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WTM LONDON 2017 ®


RESPONSIBLE TOURISM


Tuesday’s programme started with a session exploring how travel can responsibly support some of the most excluded members of society – the homeless and those who live in slums. Andrew Derlien is Marketing and Fundraising Director of Reality Gives, the NGO partner to award winning Indian company Reality Tours, which runs tours to Dharavi in Mumbai. The tours are structured to be as respectful as possible, with no photography allowed. They also ensure that 80% of their profits are reinvested into the local community. Jayni Gudka is the Director of Unseen Tours, who employ homeless people as guides to the streets of London. She explained that their tours aim to show a “different perspective of London through the lens of homelessness” with the guides weaving their own experiences of living on the streets into their narratives. However, she asserted that these tours do not treat homelessness as an object to be viewed, but rather are designed to empower people who have experienced homelessness to run the tours themselves and present their perspectives of living in the capital. The next seminar looked at the


problem of plastic waste accumulating in the world’s oceans. “Dealing with


plastic waste in our oceans is not an optional extra,” explained Ian Rowlands, the director of Incredible Oceans, which seeks to use humanity’s love of whales, dolphins and other marine animals to inspire people to grapple with the rapidly escalating crisis of plastic circulating in the world’s marine environments. He said that society needs to stop using plastic, and should start with individuals making their own commitments and stopping using four every day plastic objects – plastic coffee cups and lids, single use water bottles, plastic bags, and plastic straws. Mike Webster, CEO WasteAid UK, said the tourism industry should support efforts to repurpose waste in destinations into practical materials, which had the twin benefits of both environmental impact and providing economic


benefits. Dave Shanks introduced the innovative Water to Go bottle and filter. The session was finished by travel PR company’s Brighter Group’s director of Responsible Tourism, Trudi Pearce. She told the story of Belize, a country with the second largest reef in the world, and where 25% of the economy is reliant on tourism.


Under the message that “When


the reef is better, we are all better”, she explained how Brighter Group was moving beyond the standard PR relationships with a destination to help Belize address the problems that plastics are causing their environment and economy.


In a session exploring what should be done about orphanage tourism, Sallie Grayson, Programme Director of responsible volunteer organisation peopleandplaces, said that “Good


54 WTM London Review 2017


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