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Responsible Tourism was defined in Cape Town in 2002 alongside the World Summit on Sustainable Development. This definition, the Cape Town Declaration is now widely accepted and was been adopted by the World Travel Market in 2007 for World Responsible Tourism Day.
Responsible Tourism is about "making better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit." Responsible Tourism requires that operators, hoteliers, governments, local people and tourists take responsibility, take action to make tourism more sustainable.
The World Travel Market has adopted the Cape Town Declaration definition of Responsible Tourism for its World Responsible Tourism Day which encourages the industry to take responsibility for making tourism more sustainable and demonstrate their responsibility.
The Cape Town Declaration recognises that Responsible Tourism takes a variety of forms, it is characterised by travel and tourism which:
Behaviour can be more or less responsible and what is responsible in a particular place depends upon environment and culture.
Garry Wilson, Mainstream Product & Purchasing Director, for the TUI Group argues in an interview specially recorded, for Cape Town and Africa, that Responsible Tourism is now core, mainstream business for TUI. Video
If you're interested in learning more, check out this video where Dr Harold Goodwin breaks down his definition of Responsible Tourism:
There are some useful forums on Responsible Tourism
Responsible Tourism Practitioners
IrresponsibleTourism
Responsible Tourism News
2001Â UNWTO Global Code of Ethics
2002 The Cape Town Declaration is the founding document of the Responsible Tourism Movement