Mzanzitravel Magazine - Issue 9

Responsible Tourism
Minimum disruption of environment and local culture - Neja Hrovat / Shutterstock.com
Sustainable tourism. Responsible tourism. Green tourism.
Ecotourism.
Big words and weighty concepts, often accompanied by a lot of
hype and self-praise by various tourism stakeholders claiming to be
‘leaders in the field’. But scratch a bit deeper and often their sustainable cupboards
are found to be pretty bare.
Most definitions describe it as an attempt to find a suitable balance between
the social, environmental and economic impacts of tourism and the role it plays
in conserving biodiversity. It entails minimising the impacts of tourism on the
environment, including the fauna and flora, and local culture and communities.
Its aim is also to help generate sustainable employment for local communities
and ensuring that tourism development is a positive experience for local people,
tourism companies, and tourists themselves.
However, in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent there are also many
organisations and entities that have done remarkable work in the field of
sustainable or responsible tourism, and much progress has been made over the
past decade or more. But just what exactly is sustainable tourism?
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