Linking Culture and the Environment

A. Trau and R. Bushell 277
Notes
aboriginal tour operators or aboriginal elders recognized as having authority
in the region. Nationally there is as yet no recognized system of accreditation
of indigenous tours or operators. Aboriginal Tourism Australia is working to
achieve this. Their programme, Respecting Our Culture (ROC), is an ATA business
development initiative that addresses Business Management, Cultural
Authenticity and Integrity, and Sustainable Environmental (Caring for
Country) practices. It is the outcome of extensive national consultation by ATA
with indigenous communities, industry stakeholders and tourism operators
for several years. ‘ROC aims to encourage the tourism industry to operate in
ways that respect and reinforce indigenous cultural heritage and the living
cultures of indigenous communities’ (ATA, 2006, www.rocprogram.com).
It is important that visitors, the industry and government tourism
authorities are guided by a code of ethics developed by a nationally recognized
body of indigenous people in the tourism industry. In Australia, the
ATA has developed a set of protocols that could form the framework for such
a code for ethical indigenous tourism under three main categories of relationship,
responsibility and respect. This involves authenticity of tourism
product and interpretation of indigenous material/objects/stories and the
protection of the cultural/spiritual landscapes and communal and individu al
intellectual heritage and communal heritage ownership; recognition of
intellectual property rights in regards to communal oral history, story, dance,
song and artistic designs; and importantly a system of permits/restrictions
on access to indigenous sites and ceremony.
However, codes of professional ethics lack the force of adequate indigenous
intellectual property laws and formal adoption by the mainstream tourism
industry. The tourism industry needs to adopt a code of practice that
incorporates the specific ethical concerns of indigenous peoples in regard to
their culture and intellectual property rights. To influence the mainstream
tourism industry the code of ethics should include clear and straightforward
ways of establishing authenticity and correct protocols (James et al., 2001).
These sentiments are echoed by many. Rights & Responsibilities: A Compilation
of Codes of Conduct for Tourism and Indigenous Local Communities contains over
200 pages of current documents from around the world. Yet the authors conclude:
‘Policies, guidelines, standards can help, but the challenge continues
to be ensuring compliance. In the nexus of indigenous Peoples and the tourism
industry, finding the balance of rights and responsibilities remains a
challenge’ (Honey and Thullen, 2003, p. 8).
High standards of professional ethics in indigenous tourism will depend
on an educated industry and more sophisticated market placing demand for
authentic indigenous product.
1
See for example UNEP & WTO (2002) The Québec Declaration on Ecotourism;
ICOMOS (1999) Charter of Cultural Tourism.
2
Equivalent to approximately US$1217 as of May 2008.