“With the current tour and travel activities, we cannot avoid to do harm, have a negative impact on the environment and the other tourism aspects. However, we can reduce the negative impacts and increase the positive. That’s responsible and sustainable tourism,” says Dr. loannis Pappas, Director Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
GSTC is mandated to manage the GSTC Criteria, global standards for sustainable travel and tourism;
and provide international accreditation for sustainable tourism Certification Bodies.
Dr. Pappas made this remark last week while discussing the tenets of responsible tourism and the global sustainability standards in travel and tourism at the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo (POATE) held at Speke Resort Convention Center in Munyonyo.
Responsible Tourism was the theme of the Expo, a concept which, according to Dr. Pappas, must have guidelines and certification criteria for it to be deemed so.
“We have all these definitions from the UN and other agencies as regards responsible and sustainable tourism. Bottom line is; sustainable tourism means sustainable practices in and by the tourism industry. It is aspiration to acknowledge all impacts of tourism, both positive and negative. It aims to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the positive ones,” he said.
According to Global Sustainable Tourism Council, “the negative impacts on a destination include but not limited to economic leakage, damage to the natural environment and overcrowding while the positive impacts to a destination include job creation, cultural heritage preservation and interpretation, wildlife preservation, landscape restoration among others.”
Dr. Pappas emphasized that for tourism players and practices to be certified as responsible and sustainable, they must adhere to minimum standards as per the GSTC criteria.
The criteria cater to hotels and accommodation facilities, tour operators, destinations and governments, corporate and business travel, and travelers.
Tom Vanneste, the Resident Representative for Enabel Uganda, a new partner of Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), says responsible tourism drives the sustainability of the industry.
He notes, however, that while tourism players are pursuing preservation of the environment and culture, the element of Fair Trade Tourism under the economic aspect of responsible tourism, has been left to collect dust.
As a driver of responsible and sustainable tourism, Fair Trade Tourism seeks to uphold principles such as; favorable working conditions and fair wages for employees of entities benefiting from tourism, equitable distribution of benefits, and respect for human rights.
“I was in Fort Portal some time back and we went to this hotel that attracts so many people, you can see the tourist vans packed up. We asked the staff there what their working conditions were and how much they earned. And for working a whole month, some of them were earning only Shs 50,000, no NSSF, no NHF, yet tourists are paying Shs 40,000 for a meal. It is not fair,” Vanneste said during the launch of the Enabel-UTB partnership last week.
He noted that to promote fair trade tourism especially in the hospitality sector, Enabel introduced certificates that are given to entities which treat their staff well with a fair wage, give them NSSF among other line benefits.
“This way, tour operators know which hotels to support by hosting their clients there because of this sustainable practice and secondly, it interests the other hotels to do better with the way they treat their staff. At the end of the day, a job has to be decent to be a serious job,” Vanneste added.
Speaking at POATE, the EU Ambassador in Uganda Jan Sadek emphasized the need for tourism entities in Uganda to have access to financing as the country continues to position itself as a sustainable tourism destination.
Sadek cited a new €15.5m project aimed at fostering Uganda’s visibility and attractiveness as a sustainable travel destination, increasing local communities’ participation and benefits from tourism, improving the business environment and supporting companies in the tourism value chain.
“The EU and its Member States will continue to invest in sustainable tourism projects and initiatives. We will also support efforts to strengthen institutional capacity for tourism management and promote community involvement in tourism development. In addition, we will work closely on initiatives to improve the standards and sustainability of the industry,” Sadek said.
UN World Tourism Organisation on Sustainable Tourism
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) defines Sustainable Tourism as tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.
Read: Who is a responsible tourist?
According to the UNWTO Sustainable tourism development guidelines and tourism management practices, sustainable tourism should;
- Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity.
- Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance.
- Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation.