Chris Packham one of the presenters of the popular Springwatch and Autumnwatch wildlife programmes on BBC television has warned that the New Forest National Park is being destroyed. Dogs are disturbing ground nesting birds and dumping: �What we will basically have is a huge dog walking area covered with many more kilograms of excrement�.

The growth in the population of ponies and deer is  Packham claims denuding the forest of new young trees, they are being eaten before they can mature. Packham is calling for controlled culling of deer and better management of the forest.

Read more in the Daily Telegraph

Back in January I cautioned that it was probably premature to lift the travel boycott of since we had not heard directly what Aung San Suu Kyi though and the terms of her release from house arrest have not been negotiated. Read more

The Irrawaddy is published by a group of Burmese journalists living in exile in Thailand, an independent news media group respected in the region. On Tuesday May 24th (and corrected on May 26th) the Irrawaddy reported that  National League for Democracy (NLD) has said that it welcomes responsible tourism that does not cause human rights abuses and environmental degradation in the country.

As the Irrawaddy reports this marks a major change in policy since the NLD called of a boycott in 1996. The critique of tourism remains trenchant  �Local populations have been displaced, often without compensations or satisfactory relocation, to make way for construction of hotels and other tourist facilities,� the announcement said.

�To make matters worse, forced labor is used for some construction projects. The net result is its economic hardship exacerbated by the abrupt breakdown of a traditional way of life and gross violation of basic human rights,� it added.

�While the callous exploitation of sex tourists presents an obvious evil, thoughtless practices such as the indiscriminate distribution of money or gifts that have made habitual beggars or children in some communities do not receive enough attention.�

Soe Win, a Rangoon-based politician who contributed to the NLD statement said: �Should the government and all players including investors in this tourist enterprise take responsibility, respect ethics and preserve the ecology, we would readily embrace tourism.�

Read more in the  Irrawaddy
 
In response, responsibletravel.com announced it has lifted the ban on Burma-based holidays from its website but urges the travel industry to act with care and avoid 'irresponsible' tourism development in the region. RT.com has urged the Burmese Government and newly formed Burmese Tourist Board to work with the NLD and local people to put a responsible tourism plan in place.

Read more about RT.com's response

We can�t stay safe from every harm � to try would make us all insane.

Alice Miles writes in the 23 May edition of New Statesman about Professor Engin Isin�s view that modern citizens are neurotic, governments seeking to manage and soothe their anxieties, rather than challenging them. She counters

�One thing that contradicts this this rather dismal vision of modern mankind is our willingness to travel abroad: to get on the plane despite the threat of shoe bombers and technical failure, to stay in foreign places despite the difficulty of assessing the risks we might face there. True, many travellers hand the calculation over to travel agents and insurance companies and minimise the unknown by staying in internationally branded hotels, but still the willingness to travel at all is a heartening sign of the victory of curiosity and adventure over fear.”

Janet Thorne has published her report on Selling culture to package tourists: an exploration of demand for intangible cultural heritage excursions in The Gambia

She reports  that there is demonstrable demand amongst package tourists in The Gambia for intangible cultural heritage excursions � and conlcues that this is demand which tour operators are currently failing to meet. She argues that in order to to access this demand successfully, product development needs to encompass the full range of customer value, and packaging needs to overcome established negative preconceptions whilst emphasising the benefits of authentic and fun experiences which benefit local people.

A more innovative approach to excursion development, built on her report's recommendations, would benefit both local Gambians and tourists and produce a much more responsible form of tourism in The Gambia.

http://www.haroldgoodwin.info/uploads/Thorne%27SellingCulturetoPackageTouristsinTheGambia.pdf

In The Gambia to teach the Managing Tourism and Conservation in Protected Areas module of our ICRT Masters in Responsible Tourism Management course at the University of The Gambia for our Gambian cohort of students I was asked by the Board of ASSET to lead their review of the last three years and to help them to develop their strategy for the next three years. It is the third strategic reviews which I have chaired for ASSET and a privilege.

ASSET is the home of Responsible Tourism in The Gambia, it has been advocating and demonstrating the importance of Responsible Tourism principles since 2000 when it emerged from a workshop on the parlous state of small businesses and the informal sector. ASSET played a key role in the DFID funded project which did so much to integrate the informal sector and to grow small businesses in tourism; and in 2002 it helped to initiate the Responsible Tourism Partnership which has achieved a great deal, although it now needs to be revived. ASSET has been closely associated with the launch of the ICRT- West Africa, the successful courses in The Gambia which attracted students from Greenwich, Leeds Met and around the world, the ICRT Leeds Met Masters course currently running in The Gambia and most recently the Camp Africa initiative. 

Daouda Niang has done an excellent job and significantly strengthened ASSET, he will be moving on at the end of the year and already his replacement Modou Tala Jobe is in post. It will be a well-managed transition under the new chair Nyanya Jagne. Nyanya is ASSET�s second female chair and all of the previous chairs remain actively engaged. ASSET goes from strength to strength and has come of age as a fully functioning trade association. It has stable membership, able staff and has a good reputation with government and the private sector in The Gambia as well as with the Travel Foundation, tour operators, development agencies and donors. Perhaps the most important indicator of its success is that the Reconciliation and Conduct Committee now rarely meets, the business relationships between members and between members and hotels and tour operators no longer require regular intervention.

ASSET celebrated its 10th anniversary in December 2010 at a joint event to celebrate ASSET�s birthday and the launch of Camp Africa. Success breeds success and ASSET is inevitably being approached to take on more and more work. It is a sign of the maturity of the organisation and its firm leadership that ASSET recognises that it needs to broaden its sources of income in order to remain independent and has recently turned away two approaches from donors with projects which were not in line with ASSETS principles.

ASSET has demonstrated what a trade association, which brings together sole traders and small scale enterprises in tourism, can do to represent their interests to government, negotiate their relationships with each other and with the private sector, to assist their product development and marketing and through training and advice to make a significant contribution to the development of small business in The Gambia.
www.asset-gambia.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ASSET-The-Gambia/359829882334

Last night I spoke at the Travellers Club in Pall Mall London about “Taking Responsibility for Tourism”. My talk was delivered in the library surrounded by maps and books about travel. It was a great opportunity to draw the parallels between the Grand Tour of the eighteenth century and the Gap Year of today – both in some ways educational but also opportunities abroad to engage in more licentious behaviour than might be risked at home.

There was a lively discussion afterwards about stately homes, the business case and the challenges of creating change in a diverse world and one in which more and more people with very different backgrounds are travelling and meeting in destinations – in other people's places

Download the text
Download the PowerPoint

“At Puerto Jiminez airport, in the Costa Rican rainforest, a customs officer pushes a fresh, green coconut into my hand.

No tough questions about “the nature of my business” in his country � just advice. The milk in my coconut, he says, is pure enough to be used as plasma in an emergency situation, and will cure me of everything from club foot to flatulence. The Costa Ricans are No 1 on the Happy Planet Index � even their customs officers like a laugh.

But the Happy Planet Index is about more than a sense of humour. It ranks countries according to their ecological footprint � and Costa Rica is one of the most sustainable countries in the world. It follows a development model that tries to deliver “good lives that don't cost the Earth”, and when the customs officer drops the empty coconut into the recycling, he's happy to know that it will end up as matting or insulation. He's clearly “on-message”. “

Richard Johnson's piece in The Independent concludes honestly

“Sustainability is a real selling point at both Lapa Rios and Finca Rosa Blanca. But it's not just for those who are already committed to the cause � we can all benefit from the rosy glow that comes from Taking Nothing but Pictures, Leaving Nothing but Footprints, and Wasting Nothing but Time.

But one small thing. However sustainable bamboo might be, it still makes lousy-looking furniture. And biodegradable body wash sucks. For me, the consciousness-raising must carry on.”

It is a pity that there little about the economic impacts. It is not enough to leave nothing behind.

Read more

Emirates are expanding fast and ordering A380�s to meet demand, the Middle East is becoming a powerful hub for global aviation. In the year to March Emirates carried 31.4 million passengers, a growth of 14.5% over the previous year and meaning that they carried more passengers than BA, although BA has now been merged with Iberia.

EasyJet has been squeezed by increases in APD and fuel price rises; it has not been possible to raise prices as demand is weak. EasyJet�s losses have nearly doubled as revenue per seat has fallen by 2.1% in large part due to the increase of �1 in APD in the autumn to �12 per short haul flight. Fuel now accounts for 25% of the cost base.  Oil prices rises bankrupted dozens of airline in 2008. Jet fuel reached $141 per barrel at the  end of Aril 2011, an increase of more than 45% on the year.  EasyJety will reduce the number of flights it offers over the winter.

Tourism is important to the economy of Sabah on the island of Borneo. Complaints about shark fishing by tourists and local people have resulted in a decision to ban shark fishing form next year. Masidi Manjun, the Tourism, Culture and Environment minister for Eastern Sabah has said that complaints made by local activists and foreign tourists regarding cruel fishing practices have contributed to the state government�s plans to impose the ban starting next year.

The first first public appearance of the UN Steering Committee on Tourism for Development took place in Turkey today.

Tourism is one of the top three sources of export earnings for nearly
half of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and is a priority sector for their
further integration in the global economy. The contribution  of tourism in advancing development was
addressed during a Special Event on Tourism for Sustainable Development and
Poverty Reduction organized by the recently created UN Steering Committee on
Tourism for Development (SCTD), during a major UN conference on LDCs (Istanbul,
Turkey, 10 May 2011).

The potential of tourism in contributing to lift people out of
poverty is increasingly acknowledged and is supported by the growing relevance
of the sector for poor countries. International tourist arrivals in the 48
LDCs grew from 6 million in 2000 to over 17 million in 2010. In the same period,
international tourism receipts climbed from US$ 3 billion to over US$ 10
billion.

�Most LDCs are rich in resources. All have young and vibrant
populations. These men and women need decent jobs, education, training, so they
can make the most of their country�s assets – minerals and other commodities,
farmland, rich stores of biodiversity and tourism potential�, said UN
Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, opening the Fourth UN Conference on Least
Developed Countries (LDC-IV).

�UNWTO is extremely pleased to have tourism playing an active role
for the first time in such an important event as LDC-IV�, said UNWTO
Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. �In
spite of tourism�s proven contribution to foreign exchange generation, job
creation and socio-economic development, low priority has so far been assigned
to the sector in the development agenda. This is particularly surprising given
that tourism has been clearly identified by developing countries themselves as a
priority for their economic advancement�, he added.

In his remarks, the Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD), Supachai Panitchpakdi, emphasized the critical
importance of quality in the development of a competitive tourism sector in
LDCs, including the quality of investment, infrastructure and human resources.
�The LDCs should aim at the quality segment in the global value chain and, as
the Maldives successfully demonstrated,
focus on excellence in the tourism product�, said Mr.
Panitchpakdi.

The UN Steering Committee on Tourism for Development (SCTD) builds on
the UN commitment to �Delivering as One� and will ensure the delivery of more
effective and coordinated technical assistance in order to make tourism work for
development.

Members of the SCTD: International Labour Organization (ILO),
International Trade Centre (ITC), UN Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO), World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), World
Trade Organization (WTO).

Joint Tourism Special Event: Promoting Tourism for Sustainable
Development and Poverty Reduction: http://www2.unwto.org/en/event/promoting-tourism-sustainable-development-and-poverty-reduction

World Export Development Forum: Private Sector Engagement with LDCs
for Tourism-led Growth and Inclusive Sustainable Development: http://www.intracen.org/wedf/

UN comes together to promote tourism for development: http://www2.unwto.org/en/press-release/2011-04-07/un-comes-together-promote-tourism-development