I was recently asked by a colleague to contribute some tips on how to do this for a sustainable tourism training program. Below are a few practical ways to tell your sustainability story to avoid jargon and incorporate storytelling that also highlights the local context, strengths and challenges.

1. Start your sustainability story with why you decided to start this journey or certification process in the first place.

Why was this important to you, even if it might be difficult and messy at times? Why did you care enough to do this? What were the underlying values or motivations behind choosing to operate more sustainably? What big change did you want to create or what impact did you want to make? And for whom or for where (e.g., location or natural environment)?  

Be transparent if your motivations changed as you get started. For example, I was recently speaking with a guest house owner who shared that when she first started the training for sustainability certification she did so because she thought it was a trend and something she should do to meet traveler demands. However, after attending the training, those motivations moved way down the list as she understood better the underlying values of sustainability and realized for herself the need to do more now to preserve for future generations. And how she could contribute to that by operating more sustainably.

2. Provide local context when sharing your sustainability activities and stories.

Don’t only provide a list of sustainability initiatives of what you did, but also explain why these specific initiatives are so important to you, your community or surrounding environment and the impact of these initiatives.

Your audience may not know the local context to understand the importance of these activities locally as their home context might be different. For example, in a fragile high desert environment activities around conserving water take on higher importance. Or how the impact of providing economic opportunities in remote areas can help prevent migration of young people to cities or to foreign countries.  

3. Don't be vague when describing the impact or change as a result of your sustainability activities.

This can be interpreted as greenwashing or trying to hide something, and it doesn’t support the greater transparency we need to advance sustainability as the default. An important part of sustainable tourism is measuring and monitoring, so use that information to provide tangible results whenever possible.

For example, don’t just say “reduction in water use” but give the average percentage or liters of reduced water use over a period of time. Or instead of “increased employment”, specify the number of local people who now have a sustainable livelihood from tourism thanks to your company’s activities.

4. Remember that sustainability is not only about the environment.

Some environmental or carbon reduction initiatives might feel more tangible and therefore, easier to talk about. However, be sure to tell stories as well about the activities and impacts related to local people, economy, and that also highlights the specific local context.

One way to highlight the socio-economic elements of sustainability is to think of one person impacted through your sustainable tourism initiatives. Tell that person's story of what changed — individually, for the family, for the community, etc — and use their name (with permission, of course). This makes a story personal, relatable and the impact feels real.

5. Tell stories of your challenges – and what you learned from them — as well as your successes.

This type of transparency  and honesty earns trust, combats greenwashing and helps others learn from your journey. Sustainability is messy and sometimes doesn't always work out as you had hoped.

Share not only your challenges or mistakes, but most importantly what lessons you learned from the experience and what you plan to do in the future to try and overcome these challenges. Keep sharing updates as you make progress and find new solutions to address these issues. Other companies or destinations may be able to learn from how you overcame obstacles, or perhaps share their own solutions to similar problems they faced.

6. Highlight how your sustainability activities actually are an experience enhancer.

Travelers sometimes think of “sustainable” or “responsible” as boring or more expensive as has been shown in different studies over the years (yes, sustainable tourism has a branding problem, but that is for another article). However, it shouldn’t be this way. Incorporating sustainability principles into your tourism product or service should improve or deepen the travel experience (if it doesn't then you need to go back to the product development stage).

For example, don't just list all your sustainability activities at the top of your tour description. Instead, highlight first how your tour provides a deeper or more personal connection to local people and culture…and how your sustainability initiatives to involve the local community in product development contributes to this. Or highlight how your hiking tour provides greater immersion in nature as you’ve developed new routes with fewer crowds, and have worked with local families to set up homestays. Or there is the “feel good” satisfaction for travelers of knowing that their money is staying local and having an impact in the community.

7. Invite travelers to be part of your sustainability journey, and make it easy and simple.

Don’t assume that travelers know what the “right” or more sustainable thing to do is, especially as they might not be familiar with the local context and its specific environmental and socio-economic situation. Don't preach with a list of things only focused on what not to do. Travelers sometimes tune this out, especially as behavior science shows that their first priority on vacation to have fun and not “behave sustainably.”

Instead, provide simple and easy ways that travelers can make more sustainable decisions or adjust behaviors to advance sustainability locally. A key behavior science principle of this is to break down desired sustainable behaviors into actions that truly are easy and simple for travelers to do so it's a friction-less choice. Then, place this communication in strategic places in order to nudge them when they are making decisions.

The post 7 Ways to Effectively Communicate Your Sustainability Story in Tourism appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Companies, governments, and communities play a crucial role in creating this more equitable world through deliberate change and actions to ensure that women and marginalized groups are:

The tourism sector is certainly no exception in the role it can play to provide these fundamentals to women of all backgrounds and nationalities.

Travel and Inclusion

In an ideal form, travel is all about celebrating diversity, valuing differences, breaking down stereotypes and bias, engaging local communities, and making places better for local people to live. At least that's the goal for many people who work in tourism, and something that much mindful and sustainable travel achieves. We know, however, that sadly not all tourism businesses and travelers live up to this ideal.

The tourism sector is able to deliberately pursue greater participation from women and greater social impact as a way to get closer to this ideal. This inclusiveness promises not only to strengthen the sector and make it more resilient, but it will also help construct deeper and more transformative travel experiences for travelers that are closer to that ideal above.

With the landscape in mind, this article offers some specific ideas and mechanisms that tourism and travel can apply to empower women, support women entrepreneurs and businesses, and actively invest in communities to do so. Through all this, the travel sector can #InspireInclusion and deliberately work towards making a more equitable and inclusive world.

Women in Tourism

In 2019, women accounted for 54% of the tourism sector’s employment worldwide (we haven't been able to find an updated post-pandemic statistic). On one level, this statistic can be interpreted as an achievement, a foundational step toward opportunity and access for women.

However, according to research done by the UNWTO, most of those jobs are concentrated in the least powerful, lowest-skilled and lowest paid positions. Only around 19-25% of leadership and C-suite levels are filled by women. This implies that women are often hired only for low level jobs and especially for those participating in the informal economy, the remain the most at risk of job loss and displacement from economic shocks like the pandemic.

The tourism sector's challenge is not only to focus on greater involvement of women as part of the workforce, but as partners, managers and leaders. And if we think of this year's theme of inclusion, to provide the needed resources and opportunities in that local context for women and marginalized groups to be successful.

Why Investing in Women Matters

Before we dive into some of the ways that the tourism sector can better invest in and support women, let's look at why this matters for our world. TL;DR: Investing in women is an investment in our communities and future generations.

Kiva, a microfinance organization which lends money low-income entrepreneurs around the world, found that women reinvest 80% of the income they earn into the education and wellbeing of children. Other research from the United Nations indicates that women-led economic empowerment leads to more gender equality and rights, economic growth, increased rates of girls education, and other community indicators of well-being.

We've seen this play out in our projects repeatedly over the the last 10+ years, whether working with microfinance or tourism organizations.

Shoshe, who had received business training and market access for her handicrafts through a program in Moshi, Tanzania, explained this concept above in personal terms: “I want to break the cycle for my daughter. I want to prove women can work and earn money.”

Alessandra Alonso from Women in Travel explained during a G Adventures Retravel panel on the topic of women in tourism: “For us, economic empowerment is the beginning of everything. Because when a woman earns, then the kids get educated, the extended family eats and the whole community is much better off.”

How Tourism Can Better Invest in Women

Here are a few practical ways that travel and tourism can better invest in women, be more inclusive, and support empowerment, women businesses and leadership.

• Develop tourism products together with local community organizations and social enterprises that focus on supporting local women and marginalized groups. This social impact product development approach not only provides opportunity and to women and marginalized communities, but it can also provide crucial market access and a source of income for the local organization. If you are unsure on how to get started with a community-driven product development process, we can help.
• Hire more women, and not only at the lowest levels of participation. Focus especially on leadership and management positions. If you believe that your company already does an adequate job at gender diversity, conduct a simple audit to see how many positions in the company are filled by women or individuals from marginalized communities. This might offer a more objective snapshot of the actual diversity of your company’s workforce.
• Deploy innovation in gender diversity.  Open positions and offer or expand training for women-led initiatives that might at first be considered unconventional. This will help to expand the definition and idea of what a “woman’s job” is or what’s possible for women to aspire to do. For example, Chobe Game Lodge was the first company to in Botswana to feature an all-female safari guide team. Sakha Cabs in India trains women to be taxi and professional drivers, a profession once considered “a man’s work.” Women in these roles push boundaries. Stereotypes are changing. Get ahead of the curve.
• Don’t just localize the supply chain, but make it more gender equal by choosing women-owned suppliers and local businesses. If you don't know where to get started in finding women-owned tourism businesses, check out this list on Wanderful of women-owned tourism businesses, women empowerment community tourism enterprises at the Planeterra Foundation or search for local women tourism networks where you operate. This approach will not only support your sustainability efforts, but women-owned businesses tend to amplify and expand opportunity and employment for other women in the community.
• Identify barriers and understand local women’s needs by asking them. Then provide the support they need to productively engage in projects, get the skills they want, and join the workforce. For example, this might include offering child care, transport to and from work to alleviate safety concerns, skills training to supplement basic education, and flexible work hours to accommodate traditional responsibilities at home.
• Encourage women to be the storytellers. Especially in indigenous communities, we’ve found that women are the stewards of tradition and culture. They are often the ones who pass on knowledge, traditions and techniques to their children, thereby sustaining community wisdom. Women’s voices often go unheard, for they don’t understand the value of their knowledge, nor are they actively given the opportunity to share it. Tourism companies are in an ideal position to amplify these stories and voices by inviting women to be guides or speak as local experts.
• Communicate to your customers and your travelers the deliberate decisions you’ve taken to invest in women. Share stories of access and opportunity. Be transparent and don’t be afraid to season your story by sharing some of the mistakes you’ve made along the way. Invite your customers to join this journey with you. Educate them on the impact of their decisions and behaviors to support women around the world. If you don’t know how to get started with social impact communications, let us know.

For those of us in tourism, we know that it can create opportunity and jobs, thereby enhancing lives and livelihoods. It can take transferable skills and embed them for use in the formal economy.

The Business Case for Inclusive Work Forces

In addition, investment in women and inclusive work forces makes good business sense. Studies show companies that exhibit higher levels of gender diversity, especially at the executive level, usually outperform those without in terms of economic profit.  One of the reasons is that men and women often display different leadership styles. The expression of diverse opinions and perspectives generates collective intelligence and can often result in more creative solutions and more effective problem solving.

The business rationale is there on the consumer side, too. In tourism and travel, it’s estimated that women consumers make 70-80% of the travel decisions. Women travelers comprise a growing percentage of the entire traveling community. A company’s capability – aided by workplace diversity — to comprehend and process the needs of its current and prospective customers seems a no-brainer.

Inspiring Inclusion Every Day

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we need to move from words and inspiration on one day of the year to deliberate and continual action which supports and empowers women every day.

Should the tourism sector rise to “Inspire Inclusion,” women will be invited, welcomed and provided with the resources and support they need to take the driver’s seat on the journey to create a more inclusive and equitable future for all of us. 

And that's the inclusive world we'd like to live in.

The post How Tourism Can Better Invest in Women appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Here is a summary of those observations, paired with takeaways for destinations and tourism companies. We include some best practices in messaging and operations, considerations to keep up with changing consumer trends and demands, and a reminder that sustainability doesn't need to be at odds with COVID-19 safety and hygiene measures.

CAVEATS:

• We understand that Italy does not represent or reflect tourism realities across the rest of the world. However, we imagine many of these items may resonate on some level no matter where you are located and whether you have been allowed to re-open in some capacity (or if you think you will re-open soon).
• To be clear, we are not advocating that everyone get up and travel right now. COVID-19 rates are again on the rise in many areas, especially as cooler temperatures visit the Northern hemisphere and people retreat inside (see our COVID-19 Travel Resource Guide for more details on relevant data and considerations). However, people will continue to travel now and in the future. The considerations we outline bear that in mind.

1. Think shared safety: “For you, for me, for us.”

Kudos to one of the safety campaigns in the Dolomite region featuring this short but effective slogan:  “Für dich, für mich, für uns”  (“For you, for me, for us”). While travel safety has traditionally focused on the traveler, the new mindful equilibrium ought to pay attention to the safety, comfort and protection of both hosts and guests. Destinations and travel companies must actively educate travelers that regulations and precautions are in place for everyone’s benefit.           

2. It’s everyone’s responsibility.

In our conversations with many small accommodation providers in Italy, we found that they took the responsibility of enforcement on themselves. They not only made sure travelers complied with requirements, but they networked with other businesses to ensured that they did, too.

“If one of us fails to do this right, we’re all going to fail.”

Many of the business owners we spoke to understood that if one party is lax and someone gets sick, everyone would eventually suffer. An outbreak would negatively impact local businesses, economic activity and the health of the community. Destinations and travel companies have an opportunity to co-opt this and advocate a sense of shared responsibility and that we all — businesses, travelers, local communities — need to reinforce best practices and regulations for our shared travel public good.

3. Flexibility is king.

Be alert to travelers’ needs to remain flexible because of changing travel restrictions and border regulations.  While we appreciate the predicament in which many travel businesses currently find themselves, companies need to make changing and cancelling plans as simple and transparent as possible for the traveler if they wish to hold her trust.

Refund terms need to be upfront (e.g., immediate vs. 2-3 weeks, as was the case with our car rental cancellation). Don’t hold refunds hostage. If we as an industry wish travelers to return, we cannot make this process painful and confusing. Cancellation and refund shenanigans erode consumer trust and encourage travelers to stay home and “wait it out.”

4. If booking directly would benefit your business, make it easy for me to do so.

Despite much ink having recently been spilled on the term “digital transformation” in travel and tourism, digital low-hanging fruit abounds. One such area: many accommodation and activity providers still don’t offer a simple direct online booking path for travelers. Particularly during this trip, we attempted to book accommodation directly as often as possible to ensure that as much income as possible landed in the hands of local accommodation providers. However, confirming a room directly was often difficult or impossible without online booking options and when phones and emails went unanswered.

Destinations and DMOs: If you wish to help local businesses capture more direct bookings and become less dependent on OTAs, research available tools and offer turnkey online booking options or plugin components for local provider websites. Note: We are not anti-OTA. In our tourism development work, we encourage local accommodation providers to establish a presence on them for marketing and market access purposes.

Kudos to the family-run B&B/hotel websites that not only had prompts on their website to book directly, but also provided information as to why booking directly — especially at a time like this — benefits everyone in the transaction. Asking for help is ok, and educating travelers on the importance of their booking decisions is, too.

5. Don’t compete on price. Compete on flexibility and options.

Offer more flexibility, adjustable/modular tours, shorter itineraries, self-guided tours, etc. Price is not the determining factor in most traveler decisions right now. Safety, travel confidence, border restriction awareness, and flexibility are.

Your competitive advantage in the long term shouldn’t be low price anyhow. Instead, compete on the quality and uniqueness of the experience you’re offering. In fact, as the pandemic plays out, prices may likely rise to reflect the true cost of product/service delivery in the new equilibrium.

6. Hygiene theater is often just a fig leaf.

Science tells us that COVID-19 is transmitted mainly through human contact and interaction, airborne droplets and human concentration indoors, rather than through surfaces. Mask-wearing and traffic/crowd control is what matters. But the temptation to spend cycles on what we feel we can control — the cleanliness and disinfection of surfaces — is clear. And we understand why: to make travelers feel safe, even if its effect is marginal.

The restaurant that packs itself full with people yet sprays disinfectant everywhere: pointless. Guest houses controlling traffic in common breakfast areas: mindful. Mask-wearing signs, elevator restrictions and guidance to core family/group, one person at a time in an office — these measures not only offer some comfort, but they better align with the science. And they not only help shift the immediate behavior, but they serve as a constant reminder that we need to be aware and vigilant for our own good and for the good of others.

Note: If you are unfamiliar with the term “hygiene theater”, check out this article from The Atlantic.

7. Hygiene theater for sustainability is a bad exchange.

Don’t exchange or abandon environmental and sustainability practices for the sake of hygiene theatre. Re-embracing single-use plastics and plastic water bottles will not stem the pandemic. Instead, businesses should educate travelers on why and how their sustainability practices also comply with COVID-19 hygiene best practices. This is not zero sum.

8. Continually adapt to the new ask.

Understand changing traveler behaviors — avoiding crowds, embracing outdoor activities, private groups — and focus your destination and travel product offerings to support this. This approach not only meets evolving traveler demands, it also helps manage visitor flows and aids client dispersion within a destination.

For example, make it easier to find information on how to visit towns, villages or national parks which may be less busy. For restaurants, consider extending or adjusting dining hours and offering outdoor seating options (and blankets) to help limit the number of people indoors.

9. As a default, wear a mask.

This goes for both travelers and anyone working in the tourism industry. If you or your employees even wonder or think, “Should I wear a mask?”  Just do it.  Even if it’s not legally or technically required, wear a mask anytime you are near or talking to someone who is not in your immediate or family circle.  For example, even though the removal of one's mask was allowed when at a table at a restaurant, many people kept their mask on until they finished ordering and interacting with the waiter. That's good for everyone.

10. DMOs, destinations and travel companies: Answer your emails!

We understand business is difficult and lives have been disrupted. But if you intend to be an ongoing concern or organization, now is not the time to ignore inquiries. Keep communication lines open and make an effort, even if quick, to respond to inbound calls or emails, regardless of whether they inquire about a transaction, logistics or the current situation. These emails may not result in immediate sales, but your response to them can help to develop a relationship and earn trust. If your plan is to ignore travelers and customers until COVID-19 is over, and only then re-engage when money is guaranteed to flow, you are making a mistake.

The post Tourism and COVID-19: Observations from the Field appeared first on Uncornered Market.

The other day a client asked, “I have a big question for you. Would travelers come to [our destination] even if coronavirus stays unsolved? What is your opinion?”

We’d achieved some excellent results with him, his business and the destination over the last couple of years. Implementation of tourism product development and marketing strategies had reaped benefits — not only in the growth of his organization, but also to local communities in the form of jobs, income and socio-economic opportunity. Demand for new products and tours had really begun to deepen year over year, with the upcoming summer season looking very promising just a month ago.

Now all that may change. We empathize with his concern.

As we considered our response to his question we watched the prudent yet last-minute cancellation of ITB Berlin 2020, the largest travel trade show in the world. Conversations with colleagues also intersected our thinking. The tourism industry looks very different if the extent of your dilemma is whether or not to cancel your next trip compared to if you depend on the health of the sector to put food on the family table.

A mindset to think on these things in a reasoned manner slowly revealed itself.

Shocks like the coronavirus (COVID-19) present challenges, considerations and opportunities to reflect on the way we operate — as a society and as the travel industry.

Here are a few considerations for destinations, companies, communities, donors, tourism industry colleagues, and travelers alike.

But before we dive into the detail, we take a step back for perspective.

Resilience: A Holistic Look at Travel

Resilience has become a popular term these days, especially in travel industry circles. The coronavirus offers a real-life resilience-testing laboratory. The definition of resilience suggest toughness and an ability to recover quickly from difficulties. It also implies an ability to bounce back into shape, an elasticity and flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances.

That second point is crucial.

Particularly when things are going well, it’s easy to forget that environmental, political, financial and social disruptions and shocks will continue to happen and change the shape of travel and the world we live in. In fact, they may appear in greater frequency than ever before. Anticipating those new shapes and adapting to their contours — that strikes us as the true essence of resilience.

But how to do that?

Philosophical Bits: Crisis, Mindset, Perspective

First, a few philosophical markers to guide the mind.

1. We don't know.

The coronavirus is unpredictable. Human behavior and response are even more so. There’s freedom in admitting what you don’t know — so you may avoid directionless speculation and worry.

2. Comprehend and accept the reality of the situation.

You may not like it, you may wish circumstances were different. You may even pretend it’s not as bad or good as it really is. None of that matters. It is what it is.

The quicker you accept reality, the more prepared you will be to respond to fluid circumstances with equanimity, balance and objectivity.

3. Shift from reaction to response.

What’s the difference? Not everything requires a reaction, although everything deserves an appropriate and deliberate response, even if that response is to do nothing.

4. Understand what you can and cannot control. 

Airlines will cancel flights and routes, quarantines will be imposed, events will be cancelled, governments will take action, borders may close. Focus your attention and energy on those items within your control.

5. Resist the temptation to operate on the basis of fear.

Fear is rarely helpful. Informed action is. This means not giving into panic, seeking out reliable sources of information (think CDC and WHO) and conducting proper research. For businesses, think twice about taking short-term desperate measures (e.g., slashing prices for a short-term demand boost, especially when prices may not be the root issue) as they may harm you in the long term.

6. Embrace honesty and transparency.

This remains the best policy, whether it’s dealing with clients, employees, or partners. Period.

7. Things change.

We don’t know when or how. We live in chronic uncertainty, with waves that lap the shore and others that feel tidal. It may get worse before it gets better. It may improve quickly. A new pattern may even emerge.

Travel Specific Bits: Travel Behavior Shifts

Next, a few observations and speculations regarding how travel consumers may respond.

1. Travel Decision-Making and Risk Profiling.

Depending on the extent of the epidemic, lesser-known or less popular destinations may be less effected because of elasticity of the travel demand pattern. Intrepid travelers will still travel to the last (wo)man standing, likely to the offbeat and off-path. We recently traveled in Bhutan, Thailand and Malaysia. Regardless of what holds as rational thinking, we felt somewhat shielded from the epidemic in Bhutan relative to Thailand or Malaysia because of how remote it is and how few visitors we encountered on our flight there and on the ground.

Travelers are likely to take into account the risk of the destination. What are my chances of being exposed to the coronavirus in, for example, Kyrgyzstan vs. Italy, in Morocco vs. Malaysia? And what is the sum of the risk profile of the airports and destinations I will travel through to get there vs. my risk profile at home?

Not all travelers will think this way, but many may. Nor will they all make the same calculations, but many will think it through and perhaps make a different decision than they would have prior to the epidemic. So long as travel is not forbidden either to or from a destination, travelers will continue to travel.

2. Opportunistic Travel.

Because some travelers are cancelling their plans, others may take up the opportunity and some of the demand slack. They may take advantage of cheaper and less busy flights, tours, hotels and activities to capitalize on latent travel plans.

3. More Domestic and Local Travel.

If demand for long-distance travel is in decline, now may be the time to consider capitalizing on opportunities in domestic and regional travel demand. Even if people aren’t crossing borders they still may travel within the country or even within the city. If you are a destination or brand, how can you be more interesting to a local traveler?

4. Alternative Destinations.

Maybe it’s just us, but every situation offers a perfect opportunity for alternative destinations — especially if crowds are what travelers wish to avoid. For travelers and the industry, alternative travel destinations may offer some of the moment's best opportunities. If you aren’t prone to panic, counter-intuition says it’s a good time to travel.

Business Bits: Use the Moment, Think Long-Term

Finally, some business practice responses to consider.

1. Scenario Plan.

As a thought exercise, consider the range of different outcomes of all this. Then ask: How can I use those scenarios to plan, become smarter about my business over the long term, and to learn — as a process, regardless of outcome?

Use scenario planning to ask: what does a softening in demand or a decline in revenue at various levels mean to my business? Consider in those various scenarios what you can (or must) do to absorb the shock. Ask yourself: What can I do to use this circumstance to wisely invest and improve now so that when a new equilibrium emerges, I’m even better prepared?

2. Don’t Forget Overtourism or Abandon Sustainability.

Don’t undo the best practices of sustainability because of economic fear since you are facing a slow or soft season. Don’t dismiss the lessons of overtourism. If you do, you're bound to replace one problem with another you’d already begun to tackle.

Despite a short-term softening in travel demand due to the coronavirus, concerns about overtourism still hold, even if the hordes of tourists are temporarily at bay, staying at home until the fever storm passes.

3. Take Stock in Tourism.

In the wake of the coronavirus, there’s an opportunity to take stock in the role and position of tourism, to re-calibrate our appreciation of tourism and our understanding of both its positive and negative effects. 

With a potential loss of income and decrease in the number of tourists, destinations and companies have a unique opportunity to understand the real socio-economic benefits — and costs and externalities, too — that tourism can bring to a city, a country, a region. Destination managers also have the opportunity to proactively mitigate and manage some of the negative impacts before the tourism flow returns.

4. Tend to the Important, Not Urgent.

If the season is slower than usual, use the moment to re-evaluate, to focus on those “Important, Not Urgent” items. This doesn’t imply heavy investment, but instead tending to things like your website and content, improvements around a property, conversations you’ve been meaning to have with staff or suppliers to improve services, or those items and tasks you didn’t feel you had the time to address earlier.

Think of those things which often go untended because “you’re too busy,” but they could really help strengthen your company and its services in the long term.

5. Re-Position and Strengthen.

Think ahead about how you can improve your business and its sustainability. Consider tuning marketing and messaging to adjust the type of traveler you seek, the type of experience you'd like to deliver. A down market is as good a time as any to consider re-positioning yourself for the rebound. If you don’t want to re-position, simply take stock and strengthen your current positioning and sharpen the message about what differentiates your offering.

6. Think Wisely of the Rebound.

Especially if the effects of the epidemic are short-lived, what is the timing and shape of the rebound? What is the shape of the new equilibrium? How do you best respond to the recovery?  If demand softens, resist the temptation to double-down on the recovery just to recoup losses.

7. Experiment.

Maybe you've had an idea but were afraid to try it earlier, afraid to mess up “a good thing.” Now is the time to try it out, maybe even to stand out more than before. If things don’t work out, the loss is mitigated because of the circumstances.

8. Re-balance the Portfolio of Revenue.

Diversification of revenues is especially important for communities and small businesses. When we work with communities and they invest themselves entirely in tourism while abandoning agriculture or other small businesses they ran in the past, we always urge caution. Now is the perfect time not to forget the principles of balance, portfolio management and diversification.

9. Encourage and Support Responsible Behavior and Public Policy.

Lobby governments and agencies to do the right thing — whether that’s inbound tourist oversight, temperature checks, or improvement of health services and access to information. This is not only to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease, but to offer residents some assurance that they can continue to engage and live with peace of mind. This is also an opportunity to be better prepared for next time — the next virus, shock, or disruption.

10. Cooperate.

During times of shock, the temptation to compete and fight is strong. It's human. But so is cooperation. And that's usually what enables us all to be a little better off in the moment and when the storm passes.

Coronavirus and Travel: The Future

Epidemics and systemic shocks are a fact and facet of human life. What separates this one from the last is what we choose to learn from it — and how we integrate those lessons into the subtly different shape of the future that lies on the other side.

Don’t forget that this is a human exercise. If travel has taught us anything, it’s that we are all connected. This time, that lesson lands a little painfully. But how and where we emerge from this chapter will be a function of our recognition of that interconnection, and the compassion and understanding we show for one another along the way.

The post Meditations on the Coronavirus and the Tourism Industry appeared first on Uncornered Market.

As we read about the climate crisis and the role that travel and tourism plays, we’ve noticed a prevailing theme: carbon emissions from flights and aviation are the problem.

Sure, this is a central and pressing issue. The reality is that flights do contribute considerably to global carbon emissions and this is only expected to rise as passenger numbers increase. In recognition of that, we’ve examined our own thinking and committed to the Tourism Declares framework in an effort to reduce the number of flights we take per year for professional and personal reasons.

However, flights aren’t the only problem at the intersection of tourism, carbon emissions and the climate crisis. In fact, even if we stopped flying altogether, we’d miss some of the travel industry’s greatest environmental impact and carbon emissions reduction opportunities of all.

We'd also lose out on many of the potential socio-economic and conservation-oriented benefits that travel and tourism deliver to the places we fly to and the people who live there.

In addressing one undesirable outcome we run the risk of unintended negative consequences because we failed to see the interconnectedness of it all.

Note to travelers: Although the first part of this article is more industry-oriented, you might find the background interesting as to how travel companies can measure and make changes to reduce their carbon footprint. However, in the Tools section below you can more directly see the impact of your actions and decisions — on holiday and at home.

Climate Crisis and Travel

To date, carbon offsets have served as the tourism industry’s form of penitent indulgence or get-out-of-jail-free for flight-based carbon emissions. However many experts argue it doesn't really solve the problem. We tend to agree.

Fortunately, the actions that travelers and tourism companies take on the ground once the plane has landed and their holidays begin has gained greater attention and scrutiny.

For example, recent research from Responsible Travel regarding carbon emissions from holidays found a surprising result: that the carbon footprint from food — or foodprint —  can sometimes be greater than that of the transport used to reach the holiday destination.

This aligns with a project we advised on from 2019 – 2022 with the Mediterranean Experience of EcoTourism (MEET) Network which developed the Ecotourism Ecological Footprint calculator, a tool to measure the environmental impact of a tour or itinerary (after arrival in the destination). At the time, its results highlighted that the carbon footprint from food can be greater than that of transport or accommodation when on the ground during a vacation.

Repeated tests on MEET ecotourism itineraries indicated that making changes to food and meals — cutting portions to reduce food waste, replacing meat-heavy restaurant meals with lighter picnic lunches in nature, sourcing more products locally to reduce transport distance from the food source — often had a greater impact on reducing carbon emissions than making adjustments to accommodation or modes of local transportation.

This doesn't mean that accommodation, transport and activity choices are irrelevant. They matter. However, what this research shows — and why measurement like this is so important — is that sometimes the areas that get the most press and attention may not actually carry the biggest impact, positive or negative.

There’s also an environmental bonus of thinking on this particular area of behavior. We can bring this thinking about foodprint, food consumption and food waste back home, too.

Let’s Be Pragmatic: Not Just Reduction, but Optimization

The point of the MEET Network approach to measurement and monitoring was pragmatic. It was not to achieve the lowest footprint possible at the expense of an enjoyable experience (e.g., eating local vegetables exclusively, staying in an electricity-free lodge and avoiding transport).

Rather, it was to identify an optimal balance between the quality of travel experience — which includes experiencing local cuisine, the culture of hospitality, comfortable accommodation, and a diversity of locations and activities — and the sustainability of the tour.

The online calculator — which is free and available to all tourism companies — allows tour providers to adjust different segments of their itineraries and to understand the environmental impact of those adjustments on the fly. Tour operators may realize that it’s more impactful as a whole to make select small changes across all tours than to make only a few tours zero-waste and perfect. But the first step is to understand where the biggest culprits of carbon’s emissions lie.

Environmentally aware travel is not just about flights, but instead about recognizing how the different dimensions of travel and human behavior interrelate and work at scale.

Tools to Understand Your Carbon Footprint in All Dimensions

What does this mean for the individual traveler?

Recent research and some basic tools can provide a more holistic view on one’s environmental impact, then guide which actions to take.  And I’ll continually reiterate: this isn’t about guilt-tripping about one’s travel behaviors. Instead, it's about having some context about the impact of one’s choices so deliberate decisions can be made.

Ecological Footprint Online Calculator

Check out the Ecological Footprint online calculator. It’s an easy-to-use online tool that helps you understand more holistically your carbon footprint and how different dimensions in your life and travels play a role.

The point is not so much about your final score (your personal Overshoot Day, the date when what you consume has outstripped the Earth's regeneration capacity), but instead about developing your awareness of what is relevant. The tool illustrates how choices of transportation, food, electricity/electrical appliances, home, shopping, and other activities can have an impact and just how big or small that impact is on your total carbon emissions.

It's worth running the online calculator process several times and changing responses to represent actions you might consider taking, then watching the corresponding change in total footprint. For example, we've adjusted the number of flight hours we take, percentage of locally sourced foods we buy, overall amount of stuff we purchase, and other factors to see in each online calculation iteration what difference each of these changes makes to our total carbon footprint.

The idea: to use the tool to increase your understanding and to find your own optimal yet realistic equilibrium.

We don’t imagine that the output of the tool should set you off with a list of how you might deprive yourself of life’s pleasures and live a hermit's life. Instead, the tool illuminates how our individual behaviors — as well as those of the companies we do business with — have an environmental impact.

WWF Environmental Footprint Calculator

The WWF Environmental Footprint Calculator is a similar questionnaire-based tool whose approach can help you better understand the environmental impact of different aspects of your life. It's a bit simpler and less precise than the Ecological Footprint Calculator, but still provides a good overview. It also allows you to compare your footprint to national averages (only available in certain countries) and see how your results measure up to those around you.

Adjusting your Travel Footprint

Most of the carbon footprint dimensions highlighted in these tools apply in travel as they do in daily life: food choices and food waste, transportation options, accommodation choices, and other activities.

The more broad-minded we are of the impact of all our travel choices — not just flights — the more both travelers and tourism companies can make informed, effective and impactful decisions across the spectrum of our behaviors.

And therein lies a fuller solution.

There’s a great deal we can change, if we look at it right.

The post The Climate Crisis in Travel: Are We Missing the Bigger Picture? appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Have you ever been inspired to visit a travel destination or set off on an experience just because you saw it on Instagram? Have you ever attempted to recreate the exact image which inspired you in the first place?

If so, you’re not alone. We all understand this anecdotally. However, a study in the United Kingdom nails it: 41% of respondents indicate “Instagrammability” as the most important factor in choosing where to travel.

“What’s the harm in that?” you might ask. A sizable chunk of the traveling public has always traveled based on visual inspiration. Think of the traditional glossy travel magazines that spurred wanderlust.

True. Now let’s focus on how this plays out today. Take the collective impact of a growing number of travelers seeking the “right” Instagram shot and those desired shots tending to a limited set of destinations and sights. Couple that with a massive increase in the volume of travelers (1.5 to 1.8 billion in the next 5 years), and you get the perfect storm of overtourism brewing in a growing number of destinations today.

We've spoken at TravelCon and WTM London to other bloggers and influencers on widening the sustainable tourism movement. As we examined overtourism and the role of social media, we asked the question: as an influencer or social media user who cares, is there anything you can do to make a dent? To be part of the overtourism solution?

To use your influence…to influence a positive shift?

Yes.

Here are ten simple ways you can use your influence across social media platforms for positive impact, expanding travelers’ experiences just as you help combat the phenomenon of overtourism.

A note on the term “influencer”: Although the term “influencer” tends to speak to professionals who make a living from writing and social media, we are all influencers in some way. In fact, recommendations from friends and family are the most effective marketing there is. No matter how small your Instagram or social media following may be, what you post and how you post it does matter. You probably influence others’ decisions and actions more than you think.

10 Ways to use Social Media and Blogging to Help Combat Overtourism

Continue posting the beautiful, stirring images that your community loves. At the same time, consider how your posting can deliberately raise awareness of an issue, to shift and change how your community chooses to act and travel. Not all of the messages will land with everyone in your audience, but many will. Consciousness adds up and makes a difference over time.

1. Share images and stories from lesser-known places to encourage travel to different destinations

“One of the effects of social media is that we are all heading into the same places,” Tomas Frydrych wrote.

Imagine using Instagram and social media to help spread tourists across different destinations and sights. A majority of travelers (70%) head to a relatively small number of countries (20%), cities and natural parks (source: WTTC & McKinsey report). And within those places they are often visiting a limited number of sights or “top ten list” items.

Consider using your platforms, no matter how big or small, to showcase countries, regions, cities, experiences, outings, and treks that are not well-traveled in regions which could truly benefit from increased tourism. This approach opens your audience to new parts of the world. It can also help tear down stereotypes, fears and assumptions along the way.

For example, when we traveled through Ethiopia we shared photos and stories of landscapes, historical sights, markets, food, and people. Even though we’d considered ourselves well-traveled, Ethiopia surprised us in so many ways.

Ethiopia suffers from the stigma of famine in the 80s and a narrative of war and poverty. However, tourism development can help to spread money into regions and small communities.

2. Tell the backstory of the place and its people

Consider providing more of the backstory – the history, culture, environment and current socio-economic situation — when you post those iconic images or write about the latest place you’ve visited. This helps future visitors to those destinations engage and interact with its people more respectfully.

If you’re stuck for a structure on how to do this, consider the construct of: where that destination or people have been (its past), where they are now (its present), and where they want to go (its future). With the final point, you engage your audience in the journey to impact the destination and its future.

For example, when we published our guide to trekking in Ladakh, we not only mentioned our incredible trekking experiences there, but we also talked about the fragile high desert landscape and the Tibetan Ladakhi culture and people. Stanzin Odzer, founder of Ecological Footprints, the local trekking agency we set out with, told us later that he appreciated the awareness carried by clients who came via our website:

“We love to walk with them, because they are aware of everything — Ladakh’s fragile environment and also about culture.”

Considering that around 60% of his clients come via our website, that implies not just quantity, but also quality, of traveler traffic.

3. Help Eliminate Travel Entitlement

We’ve all seen, and probably do our best to dodge, that traveler. You know, the person who feels that he is entitled to do whatever he wants because he’s on vacation. He paid for it. He steps over and in front of everyone while getting the shot he deserves, he’s rude to people trying to serve him, and he’s loudest at night when people are trying to sleep because what he has to say is truly important.

The asshole traveler. None of us wants someone from our social media community to be that traveler.

What can we do?

One approach: call it out directly. Be upfront on what sort of traveler behavior is obnoxious, offensive, and disrespectful. I may be naïve here, but I’m guessing most people don’t want to be this way. But, some don’t recognize themselves unless the specific behaviors are called out as worthy of change.

Additionally, offer alternatives. Provide constructs on what it means to be a respectful, responsible traveler.

This begins with the understanding that as travelers we are all guests. Respectfulness begets respect. This means learning about cultural norms, dressing respectably, being quiet on the streets so that local people can be rested for work or school the next day, taking care of trash and resource use, and being aware just as you are curious.

Ultimately, it means seeking first to understand before judging…and complaining. When we do that as travelers, we tend to have deeper experiences, as locals are more likely to want to engage and connect with us when we’re not acting entitled.

4. Highlight experiences from social enterprises and community organizations

Tours with travel-related social enterprises and community development organizations usually offer excellent ways to connect with local people and have an immersive experience. In addition, these organizations reinvest profits into the community for local projects and development.

Sometimes these social enterprises work with marginalized communities offering employment and other opportunities that might not otherwise be available. It’s a win-win for everyone.

However, these local initiatives often don’t have a big marketing budgets to promote themselves.

This means that when you take the time to share a photo or story from a worthwhile experience you’ve had with such an organization, it offers provides them a marketing boost. It helps other travelers learn about these organizations more easily. Ultimately, you’re doing travelers a service by helping them find unique experiences.

On the tourism development project we advised in Kyrgyzstan, the blogger and influencer campaign focused on the new tours and tourism products offered by local community Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) in Karakol, Osh, South Shore of Lake Issyk-Kul and Jyrgalan. The tours featured were created and run by local families and organizations and benefitted them directly. They also offered new ways for travelers to connect easily with locals and learn about their cuisine, culture, history and environment.

Finally, proceeds from the tours were important to the DMOs’ long-term sustainability, as the revenue streams they provide will outlast foreign donor funding.

Thanks to last year’s social media and blogging promotional push of these experiences, this year’s summer season has boomed for these community tourism development organizations. Local employment and job opportunities have increased with this growth. Because of these new tours and their promotion, travelers spend more time in the destination, and the economic benefit spreads throughout the community via local restaurants, accommodation and other businesses.

5. Raise awareness of behaviors that may cause unintended harm

Sometimes we do things as travelers that we assume are harmless, don’t have much impact, or maybe even help local people and places — when it turns out that the opposite is true.

The reality is that sometimes our actions have unforeseen, unintended negative consequences.

For example, our awareness of child welfare in travel has increased. This includes the unintended harm of giving to children who beg, visiting schools during classroom time, and photographing children. The same goes for many volunteering and voluntourism programs, especially those in orphanages.

Although each of these complex issues can be difficult to unpack via a single social media post, it's possible to begin or continue the conversation. For a tongue-in-cheek example of an account dedicated these issues, check out Barbie Savior on Instagram.

As you wield your influence, ask yourself: “What do I wish I had known or been made aware of before I began traveling? What mistakes did I unknowingly make that I hope others can avoid?

Use those questions as a guide. Then, influence accordingly, raising awareness of environmental, social, economic and cultural issues.

As you do, avoid preaching. Instead, offer alternatives from your range of experience which serve the traveler and the destination and its people. If you don't know where to start, take a look at our ten tips for travelers to help combat overtourism.

6. Don’t geotag or add location data to fragile natural areas

One of the positive impacts of social media – Instagram especially — has been to encourage more travelers to get into nature, to go on treks, and to visit National Parks. Unfortunately, there’s also a down side to this great push to the outdoors.

Some fragile natural areas have been destroyed or are in the process of being ruined by the influx of Instagram-influenced tourists. Once peaceful and tranquil locations are swarmed by hordes of visitors angling for the best, and likely the same, Instagram shot or selfie.

If you’ve discovered a natural sight, trek or experience that you consider amazing, ask yourself a few questions before you post with location data:

• Can this place withstand more and more visitors without destroying what makes it beautiful and unique in the first place?
• Does it have the infrastructure to absorb even more visitors?

If not, consider leaving its exact location a mystery. Not having exact GPS coordinates will likely deter a lot of people from seeking it out in the first place.

7. Help others understand the environmental impact of their actions and offer alternatives

Use that epic shot from an outdoor landmark or historical site to raise awareness of environmental issues in the area. The idea is to juxtapose the beauty of the image with the problem at hand: plastics, trash, off-path destruction, feeding the animals, etc. Then, provide easy and viable alternatives to help travelers understand which behaviors help protect the environment and which ones degrade it.

A more extreme option: post a photo of what would have been a beautiful landscape or scene. That is, without all the trash lying around.

Many travelers are not aware of the fragility of the places they visit, especially national parks, historical sites or remote destinations which do not possess the infrastructure or resources to manage the additional trash, consumption and resource pressure which comes with increased visitor numbers.

For example, I always knew that single-use plastics and plastic water bottles were bad. However, our trip to Cambodia’s Koh Rong island earlier this year offered a wake-up call. The confluence of a storm and high tides from a super moon drew to the shore an ocean’s worth of garbage. For a couple of days, beaches were strewn with plastic bottles, cups, straws, plates and other random junk.

True, not all of this is the result of the tourism industry. But much of it was.

Since this experience, I’ve become more aware of my use of plastics and my contribution to the problem. Sure, I’ve been carrying a refillable water bottle for years now. But now I also try to do more — to carry and use reusable utensils, straws, chopsticks, coffee cups and fast-food containers. This alone makes me more conscious of what and how I consume.

Sharing your journey towards becoming more environmentally aware and savvy offers a natural way to involve others in your process. I’m always amazed by what we learn from our community, including the myriad ideas and tips our audience offers that we hadn't previously considered.

8. Keep Your Money Local to Benefit the Community

When you spend money on a trip, how do you know that your money stays local and benefits the local communities you visit?

In fact, a UNEP statistic from a few years ago highlighted that on average only $5 of every $100 spent on tourism in the developing world stays there. Even if that percentage has gone up in recent years, it still highlights a problem.

There are a lot of opportunities in tourism for leakages where the money ends up elsewhere — whether that's through foreign ownership, sourcing products and food from other areas, hiring foreign employees, or importing items from abroad.

But there are some ways to “follow the money” to try and ensure that it stays local and in the community. This includes supporting locally owned businesses when you travel in all the services or experiences you need.

For example, eating at local restaurants that source their food in the area, staying at locally owned hotels and guest houses, buying souvenirs directly from artisans, hiring local guides who are from that community, and seeking out experiences with social enterprises that reinvest in the community. When it comes to choosing a tour company be sure to select one that is invested in the community and keeps their money local by working with locally-owned businesses.

By highlighting these types of spending decisions and behaviors it not only raises awareness in travelers of this issue and the need to ask questions of where their money is going, but it also supports local businesses and helps them grow. When we “spend local” and support businesses in the community this often leads to more engaging and fun travel experiences as we're more connected to local culture and people.

9. Don’t break the law to get that perfect shot

This one’s preachy, I get it. It’s also sad that I feel compelled to include it.

Simple: don’t encourage others to break rules and laws by posting photos that required you to do so.

Barriers and designated paths are there for a reason. They are often erected for safety's sake, or to contain and constraint the destruction of visitor footsteps.

Even if you might think your detour off-piste in the national park or your touching a protected statue doesn’t do any harm, imagine the potential impact of thousands of visitors doing the same each day.

All those footsteps and fingerprints leave their mark over time.

Finally, think safety. Consider the additional personal risk someone will take by ignoring the “do not enter” sign. Is it worth the potential danger to someone in your community hoping to snag the same shot?

10. Leave something on the table – don’t post

Consider not posting at all. I know this goes against the idea of sharing it all on social media.

We’ve done this plenty of times. Remarkable experience, stunning photos. Not all needs to be broadcast. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to keep those really special places to yourself.

If you wish to protect that special waterfall, historical sight, that tiny village, trek or national park from a horde of travelers, consider keeping that experience – and your photo — to yourself.

Conclusion

Even if you don’t think anyone is paying attention when you post something on social media, it’s likely that somebody somewhere is. What we post on Instagram and social media truly does matter.

The potential to shift a current through the influence of individual behaviors and choices is powerful and compounded. The micro actions of each of the individuals in our social media communities leads to macro impact, towards harm or good.

The direction of that collective impact, in part, is up to you.

Consider creative ways to align your actions and influence with the truth of your values. Consider the opportunity to use your influence and social media channels…for good.

The post How Social Media Users Can Use Their Power to Combat Overtourism appeared first on Uncornered Market.

When we told friends last month that we would visit social enterprises in Peru which intersected with the travel industry, we could read in their reactions both affirmation and confusion.

“Social enterprise…hmmm, that sounds cool. But what does that really mean? And what does it have to do with travel?”

Similarly, I recently suggested to clients in Kyrgyzstan that the regional DMO (Destination Management Organization) operating models Audrey and I helped them set up — tourist office-agencies which developed the local tourism sector while earning money from its local tours and services to sustain operations — resembled a social enterprise. We considered this a strength.

“Social enterprise…what’s that?” They asked. “And how do we do it?”

Before we answer those questions, a step back as to why this matters – to those of us who travel, to the local communities we visit, and to the world as a whole.

Note: This article was originally published June 12, 2018 and updated on April 3, 2019.

Overtourism vs. Community-Based Tourism: The Opportunity Landscape

We’ve all seen headlines about 1.2+ billion tourists and the potential environmental, cultural and economic havoc overtourism can wreak on the places we visit. Not to mention, the negative impact on the destination and experiences that brought tourism there in the first place.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Tourism done well and right can also enhance local communities so that they are at once attractions and also better places for local people to live. This is the sustainable tourism holy grail: travelers traveling with social impact in mind, making deliberate travel decisions aligned with their values, having more meaningful travel experiences, and engaging with businesses and organizations that care.

A tall order, isn’t it? Among the mechanisms travelers have to achieve this, social enterprise.

We’ve always minded the social impact of travel throughout our work, travels and writing. However, it was our recent “G for Good” tour-meets-study trip in Peru with G Adventures which further catalyzed our thinking. Our experiences in Peru exposed the supply chain and demonstrated in detail exactly how purchasing travel services (e.g., tours, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, souvenirs, etc.) through social enterprises can deliver benefits to travelers and communities at once.

It also expanded and deepened our sense of what those benefits are.

What are Social Enterprises? A Working Definition

Though the concept has been around for ages, the actual term “social enterprise” originated in the U.K. in the 1970s. Initially, it meant a financially viable common ownership organization operating in an environmentally responsible way, delivering something referred to as “social wealth.”

“What is that in ordinary speak?” you ask.

Fast-forward to today, using layman’s terms. A social enterprise is roughly a market-driven organization which also fulfills a social or environmental mission. We could debate and parse words, but the two concepts required to pass the social enterprise sniff test: the organization makes money, then invests a significant portion or all of its proceeds/profits back into community projects.

Social enterprises are not entirely dependent on grants or donations (this is how they differ from NGOs). Instead, they are financially sustainable through the sale of their products and services.

It's also true that social enterprises and their products often appeal to consumers on an altruistic level. That link may even inform the business model and messaging. Regardless, the essence of the social enterprise remains the same: earn money and invest the lion’s share to serve the community.

Let’s talk features and some common examples you might find in your travels.

5 Key Features of Social Enterprises in Travel: What Makes Them Unique?

1. Organic and Driven by Community Strengths

A social enterprise may find motivation and market access through an international partner, but its essence is organic. Its products and experiences typically draw on the existing cultural raw materials and strengths of the local community.

If you peel back the layers of how a social enterprise came to be, you might find a community which asked itself, “What do we need to accomplish our goals? And what cultural assets, strengths, and elements of identity can we bring to bear?”

Sure, sometimes outside advice or financing is needed to kick-start the project and help achieve those goals, but the ongoing physical and mental energy emanates from within the community.

Adrienne Lee, Director of Development at Planeterra Foundation, explained: “We'll work with our community partners and ground partners to develop a tourism plan that encompasses and drives their vision and mission-driven work (help brainstorm what we've done in other countries, look at where we might be able to replicate models, collaborate on ideas) and develop this budget with them.

We provide our funding for the length of the program to get it off the ground. Once it's “market-ready” and included into tourism product (or G Adventures itineraries), and our budget for the tourism enterprise is completed, we usually step away at this point.”

2. Market-Driven and Viable

In Kyrgyzstan, we worked with four regional DMOs, focusing first on inventorying capacity, then branding and identity, and finally on implementing a rapid sustainable product development process.

The aim: to create market-ready tour products that highlighted the unique strengths and characteristics of each destination while also tapping into the leading travel market trends of food, culture and light adventure. These new local experiences rose to meet traveler demand to do and engage more in each destination, but in a way that emphasized community, identity and dignity. Throughout the process, the DMOs behaved as social enterprises.

After just one tourism season, average stays in each of the destinations – Karakol, Osh, South Shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, and Jyrgalan – is on a steep upswing. Each destination now has a brand identity in line with products and traveler experience. Moreover, community members now say things like, “We think about ourselves differently…we never thought about ourselves or our abilities in this way.”

3. Surfaces the Human Supply Chain

A travel experience is created and delivered differently from an object like an iPhone or a purse. Sure, people might have helped make those things. But, when I hold those products, I rarely experience direct human contact.

Not so in travel. Travel is high touch, high context. When I travel, people are not only involved throughout the process, they are essential.

This is especially true with experiences delivered under social enterprise. Impacted communities aren’t just a backdrop. Their human engagement components are the main event. They serve as critical, differentiating features of the travel experience. The idea: you are immersed in the community or environment, and your purchase and engagement make a direct, positive impact on the people you’ve met.

In this way, tourism truly is the people’s business.

Our first travel encounter with a social enterprise was in Hanoi, Vietnam ten years ago. The Hoa Sua School network of restaurants, bakeries and cafes throughout the city provided hospitality training and practical work experience to disadvantaged youth. Not only were food quality and service level high, but we also knew that our money (and our time) spent at the restaurants contributed to the futures of the young people working there.

4. Their Ecosystems Spawn Knock-On Businesses and Benefits

Because social enterprises are community-centric, they often spur development of other micro-enterprises to fill gaps and meet new supply needs. For example, at Parwa Community Restaurant in the Sacred Valley — a three-year initiative co-financed by the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American development bank and G Adventures, implemented by Planeterra — one local entrepreneur set up a business to harvest quail eggs essential to one of the lunch courses on the menu. Another community member entrepreneur now offers trekking snacks made from local, natural ingredients to sell to travelers headed for the Inca Trail.

When a social enterprise is successful, the community may draw other needed attention, too. At the Ccaccaccollo Women’s Weaving Cooperative, another Planeterra Foundation project, one woman told the story of how the cooperative’s success encouraged the local government to begin improving local roads. Absent the community’s social enterprise success, she believes the government would have continued to ignore their requests for infrastructure assistance.

5. Transcends the Transaction

Especially for external partners creating or making an investment in social enterprise, it’s about having skin in the game. And we’re not just talking an economic or financial stake, but an emotional one.

Unlike some Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, social enterprise is not about donating a bunch of money to salve one’s conscience, or throwing a couple of paragraphs in the annual report to tick off the “we’re doing something good” corporate checkbox. Don't get us wrong — those types of donations and support are also essential. But building or investing in a social enterprise is different.

Social enterprise creation requires active engagement, depth of involvement and connection. It demands the expenditure of personal capital, emotional capital, and time. When done well and thoughtfully, the result is the creation of something that matters to an entire community of people beyond just those directly employed.

To think of it another way, social enterprise investment resembles venture capital where not only is money invested, but time is spent mentoring, guiding and building relationships. This approach typically offers better stewardship and oversight of one’s investment, but it first requires a greater level of care and commitment.

As a traveler or a consumer, take a step back from any transaction or interaction with a social enterprise and ask yourself: Does it feel as though involved parties and partners are present and engaged? Do they really care about more than just the financial bottom line? Can you feel it?

5 Ways Social Enterprises are Good for Travelers

Social enterprise-powered travel generally fits within in the category of responsible travel or sustainable travel. Its features rich, engaging, high-context travel experiences – in part because there is no trade-off between travel pleasure and advocacy or giving back.

Instead, those are all bound together. And as a result, a traveler’s experience is enhanced or multiplied.

How?

1. Cultivates Interaction, Participation and Exchange

Social enterprise-powered travel often allows travelers to participate, to create, to interact directly with local people and communities, in a respectful, engaging way. It’s not just about observing or watching, but actively engaging in a hands-on way that chips away at barriers, assumptions and fears.

What travelers often implicitly understand in social enterprise contexts is that they and community members both – that is, each of us – has something special to offer that’s reflective of our life experience and our home culture. In this way, social enterprise travel dissolves any sense of “levels” of humanity – through interactions and experiences which simultaneously emphasize what we have in common while constructively and curiously highlighting the differences that brought us to visit the community in the first place.

When we worked with Destination Osh and Destination Karakol in Kyrgyzstan on developing food-related tours with local families and entrepreneurs, our emphasis encouraged hands-on, interactive experiences. The idea: travelers and hosts create something together while everyone shares a bit of himself in the process.

The result: bread-making courses, a family dinner where you make your own ashlan-fu (a delicious cold, vinegar-based soup), a plov (traditional rice-based dish) cooking class. The essence was interaction, not transaction. Because of that, travelers engaged in resonant experiences where their purchases all impacted locally and directly — with people the travelers actually met.

2. Builds Connection, Meaning and a Sense of Stewardship

Travel experiences delivered through social enterprise develop connection between travelers and the local community and environment. These connections also build meaning in multiple layers — in part by cultivating an immeasurable sense of care for more than oneself. Social enterprise enhances the travel experience by enabling us as travelers to develop a growing sense of ourselves, our world and our place in it.

Also, long after a social enterprise experience, its memories reinforce a relationship between the traveler, the community and the organization that brought them together.

3. Offers a Natural Platform for Transformational Travel

The binding of connection, meaning and exchange offers a natural platform for transformational travel – the idea that after my travels, I emerge changed, perhaps engaging with the world and my life back home differently upon my return.

Often times, we talk out of cliché about our travel experiences changing our lives. However, social enterprise and travel animates and motivates. Community-engaged travel experiences offered by social enterprises often plant seeds of thought and care. They provide human anchors that expand our experiential vocabulary and enable us to articulate how a travel encounter has impacted us.

Because its high-context, social enterprise often allows a traveler to more clearly articulate “This is how my travel experience changed me. This is who touched me and how I was touched.”

4. Delivers a Local Experience

Travel experiences with social enterprises are by nature community-based. So their essence, features and details are entirely local. As a traveler, you don’t need to interact with a social enterprise during your travels to ensure a local experience. However, if you engage with a social enterprise, it’s virtually guaranteed.

It’s hard to imagine an experience more local and real that the Maasai Clean Cookstoves social enterprise experience in northern Tanzania. While many tours in Tanzania visit a Maasai village on a show-and-souvenir display, this social enterprise begins by using a portion of the tour fees from G Adventures passengers headed to the Serengeti to purchase a clean cookstove for a Maasai family in a nearby village.

It then takes travelers through a stove installation process. And it's all led by local Maasai women who articulate the importance of this simple cooking device to the well-being and health of local families. Travelers enjoy a unique, intimate experience in a Maasai village, with a Maasai family.

5. Delivers a Differentiated Experience

To the point, travel experiences delivered by social enterprises are typically not of the ordinary, beaten-path variety. Because of their local, personal, community-based nature, they often feature something unusual, something different – sparking the feeling of, “I never thought about it or looked at it this way.”

This was also the case of Parque de la Papa, a new G Adventures and Planeterra Foundation partner in the Sacred Valley.

I admit to having a conflicted relationship with potatoes since they often serve as tasteless filler. Potatoes were not something I would have considered building a travel experience around. Well, no longer. After meeting a local farmer and potato enthusiast at this local organization that works with nearby agricultural communities to preserve 3,000 varieties of Peruvian potatoes, I'm convinced. No longer the lowly potato.

There were over 500 or so varieties of potatoes on display of funky shapes, colors and flavors (Yes, I ate many… and they tasted unreal!) that I had never before seen or imagined. Moreover, the discussion on potatoes and the importance of their preservation to food security of these communities helped me better understand the historical and cultural relevance of potatoes to Peru and to its people.

In other words, I'll never look at the humble potato in quite the same way again.

G Adventures pays a tour fee to Parque de la Papa for an educational, cultural and culinary experience en route to Machu Picchu. While 42 people are employed by the park, around 2,500 people in nearby communities are impacted indirectly by this social enterprise. Not to mention, the sustainable stream of income from traveler visits allows even more research to be conducted on preserving indigenous food sources and seeds.

Rare in travel that something so unassuming could have such wide-ranging impact.

5 Ways Social Enterprises Are Good for Communities You Visit

The desire to give something back to the places we visit is wholesome and ought to be encouraged. However, we need to find the appropriate outlets or channels to give effectively. The market-based, community-aware nature of social enterprises naturally lend them and their experiences to delivering direct impacts to communities and facilitating positive outcomes.

Here are just some of the impacts and benefits we've seen social enterprise-powered travel deliver to local communities.

1. Preserves Traditions

Social enterprises often aim to preserve storytelling patterns and local traditions, not only because that preservation is essential to the community and its identity, but also because those assets are valuable to delivering differentiated experiences to the travel market.

Social enterprise travel experiences typically offer culture concurrent with reality, evolved and presented in a way that feels like living history. In some instances, social enterprises rescue and resurrect valuable traditions that communities didn’t even realize they were in danger of losing.

Ten years ago, many of the local indigenous designs and traditional methods of weaving almost died out in the remote Sacred Valley village Ccaccaccolla. Although tourism in nearby Cusco and Machu Picchu had been growing, the village was far enough off the main road that they were missing out. Economically-viable opportunities for local women to produce their traditional handicrafts were evaporating quickly.

With the development of the Ccaccaccollo Women's Weaving Cooperative, G Adventures brings close to 15,000 of its tour passengers per year to visit this social enterprise. Forty-six local women now earn a living for themselves and their families by sharing their traditional weaving techniques with travelers and selling their handicrafts directly to visitors without the need of an intermediary.

Several women reporting having used their income to send their children to university, something that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. Others have invested in developing a homestay program for travelers interested in an overnight Peruvian village family experience. Mothers are once again teaching their daughters traditional Incan weaving methods and designs, hoping to sustain their passage through the generations.

2. A Dignity Based on Identity and Exchange

Social enterprises are not about charity or an unequal hierarchical relationship where one gives something to another. The key feature of social enterprise is exchange – not only of goods, services and experiences, but of a kind of cultural interchange which communicates that we all have something of value to offer one another.

This relates to the organic nature of social enterprise – where business, products and experiences link back to a sense of personal pride and stewardship for one’s community.

Key to this is the concept of identity. Engage in social enterprise-powered travel and you’ll feel and hear a sense of pride – especially when travelers from all over the world come not only to see the local nature and landscape, but to see and experience a local community — their culture, crafts, cuisine and life.

Ownership and development of this asset becomes local; and transformation ripples at the individual, group, ethnic and community levels.

This concept was first highlighted and demonstrated to us by Rabee’ Zureikat, founder of the Zikra Initiative in Jordan, an organization whose core philosophy is “riches come in many forms.”

In our experience with the women of Ghor al Mazra'a as part of a Zikra Initiative experience, they shared with us their cultural wealth — their crafts, cooking, culture, and a glimpse into their lives, their family and a primarily Afro-Jordanian community along the Dead Sea.

In other words, everyone, no matter his or her socio-economic position, has something of value to share with this world. Enterprising on the basis of this simple principle delivers a continual sense of pride, confidence and dignity.

3. Focused and Targeted

Social enterprise typically concentrates its effects on small, often marginalized communities. One social enterprise may only affect a limited number of people, but it likely does so deeply. It leads and offers examples within the wider community and to ones nearby who might wish to do something similar.

In this way, social enterprise and travel helps alter the world through micro action and effect.

4. Inclusive

Social enterprises often exhibit the core value of inclusivity – a way of living which is essential to serving the community. That inclusivity implies opportunity, especially for those who might otherwise be excluded due to their socio-economic status. It's important to note that inclusivity is provisional only on the basis that one is willing to work, to cooperate and to develop a skill. This is why job training is often a crucial component to social enterprise, as it’s along the path to expanding the pie and growing the benefit to the community and its members.

When we traveled recently to Phnom Penh, Cambodia earlier this year, we came across a network of social enterprises run by Friends-International. These businesses apply a vocational training business model which provides practical and in-demand skills and professional experience to targeted disadvantaged and marginalized youth, populations typically excluded from such opportunities.

For example, at the Friends Nails Bar, Audrey dropped-in for a manicure and pedicure. The entire organization, including the affiliated souvenir shop and restaurant, was geared to developing a professional bearing and helping its employees build confidence to continue working or launch their own businesses as they develop.

5. Economic Impact is Additive, not Extractive

If you wish to measure the full cost of your visit – ask yourself, “Besides the money I paid, what of value is left on the ground in the community after my visit?”

In other words, what's the net impact?

Essential to social enterprise is the development of an asset base or knowledge base. It’s not about travel companies running roughshod over a destination merely for profit, stripping it of its essence until it’s no longer recognizable.

The impact isn’t just money and jobs, either. It’s about an ecosystem and mindset which invests in homes, infrastructure, clean water, access to education, and more. It’s about taking stock of how the community has benefited from the enterprise, particularly outside of the direct financial exchange.

Social enterprise asks, “What is the path of the quality of life for people who live there? What is the viability”

Parwa Community Restaurant is located in a small community which is home to 65 families. Through the restaurant and organization's proceeds, community management has chosen to re-invest their profits into projects that spoke to business investment (i.e., tending an organic garden and expanding the restaurant’s capacity to host more travelers), as well as to initiatives that improved the well-being of the community and its environment. For the latter, they invested in things like water containers on community members’ houses to improve access to clean water, a new toilet block to improve sanitation, and a reforestation program to replace trees consumed for firewood.

And that’s only from 2017 profits. In previous years they invested in a computer room for local students, educational scholarships and other home improvement projects. These annual “reinvestments” have the potential to impact the community for years and generations to come.

How travelers can seek out social enterprises

At this point you might be thinking: “All this sounds well and good, but how do I go about finding social enterprises for my next trip?”

A few ideas and recommendations:

• Choose a tour operator — international or local — that partners or actively works with local social enterprises to deliver services or offer tour experiences. We’ve provided examples from the G Adventures social enterprise model in this article. You can also limit your search of their experience catalog to those tours which include a Planeterra Foundation project visit or local social enterprise component. When researching local tour operators ask about how they work with local organizations and communities to be sure that the money from your tour fees also stays in the regions instead of just in the capital city or major cities.
• Consider seeking out organizations who operate as Benefit Corporations (or, B Corporations), a type of legal entity which includes positive impact on environment, community, employees and society in its legally defined goals. B Corporations are recognized in a growing number of states in the United States (33 at the time of writing) and countries around the world. B Corporations can then use free third-party impact assessment tools to bolster their assertions of doing good or pursue independent third-party certification like the B Corp certification. You can find a listing of travel related B Corporations here.
• Conduct online research as to whether there are local social enterprise restaurants, accommodation, tours or shops in the locations where you will be traveling. In addition to mighty Google, Grassroots Volunteering's social enterprise database is a good first stop for tourism-related organizations around the world. Asking your network of family and friends, especially if they are also keen travelers with an eye to social impact and giving back, can also delivers great results and discussion.
• When you're on the ground ask around and keep your eyes open: you'll likely find that your awareness of social enterprises will surface them more quickly in your field of view. (When you learn of something new and your attention is raised to it, the phenomenon is referred to as “selective attention” or blue car syndrome). Cafes or restaurants will often display flyers or signs on their bulletin boards of local social enterprises or community organizations. Sometimes, you'll even literally stumble over the organization, as happened to us in Alice Springs, Australia, where by last-minute chance, we came across a local Aboriginal art gallery at a Salvation Army Community Center.

Conclusion: Intersection of Social Enterprise, Travel, and Healthy Communities

The great thing about the intersection of social enterprise and travel: we can all get involved – travelers, travel industry and trade, and members of host communities.

As travelers, we can achieve two-way impact, experience, and exchange. And as we optimize the impact of travel on ourselves, we can also optimize our impact on communities as we honor and respect the nuance and realities of the places we visit.

Travel companies — now, more than ever — also have the opportunity to innovate experiences which simultaneously engage travelers and serve communities just as it impacts their bottom line. To keep this in check, communities, too, must care.

It just takes a little interest, effort and time – to educate oneself, to get perspective and to continually tune our decision-making processes and choices.

But we’d argue it’s worth it. When it comes to the intersection of travel and healthy communities, we all have a stake.

The post How to Use Social Enterprises to Improve Your Travels…and Make a Difference appeared first on Uncornered Market.

That’s what this article aims to unpack. But first, a story.

As we rounded a busy Port-au-Prince street corner on our way to the southern coast of Haiti, I checked my messages and noticed a Tweet from one of our readers, a young woman:

@umarket I'm planning a trip to Haiti to help at an orphanage. Do you feel safe? Sort of worried. Would be nice to hear from someone there!

On all accounts I was in a position to respond, but I turned to Cyril, our Haitian guide, and asked: “What do you think?”

“I would advise her to be very careful, perhaps choose to do something else,” he said.

He wasn’t talking about her physical safety, though.

“Especially after the earthquake, many of these orphanages were set up just to make money from foreign volunteers. Traditionally in Haiti, we didn’t have orphanages. Once people realized they could make money from this, the orphanages began to appear. In some cases, the children there actually have parents.”

While we’d encountered and read of orphanage tourism before, especially in places like Uganda, Nepal and Cambodia, our conversation outside of Port-au-Prince lent currency and context to a sad reality: although we can set out to do good through service, contribution and volunteering, we can sometimes inadvertently do harm instead.

Cyril concluded, “There are plenty of good organizations in Haiti. And there are ways to volunteer that don’t involve orphanages. She should just be careful.”

Volunteering is a good thing, right? But will it really help the people you aim to serve? Should you still volunteer if your service might do harm? Are there questions you can ask before you go to figure it all out?

We didn’t wish to squelch this young woman’s urge to serve, to contribute, to engage, to give back. We support and celebrate such altruistic inclinations. However, circumstances — the socioeconomic landscape, unscrupulous agents, and even our own intentions — can conspire to inadvertently harm the people and communities volunteers set out to help.

This is why awareness of the possible unintended negative impacts of volunteering and voluntourism is so important. And if you think this only affects a few people, think again. The volunteer “industry” was estimated at $2.8 billion in annual revenue (2014), and is expected to grow as more people seek volunteer experiences each year.

Just as in our piece Should Travelers Give to Children Who Beg?, we attempt to tackle a complex, nuanced topic loaded with shades of gray. Feel free to skip ahead to what interests you most:

Note: This post was originally published on August 6, 2015 and updated on December 12, 2018 with additional resources and tools.

Voluteering and Voluntourism: Defining the Terms

Let’s start by defining a handful of key terms. We understand that definitions are not sexy, but as we explained the event to colleagues and friends, we recognized the risk of their misunderstanding and misuse.

1. Volunteering Definition

Many of us are familiar with the concept. Volunteering involves actions ‘performed with free will, for the benefit of the community, and not primarily for financial gain’ (Leigh et al., 2011). In essence, we give our time and skills to benefit others.

Note: For the purposes of this article, we assume international volunteers heading from more developed nations in the “West” or “Global North” to developing or transitional economies often referred to as the “Global South.” However, we believe the considerations we address apply no matter your origin or destination.

2. Voluntourism Definition

Voluntourism is a combination of the terms “volunteer” and “tourism” used to describe short-term volunteering placements of tourists as part of their overall vacation or travels. In many cases, the volunteer placement is not specifically connected to the voluntourist’s specific skills and involves a limited time commitment. In other words, the placement is often designed more with the intent of providing an experience to the tourist rather than fulfilling a specific need within the host community.

3. Global Service Learning

Service Learning is an educational approach that integrates meaningful community service and instruction. The “meaning” part is driven by a service experience that exposes the participant to broader issues such as common human dignity, self, culture, social responsibility, and socioeconomic, political and environmental circumstances. (adapted from Hartman & Kiely, 2014 and UNCFSU's definition)

Note: For consistency and brevity, we will use the term “volunteer” as shorthand for individuals engaging in any of the three activities above.

4. Host Community Organization

The group on the ground that receives the volunteer and works with her for the benefit of the local community. Host organizations are typically located in socioeconomically challenged areas.

5. Intermediary Organization

Think of intermediary organizations as agents, middlemen, organizers, or third-party providers that place volunteers. These organizations can be non-profit or for-profit, and their adherence to ethical practices varies widely.

Let’s face it, for someone sitting at her desk in New York City, it's tricky and time-consuming to sort through volunteer host organizations in villages around the world. That’s where intermediary organizations step in to help people find volunteer/voluntourism placements.

6. Sponsoring Organization

A sponsoring organization encourages, advises and occasionally organizes its members to participate in volunteer or service learning activities. Some examples include study abroad offices at universities, church groups, and community-based service organizations. Sponsoring organizations will often work with intermediary organizations to coordinate volunteer placements.

Benefits of Volunteering to the Host Community and Volunteer

Ideally, a volunteer experience involves an exchange — of culture, skills, humanity and point of view — so that each party benefits. Volunteering reflects our evolving human need to:

• Connect, to develop and feel human connection.
• Learn from local people in a foreign, unfamiliar context.
• Contribute. To give and to give back. To add value to and provide benefit to others.
• Grow. To continually challenge, adapt and evolve ourselves. To feel transformation and shifts in our perspective.
• Create meaning. To give greater purpose to our lives. To understand ourselves, the world and our place in it simultaneously.

How Volunteering Can Benefit the Host Community

Perhaps the potential benefits of volunteering to host communities are obvious. That's also why it’s important to restate them.

1. Transfers Needed Skills

Volunteers may possess certain skills and know-how that a host community needs, from computer skills or English language teaching skills to advanced engineering or medical skills. The goal of the volunteer experience is to transfer her skills to individuals in the community in order to help close a gap, thereby illustrating everyone’s favorite empowerment and development proverb, “Give a man to fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for life.”

For example, when we visited Rwanda, we met a group of retired teachers helping to develop the skills of local teachers and improve instruction at a college in the capital city of Kigali.

2. Provides Necessary Funds

This is an important benefit, perhaps because it is often overlooked when examining the ethical landscape of volunteer programs. Organizations in developing countries or transitional economies often struggle to find sustainable sources of funding. Collecting fees from international volunteers (who essentially pay for their experience, room and board) is one of the ways some organizations choose to operate and survive financially.

One illustration came to us by way of an organization in Moshi, Tanzania called Give a Heart to Africa, whose volunteers pay fees that provide the ongoing funding for the organization and the free adult education classes it provides to local women.

3. Bonds the Community to the Volunteer and the Wider World

Think of this as the intangible positive force for good, the magic factor of ethical, thoughtful volunteering and global service. Embedded in one’s international service is the idea that someone outside of the host community cares, and that the community itself is part of a fabric, connected to the wider world. In the best of circumstances, the relationship of volunteer to community reinforces that we are all human and that our commonality vastly outweighs our differences.

Zikra Initiative, a social enterprise operating inland from the Dead Sea in Jordan, does this nicely by reinforcing the concept that everyone has value, something to share and something to learn.

Benefits of Volunteering to the Volunteer

When I was in Peace Corps all the volunteers would joke in the brightest moments of self-deprecation and self-awareness, “When you join Peace Corps you think you’re going to save the world, but you soon realize that the person who benefits most from the experience is you.”

Having said that, I'm proud of my contribution not only to my host organization, but to others in the community with whom I remain friends to this day.

So what are some of these benefits to the volunteer?

1. Satisfies one’s altruism

On the most basic level, volunteering satisfies our need to serve, to give of ourselves, to give back.

2. Improves existing professional skills and develops new ones

When we imagine service, we may be tempted to consider it a one-way transfer of skills from the volunteer to the host community. However, the development of the volunteer’s skills is often accelerated by encountering new problems and contexts in the field.

This arguably applies universally — from construction to medicine, from engineering to education. For example, I taught economics and business at a local high school in Estonia, and helped local students create business plans and prepare for business fairs. This not only improved my speaking and presentation skills, but it also gave me added confidence.

3. Develops emotional intelligence

An immersive volunteer experience can develop a raft of personal and professional “soft” skills including cross-cultural communication and empathy. Both are critical to understanding the inner workings of our globalized world…and ourselves.

4. Develops situational creativity and problem solving skills

When you find yourself in an environment and culture very different from your own for a sustained period of time, you’ll likely develop a certain kind of emotional elasticity and flexibility. You might also encounter problems you’ve never before imagined, and develop solutions you never could have imagined, either.

5. Become a global citizen, shift your outlook and perspective on the world

So many of your existing assumptions, stereotypes and fears come into question, and many of them fall away. Working together with local people in vastly different cultural, geopolitical and socioeconomic circumstances can broaden your view not only of the region where you serve but also of the wider world.

This process is deeply instructive; we’ve witnessed friends steer new directions in life after a volunteer or immersive learning experience.

6. Enhances your resume or CV

Whether you wish to be accepted into a graduate school program or to groom yourself for a professional opportunity, an immersive, relevant, practical volunteer experience on a resume can strengthen your personal story and make you a substantively stronger candidate.

How Volunteering and Voluntourism Can Cause Harm: Causes and Effects

Given all the “good” surrounding volunteering, how can there be so many drawbacks or potential negative impacts? And what are the forces at work that create an environment where serving can do harm?

We’ll address both here.

Note: By no means is this an exhaustive list of concerns. Nor is it meant to be applied broad brush to every organization you might work with along your volunteer journey. These are considerations you ought to be aware of so you can make better, more informed decisions.

The Unintended Negative Consequences of Volunteering: 4 Causes

1. First, a word: Money

When an organization's very existence becomes dependent on money from volunteer fees, it’s hard not to imagine various agents falling prey to conflicts of interest. It’s a twist on the principle agent problem, or the fox and the henhouse.

Some intermediary organizations provide a service by connecting volunteers with opportunities and communities that are truly in need. However, the commercialization of volunteering and voluntourism can sometimes lead to projects that address the wrong needs, manufacture entirely new ones, and divert resources and attention from where they are needed most.

2. The Pressure to Impress (Social Media and CVs)

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a growing pressure to fashion a compelling social and professional profile. Sometimes it’s to impress schools or prospective employers. Now more than ever, demand exists for the distinctive and exceptional in one's CV — in the form of “story”, “transformation” and “experiential” dimensions to set a candidate apart and underscore her apparent preparedness, worldliness or emotional intelligence.

For a short clip on this destructive cliche, listen to “the mission that changed my life” vignette from 7:20-8:10 on How I Got Into College.) More generally, this applies to social media profiles when we try to impress our friends and peers with stories of heroic, exceptional and triumphant international experiences and contribution.

In itself, all this isn’t entirely bad. That is, until volunteering and voluntourism becomes a selfish short-term checkbox exercise that inadvertently disregards the host community and their real long-term needs.

Leigh Shulman, speaking of her own experience taking on volunteers at CloudHead, an NGO she co-founded in Salta, Argentina, puts a fine point on it: “It’s been my experience that about 1% of the people who want to volunteer are actually qualified to do so. And of the rest of the 99%, a very small percentage truly want to do the work. I think there's this weird image people have that if they volunteer they are ‘good people.' So really, the act of volunteering becomes selfish.”

3. Unprepared or untrained volunteers don’t have the skills needed

This is one part cause and another part effect. Sometimes intermediaries place volunteers in situations they are not prepared to handle. Perhaps they don’t have the emotional or cross-cultural skills, or even worse, they lack the professional or technical skills.

There are stories of pre-professional medical volunteers treating patients or administering medical care without proper training. Not only is this dangerous, but it can be deadly.

4. The community has not been consulted

If no one asks the local community or host organization what it really needs, even in passing, how is it possible to help?

This sounds obvious enough, but sadly it happens repeatedly that an international NGO or local organizer assumes they know and creates a program that doesn’t address a real need. In the end, both the host community and volunteer end up disappointed.

For example, it may sound like a great idea to build a new school for a community. But if you were to ask that community what they want they might say they prefer to keep the current building, but would prefer money to pay for additional teachers or books instead.

You never know until you ask. However, your questions might not yield the results you'd hoped for.

Unintended Negative Consequences of Volunteering: 5 Outcomes

1. Resources are diverted from real problems and new problems are created

Perhaps the best examples are the ready-made orphanages created to exploit crises and the public’s desire to help. Money is often required to recover and rebuild, but the flip side is that the mere presence of money can also be gasoline to the fire of greed. This is the philanthropy world's resource curse or paradox of plenty.

How to stop it? Awareness is good start. And in the case of orphanage tourism, focus instead on programs that transfer valuable skills and support to parents so they can earn their own money and take care of their own children. Not as easy and sexy as an orphanage, but certainly a better foundation for long-term change and development.

We suggest you watch The Love You Give short documentary with stories told of how volunteering in orphanages can unintentionally break up families and cause a negative cycle. This film is produced by Better Care Network which is part of a coalition called ReThink Orphanages, a leader in trying to prevent institutionalization of children. It's eye opening and it's real.

2. Intermediary groups keep the placement money for themselves

It’s not unheard of for sizable amounts of money to be paid to an intermediary organization for a volunteer placement, only for little to none of that amount to end up in the hands of the host organization or host family.

This happened to Shannon O’Donnell, a colleague and friend of ours. After paying an intermediary organization for a volunteer placement to teach at a monastery in Nepal, Shannon later discovered that none of the placement money was passed on to the host organization that housed and fed her. In order to help other volunteers avoid this type of experience, she wrote the Volunteer Traveler's Handbook and developed Grassroots Volunteering, a database of volunteer host organizations who accept direct inquiry and placements.

3. Children can experience negative developmental effects

There are studies that show that the effect of a constant stream of new, friendly faces, whose quickly-formed bonds of attachment are regularly broken when they leave, can negatively affect early childhood development. Some child advocacy organizations go so far as to advocate avoiding any service with children.

It's important to be aware of child welfare issues when volunteering or traveling in other countries. There can be unintended negative impacts on children, even when you think you are “doing good.”

4. Local economy deprived of paying work

When we met Adrianne and Rick, they told us how when they first volunteered in Cambodia over 10 years ago it seemed a good idea to use their labor to build homes and schools. However, they soon realized the unintended negative consequences of their free labor on the community: it took jobs away from local people.

Today, they raise money at home in Canada and use the proceeds to buy materials locally and to hire local painters, carpenters and handymen to do the work.

This isn’t to say that all construction projects are bad. Sometimes, there’s a genuine lack of skilled or willing labor. In other cases, however, volunteer labor deprives the local trade economy of the opportunity to develop and increase the number of jobs.

5. The community and individuals are harmed due to incompetence

In extreme cases of ill-conceived volunteer placement, a volunteer with insufficient training or professional skills has a life in her hands that she has specifically been placed to treat or save. In other cases, the host organization wastes valuable working around the unskilled volunteer.

Questions to Ask Before Volunteering

After all this, you may be wondering what to do next to better navigate the volunteer waters. The following questions are intended to help you evaluate whether a volunteer opportunity will fit your goals and objectives and whether or not it’s an ethical, sound volunteer placement. Just as its possible to travel more responsibly, there are certain decisions you can make volunteer more responsibly.

You might also be thinking: “Man, these guys are really raining on my parade. All I wanted was to do some good and have some fun.”

Yes, and…if you wish to optimize your volunteer experience without negative impacts, you must ask questions, including ones that might make you — and others — feel a little uncomfortable. Legitimate, ethical organizations will appreciate your queries. Those who ignore, dismiss or otherwise respond defensively should give you pause to reconsider.

Questions to Ask Yourself before Volunteering

1. What are my goals for volunteering?

Really. Let’s be honest here. What do you hope to get out of the volunteering experience personally and professionally?

Is this something to look good on your CV or resume for graduate school? Or to gain additional experience or to hone a particular skill? Or to challenge yourself by immersion in a culture and environment beyond your comfort zone? Or because you just want to help?

Perhaps you’re more likely to save the world if you’re honest as to who you are serving: you, the community, or ideally, a combination. You shouldn’t feel bad if you wish to derive benefit from a volunteer experience, but be frank with yourself to guide the decisions you make. This awareness will help you find a program that best uses your skills, fulfills your goals, and delivers benefit to the host community.

2. What do I hope to contribute to the host community? What skills will I bring to bear?

It’s crucial to manage your expectations and the community's regarding your skills and impact.

3. Which of my skills do I hope to improve? How?

These could include professional skills and “soft” personal growth and life skills.

Questions to Ask Volunteering Intermediaries and Host Organizations

1. Will the host community really benefit from my presence? How?

Does the program work together with community leaders to develop projects that meet real needs? Will the community benefit from something lasting and sustainable? Or are they simply making room for volunteers like me without investing of themselves in the process?

2. Are there any circumstances where my lack of experience can harm the host community?

This is a particularly important question to ask where elements of personal safety may be involved, like medicine or civil engineering. Some extreme examples of these include: “Am I expected to deliver medical care when I don’t have the experience or qualifications to safely perform my role? Am I expected to build a bridge or design a water filtration system beyond my qualifications?” Think before you commit.

3. How much time is really needed for me to have a positive impact on the community?

This is a challenging one, as we all have tight schedules and limited amounts of time. If you are looking for a deep, immersive experience with a culture and organization, it’s unlikely that a week or two here-or-there volunteer placement is going to help.

There’s a reason why many host organizations will not accept volunteer placements shorter than three months. By the time the volunteer is “up to speed” and contributing, it will be time for her to return home. The result: more work and rework for the host organization and community.

However, in some circumstances two weeks is enough time to have a meaningful volunteering experience that also contributes. For example, we recently volunteered for around two weeks with Refugee Support Europe in Ioannina, Greece. Because of the way their operations are structured, we found it a fulfilling and immersive experience in that limited time commitment.

4. Where is the money going?

If payment for your volunteer experience is involved, where is that money going? How much of it goes directly to the community? What sort of training or transitional support will you receive from the intermediary or host organization for that placement fee?

These days, it’s not unusual to pay a fee for a volunteer experience. However, one of your goals ought to be to maximize the contribution to the host community organization.

5. Will my presence take away jobs or learning opportunities for local people?

This is important, particularly if the project has a building or construction component. What is the rationale for volunteers supplying labor in place of local workers seeking paid employment?

6. Are there ways to contribute other than by giving your time and skills?

The answer to this question is often yes. There are plenty of opportunities to raise funds or frequent social enterprises on the ground who support community organizations and marginalized communities with their profits.

In fact, following a natural disaster it’s actually best NOT to book a flight and volunteer since money is usually more effective in the hands of vetted local or international organizations on the ground.

Volunteer and Voluntourism Resources

If you are interested in reading or learning more about ethical volunteering and opportunities, here are a few resources you might find useful.

Awareness of Ethical Volunteering Issues: Resources and Information

• Omprakash EdGE: a pre-departure volunteer and global service learning online curriculum that includes interaction with and advisory from mentors around the globe.
• Advice for volunteering by the Child Safe Movement, including alternatives.
• Learning Service is a great resource (sign up for their library!), including their recently released book.
• How Not to save the World – This 20-minute radio segment on BBC really lays out some of the problems embedded in voluntourism, especially connected to unskilled youth going abroad. A really good listen.
• As Volunteering Explodes in Popularity, Who is it Helping Most?

Volunteering in Orphanages: Why Say No

• The Love You Give – watch this short documentary produced by Better Care Network and the ReThink Orphanages coalition that provides former orphans a voice to tell their stories and how volunteering in orphanages can unintentionally break up families and cause a negative cycle.
• ReThink Orphanages: This network is dedicated to discouraging orphanage volunteering and offering responsible travel and volunteering alternatives that support families and communities better. Read their white paper Orphanage Volunteering – Why Say No for a sobering look at the “industry” around orphanages and the potential harm to children from volunteering, especially from short-term volunteers.
• ChildSafe has a list of vetted organizations around the world focused on keeping families together.
• Powerful article in The Guardian: Volunteers are fueling the growth of orphanages in Uganda. They need to stop.
• How to Really Help Children Abroad: Great practical advice in this article about ways to support disadvantaged children abroad without volunteering in orphanages and continuing the cycle.

Resources and Articles on Finding Ethical Volunteering Opportunities

• Grassroots Volunteering: A database of social enterprises and vetted host organizations that accept direct inquiry and volunteer placements
• Omprakash: A database of over 150 pre-screened partner organizations for people to find their own volunteering opportunity directly.
• Child Family Health International (CFHI): offering ethical medical volunteering opportunities in nine countries for undergraduate, pre-medical school, medical school and post-medical school students.
• DIY Voluntourism: A Manifesto
• Volunteer Vacations: How to Find the Right Project

Moving Forward: The Future of Volunteering

If you are considering volunteering, we understand these issues might at first seem a little daunting. However, awareness of them places the power in your hands — the power to give careful, deliberate thought to the consequences of your decisions and actions. Ask questions and you can vote with your feet to choose an opportunity you’ve properly researched, that is vetted and matched at its core to the good intentions residing in your heart.

When you do, you'll find that you also have the power to make a real impact, not only on the lives of the people and communities you aim to help, but also on your own life.

If you have questions regarding volunteering or voluntourism, please leave a comment. Our goal is to make this an ongoing resource for all those interested in ethical volunteering and global service.

The post Volunteering and Voluntourism: The Good, The Bad, and The Questions You Should Ask appeared first on Uncornered Market.

A recent release of a set of child welfare in travel guidelines and code of conduct seems to be tipping the apple cart. What many of us thought were perfectly acceptable behaviors when we encounter kids while traveling are now called into question.

My first thought-hope: “I bet when I read these, I’ll find out I never really did anything wrong.”

I read them. Wrong.

My mind ran to a school visit Dan and I made in Namibia several years back. The visit, a stop along a bicycle trek in the desert, involved a group of us – not only travelers, but leaders of industry attending a conference also known for advocating sustainable tourism issues – dropping in on a local school, meeting the kids, disrupting class so the kids went outside, and taking a bunch of photos.

How could something that felt typical and innocent at the time now be considered detrimental to the well-being of those children?

Then I felt a bit defensive. “Wait, what’s so wrong about visiting some kids at school? It did some good…didn't it?” If I’m being honest, there was something in me that always wondered, “Would we do this kind of thing at home? Why not?”

The Child Welfare in Travel Guidelines and Traveller Code of Conduct go straight to that point, among others. Guidelines addressing taking photos of and with children and posting to social media made me wince – not so much at the guidelines but how they intersected with some of my own previous behavior.

Until now, most discussion of child welfare and protection in the travel industry has tended to child trafficking or sexual and physical abuse by travelers. These new guidelines, however, go to the heart of ordinary interactions that travelers (independent and on tours) have with children. And they raise the question: if we are concerned about the welfare of the children we come in contact with on the road, what should we really be doing…and avoiding?

Should we give money to begging children? How about giving gifts to kids? School visits? Are children props in our photos? What about location-tagged photographs of individual kids? Most of the noted behaviors and their effects — ones many of us haven’t thought too deeply abut until now — fall into the land of unintended consequences.

Finally, I admit feeling a bit sheepish. After all, I’m an advocate for responsible travel, sustainable tourism, mindful travel, respectful travel, humanity…respect. “How could I have missed this? Shouldn’t I have known?”

We’re human. That also means, in the spirit of travel, we can take in new information and adopt to a new perspective. We can evolve, change and improve.

And we will.

Child Welfare Guidelines: Background and Organizations Involved

We are writing this article in light of the recent release of Child Welfare in the Travel Industry: Guidelines and Good Global Practices and the Child Welfare Traveller Code of Conduct published by G Adventures, Planeterra Foundation and ChildSafe Movement. As part of this process, G Adventures became the first ChildSafe Certified tour operator ensuring that all its operations comply with these child welfare guidelines.

The goal of these freely available guidelines, as explained by Adrienne Lee, Director of Development at Planeterra Foundation, is “to ensure the industry and its clients never create unintended harm to children, their families and their communities through any visit or interaction.”

While the guidelines mainly target the travel industry — and how companies can ensure their operations, services and products support child welfare – there is also a Traveller Code of Conduct that any traveler can follow to ensure that their behaviors adhere to these best practices.

The Guidelines and Code of Conduct — measures and principles vetted by international organizations such as UNICEF, UNWTO, ECPAT International, The Code, Save the Children, and the Global Alliance for Children — are free. Any travel company or traveler can read, adopt and apply them to their own operations or daily behaviors.

You can download the Child Welfare Guidelines and Traveller Code of Conduct here. We also encourage you to sign the pledge on that same page that shows your commitment to child welfare when you travel .

Child Welfare in Travel: The Ultimate Thought Experiment

If you’re having trouble making sense of all this, here’s a thought experiment. If you’re a parent, imagine one of your children. If you don’t have children, imagine a child or young person who means a lot to you. Now, when you consider interactions and situations with local children you encounter during your travels, ask yourself:

“Would I do the same thing with a child in my own country? Would I want a traveler to do this with my own child? Would it be OK if a traveler just walked up and did this with my family, my friends’ children, or my neighbors?”

If your answer is no, the rest follows.

If your answer is yes, consider the local socio-economic and cultural context of the places you visit. There may be factors at work there — e.g., extreme poverty, the role of girls and women in society, etc. — that can turn what at first may appear a harmless action into something loaded with unintended and unseen negative consequences.

The 10 Do’s and Don'ts of Child Welfare in Travel

Here are some of the more common circumstances and contexts where travelers may find themselves interacting with children during their trips abroad.

While these suggestions apply everywhere, you may find some of them particularly resonant in your travels to destinations in developing or transitional economies — what some refer to as the Global South.

1) DON’T: Give to begging children or buy from child vendors

It’s really hard to say no sometimes. We discuss extensively in this article how giving money, candy, toys or even school supplies to begging children may contribute to a host of unintended negative consequences. This includes parents forcing their children into begging, then keeping their children from school because their begging earns more in the short-term than studying. In addition, children may place themselves in precarious and harmful situations in order to beg, or they may be beaten up by others for the money or gifts they've received.

In short, your contribution may contribute to a continued cycle of poverty, dependency and violence.

Similarly, if a child earns money selling candy or postcards during school hours then his parents may choose not to send him to school at all. That may sound harsh, but in some parts of the world, these are the difficult decisions parents feel forced to make daily.

What to do: Donate to child-friendly or education-focused organizations which help keep children in school and offer varied support for their well-being. Support can include providing nutritious meals, school supplies, uniforms, after-school tutoring, and even parental counseling on the importance of education to a child's future.

See #9 below for more suggestions on how to find reputable organizations and the most effective ways to give.

2) DON’T: Treat local children as a tourist attraction or use them as photo props

In Cambodia earlier this year, I saw two young European women eating breakfast at their beachside guest house. A young, adorable Cambodian girl of around two or three wandered through the garden to their table and looked up at them, apparently for some food.

One of the women picked up the girl, sat her on her lap and put her arms around her. Then she handed her smartphone to her friend and asked her to take photos of them. A photo session ensued. Afterwards, they put the girl down, gave her a cookie and motioned for her to go away.

This is what we mean by using children as an attraction or prop. There have been some great spoofs and humorous campaigns about this, including Barbie Savior and a Radi-Aid video related to its social media posting guidelines.

What to do: Engage as human beings — without the pay-off of images and fodder for your social media account. Interact, play a game together. Do so first with a mind to what is good for the young person in front of you, not what will play well on your social media feed.

3) DON’T: Visit schools or educational facilities during school hours

Classroom visits on the road can be a blast. You play some games, practice some English as a foreign language, or watch a performance.

And the photos are often fun and speak to optimism and education.

The unfortunate reality: these visits usually disrupt the education process. Worse yet, when they occur frequently, these visits actually constitute a strange form of child labor and performance.

As much fun as it is for both the traveler and children to go into a classroom to play some games, practice a few words of English or a foreign language, or perhaps watch a performance, the reality is that these visits are a distraction. If the visits occur regularly (e.g., a tour company brings groups daily or multiple times a week), a simple visit to you or me represents continual disruption in a learning environment where teachers already struggle to keep children’s attention in an over-stuffed classroom.

We’ve been guilty of this. Sometimes our school visits were connected to community-development related projects or trips. At the time, we and the organizers believed our actions were beneficial to all parties.

Now we’re more aware. And unless a visit is somehow absolutely essential to the business at hand, we are almost certain to decline it, or wait until classes are over and the formal school day is finished.

What to do: Visit children’s centers or organizations after the active teaching part of the day is over. Support local schools and organizations financially or through deliberate in-kind donations to address specific needs (see #9 below for advice on how to do this).

4) DON’T: Volunteer at or visit orphanages

We discuss this in detail in our voluntourism and volunteering article. Research and studies have shown a relationship between demand to volunteer at or visit orphanages and a demand for more orphans, often including children who aren’t actual orphans. You might be surprised to hear that an estimated 80% of children in these orphanages have at least one living parent.

In some locations, this has contributed to broken family trend as poor, disadvantaged parents give their children to “recruiting” orphanages. Studies show children do best when kept with their families. In that vein, the focus of everyone’s behavior ought to be to keep families together by supporting a system which encourages parents to do so.

Additionally, short-term volunteering at orphanages raises the issue of inadequate training and repetitive abandonment syndrome, where the constant cycle of attachment and detachment can take a psychological toll on orphaned children. For more information on the potential risks stemming from volunteering at orphanages, check out this infographic.

We also suggest you watch The Love You Give short documentary with stories told of how volunteering in orphanages can unintentionally break up families and other negative impacts. This is produced by Better Care Network which is part of a coalition called ReThink Orphanages, a leader in this cause. It's eye opening and real.

What to do: Legitimate orphanages and long-term care residences do exist around the world. Consider donating money or making a targeted in-kind donation to these organizations.

Look also to organizations that work with disadvantaged families and support them emotionally and financially so their family clients remain together.

5) DON’T: Photograph children and tag their location or identity

Photographing children, especially excited school kids just released from school, can be a fun, worthwhile experience for everyone. Setting aside your best intentions to photograph a child and share her dignity, beauty, joy, culture, etc., it’s important to be aware of some of the risks that come along with that image depending on where and how you post and share it.

If you post or upload a photo of the child, do not tag the location or identity in a way that makes the subject easy to locate and thus vulnerable to human trafficking.

Yes, it’s a thing.

Sadly, there are bad folks out there who perform searches and scan social media to find subjects that are attractive, vulnerable or both. As travelers and users of photo sharing sites and social media, we ought to ensure that our actions, however well intentioned, do not inadvertently aid those with bad intentions.

For example, don’t take a selfie with your subject looking straight into the camera and post it to Instagram with the exact location. Keep that photo for yourself, for your memories. Instead, consider posting an image with the child turned slightly so as to not reveal her identity. Be vague regarding the specific location where the image was taken.

Finally, avoid any nudity or anything remotely revealing.

What to do:

• Ask permission in advance of taking any photographs and respect your subject’s privacy. They are human, after all.
• If the child is young, ask permission from a parent instead. Don’t take the photograph if the child or the parent is at all uncomfortable.
• Avoid taking photographs when kids ask for money; it echoes the issues related to begging (item #1, above).
• Aim to take photographs of children in a group vs. as individuals. Better still, photograph a child together with one or both parents, or with the entire family.
• Take photographs of children which demonstrate their dignity and spirit, rather than those which highlight poverty and the difficulty of their living conditions.

Remember #2: children are not photo props to get more likes or attention on your latest social media post.

Note: We admit that after selecting images for a photography exhibition highlighting child welfare in travel we realized in retrospect that we need to perform an audit of our entire photo gallery. Our intent when first taking those photographs was good. Despite those intentions, our awareness has expanded. It's clear that some of our images could be misinterpreted or used in ways we’d never imagined.

6) DON’T: Impose yourself or initiate physical contact

It’s tempting and natural to reach out and pick up a child that you meet during your travels. Resist that urge until the child initiates contact first. And if he’s not interested in engaging with you – for whatever reason — let it go and move on.

Never impose yourself or your wishes on a child. Let the child decide if he wishes to engage, and how. Better still, find ways to engage with the child when he is together with a parent or his family.

On the flip side, we’ve found ourselves in situations with children crawling all over us, grabbing at us and our pockets — almost as if they’d been trained to “touch the foreigner.” It’s difficult to say why – perhaps they thought that was what we wanted, perhaps their intentions were less innocent.

No matter the reason, if you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation involving children, politely and firmly say no to the child (and to parent or sponsoring organization) and disengage or leave entirely.

7) DO: Report suspicious behavior or possible abuse

If you observe activity in and around a hotel or bar that even hints at child trafficking, mind your intuition. If you’re in this context and you see a child who appears uncomfortable or looks as if something is wrong, then it’s time to act on your informed instinct, take action and report the behavior.

Sure, the situation may be completely innocent. Inquiry will bear that out. But when physical and/or sexual abuse might be at play, the potential risk and damage to a child is too great not to act.

Don’t confront the situation or the potential perpetrator — be it a traveler or local — head-on. Don’t ask the child directly, either, as this may place her in a more difficult, dangerous or compromised position.

Instead, report the behavior immediately. If you are on a tour, let your local guide know. Otherwise, contact the local authorities or local child helpline. ChildSafe lists these hotlines and organizations in countries around the world, as does The Code. Listen to the advice of authorities on what to do next.

8) DO: Be creative and engage respectfully

When something we considered good, wholesome fun is called into question, it’s tempting to feel as if all avenues of joy have been closed off and to respond by throwing in the towel.

Don’t put up a wall up between you and the children you meet on your trip.

There are heaps of ways to engage in fun with local kids that works for everyone. Play a game (football on the local pitch is one is our all-time favorites), engage parents and families together in a photo-taking session, get to know people’s names and stories, or learn a new word or two in a foreign language.

Don’t be afraid to ask your tour operator, tour guide, or other local people what passes for culturally and socially appropriate in the destination you are visiting.

The upshot: communicate and treat children and young people with respect, just as you would at home with family, friends and neighbors.

9) DO: Support reputable child-friendly organizations

Informed donations may feel impersonal, but they offer some of the most appropriate and effective ways to contribute, give back to and interact with the communities we visit.

If you donate money, give it to the organization directly rather than through intermediaries or middlemen — children or otherwise — collecting money on local streets. Along the way, don’t ever be afraid to ask tough questions about operations, program administration and how contributions will be used or spent.

If you wish to provide supplies or make an in-kind donation, ask the organization what it really needs, rather than acting on your assumption of what you think it needs.

Consider buying supplies locally, rather than bringing them from home, so as to further support the local economy. When you purchase goods locally, you’ll also reduce the risk of your donation – clothes, school supplies, shoes, etc. – drawing the recipient undue attention and resentment from others because it is foreign or special.

Where to find such organizations?

• Before you travel, perform your research and vet organizations by checking multiple sources.
• Ask your network of family or friends if they're aware of any organizations that might fit.
• If you are traveling with a tour company, ask them for recommendations.
• On the ground, ask your local guide. Inquire also at local hotels, restaurants or tour companies which express a legitimate community focus.
• Here is a good article with practical recommendations on how to help disadvantaged children abroad.

10) DO: Ask questions and demand more from the travel industry on the topic of child welfare

As it happens with any advocacy or movement, the more we educate ourselves, ask questions and demand target behaviors from the companies we do business with, the more the travel industry as a whole must respond and up its game.

We’ve seen this play out in issues across the industry, including with environmental issues such as the reduction of single-use plastic bottles, animal welfare issues like elephant riding, and cultural sensitivity issues involving respectful travel interactions with indigenous populations and communities.

When we asked Ms. Lee of the Planeterra Foundation for three things that travel-related businesses can do now connected to child welfare, she suggested the following for travel companies:

1. Throughout their operations, remove practices like orphanage visits and non-educational classroom visits from itineraries.
2. In their human resource practices, ensure that there are no forms of child labor. Ensure staff are trained on how to respond to critical issues.
3. In their marketing and sales practices, avoid using images of children without parental or guardian consent, and avoid using children as promotional features of tours.

Note to travelers: If you don’t know where to begin when evaluating companies’ approaches to child welfare, start with these three items. The ChildSafe Movement also provides a list of child safe businesses.

The Future of Child Welfare in Travel

This chapter in the ongoing movement of child welfare is not about closing doors of travel experience and human interaction.

Instead, it’s about opening ourselves and adapting creative approaches to connecting with children that balances our desire to relate with the needs and rights of the communities we visit.

This is all a bit of a mindset shift. It doesn’t happen overnight, either. It takes root through expanding awareness and a desire to act. It’s a process and conversation, one driven by travelers just like you who continually re-imagine their place in the world, travel with the idea that it can be a force for good, and hold the travel industry accountable along the way.

The post Child Welfare in Travel: 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Engaging Responsibly appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Overtourism. This may mark your first encounter with the term describing how rapidly increasing tourist traffic in popular travel destinations immiserates both locals and travelers, but it won’t be your last.

I hear echoes of overtourism more and more. Just last weekend a friend told us he was never returning to Prague because: “It was tourist hell!”

I was sympathetic. I also had to smile.

“Get out of Old Town as fast as you can” read the literal bottom line of our hastily penned, tongue-in-cheek Pension Dan & Audrey, Prague Edition, a private homemade guidebook we placed on our kitchen table for the dozens of friends and guests who visited us in Prague during the years we lived there.

It contained our secrets to enjoying Prague, including simple turns and passages to avoid the hordes and companion touristic schlock-show that plagued the city even then.

That was our response to overtourism. That was also 20 years ago.

It was a recognition — valid now as it was then — that Prague could be a delightful destination to experience as a traveler. There's good reason why it’s so popular. It's beautiful, fairy-tale like, historic, and romantic.

But because a growing portion of the rest of the world feels the same way, visiting could also be disappointing, or even miserable.

It doesn't have to be that way, though. You just need to know how to avoid the schlock and discover your own experiential gems. Back then, we discovered how to do this by identifying some universal patterns we then exploited with a few local tweaks. Leveraging these patterns enables a richer experience off the well-worn tourist paths as well as a more pleasant one on them.

So, is the solution to overtourism that we all stop traveling? Are we asking you to skip your next vacation?

Nope. Travel is not going away. So let's have a conversation based on that reality.

First, the overwhelming benefits of travel remain: breaking down fears and stereotypes, connecting with new people and cultures, the joy of discovery and exploration, personal growth, pushing your boundaries, and just having fun.

The economic impact of tourism to countries and local communities is also massive. As the biggest industry in the world at an estimated 10% of global GDP, the tourism industry enables economies, businesses and communities to develop and grow. Depriving this often fragile ecosystem of tourism income could be devastating for some countries.

It's why we often say: tourism is the people’s business.

You can, however, make choices that align your interest in maximizing your travel experience while optimizing your positive impact to overtouristed destinations that are feeling the heat.

What is Overtourism?

If you wish to navigate a world of overtourism, it's important to know the landscape and how we got here.

Popular destinations have existed since the dawn of travel. For good reason, too. Even without the internet, word got out about engaging historical sites and museums, captivating cities, and mesmerizing nature and landscapes.

The difference now – and what is sounding the alarm bells — is the sheer volume and acceleration of tourists hitting the road. And it's only expected to grow. In 2019 there were 1.5 billion international travelers crossing borders. The pandemic slowed things for a few years, but international arrivals in 2024 are expected to be at 2019 levels. This is expected to rise to 1.8 billion by 2030 (source: UNWTO).

I'm sure we're on pace to beat those estimates.

Prague is only one example with its 42% increase in visitor growth between 2007 and 2017 (source: WTTC) and visitor numbers reaching 6 million in 2024. Other poster children for overtourism include popular European destinations such as Venice, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Dubrovnik, and even Iceland.

Beach and island destinations are feeling it, too. Some beaches in Bali have declared a garbage emergency. Thailand and The Philippines have chosen to temporarily close some popular beaches and entire islands to travelers earlier this year. The idea: to have the time and space to clean up, improve infrastructure, and allow the environment a chance to recover from a large number of visitors and the corresponding damage they inflict.

This is only the beginning.

Even the mountains aren’t safe. Mount Everest and its base camp are, quite literally, full of crap. Campsites are piled up with human waste and trash that has no chance to decompose at that elevation. Besides being dangerous for the environment, I can't imagine this particular dimension delights trekkers who just spent all that money for the trip of a lifetime.

This is the result of popularity, unabated and unmanaged.

What are the Causes of Overtourism?

Why are destinations being visited to death? Obvious causes include the democratization of travel, accessibility due to low cost airlines and online booking engines, social media-driven FOMO (fear of missing out), competitive acquisitive pressure to fetch the same Instagram shot, and growing modes of group and mass tourism like cruises.

Combine this with the fact that many destinations were unprepared and did not proactively manage their tourism development and growth. Roads, transportation systems, water and sewer, trash collection, and permit schemes to protect fragile sites in hindsight now seem like wise considerations.

Now, What's the Harm of Overtourism Again?

Depending on the destination, overtourism pressures can include environmental, socioeconomic and cultural degradation – all of which can serve to diminish the quality of life of locals, endanger the long-term appeal and viability of the destination, or both.

The phenomenon is painfully ironic given tourism’s golden promise of economic uplift and development. For most destinations the focus has been quantity, to grow the number of tourists each year. Too much of a good thing, the saying goes, removes some of shine, appeal and character that brought tourists in the first place. With current thinking, it's a high traffic race to the bottom.

From a traveler’s perspective, overtourism is felt when you take the trip of a lifetime, but realize that half a million other people had the same idea at the same time. The upshot: crowds, long lines, jaded locals, opportunists, frustration, disappointment.

From a local’s perspective: disrespect, trash, noise pollution, disorderly and often drunk visitors, a broken peace. The concern runs in general from too many tourists (think: friendly mobs of visitors) to too many tourists whose destructive, disrespectful behavior (think: vomiting stag-partiers) makes day-to-day living miserable.

Everyone who has experienced overtourism, from either perspective or both, knows how much it can suck.

That’s why in a few places, destination marketing (We need more tourists at all costs!) has yielded to destination management (How do we shape the flow of our tourists and how they engage?).

In between, there are moments never made public where officials ask themselves, “What the hell are we going to do with all these tourists?”

On the positive side of tourism development, Destination Karakol, the local Destination Management Organization (DMO) we advised in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan notes as its mission: “..To create a strong, vibrant tourism industry that makes Karakol a better place to live for local people.”

Now that's a place to start!

10 Tips for Travelers to Help Combat Overtourism

We understand that addressing overtourism requires more than changing travelers’ behaviors. Governments, tourism boards, destinations (DMOs) and the commercial travel industry must also act. But we travelers and consumers can act now, at once in our selfish interest and to the benefit of healthy destinations. Your conscious, deliberate choices as travelers about your next trip can positively impact your own enjoyment and the lives of local people where you are visiting.

Our suggestions are based on decades of travel around the world, endless conversations with our audience, and our experience working with destinations in tourism development and with organizations across the travel industry.

Note: If you are a social media user, please check out our companion article: 9 Ways to Use Social Media to Help Combat Overtourism

1. Choose different

Although overtourism headlines make it seem as if the entire world were drowning in travelers, the phenomenon currently applies only to a limited number of the world’s destinations. In fact, a recent WTTC and McKinsey report indicated that around 70% of travelers are concentrated in 20% of the countries.

That leaves a whole lot of the world, including the estimated 80% of countries not struggling from overtourism. Within countries that do receive a lot of visitors there are still many secondary cities and regions that haven’t yet been “discovered.”

Travelers have a lot of options to choose from on where to visit next. If you are looking for inspiration, here’s our list of favorite unconventional travel destinations and treks.

Go your own way, confidently. And enjoy it.

2. Let go of the bucket list and checklist

Increasingly, travelers are faced with a decision: Do I visit the most famous site and suffer the misery of crowds just to show my friends on social media “I was there!!”? Or, do I visit someplace a little less famous and a lot less crowded, enjoy myself a lot more in the moment, regardless of whether or not I have that iconic photo?

I suspect a great deal of people travel based on the expectations of others, and not necessarily based on their own enjoyment, nor their own enjoyment in the moment of travel. And they do so without even being aware of their behavior. Social media-fueled FOMO is partially to blame.

Travel is not a competitive sport, although sometimes it may feel that way when you have to elbow your way through hundreds or thousands of people to see what you aim to see or to take an unobstructed photo.

We get it. Some places and sights are truly iconic. And you want to see them for yourself and to share them with others. But, at what cost? Not only to your enjoyment as a traveler (trying to get through thousands of people is no fun), but also to the damage done to the actual site.

My favorite classic micro-example of this pattern and premise is Mona Lisa at The Louvre in Paris. Just as everyone climbed all over one another to get a mediocre photo of the tiny Mona Lisa, I took my time in the Renaissance master corridor leading to it. Sure, when the crowds thinned, I got my look at the Mona Lisa.

I can barely recall how it made me feel. But I can still see and feel that corridor. I recall the astonishment — spine chills and all — from being surrounded by the great works I'd studied in Renaissance and Baroque Art History class years before.

Upshot: there is life beyond the bucket list. Maybe even one better without it.

3. Outwalk the other tourists

If you want to avoid the tourist hordes, outwalk them. Our experience suggests most tourists, especially those in big groups visiting popular destinations, will not walk the extra mile if given the choice. They’ll often take the shortest path or skip a sight altogether if involves too much physical effort.

There’s your opportunity.

For example, we traveled to Lisbon over New Year’s Eve, a popular destination in a popular moment. Yet, all we needed to do to escape the crowds was to turn, to take a detour – often up a hill — and walk a few blocks away from the concentration of tourist bustle. When we did, we usually had the streets to ourselves, together with some neighborhood cats and locals walking their dogs.

Travelers often talk of seeking a local experience. Taking a walk and losing the crowds achieves that. It helps you stay active and fit, too.

Alternatively, rent a bicycle and do the same.

4. Visit in the shoulder season or off-season

Articles discussing overtourism often fail to mention that the pressure of tourist crowds is worst during, or entirely exclusive to, the high season. The remainder of the year is usually a different story. Consider avoiding travel to popular destinations during peak season and on holidays.

Consider Venice, an overtourism poster child. In summer, it’s pounded with tourists. However, an art journalist friend who visited it in November, January, even March, reports a relatively pleasant and calm off-season. Imagine Piazza San Marco mostly to yourself.

In Tallinn, Estonia, we spoke at a conference in late March. Although it remained a bit chilly at that time of year, we enjoyed being able to walk through its medieval old town and have the pick of its surprisingly excellent restaurant scene pretty much to ourselves. This is a far cry from pinballing the masses during the summer months, including the leagues of cruise passengers disgorged from ships docking for the day.

The feel-good bonus of off-season and shoulder season travel: your tourism dollars allow local businesses to smooth their income and employment throughout the year.

5. Consider visiting secondary cities and regions

We understand the draw of big cities and popular regions. However, as you consider your options and perform your vacation research, broaden your view a bit.

Consider less well-known, smaller or secondary cities and regions in or near the destination you have in mind. These may offer you a similar experience to the marquee destination, but with fewer crowds and at a lower cost.

For example, Tuscany usually steals much of the limelight in Italy — and for good reason, we admit. However, lesser known Puglia in Italy’s south also offers historical cities, beautiful coastal and agricultural landscapes, and fabulous food. And with a lot fewer people, too. And if Puglia is still too busy for you, consider nearby Basilicata or Calabria.

And if you really have your heart set on Tuscany, consider the Tuscan sub-region of Maremma that no one really knows anything about but has some incredibly beautiful hill towns like Pitigliano, Sorano and Manciano.

6. Branch out into the neighborhoods

Let’s return to the Prague example at the beginning of the article, where our friend found it a “tourist hell.” Venture just outside the Old Town core, and you’ll find beauty and local experience, par excellence, including all the Art Nouveau and turn of the century architecture for which Prague is well-known. There, you’ll typically find more locals than travelers in cafes and restaurants.

Same goes for our adopted home, Berlin. When we spend time in our neighborhood, we find it difficult to digest the statistic that from 2006 to 2016, the city’s tourism traffic doubled from 15 to over 30 million visitors a year. When we spend time near the concentration of historical sites, we feel the popularity.

But Berlin is a whopping 345 sq. miles, and the ease of public transportation makes Berlin’s diversity of alternative neighborhoods, local experience, and living history readily accessible.

Many ask: “How do I get a local experience?” Our answer: “Don’t behave like your average tourist.”

7. Take a tour with a social enterprise or community organization

We’ve already spilled plenty of ink singing the praises of social enterprises in travel. The experiences they offer can simultaneously enhance your enjoyment as a traveler just as they contribute to the well-being of the local community. On community tours, you’ll often go beyond seeing a site, and find yourself engaging in discussions of socio-economics, culture and daily life.

Not only will a social enterprise usually offer a unique angle on what you are seeing, but the guides working those experiences can typically provide useful, local and offbeat recommendations for the remainder of your visit. Their suggestions are ones you don't otherwise find on Top 10 lists.

We've also found that street art walking tours (e.g., Bogota, Lisbon, and Berlin) are a great way to explore a city with a different eye and unusual angle, sometimes taking you to neighborhoods or streets where you wouldn't otherwise think to visit. In addition, many of the organizations leading these tours donate a portion of their proceeds to support local artists, youth training or other community activities connected with art.

8. Tread lightly and clean up after yourself

It’s a shame this even has to be on the list. And it admittedly sounds way too preachy. And the people who need to hear it most probably don't care for our ethos. But I just gotta say it.

I get it: you paid for your vacation, and your enjoyment gets first priority. But, don’t be that traveler.

Despite begs and pleas from advocates like us, travel companies and destinations, travelers insist on leaving a trail of trash in their wake – everything from rubbish tossed on the ground, to strewn single-use plastic bottles to smashed beer bottles.

And it’s not just the cities. We witnessed this blatant disregard along the Huayhuash Trek in Peru earlier this year. In the midst of remote breath-taking landscapes and natural beauty, trekkers – who made the long-distance effort to get there, and who ought to know and behave better — saw it fitting to toss their tin food cans and candy wrappers at campsites and for miles along trails.

Why visit someplace for its beauty, only to trash it?

We understand trash containers are sometimes difficult to find. But make the wee effort. Carrying your trash in your pocket or bag until you find a proper trash can isn’t that hard, is it?

9. Use respect to amplify your sense of place

Reinforce the experience of place by comprehending that people live in the places you visit.

As travelers, we are all guests. If nothing else, travel teaches us we must first be respectful of our hosts – that is, of the people who live in the places we visit. And that respect ought to encompass culture, environment, and society.

Thinking and behaving this way is not as zero-sum as it sounds. Hear me out.

When we do this, we don’t place a wet blanket over our unbridled joy. Rather, just as we are sensitive to and respect a culture and its people, we feed our sense and experience of that place. And, after all, isn't that one of the reasons why we traveled all those miles to someplace else? And what’s more crucial to a sense of place than the undisturbed lives of the people who live there?

This also means making an effort to understand cultural norms, including appropriate dress and behavior, and respecting them. Ask a local for advice if you’re unsure of the boundaries. This goes twice over for sacred spiritual sites, especially devout or religious destinations.

For example, a friend now living in Barcelona tells us of travelers traipsing through the city’s Gothic District in string bikinis. Bikinis have their place, but here? Really? And I wonder, would they do this at home? (And even if the answer is yes, what effort does a step back from your own behavior take?)

Same goes for noise pollution. Locals are not on vacation. They have to wake up each morning early to go to work, even if you insist on getting trashed and being loud and obnoxious in the street.

10. Research your apartment rental to be sure it’s legal

Although Airbnb and similar apartment rental services offer travelers a great option for renting an apartment, sometimes this comes at a cost to local people.

As tourism took off in certain cities (e.g., Barcelona, Berlin, Reykjavik, Paris, New York, etc.), apartment owners removed rental units from the local market and instead rented only to tourists, as this made more money. This practice resulted in the reduced supply of apartments available for locals. In turn, locals saw their rental prices rise, some to the rapid extent of no longer being able to afford to live there. We saw this happening in Berlin a few years ago, until the local government stepped in to regulate and tax the activity to align with the commercial hospitality industry.

The sharing economy is all the rage. Its benefits to travelers can be many. But at what cost to locals? As we make our choices (e.g., accommodation) and engage in the sharing economy, consider at what cost and on whose shoulders these new economy shifts fall.

Before you book that apartment on your next trip, do a little research to determine if it’s legal. This will also protect you in case of a raid. For example, Barcelona has set up a website to help you check whether the apartment you wish to rent is legal or not.

Overtourism, The Future

Nobody holds the crystal ball when it comes to the future of tourism and for the future of the world's most loved destinations.

But if we care, it's up to us. One traveler at a time, one choice at a time, we make travel decisions that impact our experiences, the people and places we visit, and ultimately the future of all of it.

If you don't care, grab your hard hat. Or maybe stay home.

The post Traveling in the Age of Overtourism: 10 Ways Travelers Can Help appeared first on Uncornered Market.