You are viewing an old revision of this post, from 11 April, 2012 @ 14:30. See below for differences between this version and the current revision.
Last week, the global initiative known as the United Nations Foundation’s Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) – a coalition dedicated to promoting sustainable tourism practices around the world – made a vital commitment to leveraging its growing momentum as the leader of an international alliance of tourism industry stakeholders engaged in and striving to achieve best practices in sustainable tourism.
It retained Audrey Scott and Daniel Noll, the husband-and-wife blogging and photography team behind Uncornered Market, to develop and execute its social media strategy.
Curious to hear what Audrey and Dan aim to do and how they propose to go about doing it, I asked them a few key questions about their upcoming challenges.
First, a Background Reality Check
According to the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), there were approximately 980 million international tourists on the road in 2011, a figure projected to climb to 1.8 billion by 2030. Collectively, those eager vagabonds now spend well above US$900 billion per year, which amounts to nearly 5% of global GDP and underpins hundreds of millions of jobs worldwide.
Most travellers, however, are not particularly mindful of the impact they make on the world-as individuals, let alone in aggregate. They don’t think all that carefully about how or with whom they spend their money and they are often oblivious to how their actions affect the host communities they visit. An oft-used statistic, the source of which remains unconfirmed, states that for every $1 spent on travel, only 5-10 cents (less than 10%!) actually reaches the visited destination. It’s not hard to imagine the imbalances, inequities and indignation that ensue.
In light of this, many industry actors have for years been impelled to ask how tourists can be turned to more responsible and conscientious ways to travel, ways that, to use the UNWTO’s definition of sustainable travel, take “full account of… current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.” (The question of why more bloggers aren’t writing about responsible travel is something we recently asked here too.)
Enter the GSTC. With a wide-ranging global membership, the GSTC is a new international body “for promoting the increased knowledge, understanding and adoption of sustainable tourism practices.” It accomplishes this “through the adoption of universal sustainable tourism principles” – its Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria – “compiling, adapting and creating the tools and training to engage in sustainable tourism practices; and increasing the demand for sustainable tourism products and services.”
[You can read more about the GSTC and sustainable tourism here: Global Sustainable Tourism Standards Set at ITB Berlin and The Future of Sustainable Tourism: Q&A with Erika Harms of GSTC.]
Cornering the Uncornered Market
Here then, are Audrey and Dan’s answers to my questions on their vision of the social media road ahead for the GSTC, and how you can get involved…
In the announcement of your new GSTC challenges you wrote “Until now, we just never labeled those values or the behaviors attached to them as ‘sustainable.’ ” Why not? What do you think that adding the label now might do?
To not use the term ‘sustainable’ up until now wasn’t really a conscious decision on our part. We travelled, engaged and told stories in ways that made sense to us and felt true to our values and to the experience. As it turns out, a lot of what we’ve done and how we’ve chosen to do it reflects the spirit and behaviours underlying the term “sustainable tourism.”
Adding the label now just provides a recognisable term or hook so that we can begin to connect our relevant content and stories to an existing stream of content from folks who already use the term, thereby raising more awareness of it.
You also wrote about “evolving the discourse from the theoretical to the applied,” but there’s a whole segment of the travel industry – companies and the people who write about them – that’s been working the applied end of the stick for a good long time. There’s nothing theoretical about what they do. Do you see any issues with stepping into an already active space?
Our work in helping to evolve the sustainable tourism discourse does not and should not preclude the fact that a lot of work, much of it good, is already being done and will continue. For companies who are still discussing whether taking the path of sustainable tourism, we hope that highlighting examples of companies active in sustainable tourism-as well as successful – may encourage them to make the leap.
For example, G Adventures promotes sustainable tourism activities in its tours as well as on its social media channels. For them and for many of their clients, this value is not only a feature, but also a differentiator. So it is entirely possible to be innovative and cutting edge while promoting sustainable tourism causes that are meaningful to you – and to be profitable.
What do you think other bloggers should do?
We believe, as we always have, that bloggers should do whatever aligns with their core values. The rest follows from there. We advocate travelling on the basis of respect and a general sense of stewardship. For some, this approach fits and resonates, just as for some, it may not. In an ideal world, influential bloggers with broad audiences would advocate on behalf of all the things that they believe to be important. We’re aware that’s not the way things always work, but it’s something to work towards.
Also, we’ve heard some bloggers say that sustainable tourism stories or experiences aren’t popular or ‘sexy,’ but we believe that it is possible to incorporate personal stories and add emotion to these stories in a way that grabs attention and motivates readers to learn more and take action. We might suggest moving towards a storytelling-based advocacy which will help readers and potential consumers understand what ‘sustainable tourism’ really is. It will also help them to appreciate the human and economic impacts, in addition to the environmental dimension.
What specifically can travel bloggers do to take advantage of the “stream of high-quality content on the topic of sustainable tourism that further encourages discourse, awareness and action” that you plan to build?
Our goal is to curate high-quality content that demonstrates the potential of travel’s positive impact on local communities. Much of the content we’ve seen thus far skews towards the environment, so we are hoping to raise awareness especially to the human/cultural and economic aspects of sustainable tourism.
We are also looking for content that is experience-based and personal in nature (which fits in perfectly with what travel bloggers do naturally), that really gets to the heart of who and what sustainable tourism projects affect.
Also, we encourage bloggers to focus content on both their personal experience as well as the bigger story. This gets readers engaged in the experience while bringing awareness to the bigger environmental, cultural or economic issues at play, all while rewarding quality travel companies and organizations who incorporate the values of sustainable tourism into their products, services and behaviours.
If you’ve got high-quality sustainable tourism content to share on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s social media networks, submit it to Audrey & Dan here.
Post Revisions:
- 11 April, 2012 @ 15:01 [Current Revision] by Ethan Gelber
- 11 April, 2012 @ 14:59 by Alastair McKenzie
- 11 April, 2012 @ 14:54 by Alastair McKenzie
- 11 April, 2012 @ 14:52 by Alastair McKenzie
- 11 April, 2012 @ 14:50 by Alastair McKenzie
- 11 April, 2012 @ 14:43 by Alastair McKenzie
- 11 April, 2012 @ 14:38 by Alastair McKenzie
- 11 April, 2012 @ 14:30 by Alastair McKenzie
- 11 April, 2012 @ 14:30 by Alastair McKenzie
- 11 April, 2012 @ 8:05 by Alastair McKenzie
Changes:
| 11 April, 2012 @ 14:30 | Current Revision | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Title | |||
| - | Bloggers Retained as Social Media Strategists for the | + | Bloggers Retained as Social Media Strategists for the U.N. Global Sustainable Tourism Council |
| Content | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| [kicker]What what would happen if the power of tourism were better harnessed as a force for positive change in the world? A question that's been asked for decades, it has found far-reaching echo in a strategic coalition of vocal advocates under the United Nations umbrella. And now it's got a social media strategy too.[/kicker] | [kicker]What what would happen if the power of tourism were better harnessed as a force for positive change in the world? A question that's been asked for decades, it has found far-reaching echo in a strategic coalition of vocal advocates under the United Nations umbrella. And now it's got a social media strategy too.[/kicker] | ||
| [dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast week, the global initiative known as the United Nations Foundation's <a href="http:// new.gstcouncil.org">Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)</a> - a coalition dedicated to promoting sustainable tourism practices around the world - made a vital commitment to leveraging its growing momentum as the leader of an international alliance of tourism industry stakeholders engaged in and striving to achieve best practices in sustainable tourism. | [dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast week, the global initiative known as the United Nations Foundation's <a href="http:// new.gstcouncil.org">Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)</a> - a coalition dedicated to promoting sustainable tourism practices around the world - made a vital commitment to leveraging its growing momentum as the leader of an international alliance of tourism industry stakeholders engaged in and striving to achieve best practices in sustainable tourism. | ||
| It retained Audrey Scott and Daniel Noll, the husband-and-wife blogging and photography team behind <a href="http:// www.uncorneredmarket.com">Uncornered Market</a>, to develop and execute its social media strategy. | It retained Audrey Scott and Daniel Noll, the husband-and-wife blogging and photography team behind <a href="http:// www.uncorneredmarket.com">Uncornered Market</a>, to develop and execute its social media strategy. | ||
| Curious to hear what Audrey and Dan aim to do and how they propose to go about doing it, I asked them a few key questions about their upcoming challenges. | Curious to hear what Audrey and Dan aim to do and how they propose to go about doing it, I asked them a few key questions about their upcoming challenges. | ||
| <h2>First, a Background Reality Check</h2> | <h2>First, a Background Reality Check</h2> | ||
| According to the <a href="http:// unwto.org">UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)</a>, there were approximately 980 million international tourists on the road in 2011, a figure projected to climb to 1.8 billion by 2030. Collectively, those eager vagabonds now spend well above US$900 billion per year, which amounts to nearly 5% of global GDP and underpins hundreds of millions of jobs worldwide. | According to the <a href="http:// unwto.org">UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)</a>, there were approximately 980 million international tourists on the road in 2011, a figure projected to climb to 1.8 billion by 2030. Collectively, those eager vagabonds now spend well above US$900 billion per year, which amounts to nearly 5% of global GDP and underpins hundreds of millions of jobs worldwide. | ||
| Most travellers, however, are not particularly mindful of the impact they make on the world-as individuals, let alone in aggregate. They don't think all that carefully about how or with whom they spend their money and they are often oblivious to how their actions affect the host communities they visit. An oft-used statistic, the source of which remains unconfirmed, states that for every $1 spent on travel, only 5-10 cents (less than 10%!) actually reaches the visited destination. It's not hard to imagine the imbalances, inequities and indignation that ensue. | Most travellers, however, are not particularly mindful of the impact they make on the world-as individuals, let alone in aggregate. They don't think all that carefully about how or with whom they spend their money and they are often oblivious to how their actions affect the host communities they visit. An oft-used statistic, the source of which remains unconfirmed, states that for every $1 spent on travel, only 5-10 cents (less than 10%!) actually reaches the visited destination. It's not hard to imagine the imbalances, inequities and indignation that ensue. | ||
| In light of this, many industry actors have for years been impelled to ask how tourists can be turned to more responsible and conscientious ways to travel, ways that, to use the UNWTO's definition of <a href="http:// dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/ sites/all/files/ docpdf/sustainability.pdf" >sustainable travel</a>, take "full account of... current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities." (The question of <a href="http:// travelllll.com/2012/02/26/ bloggers-should- write-about- responsible-travel/">why more bloggers aren't writing about responsible travel</a> is something we recently asked here too.) | In light of this, many industry actors have for years been impelled to ask how tourists can be turned to more responsible and conscientious ways to travel, ways that, to use the UNWTO's definition of <a href="http:// dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/ sites/all/files/ docpdf/sustainability.pdf" >sustainable travel</a>, take "full account of... current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities." (The question of <a href="http:// travelllll.com/2012/02/26/ bloggers-should- write-about- responsible-travel/">why more bloggers aren't writing about responsible travel</a> is something we recently asked here too.) | ||
| + | <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-6858" title="Learning new skills from the women of the Zikra Initiative in Jordan. Why aren't more travel bloggers writing about responsible tourism initiatives?" src="http://travelllll.com/ wp-content/uploads/2012/04/ 1-Audrey_Jordan.jpg" alt="Audrey Scott learning new skills from the women of the Zikra Initiative in Jordan " width="645" height="429" /> | ||
| Enter the GSTC. With a wide-ranging global membership, the GSTC is a new international body "for promoting the increased knowledge, understanding and adoption of sustainable tourism practices." It accomplishes this "through the adoption of universal sustainable tourism principles" - its <a href="http:// new.gstcouncil.org/page/adopt- the-criteria">Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria</a> - "compiling, adapting and creating the tools and training to engage in sustainable tourism practices; and increasing the demand for sustainable tourism products and services." | Enter the GSTC. With a wide-ranging global membership, the GSTC is a new international body "for promoting the increased knowledge, understanding and adoption of sustainable tourism practices." It accomplishes this "through the adoption of universal sustainable tourism principles" - its <a href="http:// new.gstcouncil.org/page/adopt- the-criteria">Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria</a> - "compiling, adapting and creating the tools and training to engage in sustainable tourism practices; and increasing the demand for sustainable tourism products and services." | ||
| [You can read more about the GSTC and sustainable tourism here: <a href="http:// travelllll.com/2012/03/10/ sustainable-tourism-standards- at-itb-berlin/">Global Sustainable Tourism Standards Set at ITB Berlin</a> and <a href="http:// new.gstcouncil.org/ blog/?p=484">The Future of Sustainable Tourism: Q&A with Erika Harms of GSTC</a>.] | [You can read more about the GSTC and sustainable tourism here: <a href="http:// travelllll.com/2012/03/10/ sustainable-tourism-standards- at-itb-berlin/">Global Sustainable Tourism Standards Set at ITB Berlin</a> and <a href="http:// new.gstcouncil.org/ blog/?p=484">The Future of Sustainable Tourism: Q&A with Erika Harms of GSTC</a>.] | ||
| <h2>Cornering the Uncornered Market</h2> | <h2>Cornering the Uncornered Market</h2> | ||
| Here then, are Audrey and Dan's answers to my questions on their vision of the social media road ahead for the GSTC, and how you can get involved... | Here then, are Audrey and Dan's answers to my questions on their vision of the social media road ahead for the GSTC, and how you can get involved... | ||
| - | In the <a href="http:// www.uncorneredmarket.com/ 2012/04/sustainable-tourism- gstc/">announcement of your new GSTC challenges</a> you wrote "Until now, we just never labeled those values or the behaviors attached to them as 'sustainable.' " Why not? What do you think that adding the label now might do? | + | <strong>In the <a href="http:// www.uncorneredmarket.com/ 2012/04/sustainable-tourism- gstc/">announcement of your new GSTC challenges</a> you wrote "Until now, we just never labeled those values or the behaviors attached to them as 'sustainable.' " Why not? What do you think that adding the label now might do?</strong> |
| <blockquote>To not use the term 'sustainable' up until now wasn't really a conscious decision on our part. We travelled, engaged and told stories in ways that made sense to us and felt true to our values and to the experience. As it turns out, a lot of what we've done and how we've chosen to do it reflects the spirit and behaviours underlying the term "sustainable tourism." | <blockquote>To not use the term 'sustainable' up until now wasn't really a conscious decision on our part. We travelled, engaged and told stories in ways that made sense to us and felt true to our values and to the experience. As it turns out, a lot of what we've done and how we've chosen to do it reflects the spirit and behaviours underlying the term "sustainable tourism." | ||
| Adding the label now just provides a recognisable term or hook so that we can begin to connect our relevant content and stories to an existing stream of content from folks who already use the term, thereby raising more awareness of it.</blockquote> | Adding the label now just provides a recognisable term or hook so that we can begin to connect our relevant content and stories to an existing stream of content from folks who already use the term, thereby raising more awareness of it.</blockquote> | ||
| - | You also wrote about "evolving the discourse from the theoretical to the applied," but there's a whole segment of the travel industry - companies and the people who write about them - that's been working the applied end of the stick for a good long time. There's nothing theoretical about what they do. Do you see any issues with stepping into an already active space? | + | <strong>You also wrote about "evolving the discourse from the theoretical to the applied," but there's a whole segment of the travel industry - companies and the people who write about them - that's been working the applied end of the stick for a good long time. There's nothing theoretical about what they do. Do you see any issues with stepping into an already active space?</strong> |
| <blockquote>Our work in helping to evolve the sustainable tourism discourse does not and should not preclude the fact that a lot of work, much of it good, is already being done and will continue. For companies who are still discussing whether taking the path of sustainable tourism, we hope that highlighting examples of companies active in sustainable tourism-as well as successful - may encourage them to make the leap. | <blockquote>Our work in helping to evolve the sustainable tourism discourse does not and should not preclude the fact that a lot of work, much of it good, is already being done and will continue. For companies who are still discussing whether taking the path of sustainable tourism, we hope that highlighting examples of companies active in sustainable tourism-as well as successful - may encourage them to make the leap. | ||
| For example, <a href="http:// www.gadventures.com">G Adventures</a> promotes sustainable tourism activities in its tours as well as on its social media channels. For them and for many of their clients, this value is not only a feature, but also a differentiator. So it is entirely possible to be innovative and cutting edge while promoting sustainable tourism causes that are meaningful to you - and to be profitable.</blockquote> | For example, <a href="http:// www.gadventures.com">G Adventures</a> promotes sustainable tourism activities in its tours as well as on its social media channels. For them and for many of their clients, this value is not only a feature, but also a differentiator. So it is entirely possible to be innovative and cutting edge while promoting sustainable tourism causes that are meaningful to you - and to be profitable.</blockquote> | ||
| - | What do you think other bloggers should do? | + | <strong>What do you think other bloggers should do?</strong> |
| <blockquote>We believe, as we always have, that bloggers should do whatever aligns with their core values. The rest follows from there. We advocate travelling on the basis of respect and a general sense of stewardship. For some, this approach fits and resonates, just as for some, it may not. In an ideal world, influential bloggers with broad audiences would advocate on behalf of all the things that they believe to be important. We're aware that's not the way things always work, but it's something to work towards. | <blockquote>We believe, as we always have, that bloggers should do whatever aligns with their core values. The rest follows from there. We advocate travelling on the basis of respect and a general sense of stewardship. For some, this approach fits and resonates, just as for some, it may not. In an ideal world, influential bloggers with broad audiences would advocate on behalf of all the things that they believe to be important. We're aware that's not the way things always work, but it's something to work towards. | ||
| Also, we've heard some bloggers say that sustainable tourism stories or experiences aren't popular or 'sexy,' but we believe that it is possible to incorporate personal stories and add emotion to these stories in a way that grabs attention and motivates readers to learn more and take action. We might suggest moving towards a storytelling-based advocacy which will help readers and potential consumers understand what 'sustainable tourism' really is. It will also help them to appreciate the human and economic impacts, in addition to the environmental dimension.</blockquote> | Also, we've heard some bloggers say that sustainable tourism stories or experiences aren't popular or 'sexy,' but we believe that it is possible to incorporate personal stories and add emotion to these stories in a way that grabs attention and motivates readers to learn more and take action. We might suggest moving towards a storytelling-based advocacy which will help readers and potential consumers understand what 'sustainable tourism' really is. It will also help them to appreciate the human and economic impacts, in addition to the environmental dimension.</blockquote> | ||
| - | What specifically can travel bloggers do to take advantage of the "stream of high-quality content on the topic of sustainable tourism that further encourages discourse, awareness and action" that you plan to build? | + | <strong>What specifically can travel bloggers do to take advantage of the "stream of high-quality content on the topic of sustainable tourism that further encourages discourse, awareness and action" that you plan to build?</strong> |
| <blockquote>Our goal is to curate high-quality content that demonstrates the potential of travel's positive impact on local communities. Much of the content we've seen thus far skews towards the environment, so we are hoping to raise awareness especially to the human/cultural and economic aspects of sustainable tourism. | <blockquote>Our goal is to curate high-quality content that demonstrates the potential of travel's positive impact on local communities. Much of the content we've seen thus far skews towards the environment, so we are hoping to raise awareness especially to the human/cultural and economic aspects of sustainable tourism. | ||
| We are also looking for content that is experience-based and personal in nature (which fits in perfectly with what travel bloggers do naturally), that really gets to the heart of who and what sustainable tourism projects affect. | We are also looking for content that is experience-based and personal in nature (which fits in perfectly with what travel bloggers do naturally), that really gets to the heart of who and what sustainable tourism projects affect. | ||
| Also, we encourage bloggers to focus content on both their personal experience as well as the bigger story. This gets readers engaged in the experience while bringing awareness to the bigger environmental, cultural or economic issues at play, all while rewarding quality travel companies and organizations who incorporate the values of sustainable tourism into their products, services and behaviours.</blockquote> | Also, we encourage bloggers to focus content on both their personal experience as well as the bigger story. This gets readers engaged in the experience while bringing awareness to the bigger environmental, cultural or economic issues at play, all while rewarding quality travel companies and organizations who incorporate the values of sustainable tourism into their products, services and behaviours.</blockquote> | ||
| + | <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-6861" title="UN GSTC Logo" src="http://travelllll.com/ wp-content/uploads/2012/04/ 1-GSTC_VERT_4C.jpg" alt="'Travel Forever' - United Nations GSTC Logo" width="602" height="645" /> | ||
| - | < | + | <h6>If you have got high-quality sustainable tourism content to share on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council's social media networks, submit it to Audrey & Dan <a href="http:// www.uncorneredmarket.com/ sustainable-tourism-content- submission/"> here</a>.</h6> |
Note: Spaces may be added to comparison text to allow better line wrapping.
On the UNWTO stats, Ethan… I found these figures while doing some research recently, from the WTTC. http://www.wttc.org/news-media/news-archive/2012/travel-tourism-forecast-pass-100m-jobs-and-2-trillion-gdp-2012/ They are predicting Travel & Tourism sector’s contribution to global GDP passing US$ 2 trillion this year.
Interesting. Thanks Alastair. Those numbers don’t sync up precisely with what I found from the UNWTO, but they’re all just projections anyway. I think we can agree that we’re looking at an incredibly powerful market presence that could do a whole lot more as a force for good than it does.
Apropos of stats: If anyone out there has a source for the detail about only 5-10% of every $1 spent on travel making it to the destination, I’d love to have it. I’ve read it several times and heard it delivered in several speeches, but never been able to find a confirmed original attribution.
One thing that must be mentioned here is that sustainable travel is not just about travelers making smart choices, but also choosing companies that are making smart choices at the highest levels. Tour companies MUST work with local indigenous communities to ensure that they benefit economically from the profits of ecotourism, or else the long-term growth of this industry will not prove sustainable. Ethan, I’m sure you’ve heard about the Masai who began killing wildlife in protest of what they considered an unfair business arrangement. Only when governments, NGOs, tour companies and local people are working together can sustainable travel hope to thrive.
Oh boy yes, Brett. There are no limits on who should actively be making smart choices.
You’re right that, above, I did place a lot of emphasize on how travelers aren’t always the most worldly lot when it comes to traveling responsibly (into which I sadly lump the vast majority of bloggers, as is clear from my earlier post asking why more bloggers aren’t writing about responsible travel – http://travelllll.com/2012/02/26/bloggers-should-write-about-responsible-travel/).I should have clarified that the GSTC’s “wide-ranging global membership” includes businesses, governments, non-governmental organizations, academia, individuals and communities engaged in, and striving to achieve best practices in sustainable tourism.
It is a multi-stakeholder approach that, with time, will strike the balance required to make sustainability sustainable as well, for everyone involved.
Agreed, the demand side of sustainable tourism is about travel consumers rewarding companies who demonstrate their commitment to the principles through their actions. When we mentioned how bloggers can raise awareness of sustainable tourism among their readers and within their communities, this is what we were referring to.
No argument that the sustainable tourism discussion is broad and involves multiple stakeholders, among them travel consumers, governments, businesses, and local communities. And the net of stakeholders widens further from there. It follows that local communities always need to be involved in the process. If you don’t convince them, you’ve lost the buy-in of the group that’s at the crux of why we’re all having this discussion in the first place.
We at GSTC are thrilled with this collaboration. Proponents of sustainable tourism, outside the operators themselves, have not even begun to effectively utilize social media. By working with Dan and Audrey on this we feel we’ve taken a huge step in the right direction in trying to bring objective voices on the issues around triple bottom line sustainability in travel and tourism to a larger audience.
Thanks, Richard, for taking a moment to share the inside word from the GSTC. There reactions (on Twitter and Facebook) to this article alone suggest that you have taken an important step in the right direction.
I do however feel compelled to say that a great many non-operator proponents of sustainable tourism have been *very* actively pushing the message through social media channels. Some of them have been at it for a very long time. So it is not altogether accurate to say that they have not begun to effectively utilize social media. In fact, some have been social media educators pushing a broader base of sustainable tourism stakeholders to be more active in the space. It is true that the mainstream may not yet have discovered the depth of resource and intensity of work out there (going back decades), but that is no fault of the tireless efforts of the determined few (growing more numerous by the day).
The GSTC’s undertakings and Audrey and Dan’s efforts will add to a growing momentum, help push toward the critical mass required to tip the balance. The goal has always been not simply to promote sustainable travel but for tourism simply to be sustainable. That kind of industry-wide, alert-consumer and smart-media shift is necessarily slow.
As one of those who’ve been pretty actively pushing on this in many ways for many years, my reference to “effectively utilize” is concerning the size of the audiences reached on the topic through social media to date. Nor was I questioning the effort, again, as someone who has been involved for a while. The key word was ‘effective’. I haven’t personally seen anyone who isn’t an operator with a real focus on sustainable tourism reaching a wide (100K+) and engaged audience that would indicate the mediums have been tapped properly, especially when we know that operators are reaching 250K+. My point is that he potential is now there and probably has been there for a bit, and it’ll be a great thing when that kind of reach is achieved.
There is a significant number of people (like you) who have been active in this space for a good long while. One problem is that their efforts have been dispersed. I applaud any movement to coordinate them, give them that whole-greater-than-the-parts oomph. A real, wide-reaching and consensus-building effort to unify them could work wonders. (To readers new to this topic, it should be noted that there are still deep differences of opinion in the existing sustainable travel community about whether the GSTC is the best body to drive this inclusive process. See Ron Mader’s comment below.)
While shooting for 100K+ or more followers is a great aim (and, frankly, the unspoken one we all have!), I think we need to recognize the financial zing of commercial operators, and the product base from which they can pull to offer promotional prizes as incentive, as what powers that kind of audience growth. They have been very effective in the social media space mostly because they have the wherewithal to do so – the people employed full time to focus exclusively on it, the inventory from which to pull reward. The grand majority of their non-commercial cousins, however, build their audiences through part-time efforts and the strength of words and ideas, which happens much more slowly.
So I totally agree that the potential has always been there, but I think we need to be realistic about what it takes to get to 100K+ friends. As with any marketing effort, the effective use of social media is determined to a large degree by the effective use of resources. Those with a lot go much farther and faster than those with a few. (It should also be noted that size doesn’t always matter. There are some companies with large audience bases that don’t do much with it. More importantly, there are also some with small followings that work wonders.)
I think we will all be very eager to see what the GSTC plans, whether public-private crossover efforts combining ideas with bling (if that is indeed what you have planned) can power a social media firestorm. The ultimate goal – visibility for the importance of sustainable practices in travel – is an excellent one.
Ethan, regarding the dispersion of efforts, I suppose this is one of the facets of GSTC that appeals to me and Audrey. The GSTC serves as a coalescing agent through its criteria and the development and promotion thereof.
GSTC also involves other organizations and individuals in the development of the criteria. For example, it has opened destination draft criteria up for feedback in multiple languages for a period of two months:
http://www.responsibletravelreport.com/component/content/article/2607
Fantastic post! Read more about Sustainable Travel – our theme this month – at TravelandEscape.ca featuring posts from our terrific network of bloggers and LIVE CHATS on #EthicalTravel with @GreenGlobalTravel, Dan&Audrey, DTravelsRound and many more! http://www.travelandescape.ca/tag/sustainable-travel/
We’ve really been enjoying Travel & Escapes Sustainable Travel series. We participated on behalf of GSTC a couple of weeks ago in the #ethicaltravel twitter chat and found it to be a great discussion about everything from greenwashing to how to raise awareness of environmental issues for travel decisions. Great job!
Great stuff Travel+Escape. Thanks for sharing this news.
Having tracked the development of GSTC over a few years – http://planeta.wikispaces.com/gstc – all I can say is I am not impressed. Lack of transparency and inclusion are among the biggest problems. I honestly wish the UN Foundation would use its powers to integrate programs among the various institutions because so far we’re not seeing ‘tourism’ addressed during World Environment Day or social or environmental issues addressed during World Tourism Day. Social media should be used to connect the dots, not trumpet one dot in particular.
Which leads me to respond to Richard’s comment: “Proponents of sustainable tourism, outside the operators themselves, have not even begun to effectively utilize social media. ” I see resellers and consultants using social media, but rarely rarely the local operators themselves. I spend a lot of time trying to explain to good friends how to ‘claim their place’ on Google or Facebook. These are people who know the old school ways of doing things, but are overwhelmed by blogs, twitter accounts and facebook.
Should GSTC exist? I say ‘no.’ It’s a distraction and if we want a global community we should start from scratch using the tools we have now to build an authentic local travel movement from the grassroots up.
Thanks, Ron, for offering a bit of counterpoint here. No attempt at a unifying global effort is easy. There will always be roadblocks on the way to consensus, if in fact consensus is achievable at all.
I share your belief that any global effort should be as inclusive and representative as possible – in terms of both pulling together the players already out there and finding the cross-cutting themes that allow for those players’ voices to reach new ears. That you and others have expressed deep concerns (as made clear in your link above) means there is still more work to be done on this front.
That work is no less critical when it comes to social media. Audrey and Dan have opened the gates to consideration of what’s out there. Everyone who wishes to be involved should not be shy about sharing what they’ve got. That said, I can anticipate you asking who (transparently) decides what gets used and how. And wondering how those not tech-tuned enough to have heeded the call can get their voices heard as well.
Ethan, I like your “opened the gates to consideration of what’s out there.” I think that captures the thrust of how we intend to operate within this discussion.
Good question about the transparency of what sorts of content will get used and how. We’re trying to find high quality content in the style that we outlined above in the interview to raise the awareness of sustainable tourism and what organizations are actively doing to serve as role models and examples. Will this only highlight GSTC member activities? Certainly not. But, we do want to also highlight the great work that GSTC members are doing in the different pillars of sustainable tourism (economic, people/cultural heritage, and environmental).
All of this is to promote the larger goal of tourism (and the large amount of money that comes with it) being used for “positive change in the world.”
Dear Ethan
I’m with Ron.
But – fortunately – as social media gets stronger it’s going to force more and more transparency across all human endeavours, and that’ll be its greatest gift to us all.
And – who knows? Maybe we’ll start to see the second extinction of the dinosaurs – the closed, the closeted, the secretive and the undemocratic among us.
One question: is the UN blind to the fact that the transport industry is not sustainable since it’s built on finite resources? And until transport is sustainable, we shouldn’t begin to kid ourselves that the tourism industry can be sustainable.
In the meantime, I support the principles of responsible tourism as a way of limiting the damaging effects of our industry – and of using the industry as a force for good http://www.slideshare.net/MartinHatchuel1/responsible-tourism-m-hatchuel-2012
Martin Hatchuel, publisher, http://www.thistourismweek.co.za
As Dan responded to Ethan, we see GSTC and its work as an opportunity to be leveraged as a coalescing agent. There’s no denying there are many voices out there and as indicated to Bret, an array of stakeholders, from small local providers to large tourism boards. The goal is to work together with all of them.
In terms of working with those various stakeholders in the the development of the criteria in a transparent manner, the GSTC has recently opened the draft destination criteria up for feedback in multiple languages for two months. This is an opportunity for everyone to be involved in the criteria development process and influencing its end result:
http://www.responsibletravelreport.com/component/content/article/2607
Your comment about local operators being overwhelmed by social media and websites is something we know quite well. We’ve also tried to help out local providers we want to support (e.g., a rural tourism org in Bangladesh) so that they can use these low cost tools to effectively reach end customers directly. I think this is another area where travel bloggers – who are savvy in social media and blogging – can really help local operators active in sustainable tourism practices through training and setting up basic processes.
I’d like to see the sustainable tourism movement …including the GSTC and blogger community …rally behind a new development paradigm, “Gross National Happiness” (GNH) ….. a concept the Government of Bhutan is using to underpin their “development” efforts.
Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley of Bhutan in his opening address at a special session at the UN on April 2nd titled “WELLBEING AND HAPPINESS: DEFINING A NEW ECONOMIC PARADIGM” noted …..‘the GDP led development model that compels boundless growth on a planet with limited resources no longer makes economic sense….Within its framework, there lies no solution to the economic, ecological, social and security crises that plague the world today and threaten to consume humanity. We desperately need an economy that serves and nurtures the wellbeing of all sentient beings on earth and human happiness that comes from living life in harmony with the natural world, with our communities and with our inner selves. We need an economy that will serve humanity, not enslave it.’
Where to from here? Start with watching this video “The Economics of Happiness”. http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/
Thanks for brining this up, Len. I’m inclined to believe that the foundations of sustainable tourism – among them the balance of using resources more efficiently and effectively in ways that benefit local economies, all while maintaining respect for local people and cultures – is very much in line with the concept of Gross National Happiness.
I love the idea of measuring for happiness. It reflects the on-the-ground nature of what I see around the world and where I think GSTC misses the boat.
Also, check out Anna Pollock’s keynote at Bhutan’s recent tourism conference: High Value Tourism: Low Volume Footprints
http://www.slideshare.net/AnnaP/high-value-tourism-low-volume-footprints
Hi to all,
I just stumbled upon (no, not via SU but via travelll.com) this blog and discussion here and really love it. I am grateful to hear that there are people focusing on the sustainable travel part and there are even ambassadors / bloggers doing this job now. I have always been interested in green, sustainable travels and try to focus on these initiatives, blog about them, tell people about them wherever I go.
And yes, combining these things with the Global Happiness index is interesting. In fact I just wrote about it (as there is a new Austrian movie about this topic is coming up) on http://littlemissitchyfeet.com/2012/04/14/what-happiness-is-die-reise-zum-fernsten-aller-ziele/
(It´s in german, but you still might want to check it out).
I would definitely be interested in getting more news about this movement of sustainability and how we as travel bloggers can even enforce it more. What do you think about the labels such as CSR Tourism, Eco Trans, respect – do you take it into account, do you work with them?
Cheers Doris
FYI: Interesting discussion is taking place on Facebook today about the GSTC and whether it’s ‘Open’ Meeting should include livestreaming:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/rtnetworking/10151387762847388