The Problem with Sustainable Tourism

I’ve seen plenty of the harmful effects of tourism over the course of my travels; litter seeping into the ground water in hard to reach trails in the Annapurna region in Nepal, and local communities there forced to commercialise and adapt their way of life, building roads to remote places to accommodate the influx of hikers during peak seasons, beaches choked with micro-plastics in Bali and trash being burned in the streets, creating toxic airborne compounds in isolated islands. The impact of tourism on the land is evident, (not to mention the harmful impact on the sea from tourism enterprises like cruise-liners) and the lasting impact on local communities persists long after vacationers have had their slice of paradise and left. The people who live there have to live with what we leave behind. It’s a major international issue, disproportionately affecting the global south.  

Enter: Sustainable tourism. Staying in ‘eco-hotels’, carbon offsetting your flights, and perhaps  avoiding being part of the problem by not leaving your litter on the beach, or better, not accepting plastic straws, or even better by actively choosing to be part of the solution by getting involved in beach clean-ups. You can go home with a clear conscience that you did your best to not leave dirty footprints behind, but is that all there is to it? I think we can do better. 

The issue with sustainable tourism for me is that it carries with it all the issues that come with sustainability as an umbrella term. To sustain something is really just to keep it functioning in the way that it currently works. Setting aside the environmental impact for now, the tourism industry as it currently functions, while producing a huge amount of global revenue, doesn’t necessarily reach the pockets of those who need it most. Revenue is funnelled into bigger corporations, hotels, supermarkets and restaurants, and tourist-facing businesses that may not even be locally owned. 

In popular tourist areas the increased demand causes prices to rise, eventually out-pricing locals from the rental market, or making groceries unaffordable to those on a local income, and locals have even been prevented from accessing their local beaches - this is currently causing major issues for the Guanacaste coast in Costa Rica, leading to social unrest in what has historically been a peaceful place. These complex social issues can’t be addressed simply by cleaning beaches (though we definitely still should do that), so what else can we do?

Part of my quest during this 6 month period of travelling has been to un-earth ways to travel with a conscious awareness of how my actions affect the environment and the local communities that inhabit them. I’m thinking beyond sustainable tourism; what does it mean to travel ethically, in a way that doesn’t just avoid damaging the destination in question, but actively seeks to leave a positive impact on the people and communities who have lived in this place for generations?

In the environmental movement, as the term sustainability has been gradually diluted by trends like greenwashing, there has been a call to re-consider the words we use and what we mean when we say them. One promising alternative is regeneration, which goes beyond sustaining by focussing on actively repairing, restoring and renewing ecosystems, of which our societies are a part, while considering intersectionality with a view towards equity rather than equality. 

I suppose what I’m calling for is a shift towards regenerative tourism; a way of travelling that considers the longevity of the spaces we find ourselves in, striving to make a positive impact on the land and the communities that live there. Tourism motivated by values, ethics and responsibility, without, I must add, falling into the trap of voluntourism (engaging in charity efforts abroad that don’t necessarily leave an impact or meet the needs of those being ‘helped’ - this is often an extension of white-saviorism).

So perhaps not by accident, the first place I found myself in after landing in Costa Rica has this ethical principle at their heart. In my next post I’ll share where I found myself and what I learned there. If you want to stay in touch in the meantime, you can follow my travel updates (When i have WiFi of course!)  on Instagram.