Responsible Travel & How Tourism Affects Local Communities

Travel is inherently a good thing: It broadens one’s perspective and horizon, fosters understanding between cultures, and promotes cultural exchange. In short, it changes the traveller for the better. It is also a wonderful economic driver for cities and places large and small, providing jobs and a living wage for so many.

You’ve no doubt heard about the negative impact tourism has – it has been widely reported in the news over the last years contributing to the destruction of nature and loss of habitat. Alternatively, over-tourism in cities experience a strain on resources, increased traffic congestion, and pollution.

When destinations experience a wave of visitors, the local community can benefit from the money tourists spend, which is always a good thing. But when a destination sees an overabundance of vacationers, many local travel suppliers tend to look only at the bottom line: this can have a negative impact on local communities and the traditions they hold dear. It erodes the authenticity of the experience when all the visitor sees is what travel companies want them to see. 

Often, in overly touristy places, cheap souvenirs are being sold that have not much to do with the actual culture and are most of the time not even made in the country itself, but cheaply produced abroad.

We know what many of you are thinking. “No! I don’t want that! How can I as a traveller change that? Can I even?”

As we look towards the end of the pandemic, we have seen how many cities and their inhabitants can finally breathe again - on the one side because the crowds disappeared and on the other because pollution levels went down drastically. So what does the future of tourism hold? 

Typically, when most people think of sustainable travel, their minds head towards environmental issues and being a responsible tourist. But this concept is much more than protecting our environment. Next to programmes to end deforestation and provide clean drinking water, countries like Peru are also introducing sustainable practices to preserve its rich culture and traditions. Popular tourist attractions like Machu Picchu and Chan Chan archaeological site have been damaged over the last decades due to their popularity as tourist attractions. Limiting visitor numbers, designated walking paths and educating tourists in regard to littering the sites, have helped to minimise the damage. 

Another part of responsible tourism entails providing genuine help to some of the world’s most vulnerable indigenous communities. This is also known as community involvement. Community involvement can go from donating school books and clothing to underprivileged children to building a whole school, as our partner for the Palcoyo mountain trek Killa Expeditions did in 2019.  Especially during this unprecedented time, it is important to support small local businesses and decide for tour companies that pay their workers fairly. 

What is it to Be a Responsible Tourist?

You want to be a responsible tourist, and in an era when responsible travel is the buzzword of the day, the real meaning tends to get lost in the hustle and bustle of it all. So what does that even mean?

Responsible travel is the practice of traveling in a way that leaves the place you visit in a similar or better condition than when you arrived. Some examples of this can be not taking that awesome stone you found as a souvenir on your Machu Picchu hike, or making sure you take all of your trash with you after that epic camping trip to Guatemala. 

To the sustainable travel novice, the plethora of information can be overwhelming, with questions swirling around the brain. Not to mention the suspicious looks from your family and friends when you tell them you want to travel responsibly.

Questions and comments like ‘Is that Airbnb in Guatemala legal?’, ‘Oh, you remembered to buy carbon offsets for that flight, didn’t you?’ ‘Is that fancy resort you’re staying at locally-owned?’ ‘You’re going on safari? How can you possibly support the exploitation of animals?’ 

Focus on what we can do as travelers to change this. Take social projects (volunteer vacations?) in Peru, for example. Some tour companies here show visitors their way of life and traditions and by doing so, offer the traveller a unique experience while also helping the communities preserve their culture and make a living from it. 

How Can I Travel More Sustainably?

There are personal changes every tourist can make to community-led involvement, such as the Queuna Raymi tree-planting festival in the highlands of Peru. This type of regenerative travel is important as a way for visitors to have an authentic travel experience while also preserving special and historic areas so that they remain intact for others to enjoy for years to come. 

The absolute best way to ensure you are travelling responsibly is to plan your holiday with a company that has made a commitment to sustainability in one or several of its many forms. 

We’ve given some examples of responsible tourism in Peru, but this is mirrored throughout small cultural communities the world over. Wherever you may choose to roam, seek out tour operators that pay fair wages and/or contribute to local social projects. They might be sometimes hard to find, but with some research and questioning, you can see quite easily which companies have transparent practices. Questions to ask are for example: do you do the tour yourself or are you cooperating with other providers and outsourcing the service? Do you own your own cars or do you outsource the transport for the tour? Are your tour guides freelance or actually employed? Do you support any local projects? How much do you pay your workers? 

You can also make a personal difference by choosing locally-owned restaurants and markets that directly pay the local economy. Not only will you be helping them, but you will experience the true nature of your destination.

The Bottom Line

Travelling in a post-pandemic world with heightened concerns of climate change, over-tourism, income equality, animal welfare, and corporate exploitation can even worry the most conscientious of travellers. What’s more, there seems to be no consensus on exactly what makes a vacation ‘responsible’ or ‘green’, depending on your ideals.

But with a little bit of research, you can find local companies that really care about the perseverance of their local culture and economy. Travel can be wonderful and fun, we just have to shift our mindset to incorporate habits that help sustain our world for future generations to also travel.