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Ahead of the official 2015 WTM Responsible Tourism Day, we take a look at the seminars held in the South Gallery Rooms on Tuesday which focused on wildlife, child protection, carbon efficiency and increasing local economic benefits to regions.


TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR WILDLIFE AND NATIONAL PARKS When: 10:15-11:15 Seminar delegates were asked what contribution can tourism make to the conservation of wildlife? How can we avoid doing more harm than good? Speaking about the captive lions industry in South Africa, David Nash of the Campaign Against Canned Hunting, declared: “There are 6000 lions on 200 hundred reserves, raised by volunteers, petted by tourists, shot by hunters.” Citing the Cecil the Lion furore, Dilys Roe, from the International Institute for Environment and Development, said: “We need to avoid assuming that the bad examples of hunting that make the news stories characterise the whole industry.” She pointed out that there is much conflicting information on the potential merits or otherwise of hunting and conservation. Click here


CHILD PROTECTION When: 11:30-12:30


This year focus was on what the industry can do to address the issues of child labour, orphanages and to prevent its facilities being used for trafficking or the sexual exploitation of children as well as what can be done to tackle begging? Lew Hunt from the National Crime Agency, and Ashley Robinson from Border Force at Heathrow Airport, called on the travel industry to educate its workers to know what the warning signs are when they encounter people travelling with children. Francis West from UNICEF urged companies to ensure adults are paid a living wage so as to lessen pressures on families to send their children out to work, whilst Rebecca Smith from Save the Children introduced a new initiative called Better Volunteering, Better


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Care. Emanuelle Warner from Friends International said the industry needs to both shift away from funding orphanages while supporting them to redevelop their operations towards looking after children and the wider community without removing these children from their families. Click here


WHAT IS THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN MANAGING TOURISM IN DESTINATIONS? When: 13:00-14:00


This panel focused on the challenge of managing tourism in destinations where tourists and local communities interact. How can local communities and their governments maximise the benefits of tourism while minimising negative impacts? What should the relationship be between government, the private sector and communities in developing tourism and spreading its benefits? “Governments need to ask what the


real impact of tourism is rather than just how many people are coming,” said Heidi Van Der Watt from Better Tourism Africa. Caroline Warburton from the Scottish Tourism Alliance, said the challenge is to “ensure sustainability is permeating all government tourism strategies, and work out how we measure the impacts to understand what is really working”. Click here


CARBON RESOURCE EFFICIENCY GOOD PRACTICE When: 14:30-15:30 Carbon efficiency is a major issue for all parts of the tourism industry, how can the greenhouse gases emitted by airlines, road transport, accommodation and cruise lines be reduced? What can the industry do now to reduce its emissions and improve the efficiency of its use of fossil fuels.


Describing the wider impacts from their successful efforts to make the Cape Town airport hotel ‘the greenest hotel in Africa’, Sarah Ferrell from Hotel Verde explained that increasingly business guests use their hotel specifically because they can mitigate their emissions during their stay. Professor Callum Thomas, Manchester


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University, said: “If you adapt to the changes being brought about by climate change you’ll be around in 30 years. If you don’t you won’t.” Click here


INCREASING THE LOCAL ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF TOURISM When: 15:45-16:45


Generally success of tourism ministers is judged by the scale of the increase in international visitor arrivals on their watch. Examples of initiatives to measure and/or increase the local economic benefits of tourism focusing on wages, local procurement and yield were presented.


Jenefer Bobbin of JUSTreport announced that her organisation is launching new tools for environmental monitoring. Jacqui Boardman from Carnstone Partners LLP said not only will tourism contribute 10% to global GDP this year, but also “there’s such a buzz around tourism that it can promote social cohesion”. She added that “we may be competitors as an industry, but we need to get together and collaborate to solve the problems we face”. Chair of Loop Head Tourism, Cillian Murphy said: “It’s Ok for a destination to say no to tourism, or to a type of tourism they don’t want, because you know what, it’s their home.” Click here


TAKING RESPONSIBILITY: CHANGE MAKERS


When: 17:00 - 18:00


It is individuals in companies, NGOs, communities and government who take responsibility for making tourism better, more sustainable. It is individuals who see an issue that they can do something about, who take responsibility and win the support of others to make change. Four people who have contributed to making real change in the industry spoke about their experiences: Adama Bah, ICRT West Africa; Justin Francis, CEO, responsibletravel.com; Jo Hendrickx, Partner, Global Spirit Responsible Tourism; and Sallie Grayson, Programme Director, People and Places. Click here


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