Why post-Covid travel will be all about responsibility
As Elizabeth Kolbert famously said, “Though it might be nice to imagine there once was a time when man lived in harmony with nature, it's not clear that he ever really did."
As we reach the brink of sixth extinction and a severe pandemic has engulfed the entire humankind, nature has sent its message loud and clear. The complete ecosystem, ranging from rare species, exotic plants, wetlands, humankind and wildlife, stands on the edge of a fragile and dubious future. The need to shift to sustainable practices has passed its due date.
The Brundtland report — published by United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987 — for the very first time coined the word “sustainable development” and defined it as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Among the many ways to safeguard our environment, one of the most important is to practice responsible tourism or rather sustainable tourism. Important, because tourism is the largest industry in the world representing five per cent of the world's GDP, and six to seven per cent of total employment. International tourism ranks fourth (after fuels, chemicals and automotive products) in global exports and is valued at USD 1 trillion a year with 1.4 billion international tourists recorded in 2018, according to United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
In over 150 countries, tourism is one of five top export earners. However, in its current form, the tourism industry has multiple hidden costs to the environment including depletion of water resources, land degradation, air and noise pollution, solid waste generation and littering, untreated sewage, pressure on local ecologies and aesthetic degradation. A 1996 report of UNWTO stated that travellers contribute to more than five per cent of greenhouse emission gases. The number has increased significantly since then. However, most if not all of these costs go unreported and unrecognised. It is time we understood and addressed these issues.
Many critics would wonder what is meant by 'responsible tourism' since in today’s world it is often marketed as a fascinating trap by stakeholders of the tourism industry to lure customers into experiencing a vacation in the form of 'eco-tourism', which is a subset of sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism relies on the premise of taking care of the society and economy, as well as the environment. Sustainable tourism principles intend to minimise the negative impacts of tourism, whilst maximising the positive impacts.
Truth be told, post-pandemic, sustainability will be more than a buzzword. It will be the need of the hour and here I elaborate the reasons why.
For the enthusiastic traveller, post-Covid, spending time at a remote destination amidst the close proximity of nature, eating homegrown farm food under solar-lit rooms, will be an undoubted choice over the regular picks of a 5-star jaunt, for three reasons —
1. Travellers will be more conscious of their own safety, and thereby avoid the congested tourist destinations.
2. After a tiring house arrest, a more natural choice would be to get in sync with nature, coupled with the desire to give back to society by preferring local in their travel choices.
3. Small will be the new big. Travellers will seek more exclusivity over more commercialisation, thereby giving impetus to exotic and experiential destinations.
Some of the steps that the tourism industry might contemplate in order to be in sync with the foreseeable changes in abovementioned traveller-attitudes will be:
1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Single-use plastics are the biggest source of pollution. Adequate measures should be taken by both — travellers and industrialists — to curb the usage of plastics. Towel-reuse program, refilling single-use toiletries, carrying reusable containers and bottles, opting out of regular cleaning service of the room, planning laundry, handpicking greener hotels / resorts / homestays, can be some of the ways to curtail plastic pollution. For instance, Odisha-based Desia Eco-tourism has a clear policy for their customers: instead of plastic bottles, they provide a glass bottle to be filled up from water filters. Tongsai Bay resort at Koh Samui island in Thailand has done exceptionally well in terms of the no-waste policy. Starting from extracting room cleaners from leftover food to reusing bathtubs for organic farming, they have religiously cultured the policy of reducing, reusing and recycling.
2. Community Development: About 70 per cent of India’s heart lives in villages. With the recent surge of pressure mounting in cities, people have of late started opting for responsible retreat tours where they get to eat organic food, milk the cows, grow their own paddy, etc. This culture has led to a revolutionary rise in employment for people staying in remote villages. The Goat Village — that won the Responsible Tourism Award, 2019 — is one such start-up that has played a crucial role in the development of an entire community. Their policy on reverse migration has resulted in the local people of Nag Tibba, Uttrakhand generating revenues by encouraging local handicrafts, cattle rearing, providing employment to mule owners, training youth for army camps, newly structured concepts like pay-what-you-like and Bakri Swayamvar. Similarly Desia Eco-tourism camp has been a success story of how a backward place like Koraput in Odisha has seen gainful employment.
3. Cost Reduction: Installing solar panels helps reduce fuel cost in the long run. Instead of setting new resorts and hotels that may be damaging to the ecosystem, efforts may be directed towards homestays, refurbishing old government houses, etc., at a much lower cost. Setting up mud houses can reduce the usage of logs. If at all there is a necessity of setting up a new establishment, stakeholders can always look to reuse second-hand furniture and other interior decoration accessories. Installing outdoor showers and recycling wastewater can lead to a substantial reduction in cost. It is always a win-win situation where with minimal investment, better services can be provided.
With the industry stalwarts waking up to the realities of the dangers of reckless consumption by the tourism industry, the trillion-dollar industry is on the cusp of change. This is both, an opportunity and a challenge for tourists and tourism industry alike to adapt to more sustainable practices going forward.
As Annie Leonard puts it: There is no such thing as “away”; when we throw something away, it must go somewhere.
Let that "somewhere" not be our precious plants, sea and local communities. Our current actions will decide the future of the planet and the billions that inhabit it.
Also Read: How our tourist visits to Ladakh are harming the region