The act of Sustainable Tourism is the idea that we should depart a destination no worse than it was when we arrived and leave the destination better than we found it. Many supporting goals, such as reducing single-use plastic consumption, supporting local businesses,
and respecting cultural and natural heritage, can help us and our groups achieve this overarching goal.
Protecting the Environment
Travel and tourism are two of the largest industries on our planet and harm many locations. By practicing sustainable travel and tourism, we can slow the destruction of lands and wildlife, slow pollution, and reduce littering.
The destruction of land and wildlife and the spread of pollution are natural aspects of travel. However, group travel plays a crucial role in offsetting these environmental dangers. By traveling in larger groups, we can minimize the emissions needed when traveling across city, state, or country lines. This collective effort can make a significant difference, with a group of 200 individuals creating less pollution than four groups of 50 individuals going to multiple locations.
The act of littering is a widespread and largely unrealized phenomenon of travel. Many student groups, whether of a musical or educational variety, tend to be extremely busy on a day-to-day basis. These hectic, full-day schedules sometimes distract us from some of the most simple and essential aspects of keeping our planet clean and protected for future generations. An act as simple as holding onto an empty plastic bottle until we find the next recycling station, instead of leaving it on a table or empty park bench, can have a genuine impact when practiced by dozens of travelers over hundreds of groups. A few other simple actions that can help reduce littering would be asking a restaurant/hotel for the appropriate “trash” to be sent to their recycling bin, using reusable water bottles instead of throw-away bottles, and simply taking notice and cleaning up after ourselves as we leave our buses, theatres, natural parks, etc…
Expanding Economic Development
A largely unrealized aspect of Sustainable Tourism is expanding the economic development of the locations we visit. Two key aspects of expanding the economic development of our travel destinations that we can consider when planning our travel and/or talking to our travel planners are eating locally and shopping locally.
When we consider the meals that we plan for our students, it can be difficult to book restaurants that are local. Factors like budget, space, and parking can be much more difficult to realistically achieve with a local restaurant than with a franchise location. Taking the time and setting aside a larger budget to find a local restaurant when we travel can immensely help these places and give our groups a more personable and memorable experience.
Setting aside some extra cash as we travel to buy gifts for ourselves, or our family/friends can turn a travel experience from something we remember for a few years into a lifetime memory as we continue to come across these gifts. An easy way we can help is through shopping at locations that put the money that they raise back into the local economy. Stores like mom-and-pop shops or even the shops at the museum keep the money moving within these local economies more than at the hotel or airport store.
Defending Cultural and Natural Heritage
Cultural and Natural Heritage sites are a large part of travel, especially for students, because of their educational aspect. By educating ourselves and others about the importance of these sites and the impact of our actions, we can contribute to their preservation and accessibility.
Visiting local museums, respecting the boundaries around the exhibits, and being mindful of our contribution to noise pollution can go a long way toward keeping these essential parts of the local culture open and accessible to the public.
Theatres are vital to both small and large communities, and leaving these historic buildings just as pristine as we found them is essential to keeping them running for decades longer after our visit.
There are many more aspects of defending cultural and natural heritage sites, but the most important notes to keep in mind are to never leave a place worse than how we found it, spend money on local aspects of the culture we visit, and be mindful that the destination that we are visiting has a different culture than what we may be used to. Respecting this culture leads to a more inclusive and open world for everyone.
What does Sustainable Tourism Achieve?
By practicing these actions, we can not only help heal our planet but also improve the lives of the people in the destinations that we travel to. Many of the supporting goals that we have discussed can be easily achieved through the simple act of being mindful of the everyday minutiae of travel. Let us practice these actions and leave our world and future generations more open and connected for decades and centuries!
AUTHOR—Jagger Shuler
