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1. World Responsible Tourism Awards launch
2.Responsible Tourism at three WTM Travel Markets in April
3. Water Scarcity the "new normal"?
4. Thomas Cook launches “Make a Difference with Every Holiday”.
5. TUI: ‘responsible tourism’ becomes part of mainstream holidaymaking rather than a ‘nice to have’ or niche travel concept.
6. Three-day workshop in The Gambia on Tourism Monitoring for the SDGs
7. New Guidelines on Sea Turtle Hatcheries
8. Disintermediation: UK MPs press for regulation
9. Death of a species - the end of the northern white rhino Ceratotherium simum cottoni10. Virtuoso commits to Sustainable Tourism
10. Virtuoso commits to Sustainable Tourism
1. World Responsible Tourism Awards
World Travel Market, London, has taken responsibility for organising the World Responsible Tourism Awards which ResponsibleTravel.com organised from 2004 to 2016. The 2018 World Responsible Tourism Awards will be launched on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22nd, at Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. Nominations open on April 22nd and close on 06 August. Categories: Wildlife; Employment Conditions; Local Economic Benefit, Communicating Responsible Tourism and Managing Success (overtourism). Please spread the word - only those who apply can be considered and recognised as “Leaders in Responsible Tourism”. More
2. Responsible Tourism at three WTM Travel Markets in April
There are Responsible Tourism programmes at all three WTM shows in April. Details of the programme are online: WTM Latin America in Sao Paulo 3-5 April; WTM Africa 18-20 April in Cape Town; April 22-25 Arabian Travel Market in Dubai
3. Water Scarcity the "new normal"?
Cape Town has markedly reduced its daily consumption of water by about 50%, the city has imposed a limit of 50 litres of water per person per day. Day Zero has been pushed back to August. But water stress is likely to be the new normal with more reliance on hand-sanitizers, desalination and water pumped from aquifers. In 2015 in Sao Paulo some residents had their water cut off and in Mexico City "some neighbourhoods unable to access to a constant supply." More & More | World Water Day: Is it ethical to holiday in water-starved countries?
The International Hotel Group has launched a partnership with the UK-based non-governmental organisation, The Rivers Trust to explore approaches to saving water and reducing water-related risks in IHG hotels
The International Tourism Partnership has launched a new report on Water Stewardship | Six simple steps to embed water stewardship
4.Thomas Cook launches “Make a Difference with Every Holiday”.
Thomas Cook has just launched a new three-year sustainability strategy, promising to “Make a Difference with Every Holiday”. Their ambition is to make a positive contribution to the destinations they feature and to reduce their environmental impacts in the UK, on the journey and in the destination. Peter Frankhauser announced two years ago that Thomas Cook was putting the customer back at the heart of the business and the new sustainability strategy is closely linked to the customer journey. More
5.TUI: ‘responsible tourism’ becomes part of mainstream holidaymaking rather than a ‘nice to have’ or niche travel concept.
Latest research from TUI reports that
> Nearly 50% of UK holidaymakers say ‘giving back’ to a holiday destination is important to them.
> The issues most likely to attract support from British tourists are hunger and food safety (27%), animal welfare (26%), cultural heritage conservation (22%), education and lifelong learning opportunities (18%).
> 62% of UK holidaymakers agree it makes them feel better when they know their holiday was organised with respect to nature and the local community.
> Sampling local cuisine, visiting local markets and neighbourhoods, shopping for souvenirs and taking a tour with a local guide were all regarded by 50% or more of UK holidaymakers as desirable. More
6. Three-day workshop in The Gambia on Tourism Monitoring for the SDGs
The main objective is to bring stakeholders together to share and exchange experiences towards taking social, economic and environmental responsibility for sustainable tourism development and to decide on the tools to use to make an annual monitoring and evaluation of progress or the lack of it for better tourism. 24th -26th. April 2018
7.New Guidelines on Sea Turtle Hatcheries
Responsible Travel has produced guidelines on responsible hatcheries and there are plenty of problems. "A hatchery should never be established as the main method of conservation. It should be a last resort – and even then, it should be used alongside other conservation measures. Hatcheries require extensive labour and funds to be successful and are not a long-term solution. Beach patrols, clear demarcation of nests and protective fencing are better options, if possible. And of course, if poaching is the key issue, education, campaigning and creating other sources of income for local people are essential to ensure the turtles’ long-term survival." More
8. Disintermediation: UK MPs press for regulation
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for tourism and hospitality published an interim report on their findings of an inquiry into the sharing economy on 21st March. They have concluded that there is evidence that businesses on disintermediated platforms are not compliant with regulations to keep visitors safe and that sharing economy customers are potentially less protected. Chair of the committee Gordon Marsden, MP for Blackpool, said: "We support diversity and choice in the market, but it’s important to ensure new distribution models are held to the same standards as older [businesses]." “It is important that growth is not at the expense of health and safety, consumer standards and maintenance of a level playing field." He added "There is increasing evidence of professional operators using platforms as a low-cost route to market. An increasing number of listed properties [on these platforms] are commercial in nature.” He went on to argue that if “It is proposed that it is not necessary to regulate the sharing economy. [But] if that is the case, the government should deregulate the B&B sector.” More & more
9. Death of a species - the end of the northern white rhino Ceratotherium simum cottoni
The world's last surviving male northern white rhino has died after months of poor health at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, age-related complications were causing suffering. More
10. Virtuoso commits to Sustainable Tourism
Virtuoso has released a white paper, "Sustainable Tourism: From Trend to Transformative Movement. Virtuoso has called for sustainability success stories and best practice that would be easily available for Virtuoso-affiliated travel advisers to use in crafting itineraries for trips that give back to local people and the planet. More
Better Tourism Africa
Responsible Traveller, South Africa
Encounter Africa
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Responsible Tourism News is a newsletter of record carrying the 10 most important Responsible Tourism stories of the month. 8,000 people subscribe to receive it every month. Please forward to those you think may be interested – you can subscribe using the box on the right. If you wish to contribute a story email harold@haroldgoodwin.info or post it on our RTNews Facebook page.
Harold Goodwin’s Responsible Tourism Blog
Harold Goodwin blogs regularly on the WTM Responsible Tourism Blog
Twitter: @goodwinhj & @WTM_WRTD #responsibletourism
