Conscious Traveling – Are You Aware?

Using Your Power As A Customer

Tourism can contribute to the positive development of many countries, but in order to make this happen we as travelers need to take some responsibility.

By us just traveling to a country and seeing the poverty doesn’t really make much difference, we also need to be prepared to take some action.

I’m not talking about charity and volunteering this time, no this is much simpler than that. By taking some responsibility I mean putting some pressure on the western tourist industry.

Making a difference and helping a country doesn’t have to equal making an big effort, all it takes is that we raise our standards and won’t accept or support tourist companies who abuse their power and ignore human rights.

The tourist companies will bend over backwards to keep their customers happy. As long as we’re happy and pleased, they’re happy. If we accept their actions they will continue doing what they do. We should use our power as customers!

But first of all we have to know what’s really going on behind the scenes. We can’t change something if we don’t know what’s wrong first, right? In this blog post I share the bad side of tourism, and what we all can do to make a small difference.

Things That Are Good To Be Aware Of

The Link Between Tourism and Community Is Often Tiny

The big restaurants, hotels and hotel chains are often built and managed by international companies. The locals see and gain very little of the income from the tourism. Instead the money goes to the western tourist companies outside the country.

It’s true that the tourist industry creates a lot of jobs for people, but the working conditions are often poor. The local work that the tourist industry creates are often low paid (so much so that they often find it hard to survive) and it’s not uncommon that you can also find children working.

According to “Tourism Concern” charity, trekking porters carrying the heavy supplies for tourists in trekking destinations like Nepal are an example of jobs created by the tourist industry with very bad working conditions.

Traveling Creates Lack of Water in Many Countries

Hotels with big swimming pools, showers, lawns and golf courses need loads of water every day. In places where there is a limited amount of freshwater such as islands and coastal areas, the hotels’ massive use of this creates severe consequences for the locals.

Trafficking and Child Prostitution

A big problem in the tourist industry is the growth of sex tourism. The trading with women and children’s bodies is huge in countries like Thailand and Brazil, and because it’s the third most money profitable business in the world you can find that it’s just getting worse and worse.

Alcohol and Drug Consumption

This is about the tourists attitude on their travels. There is a reason why many locals don’t like tourists and have made up assumptions of us being violent, rude and disrespectful drunks. If that’s all they see, why would they ever want to get to know us?

It’s so sad coming to a place where people already have negative assumptions of you because you’re a tourist. So… please make a good impression!

What You Can Do To Travel More Consciously

Before you Travel:

If you travel with a travel agency:

• Ask about the working conditions for the employees in the hotel you’ll be staying in.
• Ask about the hotel’s work with the environment; Is the drain water cleaned? How do they manage waste products?
• Ask your travel agency how they counteract with prostitution and trafficking on the destination.

If the hotels hear these questions from many guests and are forced to come up with excuses every time, the chance is big that they will listen and start to change.

For Everyone:

• Read about the country and the culture for the destination you’re heading so that you are aware of the problems in the country (for example possible lack of water) and how to behave to make a good impression as a tourist.

During Your Trip

• Show respect.
  The worst I know is to see tourists acting like they’re kings snapping their fingers for the waitress demanding outrageous things and treating people like they’re worth less than them. Act the same way you would like tourists to behave in your own country. Show respect for culture, way of life and employees on your destination, both at the hostel/hotel you’re staying and in restaurants.
• Choose local small hotels
  By staying in smaller local hotels instead of big international hotel chains the money goes to the people living in the country you’re visiting.
• Buy From The Locals
  Buy food, drinks, activities and souvenirs from the locals. This way you contribute money into the country instead of a western company.
• Save on the water in your shower.
  Avoid unnecessary long showers if there is a limited access to water.
  
• Tell the hotel boss if you see other guests taking prostitutes to their room.
  When it comes to these things, it’s not about minding your own business, it’s about trying to make a change. Your voice matters, if everyone did this the hotels would be forced to do something about it. They accept what the majority of their guests accept.
• Don’t bargain JUST for the bargains sake
  If something already is cheap as it is, just buy it. You know the people need the money for their families to survive.
  
• Don’t buy things from endangered species such as ivory, shark teeth and corals.
  “Supply and demand”. They will only sell what people want to buy, don’t contribute to illegal killings and depletion of nature.
  

If we all worked together with all this I believe traveling can reach a whole new better level and we would all get much out of this.

Sources: http://www.tourismconcern.org.uk/index.php?page=trekking-wrongs

If you have any other tips, suggestions etc related to traveling with more awareness – please leave them in the comment section below: