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Will Sustainable Tourism Positively Impact the Bottom Line?
By Chris Doyle, ATTA Director
Editor’s Note: The Adventure Travel Trade Association believes that responsible tourism practices are essential to the survival and ultimate growth of the adventure travel industry. The ATTA encourages its members and the industry at large to consider, implement and/or migrate toward practical, tangible, and meaningful initiatives that support progressive responsible travel practices.
In 2006, the ATTA plans to publish an ATTA and ATTA Member-endorsed charter that spells out “best responsible tourism practices.” The ATTA does not plan to police and/or audit these best practices (there are many organizations worldwide that offer auditing services), but will publicly communicate and support such policies.
“Will Sustainable Tourism Positively Impact the Bottom Line?” is the first in a series of articles slated for AdventureTravelNews™ developed as the result of a partnership between the ATTA and STI.
The encouraging news: there are hundreds of organizations worldwide dedicated to the umbrella concept of “responsible tourism.”
The challenge: for the traveling public and adventure travel industry businesses alike, so many organizations tending to responsible tourism initiatives muddies the waters, creates unnecessary overlapping efforts, and spurs competition for limited funding and advocacy sources and supporters.
So, in such a challenging environment, how do such organizations distinguish themselves? According to Brian Mullis, president of the Boulder, Colorado-based Sustainable Travel International, its holistic approach it what sets it apart.
“Our triple bottom line focus, which encompasses social-cultural,
environmental and economic impact, differentiates STI. And, it’s the net
positive impacts across these three areas that allows us to effective
pursue and positively affect sustainable tourism practices.”
Looking inside the STI, we find it is open to individuals, companies, organizations and institutions that demonstrate support for and are committed to promoting environmental conservation, socio-cultural responsibility, and economic profitability within the travel and tourism industry. STI offers somewhat of an a la carte menu approach that allows much variety in what businesses choose to pursue.
STI’s “portfolio program” sensibilities gives tourism boards, tour operators, airlines, agents and other business involved in adventure travel every reason to participate in common-sense, sustainable tourism activities. In the end, such practices can lead to positive bottom-line impacts for individual businesses, and more importantly, for the future of the adventure travel industry.
Its business philosophy also warrants mention. STI’s one-stop shopping mindset is designed to help grow the adventure travel market while growing general awareness and interest in sustainable practices. Leaders of the non-for-profit STI come from the for-profit business sector, which gives the advantage of having a sustainable profit orientation for a real-world, bottom-line mentality, speed-to-market urgency and competitive spirit. And, by most measures, its business orientation appears to be working – it’s sustaining itself operationally, it has strengthened itself through partnerships*, and continues to innovate in a tough climate.
In short order, STI has garnered a solid reputation. Its higher level programs and projects (Visit STI 2005 Initiatives) are helping to mitigate the negative, inherent impacts of travel and tourism, while increasing widespread consumer and trade awareness of the importance of sustainable tourism practices.
Mullis notes that many NGOs (non-governmental organizations) share STI’s space, but few if any of them are implementing a holistic strategy to help the whole travel industry move toward sustainability. He acknowledges, respects and applauds the important work of the WTO, TIES, Green Globe, and a host of other groups dedicated to sustainable tourism initiatives. Yet, when queried about the proliferation of non-profit organizations seeming to claim to be the definitive sustainable tourism leader, Mullis’ isn’t deterred. He argues that there aren’t too many organizations, but that there’s a general lack of cooperation and collaboration between organizations with laudable missions. Fortunately, that’s beginning to change.
“This niche is a super competitive marketplace. We’re competing on ideas here, and people have been hesitant to collaborate,” said Mullis. “It’s our perspective that the tourism industry as a whole can do nothing but benefit by increased collaboration – even if there is overlap, no single organization can realistically lead our industry toward sustainability, but collectively we can make a difference.”
"Sustainable Travel International is one of the good guys, bringing travelers and the tourism industry together to protect the planet, said Richard Weiss, Vice President Adventures by Disney. “From educating the public about responsible travel to offering climate friendly travel options through their carbon offsets program, they are making a wonderful contribution to this ongoing challenge. It is both educational and a pleasure working with this dedicated team."
According to Mullis, “Since day one, we’ve walked our talk. We’re honest, operate with transparency, give businesses comfort and support, and we’ve been effective collaborators.”
For additional resources on responsible tourism (sustainable tourism, ecotourism, etc.), please visit www.adventuretravel.biz/resources.asp and seek organizations denoted in green.
*One close-to-home, first-step partnership initiative between the ATTA and STI includes providing the “Guide to Sustainable Tourism” to all 2005 Adventure Travel World Summit (www.adventuretravelworldsummit.com) attendees and ATTA Members.