration of visiting whales outside South Africa.

Low numbers of visitors at any one time are carefully engineered by the park’s organisation. In total, it has capacity for only around 60 tourists across the main lodge and its five satellite tented camps situated on pristine beaches, in open savannah, palm-fringed lagoons and inside the rainforest.Visitors get a range of experiences as they move each night in a circuit and wildlife viewing is small-scale with pirogue trips, forest treks or savannah drives.

Five hundred Gabonese live in the area and nearly 100 have gained employment helping to run the park, some 20 as ecoguides. Local farmers and fishermen now sell their produce to the lodge while

their children study in a new school built

by Africa’s Eden. ‘Loango is a shining example of how ecotourism can bring benefit to a community and promote conservation,’ says Gabon Magazine.

Loango is also different in that it is combining tourism with scientific research. Part-funded by tourism, NGOs such as the WWF are studying its whales, elephants and turtles, while primatologists from the Max Planck Institute have begun a pioneering project to habituate endangered western lowland gorillas to tourists; a different and even more challenging species than the mountain gorillas of Rwanda and Uganda.

Now the WCS is proposing the park as a World Heritage Site. As Dr Lee White, WCS Conservation Director for Central Africa, says: ‘Loango is an unmatched example of conservation on the back of a well-organised tourism infrastructure. It really is a model park.’

I Founded in 1960, the British Guild of Travel Writers (BGTW) is the premier association for travel publication professionals in the United Kingdom. It comprises some 300 writers, editors, photographers, producers, radio and television presenters.

For more information visit: www.bgtw.org, www.africas-eden.com, www.gabonmagazine.com

Sarah Monaghan | Editor, Gabon Magazine | Press Co-ordinator | BGTW

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Airport expansion and tourism A contentious issue Arriving by air at Siem Riep, Cambodia, last December, I was quite taken aback. I found myself in one of the smartest and most appealing airports that I have seen in a long while, being greeted by a friendly and welcoming immigration official. A decade ago the temples of Angkor Wat were still dangerous to visit.

Today, with airport redevelopment and expansion, Angkor is one of the tourism hotspots of South-East Asia. New jobs have been created and a charming hotel school opened. Opposite the beautifully tended town park is the delightful Raffles Grand Hotel, just one of a number of luxury establishments that have been developed in parallel with the airport: a perfect symbiotic relationship between air transport and tourism development one could say. Just the rapid growth of new buildings along the road from the airport into town might argue for a strengthened physical planning regime.

If tourism and airport expansion can be so relatively well aligned in Cambodia, with its war-torn history, one could question quite why airport expansion has proved so contentious back here at home.

Britain has long struggled with its airport planning. One of the most consistent refrains is ‘Why does new airport capacity need to be in London?

We have an airport with capacity. Send the planes here!’

That there was a need for national airport planning was recognised long ago.

In 1946, the then Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation stated ‘if we are to secure the orderly development of transport aerodromes in the right place and upon the right standards, it is necessary to have a central plan’ (Hansard, January 24 1946). But it simply didn’t happen. Government took the opposite tack, as exemplified in a White Paper on airports in 1961 when central government declined to accept responsibility for the running and development of airports.

History Tells a Tale At the core of the current controversy on airport expansion is the future of London’s airports and especially Heathrow.The fate of London and its airports was effectively sealed longer ago than is often realised. Heathrow was chosen in haste in 1942 as the site for a military transport airfield. In 1945, with the best runways in the London area, it was selected for civil flying. The original land area for Heathrow, as approved in 1946, included the site of the now contentious third runway.

In 1952, there was a change of heart

and the decision was taken to develop Gatwick as an airport instead of the section of Heathrow north of the A4.

This was despite a view expressed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 1949 that compared Heathrow to a dog that continually outgrows its kennel. Stansted was to be kept in reserve if needed.

Twelve years later, in 1964, Stansted became the choice for London’s third airport.

There have been changes of tack from time to time since. A Thames Estuary site for London’s third airport was proposed in 1966.The Commission on the Third London Airport, set up in 1968, recommended a new inland site at Cublington. A Thames Estuary site at Maplin, alias Foulness, was chosen in 1971, only to be abandoned three years later. By the Airports Policy of 1978, the London combination of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton was set.

The Future of Air Transport Fast-forward to 2003 and we have the Government’s White Paper, ‘The Future of Air Transport’, which does attempt to set a framework for airport development. Tourism’s role is recognised, ‘around 25 million foreign visitors a year contribute to a tourist industry that directly contributes two million jobs: two thirds come by air.’

Provision for new runways was endorsed for Edinburgh and Birmingham Airports (both since postponed), as were runway extensions at six others and more than 15 terminal extensions. In line with most of its predecessors, Government shied away from any completely new airports, seeking instead to support the expansion of those already existing.The White Paper has hardly met with universal enthusiasm.

The Tourism Argument

Oliver receiving his award from HRH Duke of Gloucester.

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The argument in favour of airport expansion invariably focuses around economic growth and the need for a sound transport infrastructure as a backbone of a modern economy. That Britain’s tourism industry needs good

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‘Britain has long struggled with its airport planning. One of the most consistent refrains is ‘Why does new airport capacity need to be in London? We have an airport with capacity. Send the planes here!’ transport infrastructure, including airports, is obvious.

Ask anyone in the street in Singapore if the further expansion of Changi Airport is a good thing (and the airport has just opened its third terminal, quiet as yet but with considerable capacity for growth), the likelihood is that they will look at you in astonishment. Astonishment for even asking the question, given that the airport is fundamental to inbound tourism, to Singapore’s role as a business and retailing centre and to its many events and conferences. Say that the airport also allows Singaporeans to leave, to go on holiday abroad, and they will likely tell you that a good vacation is an asset to national productivity. That Changi, like so much in Singapore, is well planned with its flight paths almost entirely over the sea, is a bonus.

Back in the UK, Friends of the Earth counter the benefits of airport expansion to inbound tourism by claiming that the Government has got its sums wrong, and rather than Heathrow’s further expansion generating net tourism spending to the UK, the opposite is far more likely.

Whoever’s sums are right, FoE doesn’t address the case that inbound tourism – a very significant employment creator – needs airport capacity.

Hub Airports Heathrow is the UK’s one international hub airport of any scale. While a hub airport by its nature has transfer passengers who contribute little to inbound tourism, it does allow direct

services to be operated to destinations that would be uneconomical to serve on the basis of point-to-point traffic alone.

As a result of its severe capacity constraints, Heathrow now lags behind its continental cousins in terms of destinations served. The counter argument is that as most of our tourism is domestic, this doesn’t matter – but there is no denying a loss of competitiveness vis a vis Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt. And this does matter for London’s gateway role.

Climate Change The case against airport expansion encompasses aircraft noise, pollution, surface access, urbanisation and climate change. Civil aviation has become a talisman for climate change campaigners and there is little doubt as to the immensity of the challenge that climate change represents. The key in addressing it has to be via international negotiation and agreement, as well as action by individuals and businesses in seeking to minimise carbon emissions. The European Union has already agreed that aviation should be included in the EU emissions trading scheme as of 2012.

Airlines should pay tax on aviation fuel, something which again requires international agreement. A single European air traffic control system would also reduce emissions.

Simply restricting the UK’s airport capacity while others expand theirs hardly seems an answer. With regards to Heathrow, the Government’s argument,

that if growth is not provided for, it will simply go to another country, is likely true, at least as far as hub airports are concerned.

What should and will be done?

History suggests that what will actually happen is continued incremental expansion at existing airports, hopefully better planned than in the past.

Given a clean sheet of paper, there is no doubt that Heathrow is in the wrong place. With its flight paths right over heavily populated areas (even in 1946) it was not the best decision that could have been made. Having made the mistake, is it right that it should go on expanding; a new runway and Terminal 6? If in 1949 it was a dog that continually outgrows its kennel, it certainly is now. There is much to be said for the boldness of Boris Johnson’s estuary airport plan.

It’s likely the third runway will never be built and nor will any new airport. Britain will continue to muddle along, while our continental competitors take the business – and the tourism. If there is constrained air transport capacity combined with rationing by price via charges and taxation, the best response is ensuring that UK offers value for money in its tourism product. And, with capacity constraints making it easier to achieve emission reduction targets, at least we can all feel virtuous.

I The Tourism Society congratulates Oliver on his recent British Expertise award for ‘Individual of the Year’.

Oliver Bennett FTS | Independent Consultant

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Showcasing student work

The footprint of pilgrimage tourism ‘To date, researchers have different approaches to the relationship between tourism and pilgrimage, even questioning whether pilgrims should be considered as tourists’ The various religions of the world and their associated festivals, rituals, sites and landscapes attract an increasing number of people. Religious tourism is a growing niche market and the most obvious form of religious tourism is the pilgrimage.To date, researchers have different approaches to the relationship between tourism and pilgrimage, even questioning whether pilgrims should be considered as tourists.

The French Saint James Way to Santiago de Compostela was the focus of my research on the experiences of religious tourism through a pilgrimage.

The pilgrimage on the Saint James Way has experienced a revival as increasing numbers of pilgrims come to Santiago de Compostela on various routes travelling either on foot, by horse or bicycle. By far most popular route is the French Way, commonly known as ‘Camino Francés’, which, like Santiago de Compostela, is a World Heritage Site.The towns and villages along the Camino have a strong historic-religious character and the main attractions are based on religious heritage and tradition.The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela plays an important role for a Spanish tourism industry seeking to diversify away from its traditional beach holidays.

The main objectives of this study were to examine the motivations of those who participated in the pilgrimage and to explore their experiences on the route.

As with all tourism, there are management issues to consider, but particularly where the sites visited are sacred to some and tourist attractions to others.The research aimed to uncover the identity of the tourists and consider if ‘pilgrims’ or ‘tourists’ more accurately described the people.To tackle these questions the researcher undertook participant observation for 36 days along the French route of Saint James, walking

800 kilometres across North Spain.

Additionally, semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 pilgrims were conducted.

While many researchers understand pilgrimage as religious-motivated travel, this research discovered that for most of the pilgrims on the Saint James’ Way, religion was either a secular motive or not a motivating force at all. Indeed, instead of pilgrims, some of those interviewed considered themselves to be tourists. Participants often reported personal reasons for going on the journey and were looking for selfdiscovery or hoping to find answers to problems.

The tour offered pilgrims the opportunity to experience a simple lifestyle without many of the commodities of modern life. It can be argued that this pilgrimage gave pilgrims/tourists the opportunity to live simply for a period and that it is this simplicity that brought fulfilment. Participants on the tour mainly had encounters with fellow pilgrims or staff of service providers. However, there were frequent complaints about the quality of the service received, while in some remote areas there was a lack of food and beverage facilities reported.

Comments made suggested that pilgrims felt in some areas service providers were abusing their monopoly power.

At some sacred sites more devout pilgrims had to pay an entry fee in order to visit a church, which for some was upsetting. In León Cathedral a special room was provided for prayers, offering the more devout a suitable environment, whereas participants reported Santiago Cathedral failed to deal with the constant stream of visitors. Some pilgrims complained that even during mass the cathedral was still open for visitors and people were walking around taking photos and chatting.

Anngret Heiks | Masters student | University of Surrey

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The research into pilgrims concludes that the interactions between tourist and service provider needs to be managed more carefully. Understanding that many are participating for secular reasons will make demand for the tours more elastic and so demonstrate the importance of not relying on the inherent importance of the religious experience to satisfy tourists.

Similarly, this research challenges existing marketing of this type of tourism, but also provides lessons for the marketers of other walking holidays and destinations about the kind of experiences tourists desire.

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Book reviews Transfrontier Conservation in Africa: At the confluence of capital, politics and nature Wallingford: CABI. 2007 M. Ramutsindela CABI, 2008 ISBN: 978-1-84593-221-3 181pages Transfrontier conservation is a global concept which encompasses the protection of biodiversity spanning the borders of two or more countries in ways that support local economic development, international relations and peace.This book focuses specifically upon the events and processes that have shaped the emergence of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) in Africa and argues that TFCAs should be understood in the context of the intersections between the environmental movement, the private sector and the role of the state in those intersections.The author therefore sets out specifically to offer a text that does not analyse TFCAs in isolation as he considers this to be a weakness of other analyses.

The book is well written and offers a depth of opinion based upon local knowledge, research and experience that makes it both authoritative and interesting to read. Introductory chapters Perspectives on TFCA's and On the Ideological Foundations of Transfrontier Conservation Areas provide an accessible introduction to the topic before the book moves on to offer a series of chapters with different themes, including peace through ecology and community struggles. A more clearly-defined conclusion, that drew together some of the key ideas and related these back to the original aims, would have been useful.

Although tourism is quite often referred to, this is unlikely to become key reading for most tourism students. As the publisher suggests, the book is most relevant to students and researchers of natural resource management, conservation and political ecology and readers in African studies.That said, tourism students (particularly postgraduate students) and researchers with an interest in ecotourism and/or tourism in Africa will find this a useful addition to their reading.Those concerned to locate their tourism analysis in the context of wider environmental debates, socio-economic and political analyses should certainly pay it some attention.

Helen Dewhurst MTS, Sector Manager | Hospitality,Tourism, Leisure and Retail | LEAP Ahead Lifelong Learning Network for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire

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Environmental Impacts of Ecotourism Ralf Buckley CABI 2008 ISBN 978-1-84593-456-9 389 pages This is the second in this series of ecotourism books to come out in paperback, an important step in enabling a wider distribution of knowledge about the impacts of ecotourism on the ecology of the places visited.The series does not yet contain texts dealing with the net benefits which accrue to local communities, or the net contribution to the costs of management of the natural heritage estate occasioned by ecotourism.These are serious omissions given the claims which are made for the virtues of ecotourism.

This collection of studies of the impacts of human recreational activity on the ecology of the places ecotourists and mainstream tourists visit, reports empirical work on impacts ranging from those of hiking and camping on soils and vegetation to the monitoring of instream bacteria as a management indicator for tourism impacts. As Buckley acknowledges, most of the literature derives from North America, although this collection does include work from Russia and Brazil.

Buckley is to be congratulated on facing up to the reality that ecotourism uses much of the same infrastructure as other forms of tourism. Simmons and Becken focus on the costs of getting there, reminding us that however well managed tourism may be in the destination, significant damage results from the flight and the emissions from energy use on the ground. As they conclude ecotourism policy-makers and operators need to ‘examine the wider tourism systems in which they operate.’ Johnson’s chapter on in-migration caused by the growth of tourism in the Greater Yellowstone Region draws attention to an often neglected impact of tourism development, and ecotourism plays its part in that.

Camping is addressed alongside hiking in a review of the literature by Cole but there is surprising little attention paid to the ecological impacts of accommodation on ecosystems.

Harold Goodwin FTS | Professor of Responsible Tourism Management, International Centre for Responsible Tourism | Leeds Metropolitan University

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Nature-Based Tourism, Environment and Land Management Ecotourism Series No.1 Edited by Ralf Buckley, David B. Weaver and Catherine Pickering CABI, 2008 ISBN 978-1-84593-455-2 213 pages Nature-Based Tourism, Environment and Land Management looks at the economic, social and environmental impact of tourism within managed natural settings.

This is a crucially important area for tourism and destination managers in a period of growing demand for outdoor leisure and particularly adventure experiences. In essence it is a series of chapters based on, and selected from, presentations given at the 2001 Fenner Conference of Nature Tourism and the Environment. For this reason there is lots of cross referencing to other published works and whilst this is necessary it can be confusing.

Each chapter is effectively a case study; these are largely from major National Parks in North America, Continental Africa and Australia. Having little professional experience beyond the urban and country parks of Bedfordshire this was an eye-opening read and certainly provides food for thought. It highlights that whether managing a game preserve in Africa or a country park in Bedfordshire, many of the challenges faced are the same. Balancing the demands for public access with the responsibility of stewardship and preserving the integrity of the natural infrastructure within limited and often tight budgets are common issues regardless of the Continent.

Chapter 3, Sustainable Tourism: Worlds Trends and Challenges Ahead, was especially interesting, each chapter starts with a useful ‘Abstract’ which gives the reader a taster of the following pages and the ability to skip around from chapter to chapter as they wish.

Given that the book covers some of the most beautiful areas of the world, I would have appreciated some stunning photography. It is certainly a book which would be suitable for students of tourism, land management and conservation at degree level and anyone like me wishing to see beyond my urban bubble.

Joanne Moore MTS | Visitor Economy Manager | Bedford Borough Council

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Membership News

As you will see from the calendar below we have a range of exciting events coming up in 2009 including a series of events during the trade exhibition ‘Best of Britain and Ireland 2009’ at the Excel Centre in London’s Docklands on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 March. If you have not already done so you can register for free at www. britainandirelandevent.co.uk/tr adevisitors.

The Society conference will take place in Yorkshire on 25 and 26 June 2009; the conference programme will be on ‘Tourism – Saviour of the UK Economy?’ more

information will be out soon.

I hope you have enjoyed this issue of the journal on Tourism’s Footprint, if you are interested in this subject you should also come along to our Green Tourism Debate on 26 March in London and to our joint event with the Royal Geographical Society (and IBG) on 21 April in London. For more information on all our events please visit www. tourismsociety.org/event_cale ndar.htm.

Flo Powell MTS | Executive Director| flo@tourismsociety.org

From the chairman’s desk This is definitely a compelling read and my thanks go to Hilary and all of the contributors who have given up their time to provide us with their insight into such an important topic. Please do not forget to check future issue topics on the website if you would like to contribute to the journal.

Like its predecessors this edition of the Journal will join the archives of over 100 university and college subscribers no doubt to be read for years to come by students doing their dissertations. Please therefore remember, student readers, that membership of the society is very beneficial to your future career.

Similarly, the journal also lands on the desks of 120 members of parliament who have expressed an interest in tourism. I would welcome your comments and feedback on any of the subjects raised and remind you that you are very welcome to

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Events calendar MARCH 18 Overcoming Employment Challenges in Tourism Academics & Employers Conference with ABTA & ITT Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds 18 TS Cumbria Tourism and Farming: What Can the Future Hold?

The Castle Green Hotel, Kendal, Cumbria 24 TS Yorkshire Business Tourism – How to Benefit from this Important and Valuable Market Magna Science Adventure Centre, Rotherham 25 TS Wales The Importance of Branding (during a recession) Penderyn Distillery, Penderyn 26-27 Tourism Society Events Programme as part of the Best of Britain and Ireland Trade Exhibition 2009 Includes Tourism Question Time, Tourism's Footprint, Getting Involved in 2012, Business Tourism Seminar and Digital Marketing Seminar The Excel Centre, London 27 TS Cumbria Tourism Question Time Hutton in the Forest near Penrith 31 TS Scotland Tourism Development: The Consultants' Perspective Napier University, Edinburgh APRIL

attend our future events.

Experts on climate change predict that due to global warming Britain will become one of the top places to survive in, let alone vacation in.

As visitor numbers soar future generations will have to be even more vigilant about the impact of the incoming tourist footprint.

The question is, will they be coming by sailing boat and should our ports and not airports be planning for growth?

Alison Cryer FTS | Chairman | The Tourism Society

17 Tourism Society Chairman's Lunch The Caledonian Club, London 21 Tourism's Footprint: The Environmental Impacts of Tourism The Royal Geographical Society, London 28 Tourism Consultants Network Consultant's and Heritage Lottery Funding Wellcome Collection, London MAY 8 TS Wales Summer Lunch and Awards 2009 Plas Newydd Country House and Gardens, Llanfairpwll, Anglesey 28 London’s Gateway Role Visit London’s Offices, London JUNE 1 Overcoming Employment Challenges in Tourism Academics and Employers Conference with ABTA and ITT The Strand Palace Hotel, London 8 Rural Tourism: Opportunities & Challenges The Royal Geographical Society, London 25-26 Tourism Society Annual Conference Yorkshire

Quarter 1 Issue 139 Spring 2009

journal@tourismsociety.org

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Membership News Congratulations to...

Sandie Dawe FTS on her promotion to interim CEO at VisitBritain, Nigel Embry FTS who received an MBE in the New Year Honours list for services to tourism, to Nick Cust MTS on his recent OBE award, to Viscountess Cobham MTS on her appointment as Chairman of VisitEngland and to Oliver Bennett FTS on his recent British Expertise award for Individual of the Year.

Welcome New Members Robin Barker MTS Services for Tourism T: 07870 397438 E: rbarker@services4tourism.co.uk David Bowden MTS D Bowden Consulting Ltd T: 01462 431 444 E: info@lobbyandlaw.com W: www.lobbyandlaw.com Jo Broadey MTS Institute of Tourist Guiding T: 020 7222 9330 E: jobroadey@btopenworld.com Katherine Cheetham MTS Quarrendon School T: 01296 428551 E: kcheetham@bucksgfl.org.uk W: www.quarrendon.bucks.sch.uk Simon Good MTS Good Company (Travel) Ltd T: 01732 862165 E: simonvgood@hotmail.com Jonathan Hitchens MTS Travel Marketing Consortia T: 07501 500 503 E: jonathan@travelmc.co.uk Laura Holborrow MTS VisitBritain T: 0208 563 3241 E: laura.holborow@visitbritain.org W: www.visitbritain.org Shivah Jahangir-Tafreshi VisitBritain T: 0208 563 3247 E: shivah.jahangirtafreshi@visitbritain.org W: www.visitbritain.org Brian Jenkins MTS Institute of Tourist Guiding T: 020 7953 1257 E: b.jenkins@sky.com W: www.itg.org.uk

www.tourismsociety.org

Robert Louden MTS Camping & Caravanning Club T: 024 7647 5020 E: robert.louden@thefriendlyclub.co.uk W: www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk Paul Makam MTS JD Wetherspoon Fairhop Oak T: 020 8500 2217 E: paulsa_makam@hotmail.com Craig Nattress MTS Ryedale District Council T: 01653 600 666 ext 315 E: craig.nattress@ryedale.gov.uk W: www.ymctp.org.uk David Randall Northamptonshire Enterprise Ltd T: 01604 609 531 E: djrandall71@googlemail.com W: www.northamptonshireenterprise.ltd.uk Michael Sharp MTS Central Hall Westminster T: 020 7654 3884 E: msharp@c-h-w.co.uk W: www.c-h-w.com Claire Tibbles MTS VisitBritain T: 0208 5633246 E: claire.tibbles@visitbritain.org W: www.visitbritain.org Sarah Ward MTS Ryedale District Council T: 01653 600666 ext 275 E: sarah.ward@ryedale.gov.uk W: www.ymctp.org.uk Edward Wild MTS Corporate Consulting Group T: 0207 7981512 E: edward.wild@ccg.co.uk W: www.ccg.co.uk Barbara Wootton MTS Collyers Sixth Form College T: 01403 210822

Quarter 1 Issue 139 Spring 2009

E: baw@collyers.ac.uk W: www.collyers.ac.uk Welcome New Overseas Members Laila Asfoura MTS Laila Tours & Travel T: +972-22777997 E: laila@lailatours.com W: www.lailatours.com Mark Ewen MTS Northtec T: 0064 21079 2468 E: markaewen@hotmail.com W: www.northland.ac.nz Prasad Pillai MTS Eihab Travels LLC T: +968 24683900 E: prasad@eihabtravels.com W: www.eihabtravels.travel Students Leicester University Jill Brindley Napier University Rebecca Arthur Eryn Crete Oxford Brookes University Alena Bobyleva Nicolas Gregori Stephania Kallos Natasha Mooney Violeta Yonkova Sheffield Hallam University Eugen Turcanu Thames Valley University Jacintha Stanio University of Greenwich Corinna China Indira Hanemann University of Westminster Irisa Dreimane Anila Gishti University of the West of Scotland Rachel Adams Lisa Hamilton

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