Read: The poor children being taught by Buddhists

I received a comment here last week that made me think again about what Sustainable Tourism means to me.

It is the case that once you have attached a label to a thing or a concept you treat it as if it were an absolute truth. It is therefore healthy to stop and see it from a different perspective occasionally.

Much has been written about sustainable tourism and you can find references all over the web but at its heart is the concept of sustainable development “which implies meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development).

It is quite easy to see tourism as the antithesis of sustainability as we jet around the world, discarding our waste, depleting water resources and polluting cultures as we go; but then just about everything about our modern lifestyle is detrimental to the planet and unsustainable.

Travel is part of the human psyche with the freedom to travel a human right and I think the world would be a much poorer (spiritually as well as economically) place were we all to stop travelling.

With that right, of course, comes responsibility. Inevitably places will change once the tourists arrive. For example over the course of some 20 years I have seen Chaweng Beach on Ko Samui, Thailand, change from an almost deserted stretch of coast into a bustling collection of hotels, restaurants, bars and shops.

The problem is that, more often than not, resorts like that (and there are of course many thousands more examples) are not planned with sustainability in mind. Over time they will put an untenable drain on resources and eventually destroy the very reason the destination attracted visitors in the first place.

That is the type of change we must guard against if we are to meet the “needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Perhentian Beach, East Coast Malaysia. Credit: Tourism Malaysia

Naturally that is where the concept of sustainable tourism comes in and aims to engage all stakeholders in the planning and execution of tourist developments. The idea of a win-win-win for the local environment (social and physical), the consumer and the industry is especially important for me as it appeals to my sense of fairness.

The problem I have found with the concept of sustainable tourism is that, once you start researching it, you are soon faced with even more concepts: responsible travel, eco-tourism, green travel, nature-based tourism, carbon-offsetting, community-based tourism, cultural tourism, poverty tourism etc. All of a sudden you have a glossary of terms some of which are vague, some contentious and others, according to Justin Francis, MD, responsibletravel.com, simply distracting.

I wonder how many eco-lodges have been built on land cleared of plants, trees and people especially for the purpose of a nature-based experience! I am sure such things can happen through ignorance but equally they can happen as a deliberate ploy to use the “eco” badge as no more than a marketing device. It all becomes buzzwords and noise.

Block out the noise, get back to basics and it’s about promoting and developing tourist experiences that “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

In 2005 the World Tourism Organization called upon the United Nations General Assembly and others to “fully recognize tourism, when sustainably developed and managed, as an effective tool to realize the Millennium Development Goals” and especially poverty alleviation. Sustainable tourism for me then is about being custodians of the land for future generations while at the same time taking care of those in the present. It’s about finding the balance between environmental integrity, social justice and economic development.

A tall order? Definitely. Worthwhile? Absolutely.

This week I was reading what travel to Asia might look like in 2023.

In brief the four scenarios proposed were:

Boom and burst – we are all going to be richer (in the UK at least!) and travel more. Look out for a theme park at Mount Everest base camp and controlled entry into busy cities.

Divided disquiet – we are going to be fighting over scarce resources and rushing off to see places before they disappear.

Price and privilege – high fuel prices will make travel a luxury for the elite.

Carbon clampdown – we would each be given a carbon allowance to pollute equally.

None of them make good reading and while it might take longer than 14 years for some (or more likely a combination) of these scenarios to potentially exist we all need to be mindful of the possibilities. Yet at the same time we should not accept them as inevitable.

I believe that the growing popularity of Responsible Travel is a force that can be used to fashion positive change in the industry; and, given the industry’s vast global reach, in the world at large. Thanks to people like Justin Francis at Responsible Travel.com the movement has been driven as much by elements within the industry as by consumer demand.

Those elements tend to be leaders of small specialist company’s with a purpose higher than simply creating shareholder value. These types of business Neil Crofts calls Authentic Businesses : they “generate profit through the pursuit of a profound and positive purpose.”

My own business principles have always been ethically grounded and thus it is no great leap for me to subscribe to the notion of authentic business.

I believe that a growing band of consumers are looking for more authenticity in every aspect of their lives and especially in their travel choices.

Futurist Dr Ian Yeoman “talks about how the world economy has changed tourist identity and value patterns to something more simple which is accelerating the trend of inconspicuous consumption.” Prof Yeoman took his soothsaying further forward to 2030 and had a less apocalyptic perspective than this week’s report: “New experiences, luxury, culture and authenticity are some of the trends that will shape the future of world tourism. The tourist wants to sample the ethnicity of the destination, increasingly interests in culture, food and sport are shaping the way people approach their choice of holiday.”

I have no doubt that the excesses that exist in some tourist destinations today will still exist in 14, 21 or 121 years: it has always been the human way to pursue hedonism.

However I want to believe that Prof Yeoman is correct in his prediction that authenticity will play an increasingly important role within the industry; and I for one will be participating in that particular future.

True authentic businesses work in partnership with their customers and I believe that, all the time like-minded people are coming together to promote and purchase responsibly and sustainably, the less-desirable scenarios summarised above can be avoided.

It is for that reason I am always on the look out for authentic travel businesses in south east Asia (like The Sarojin in Khao Lak, Thailand) to promote, so please contact me if you know any.

In the meantime, what are your predictions for the future of travel?

It continues to be a dreadful time in much of South East Asia as people count the cost of the storms that have ripped through the region. As I write, the death toll, arising from Tropical Storm Ketsana, in Laos is reportedly 24: in the Philippines it is 293, in Vietnam at least 107 have died, and in Cambodia the storm has claimed 17 lives.

The biggest catastrophe has been in Sumatra, Indonesia, where earthquakes have claimed the lives of over 1000 with thousands more believed missing.

I have allowed myself to feel overwhelmed by such numbers and as a result have been gripped by inertia. From the inertia has come frustration.

Fortunately a friend reminded me of a story about a starfish. For those unfamiliar with the story, it goes like this:

A Buddhist monk was on the beach with his apprentice the day after a fierce storm. Thousands of starfish had been washed up and stranded on the shore. Stooping down, the monk carefully lifted a single creature and returned it to the sea. His young apprentice wondered aloud why his master bothered to do this when it made little difference to the mass of helpless creatures. As they walked along, the monk picked up another single starfish and replied, “It makes a difference to just this one.”

I have copied this version, aptly, from The Starfish Project in Cambodia.

It is of course relatively easy to donate to one of the disaster relief funds like UNICEF’s Asia-Pacific Disasters Children’s Appeal and thereby help at least one ‘starfish’ in the short term but I am also concerned for the future. Many survivors will have lost everything: what will be their longterm prospects? As ever, such disasters seem to affect the poor the most. Houses and crops destroyed. Fishing boats lost.

I am now looking for that one starfish that I can help over the longterm and given my travel and tourism background I believe it will need to be a project in that sector. That does not mean I am going to pass by all the other starfish until I find the ‘right’ one: I will help where I can which is why I want to tell you about the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation in Vietnam.

Since 2002, the Foundation has been helping ‘street kids’ into education, training and apprenticeships. A recent focus has been on children from central Vietnam who had been trafficked to Ho Chi Minh City to work on the streets or in factories. Today Blue Dragon runs a children’s home in Hoi An, Central Vietnam, providing a safe and healthy environment for these vulnerable young people.

According to a post on the foundation’s blog the recent flash floods in Central Vietnam have caused damage to the Home; although the full extent is not yet known. The crucial part of this particular story though is that, with the devastation caused to local economies, families might be more inclined to send their children off to the garment factories. A story that could easily be re-told throughout the region. I want to help prevent that happening.

For every one person already taking action I am sure there are many more who, like me, are transfixed by the scale of the problem. If we can all find a starfish to help, together, we can make a difference.

Do you know any small charities working in the region and dealing with the aftermath of these tragedies?

Images: IFRC

As I mentioned in my previous piece, Community Based Tourism: What’s in a Name?, I first became aware of the concept in the early 1990s when I was introduced to the Ulu Ai Longhouse experience in Sarawak, East Malaysia. It was one of the first tours, in the depths of the Borneo Rainforest, which we promoted.

There were other longhouse tours around, the best known being on the Skrang River, but, to my knowledge, none were as sensitive to the cultural and natural environment as this one.

The initiative was the brain-child of the two owners of the Kuching-based operator Borneo Adventure, Philip Yong and Robert Basiuk. It has been described by Robert, as “one example of a new generation of tourism products promoting the intricate relationship between the rainforest and its dwellers.”

The project started back in 1986 and by 1999 twenty six families “received over RM 300,000 ($82,000) in tourism-related pay. In addition to the wages earned as guides, boat drivers and cooks, as well as rental for the guesthouse, the village people also earn money selling traditional handicrafts such as woven blankets ($10,000 in 1999). This income has also allowed the village to break out of the subsistence agriculture cycle and diversify their economy to include more efficient cash crops. The reduced demand for expansion onto new land means that less forest is cut, ultimately providing more habitat for wildlife.”

Philip Yong, the company’s managing director, told me recently that the project continues to perform well although they have put a cap on the annual number of visitors. I almost typed the word ‘naturally’ in that sentence but of course not all companies would be as sensitive: some would milk the project for as much as they possibly could. I hate being cynical but that is the reality.

In an interview published on Wild Asia (a Malaysia-based conservation group which promotes responsible tourism) Philip states that “If I want to make money I could sell this product to another company and cash out….. But this is good for the soul…”

In this same interview Philip explains frankly that community based tourism (CBT) is not without its challenges and he is keen to point out that, although an award-winning initiative, it should not be viewed as a model.

I wonder if there is or could be a model for community based tourism. “There’s no one solution-fit-all, but a set of criteria. You need to have a cohesive community with a strong leadership, and you need people who are committed and who get things done,” says Yong. Now that of course is true of any community project and, although my experience with ‘communities’ is limited, my guess is it is difficult to find these key attributes in one place. Thus I doubt that a model could ever exist.

I do believe that, while not a panacea, CBT does have scope for alleviating poverty in remote communities. If you have any experience of such projects or know of a ‘model’ I am keen to hear from you, please contact me.

All images courtesy of Borneo Adventure.

The key question for me is, over the longterm (well, we are all going to have to work until we’re 90 aren’t we?), how can I use my 25 years of travel industry experience as a specialist tour operator in a worthwhile way?

Until recently, in my spare time, I was a school governor and a trustee of a children’s charity but those tenures have ended and now I am looking for something else. I have always been interested in a responsible approach to travel, and a great believer in authentic travel experiences, so the idea of pursuing something in this line appeals. Especially if it meets one of the aims of this site, namely to bring positive change to the lives of under-privileged children in south-east Asia (not all of them, of course, just as many as possible).

Two of my favourite tours at Magic of the Orient were community-based, although I don’t think the phrase ‘Community based tourism” had been coined when we first started promoting them back in the mid 1990s. One tour was to a hilltribe village in Northern Thailand and the other to a longhouse in Sarawak, East Malaysia (aka Borneo). In both cases the community had built accommodation especially for tourists and in both cases the community were involved in planning and running the set-up. These projects brought income to the community via bed and lodgings, guiding services and souvenir purchases.

Here is a definition of CBT from the Thailand Community Based Tourism Institute (1997):

“CBT is tourism that takes environmental, social, and cultural sustainability into account. It is managed and owned by the community, for the community, with the purpose of enabling visitors to increase their awareness and learn about the community and local ways of life”.

Unfortunately, however, there does not appear to be just one definition. According to Harold Goodwin, a recognized authority on Responsible Tourism, “there is no agreement about the meaning of CBT and ….. whenever the words are used the meaning needs to be made clear”.

OK that’s fair enough so we always need to qualify CBT whenever we talk about it but wait! According to a study by Goodwin, the model is not sustainable: “.. evidence suggests that average bed occupancy achieved by CBT initiatives is around 5% and that this unsustainable.”

What? So is there any point? Goodwin goes on: “The research has demonstrated that there are a number of initiatives which are not CBT which have demonstrated very considerable employment, local economic development and collective community benefits….”

OK, so this is more positive. There are initiatives that are not CBT that are successful. Hmm. So if there is an initiative that is deemed successful does it matter that it is not CBT?

This also begs the question. “how is success measured”? For me, back when we started promoting such tours, the motivation was twofold: 1) to give remote communities the opportunity to benefit from tourism and 2) to provide our clients with an authentic experience. For me it was essential that the hosts were proactive participants rather than passive recipients as in ‘goldfish bowl’ tourism: the tours to Paduang villages – the so-called longneck tribes – in Northern Thailand are examples of passive tourism and, in my opinion, are abhorrent . Simplistically, if these objectives were met, it was successful and certainly the two tours referred to above are still operating today (I shall write more about them later).

Also it must surely depend upon whether the initiative is intended to be the sole provider for a community or whether it is to be incremental income. Given the vagaries of the travel industry I would suggest that the initiative should always be for incremental income.

If we forget, then, the constraints of labels and think instead in terms of (lower case) community based tourism, surely this opens up a wide range of possibilities.

What do you think: is Community Based Tourism no more than academic theory; just more marketing hype with little real value over the long-term; or is it a concept worth pursuing?

That is not to say that Bali is perfect: far from it. Most of the population seem to be squished into the eastern side of the island especially around the southern corner, and the traffic can be horrendous. And personally I dislike the way Kuta Beach has become the type of mass-market, over-developed resort area you can find anywhere.

The island’s ills were succinctly summarised by Dr. Anak Agung Gde Agung, a former Minister of Societal Affairs, writing in The Jakarta Post and quoted in this week’s Bali Update “Bali at the crossroads”.

“The erosion of Bali’s, tradition, culture and natural environment as a result of massive efforts to boost tourist numbers has occurred in a number of ways. The most visible is the overload in infrastructure and overuse of precious natural resources. Roads have become cramped with cars at all hours of night and day, while farmlands have disappeared at a rate of around 1000 hectares per year to make way for hotels, villas and malls.

All of Bali’s 37 beaches and eight rivers have undergone serious transformations from their original states through development activities that have illegally violated building codes. Water levels at various points are so low they risk drying up altogether, inviting sea water to seep in. This problem and many more like it were foregone conclusions when the number of hotel rooms, set by French tourist company Sceto at a maximum 22.000 for Bali, exceeded the 70.000 mark…..

The more fatal effect of this overload of tourists lies in the impact it has culturally. As farmlands are converted into tourist infrastructure, alienation not only occurs with the land but also to the temples, rituals, ceremonies and communal life – the essential lifestyle of the people who used to live on that land. The Balinese way of life, culture and tradition has been displaced in the blink of an eye.”

Fortunately there have been signs recently that the local administration recognises the need to preserve the island’s cultural heritage and Dr Agung sets out a way forward:

“First, it [the Administration] should aim to preserve and enhance the special cultures, traditions and natural environment of Bali through multifaceted defensive and motivational policies.

Next, it should bring in the right type of tourists who can appreciate the culture and natural environment of the island……This will prevent Bali from becoming everything for everybody and eventually nothing for nobody.

Finally, Bali’s key philosophy on life, the Tri Hita Karana, should be strengthened. The premise of the philosophy teaches that man in his every action should always heed his impact on the three main surroundings – his fellow being, his natural environment and his god or morality. In meeting his needs, man should balance them in such a way that the needs of those around him are not impaired.”

For me that is another way of saying responsible or sustainable tourism and I agree wholeheartedly with this strategy. I cannot see how Bali can do anything else if it is to ensure its survival as a sought-after tourist destination and even perhaps, ultimately, as an entity.

In my opinion Bali is far from being a lost cause and still has many wonderful aspects but now is surely the time for the island to make its mark as a beacon for sustainable tourism.

An existing example of sustainable tourism in Bali can be found on the Bali Discovery web site Bali Eco Adventure: Sustainable Tourism in Bali’s Highlands. Bali Eco Adventure have established a model of sustainable tourism “which seeks to minimize any negative impacts on the environment and local community, rewarding the endemic population for their careful stewardship of nature and cultural traditions.”

Bali is such a magical place I think here is huge scope for doing more along these lines. What do you think? Is Bali a lost cause, a cause worth fighting for or fine as it is?

The temples of Angkor were all that I had imagined and more. Angkor Wat was of course a highlight but almost every temple that we visited during our 2-day visit was special in its own way. The other two that particularly stood out for me were the Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom with its carved faces and of course the tree-strangled ruins of Ta Prom.

Angkor Wat is around 20 minutes from the town of Siem Reap and it takes little imagination to travel back into the Golden Age of Angkor.

Even though my family and I were visiting at one of the busiest times of the year (Khmer New Year, 13-15 April), I still found an inherent tranquillity to the temples. It is as if all the effort and devotion that had been put into their design and construction still imbues the structure: I am truly in awe of those responsible for their creation.

Weather-wise the best time to visit Angkor is from December to March. April is the start of the hot season and from May to September the rains can be heavy.

The weather was mixed during our stay in April. We had some heavy rain, gales on one afternoon but sunshine most of the time.

In spite of the Khmer New Year crowds, Angkor Wat did not disappoint, far from it in fact.

To avoid the hubbub at the front of the temple our guide took us through the trees at the back. On first sight it did not look anything special but the bas relief depicting the Hindu story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk was the first indication that this was indeed a Wonder of the World.

I had seen pictures of Angkor Wat but it was not until we started walking along the many corridors that I appreciated the sheer scale of the temple. Even though the New Year crowd was growing, my experience and appreciation of Angkor Wat was in no way diminished.

Angkor Wat was occupied for longer than most, if not all, of the other temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park which might explain why, despite its age (around 900 years), it is in a very good state of repair.

I knew there were a lot of temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park which is why, for convenience and to save time, I opted for a private, organized tour for our relatively short visit. By the way, I suggest 2 days is the bare minimum amount of time you should allow.

We purchased a 3-day pass for the temples at a cost of US$40 per head. You will need a passport-size photo for the pass: we took our own along but I understand they will take one on the spot for you at no charge.

The other main highlights of our visit were:

Bayon Temple

I suppose the key reason I found the Bayon Temple so appealing was the large, enigmatic faces carved into the brickwork. I didn’t count them but apparently there are 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avolokitesvara, which in Sanskrit means the lord who looks in every direction.

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm is best known as the backdrop to the movie ‘Tomb Raider’: it is truly so fantastical it is almost unreal. Large trees straddle, and in many cases, are strangling this ancient monument. I understand that the task of restoring this temple would be so huge that the authorities are currently leaving it to nature to continue its ravaging march. To an extent it must look now as it would have done to those explorers who re-discovered these abandoned temples of Angkor in the 19^th Century.

Preah Khan

For a sense of how Ta Prohm might look restored visit Preah Khan temple, built by King Jayavarman VII. Preah Khan has towered enclosures and shoulder-hugging corridors like Ta Prohm but it is in a better state of preservation and there are ongoing restoration efforts to improve it.

We also did our, almost obligatory, sunset stop at Pre Rup. I don’t know if, over the years, I have become blasé about sunsets (I hope not) but I did not find this anything special. Just a lot of people waiting around for a long time, for not very much. On the positive side, the setting (and, I imagine, the rising) sun picks out the colour of the red brickwork.

I feel certain that I shall return to Cambodia and a repeat visit to Angkor will certainly be on my list.

If you have visited the Temples of Angkor what were the highlights for you?

Images Credit: www.Hookedonasia.org Creative Commons

The storm unleashed a heavy downpour at about 1am early Saturday and put out the fires that had been raging out of control for almost one month in the Kuala Baram district some 35kms north of Miri city.

Read Sudden storm souses Sarawak fires (The Star Online)

I wrote recently about my experience of discovering northern Thailand by car (Part 1 and Part 2).

Together with a colleague I visited Doi Angkhang, north of Chiang Mai, close to the border with Myanmar: Doi is the local word for mountain and Angkhang stands at about 1300 metres.

On this trip I saw (mostly by design but partly by accident!) areas of Thailand most tourists on mainstream holidays would not get to see.

In my opinion it is important, both for me personally and for local communities, that the positive benefits of tourism are spread to more remote parts of the country. Personally I enjoy seeing a destination behind the tourist façade and I am sure I am not alone: I get a lot more from the experience knowing that what I am seeing and experiencing is genuine, even though that experience might not always be a pleasant one. Local markets often fall into the latter category!

I do not subscribe to the notion that the flip side for my, sometimes unwitting, hosts is that they get to see glimpses of a life beyond their own, current reality. And I don’t mean me personally of course but rather what I represent.

No, for me the flip side is that tourism (when operated responsibly) is both bringing an income to the community and, potentially, the means to increase the well-being of its members.

I want to be absolutely clear here that I am not advocating the type of tourism where a tour bus turns up, disgorges its camera-clicking contents, money is deposited into a pot, bus sucks back contents and departs. No one is enriched by such an experience.

The type of tourism I am referring to is the type that Amari Hotels & Resorts, a major hotel company in Thailand, is engaging in at Doi Angkhang.

More and more hotels around the world are embracing sustainable, responsible or ‘green’ travel principles but here is a hotel group that has been doing so long before it became de rigeur. It was in 1995 that the group started the Baht for a Better Life Foundation: “Small change, contributed by guests to our hotels and donations from our staff, are used to further the education of children in Thailand. There are no administrative costs in running the Baht for a Better Life Foundation. Therefore, every dollar, pound and euro given to the fund is used for educational projects.” To date, among other things, Baht for a Better Life have rebuilt a dilapidated school in Udon Thani, north-east Thailand, and built ten new schools in underprivileged areas throughout the country.

At Doi Angkhang the Amari-managed hotel is the Ankhgang Nature Resort : a 3-star, 72-room property nestling in the mountains and developed as part of the Royal Angkhang Research Station, under the auspices of the Royal Project Foundation.

During my visit I only had time for a one-night stay but, on a whistle-stop tour of the area, I was able to visit the Royal Angkhang Station Project which “provides agricultural support to neighbouring hilltribes and develops non-indigenous crops for them to grow” as an alternative to the opium poppy which used to be their staple cash-crop. I also stopped at a remote point along the Thai/Myanmar border which was little more than a fence set within a beautiful mountain vista. Other activities in the area include trekking, mountain biking, bird watching; and sightseeing, taking in local hilltribe villages.

Image courtesy of Tourism Authority of Thailand News Room

On this occasion the visits that I made to local hilltribe villages were not of the type I am advocating here because, of necessity, they were brief: they were merely intended to equip me with the information to promote the overall Doi Angkhang experience, just as I am doing now.

There are 7 major hilltribes in northern Thailand but there are many smaller groups and sub groups such that I don’t believe anyone has a definitive count: estimates have put the number at around 20 with a total population of about 500,000.

There are many social and political issues surrounding the hilltribes, but the key point to mention in this article is that, by definition, the villages are remote with limited access to education.

There are four villages in the area surrounding Doi Angkhang, which are home to communities from a number of different hilltribes. Through its foundation, Amari Hotels and Resorts supports a primary school in Baan Khob Dong which provides education for the children of the Black and Red Muser tribes.

In a recently held painting competition with the theme ‘My Dream’, 7 winning students of Baan Kob Dong received scholarships presented by Mr. Wim Fagel, General Manager, Amari Rincome Hotel, as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the hotel. (See headline picture above).

As well as general educational support, the Anghang Nature Resort has helped introduce the school children to the concept of tourism. Together with the local education authorities, the resort has implemented a “Junior Guide Program”, where children from the Baan Khob Dong school are trained to show visitors around their village. The Junior Guide Program has become part of the school curriculum.

According to Amari: “The guides are encouraged to take pride in their heritage and the surrounding natural environment and communicate this to the visitors. It also gives an opportunity to take a position of responsibility in the community. Guides who complete the program are awarded a certificate and a guide badge.

The Junior Guide Program enables tourists to have interaction with the local community and receive correct information about the hill tribes and the surrounding area. It also ensures any donations which are given to the villages by visitors are put into projects to benefit the community. Visitors are also taken to a co-operative shop, which sells handicrafts produced in the local villages. In addition, a ‘show house’ has been built so that guests can get an impression of the hilltribe way of life.”

For me it is this type of interaction that is enriching for all parties and it represents what I believe tourism should be about i.e sharing.

Doi Angkhang is just 3 hours north of Chiang Mai and a world away from mass tourism. To book your stay at the Ankhgang Nature Resort visit the Amari website . This is not an affiliate link and I receive no financial benefit.