Views on Responsible Travel

The following quotes are taken from interviews done by Travel Specialist M.J. Kietzke and Anthony Sanchez of Eagle Eye Institute to educate others about the issues and concerns regarding tourism and development around the world.

The question asked was:
If you had one message as to how our travelers can travel to your area more responsibly, what would that be?

“First, stay as long as you can, then you will have a real experience with the forest; you won’t have to run, you can take your time. The animals are not available everywhere, you have to wait until they are in the area. Second, be with a local guide in a small group. You can go with a group of 15-20, but be sure the lodge you are going to has more guides so you can be divided into smaller groups. Then you will have a much better experience and more opportunities to see different kinds of animals.”
— Eduardo Nycander of Rainforest Expeditions, Peru

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“I have no hesitation in answering that; don’t give presents. I feel so strongly about that. Tourists have gone for years saying kids love balloons; they love pens. It turns a normal child into a little pestering beggar and because they are a pestering beggar, the tourists start shouting at them and telling them to go away instead of playing with them or relating to them. It is so easy to do harm so quickly that way. It is through ignorance not through deliberate action. We want to see smiles on the kid’s faces. We give sweets and it gives tooth decay because they don’t have dentists. It is such an easy rule to follow. Don’t give out presents except in return for work or hospitality.
— Hilary Bradt; travel guide writer of Bradt Publications

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“Educate yourself before you travel. More and more is being written about how you can interact responsibly with nature and local communities. Education is the key. We need to educate policy makers, governments, and the local people. Tourists are a strong vehicle for change. If the tourists educate themselves they can be great advocates for the environment.”
— Jamie Sweeting, Conservation International

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“Just be open minded, reach and take everything in. Ecotourism is about that; learn and feel something new, especially if you are going to come from so far away into such a different habitat. Responsibility always. The Tambopata Research Center (TRC) here in Peru is a place that hasn’t been touched, deforested, worked or hunted. It is virgin forest, primordial forest. I do think the system that we use with tourists makes it special. You see trails in other sites, they are all worn sort of like ditches and that is really bad on the soil and the forest. This is because they don’t rotate the trails and there have been too many tourists on the trails.”
— Armando Valdes, Research Biologist and guide, Tambopata Research Center, Peru

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“The only thing is to enjoy it. Be prepared that you are not coming to a country the same as yours. It is a matter of accepting the country the way it is and not expecting the same things. If you are open for it, it is really a good experience. Peru is a very beautiful country to visit. Just accept that it is not the same level of education and development as your own country.”
— Josie Berendse, Director, Amauto Language School, Cuzco, Peru

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“Make sure that the flowers you buy back home are not grown under unhealthy conditions; ask your local florist how these flowers are grown. Here in Ecuador; the flower export business has become one of the fastest growing industries in the country. The environmental problems is that all these flowers are produced under artificial conditions inside huge greenhouses that cover hundreds of acres of land and the flowers are sprayed constantly to keep them free of disease in order to export to the US and Europe. These chemicals are depleting the immediate environment, going into the watershed and worst of all is that all the workers have suffered, reporting congenital diseases, deformities, internal bleeding, cancer and things that are not publicized. If people knew that those flowers they are buying were being grown at the expense of local people and the environment, they might not want to give them for a happy occasion.”
— Betty Sachs and Diego Felconi; owners of Casa Mojanda; a charming country inn nestled in the mountains just outside Otavalo, Ecuador

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“What I think is very, very important is that before you take a trip, learn as much as possible about the destination, about the environment, the ecosystem and the people that live there. Don’t come with misinterpretations. Try to get the real information, the real truth and never forget that every coin has two sides exactly the same size but different points of view. So no prejudices; just come and try to interpret your experiences and learn from the local people and respect their point of view.”
— Silvio Barros II, Former Secretary of Tourism for State of Panama, Brazil

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“Responsibility comes through respect. If they can respect the cultures and the people, it is automatic.”
— Mandeep Singh Soin, Ibex Expeditions, Delhi, India

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“Very simply, think of the consequences of your actions. That means that if you have a choice even in the place where you are coming from, even in the place where you live; if you have a choice for example of eating in a locally owned restaurant or eating in a restaurant chain, by choosing to eat a hamburger in a locally owned restaurant then that incomes stays and supports the local economy. If you eat in a chain, most of that income is exported. So when you are traveling, think in those same terms.”
— Amos Bien, Rara Avis Rainforest Lodge and Reserve, Costa Rica

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“I think sustainability would be the word. Before you do anything, think of your grandchildren. There are some very clear rules about sustainability; avoiding non renewable resources; fossil fuels is a non renewable resource which forces you to think about alternative energy production. Trying to be sustainable locally so you don’t have to import things long distances, and to think about passive solar designs so you are using the very natural elements that help support alternative energy systems.”
— Stanley Selengut, Maho Bay Camps, Inc. St. John, USVI

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“Make sure the only thing you leave in the place you go are ripples in the water and money which goes into the local community; that is the most important thing. What you do is come home with locally made craft goods and you make sure they come from well managed resources. You smile and show other people pictures and you say, Go and see for yourself. The challenge before the world is that we have only one enemy; the vested interest with the past who are smashing the world to pieces. I think all the good people of the world can join together, led by children and say. “ We are going to beat them.”
— David Bellamy, Co-Founder of The Conservation Foundation, London, England

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“It is important that all tourism respect the indigenous cultures and people. It doesn’t mean seeing what can be done in a patronizing fashion; it means giving them the say; staying out if they don’t want it, giving them the respect we would expect in our culture, in our home if someone were knocking on the front door saying, I want to come in to see what’s here.”
— Dr. Bob Brown, Founder of the Australian Bush Heritage Fund

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“It is true that one tourist that is not guided well can do more damage than ten thousand that are well guided and following the rules. As long as the majority of people in Galapagos; tourists and guides follow the rules of the national park and respect the life of the animals as well as the vegetation, the Galapagos Islands are here for many more years and future generations.”
— Roslyn Cameron, The Charles Darwin Research Station of The Galapagos Islands

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“Bring environmentally friendly things with you, don’t leave garbage around. When you go to the beach, make sure you bring your garbage back with you. They have environmentally friendly everything including soaps and shampoo. Bring those. But please don’t bring things that we are going to have the problem of trying to dispose of afterwards. Plastics and Styrofoam are the worst because they are so resistant. When you are offered a plastic bag, say no thank you. The more they’re told, they more they’ll clean up their act. It is the tourist that they are catering to. If you say you want things changed, you want more environmentally friendly whatever, they will change, they will change real fast.”
— Kalli DeMeyer, Bonaire Marine Park

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“One of the main problems with tourism is that the benefits are not shared enough with the local community. A community based tourism vacation gives you a very enriching, educational experience and your money goes right to the local community. The more support travelers can give to local efforts of ecotourism, the better, because that increases the community stake in protecting the environment.”
— Beatrice Blake, The New Key to Costa Rica

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