Ethical and Responsible Travel
Ethical and responsible travel is not boring and it certainly doesn’t take the fun out of travel, it fact it can add satisfaction that ignorance simply can not provide.
So what does it all mean?
Tourism is one of the world’s biggest industries and as with any industry worth hundreds of billions of pounds worldwide, it is a truly globalised industry controlled in many parts of the world by multinational corporations with the financial backing to squeeze other people out of the market. The problem is the people they squeeze out are generally small local businesses and this is never more pronounced then in developing countries.
In places where the average weekly wage is US$20 it seems odd that a hotel room can cost US$200 a night and that the profit from that room will never be seen by any of the local people but falls into the laps of shareholders across the world.
Not that big business is entirely to blame or that they are all unethical, some have brought positive development and improvements to many local populations and they provide work for hundreds of thousands of people. But there has to be a balance and there are many rogues out there who exploit local populations and resources and put nothing back in.
On our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops (GYITSA) we discuss the issue of responsible and ethical travel, the information we provide will help you to consider the impact and footprint your trip will have on the world as a whole and your hosts in particular. We will look at easy ways you can reduce the impact you have and still have the trip of a life time.
The most publicised way to start is to look at your carbon footprint. Flights are cheaper then they have ever been. We have booked direct return flights to Thailand for £250; round-the-world tickets are regularly advertised at only £750; but it is still down to the individual conscience to cancel out your own carbon footprint. Recent problems with schemes set up to carbon offset flights have proved controversial, it is a very inexact science and certain schemes are exploiting guilt for profit. Problems with some carbon offsetting projects being ineffective or company’s charging well over the market price for units, have made these schemes less attractive (see MD Blog story 'The inconvienient truth about the carbon offset industry'). We recommend effective schemes for you to consider during our workshop, what you do is still down to personal choice.
Another concern to examine is the impact you will have on local resources and people. Often the basic resources were scarce before tourism arrived and the pressure of millions of visitors has stretched resources such as water to the limit. Stories of big hotels filling swimming pools, while water is rationed in the local villages are well recorded; infrastructure that simply can not cope; food resources swallowed by visitors and which locals can’t afford as the tourists market takes everything available; and even local craftsman who can’t sell authentic handmade crafts as souvenirs, because cheap imports are sold in guest houses and hotels that refuse access to locals. In the worst cases locals can not even gain access to land that has been stolen from them, after being handed down through their family since over generations.
Gaining the knowledge to understand what to look out for, means that you can make informed decisions and choices on your travels. We will teach you what to look for and how you can benefit the community you are visiting and support local businesses.
You should check that your hotel is not employing local staff in conditions that are simply exploitative and that your impact is not eroding the local culture any more then many already have been.
If you remember only one thing, then remember to BUY LOCAL; that is always the best place to start. Not only does it support the local population, but buying local is normally much cheaper. One of our instructors was in Bali and met a couple staying in a big beach hotel at over US$200 a night, they visited the accommodation chosen by our instructor and were upset to find that his bungalow, tucked away from the traffic and hectic side streets in a palm grove, was much quieter, nicer and cleaner then their room. What annoyed them most was that he was paying US$3 a night… and when they joined him for the local breakfast he enjoyed included in the price, it made their dreary breakfast buffet seem like a school dinner.
Other considerations should include the country itself. There are many regimes in place all over the world that control their populations through oppression, violence, extrajudicial killings, fear and by keeping them in poverty. The human rights record of many governments are truly appalling. Ethical travellers should seriously consider if they should visit at all and if they do, learn how to provide as little economic benefit to the government as possible.
No one should believe that travel to any country can be done without financially supporting their governments, no matter how hard you try, it is simply not possible. Everything is linked to governments; the fee for your visa; the tax that service providers and businesses pay; the licenses that service providers such as hotels, transport companies etc have to obtain at a cost; the fact that only selected (connected) people are given licenses in the first place; the many services that governments run themselves; and the control that some of them seem to have over everything their population does.
Where ever you decide to travel to, try and ensure that you have a positive impact. Consider what you are doing, where you are going and how you are getting there and what effect your visit will have on local communities. Remember that travel can be a positive influence, it can help communities develop and provide education and health care for their populations. Don’t let a guilty conscience stop you travelling, let your good conscience take you to destinations that can support tourism without adversely affecting the local population and once you are there, use the local services which will help locals develop for themselves.
Beyond The Blue and Burma
At Beyond The Blue, we believe very strongly in the positive influence travel can have on those travelling as well as the communities they visit. However this is not always possible.
One such example is Burma, ruled by an illegal military dictatorship, their record on Human Rights is one of the world’s worst and tourism is one of the primary ways that this corrupt government generates foreign exchange. Much of this income is then used by the military to allow it to better oppress its own people. The list of reported atrocities is a long and disturbing one.
We have for many years now taken a keen interest in the situation in Burma, we support the efforts of the Burma Campaign and encourage others to visit their website (www.burmacampaign.org.uk) and join the campaign to free Burma from the brutal and corrupt military regime that holds the Burmese people in abject poverty and fear in order to cling on to power.
In 1990 Burma held the first free and fair elections since the military regime came to power. By way of demonstrating exactly how out of touch the military regime was with the will of the people and reality in general, they believed that the fear they had instilled in the Burmese people would land them and overwhelming victory. As it turned out Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory with over 82% of all the votes cast. The military’s response was to place her under house arrest and either imprison, torture or kill most of her party. Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest to this day in one of the most flagrant displays of Human Rights abuses that the world seems able to ignore. She has however made it abundantly clear that she feels it is not in Burma’s interest at this time to have tourists visiting the country and providing the dictators with funds to further oppress her people.
A snapshot of the worst atrocities committed by the brutal military regime in Burma reads like one of history’s horror stories from hundreds of years ago, but it is happening today:
Widespread use of forced labour; over 1 million people forcibly moved from their homes; at least 1100 political prisoners (many of whom are routinely tortured); an army of over 500,000 soldiers (The UK has just over 100,000) of whom 70,000 are child soldiers (more then any other country in the world); rape as a weapon of war against ethnic women and children; nearly half the government budget spent on the military and only 19p per citizen per year, on health care; and one in ten babies die before their 5th birthday. (Source The Burma Campaign)
Burma used to be one of the richest countries in the region providing exports it now has to import.
However there are other pressure groups that disagree with Aung San Suu Kyi’s request not to visit Burma. Beyond The Blue believes that it is the right of every individual to choose if going to Burma is the right or wrong thing to do. We also believe that the will of the only democratically elected leader of Burma is one that represents the views of the Burmese people. We would never seek to dictate people’s choice of destination and our workshop would be very useful to anyone travelling to Burma, but by way of showing our support for the people of Burma, Beyond The Blue will not provide specific information on this country. We ask anyone planning a trip to Burma to research their trip carefully. The first step of this research should be www.burmacampaign.org.uk.
Beyond The Blue and Mongolia
On a trip to Mongolia in 2002 I could not help but be struck by what a challenging country it was to travel in, not just is there little or no infrastructure and conditions were incredibly harsh.
The climate even in summer is unpredictable; I experienced sun burn and extreme cold to the point of turning my hand blue all in the same day. Taking into account the fact that I was visiting in the summer it is impossible to imagine what it must be like in the winter, where the average temperature can fall as low as 30°c.
The diet in Mongolia is also very limited, there are very little in the way of fresh fruit and vegetables available and generally the stable diet consists of mutton and yaks milk products, including hard cheese and sour milk. Generally the population sustains itself through subsistence farming.
The one product they never seem short of however is airag a local alcoholic brew and vodka a very damaging ‘gift’ the Russians brought in the soviet era domination.
The other relic of the soviet era is that when the cold war came to an end and the soviet influence and financing disappeared overnight, the Mongolians were left on their own with little or no funded infrastructure.
The combination of alcohol abuse and lack of and any kind of welfare state, has left Mongolians with a hole in their society that is simply not being met.
Walking round Ulaan Baatar (commonly referred to as UB) it is impossible not to notice the number of street children hanging around; some estimates put the number at around 4000 - 5000. What is impossible to understand when they have no one to turn to for help, is how they survive the winter months.
The answer is that they live in sewers. The sewers carry the hot water and steam to heat the city through large pipes and the street children live and sleep on these to keep out the cold as much as possible. This often results in them sustaining burns and other serious injuries. For this reason some commit petty crimes to ensure they are arrested and sent to gaol where they at least have a roof over their heads and one meal a day.
The fact is I struggled to travel in the summer and these kids have to struggle every day all year.
Walking round UB I met some of these kids, I had my walking boots polished every day so they could earn a few pennies. We often associate street kids with crime and other negative sentiments, but take the time to meet them and the street kids in Mongolia are very friendly. They just want to do something to earn enough money to eat and turn their hand at anything to achieve this. Often they have run away from abusive drunken fathers or are orphans.
It was clear they need any help they can get. On my return I came across the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation a charity that works predominantly in Vietnam. After a visit to Mongolia by Christina in 1997, she set up a number of programmes to help the street children in that country.
They do a fantastic job helping as many children as they can through a number of projects including ‘child sponsorship’, healthcare, prison education, ‘give a ger’ and the ‘sunshine ger village’ programmes. But they can never do enough.
At Beyond The Blue we urge you to visit their website at www.cncf.org and happily recommend the work of the foundation and urge anyone who has the opportunity to help them with their work in any way to do so. Even small donations go a very long way in countries like Mongolia and the Mongolian street kids deserve everything we can do to help them.
Travel is a real eye-opener; it can really lead to us gaining a better understanding of the realities of life in other countries and make us appreciate exactly how lucky we are in the UK. It can also teach us how we can help those unable to help themselves. We have to remember that travel is a privilege and sometimes we need to give something back to thank the people whose countries we visit.
We believe in a transparent open approach and in and in providing access to useful information through our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop (GYITSA).
A short introduction to each of the subjects we cover during our workshop is published to allow anyone planning to travel to gain an insight into the considerations they will need to make, these include:
For more details on our Workshop / Course Dates and Fees please visit the How to Book section of our website, call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.
Please also visit our National Press Archive and MD's Blog for relevant international news stories and our comment and advice or join us on Facebook.
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