“The initial response to my ideahas been enthusiastic”
“Theindustry is more mature and bettereducated”
By the time you read this, I will have been to the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Awards. It’s an occasion that I always look forward to because it brings together such a cross-section of our industry both from here and from the furthest corners of the earth.
It’s a wonderful use of BA’s resources and gives a great deal of joy. This is the friendly, caring face of BA and long may it last.
For those of you who don’t know, the awards are given according to particular categories, as a reward to those organisations in tourism who have striven for environmental excellence. These are very prestigious awards and make an enormous difference to the credibility of the recipients.
I have gone on about environmental matters in this column for many a year. Has the situation really changed over the last decade?
Is the public more aware of the harm tourism can do to the environment and, if so, do people care? Are tour operators behaving more responsibly or is it all window dressing?
Yes, progress has been made in that tour operators now realise they have to start thinking about the environmental impact of what they do. It’s still too little too late of course.
No one lifted a finger to help the Dominican Republic escape the downside of mass tourism until tour operators’ interests were being hurt. It was only once punters stopped going because of what they saw in the press that the tour operators suddenly turned caring.
Still, at least an attempt is now being made to plough back some of the money that has been made out of the destination.
If the water, sewage and hygiene problems in the Dominican Republic are not solved then where will the aircraft be flown?
I am sure that, if we are not careful, Cuba will be the next cheap, mass-market destination to suffer the same fate.
Now the industry is in the hands of four large players and each knows that they cannot put the others out of business we stand a much better chance of seeing more concerted effort on the environmental front.
Already we see them all acting together in the Dominican Republic and I am sure that, as the safety question has become of such vital interest, co-operation in respect of the environment and its protection will, therefore, be next on the agenda.
The climate is right to take action now. Times have moved on, the industry is more mature and better educated and our four market leaders are the public companies for whom respectability and correct behaviour now matter a great deal.
They still won’t do anything unless they can see a financial benefit but at least there is some motivation now, even though it is a monetary one.
The trouble is that, for a tour operator, becoming environmentally correct does mean added expense and, therefore, higher prices to the customer.
Higher prices never bothered a tour operator unless competitors took advantage of the situation and pitched in with lower rates.
An uneasy balance now exists and this will mean more attention being paid to the greening of the sector. What will really set the seal on the matter is Government recognition on environmental behaviour. No-one likes to go to jail or pay a fine for breaking the law.