Holidays with a difference

James Rice takes a look at tourism's impact on local communities and how changes to your holiday can make a big difference.

Tourism Concern The Fair Trade Travel logo used by Tribes Travel The Responsible Tourism Awards

Tourism is big business. This year alone we will spend over £300 billion on our travels - equivalent to £50 for every person in the world. For local people in the destinations we travel to, tourism offers a chance of employment, business opportunities and a potential escape route from poverty.

But in most cases, the odds are against them. As little as a quarter of what we spend on holiday ends up in the areas we visit. Instead, it goes to foreign-owned hotel chains, tour operators, airlines, insurance companies and imported food and drink suppliers.

Tourism can also have a negative impact on local communities. People can be forced off their land to make way for development, or local economies can become imbalanced by tourist spending. Working conditions in tourism are often poor, especially for the 19 million children worldwide who work in the industry.

Ethical tourism represents a fairer type of holiday that helps to conserve environments and sustain local peoples' well-being. It has many forms, ranging from home-stays to trekking tours to eco-lodges, and is just as applicable at home as it is abroad. So long as it emphasises the needs of local people and the environment, it's ethical tourism.

The winner of the Responsible Tourism Awards 2005, Tribes Travel, exemplifies what ethical tourism schemes aim to achieve. It offers small group holidays that promote sustainable community initiatives, use local tour guides and support small businesses. Another award winner is Asset, an association of over 70 small tourism businesses in Gambia, which was judged best tourist operator for poverty reduction. Asset offers these micro-enterprises (such as handicraft makers, taxi drivers and guesthouse owners) membership of a group that provides training, marketing and advice on how to maximise the benefits of tourism for local communities.

Oxfam runs its own version of ethical tourism, called Global Challenges. Small groups of fundraisers get the chance to climb Kilimanjaro, trek to Machu Picchu or do a cycling tour of Cambodia. Participants raise £2,500 of sponsorship for the scheme, which goes to help Oxfam's work with people afflicted by poverty.

"Seeing the determination and enthusiasm of the women in Lima to improve the conditions of their communities was inspiring," says Sarah Marzy, who trekked the Inca Trail with Oxfam. "It demonstrated to me how much can be achieved with, what are to us, relatively small donations."

It's worth remembering that ethical tourism is something you can do yourself - you don't have to go on an expensive tour to a developing country to engage in it. Even if your next trip is to Switzerland, for example, there are still a lot of ways to make your trip more ethical. You could travel there by train, rather than flying. Or, if flying is the only practical way to get there, then you could pay a 'green fee'. This is a surcharge which the airline will invest in energy-saving projects in an effort to compensate for the environmental impact of the flights.

When you get there, try to stay in locally-owned accommodation rather than a chain hotel. Buy local crafts and produce, talk to the locals (they'll almost certainly be interested in you) and use local tour guides. Hire bikes rather than jumping in the car. You'll find that as well as knowing you are helping the local economy and environment, you'll get a better understanding of the culture of your hosts. And they'll want you to come back again.