Human Rights are a fundamental element for a fair and sustainable tourism
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The right to development and the right to benefit from tourism
At the vaccination clinique the nurse pulled out a standard questionnaire and started asking me questions about where I was going in India and for how long. The usual questions. I´m not really found of needles so while she was talking I thought of ways to avoid having any vaccinations...I was pretty sure of having had most of them before my last trip to Colombia...
But then a new question pops out, a question that left me somewhat perplexed...
"Are you going to spend time with local people?"
Well...local people...uhm, so I am going for two months to India how can I not be meeting local people? I mean in the state of Kerala alone lives 31 million people1, something must be well wrong with tourism if I won´t be meeting any of them. But the fact is, there is a form of tourism where one can travel without hardly meeting any locals at all, through the all inclusive tour packages commonly referred to as "enclave tourism" sold by most of our largest tour operators and alike. Not only are locals kept out of these enclaces through fences, private guards or high entrance fees but also their communities and country as such have little to benefit.
United Nations Environment programme states:
In most all-inclusive package tours, about 80% of travelers' expenditures go to the airlines, hotels and other international companies (who often have their headquarters in the travelers' home countries), and not to local businesses or workers. In addition, significant amounts of income actually retained at destination level can leave again through leakage.
A study of tourism 'leakage' in Thailand estimated that 70% of all money spent by tourists ended up leaving Thailand (via foreign-owned tour operators, airlines, hotels, imported drinks and food, etc.). Estimates for other Third World countries range from 80% in the Caribbean to 40% in India2.
Tourism leakages is a barrier to development and it is an offense to those who provide their homes, land and natural resources.
Well for myself, yes, I am going to spend time with local people, well, if the people let me! I am, never to forget, a guest in their country.
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license. The site is produced by Jenny Eriksson and developed by Daniel Kvist.
license. The site is produced by Jenny Eriksson and developed by Daniel Kvist.