The travel industry is “way past” deciding whether sustainable tourism works and must “be brave” in taking it forward, the World Travel and Tourism Council Summit was told yesterday.
Costas Christ, chairman of the WTTC’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards panel of judges, told the Summit’s opening session: “When a major cruise line punches a quarter mile-wide hole through a last remaining coral reef we have a serious problem.
“We have a problem when the authorities permit a road that severs the last great [animal] migration on the planet.”
Speaking from the floor, Christ said: “We are not on a map-less journey. We are way past the question of deciding whether sustainable tourism works. There are hundreds of case studies.
“The question is are we, as an industry, willing to take this forward? Are we brave enough in the business world not just to privatise profits and socialise environmental impacts?”
Addressing the same subject, Julian Caldecott, director of environmental services firm Creatura, complained of “the rapid unplanned development of destinations”, of “investors cutting corners . . . [or] collaborating with organised crime, powerful individuals awarded construction contracts for developments without proper process” and “developments that ruin the landscape”.
Caldecott said: “The list continues : the suffocation of coral reefs, the crushing of aquifers, the run off of sewage into local water supplies. Good planning and good regulation is essential to tourism development.”
Professor Graham Miller of the University of Surrey, a judge of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, asked: “Should the industry be policing itself?”
UN World Tourism Organisation secretary-general Taleb Rifai (pictured) said: “The UNWTO produces a global code of ethics, but the UNWTO cannot be the policeman. Actual behaviour is in the hands of governments.”
However, Rifai said: “The growth of tourism is not an option. It’s an eventuality. Our challenge is how do we turn it into a force for good.”
Mexico tourism minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu insisted: “If tourism does not foster a better quality of life for the communities involved it is not sustainable. Taking care of touristic communities is essential.”
She added: “Governments are slowly realising sustainability is essential, but we have all made mistakes in tourism development.”
Economist Bjorn Lomborg, speaking in a subsequent session, challenged some of the assumptions about environmental challenges including global warming. He suggested: “The world’s worst environmental problem is indoor air pollution.”
Lomborg, who is well-known for his sceptical views on the environment, argued: “Economic progress solves lots of problems. Global warming is a problem but it is not the end of the world.”