It has been more than 3 years since my last visit to Chiapas, and I was really looking forward to go back to San Cristobal de Las Casas. This small colonial town is a real jewel; I love the magical atmosphere of its cobblestone streets and its lively cultural scene, with its melting pot of Mexican and Mayan folklore and traditions. In the past few years it has become even more cosmopolitan, and you can clearly see the cultural influence of several foreign communities. 

Being a coffee lover (not to say addicted), I could not miss the Museo del Café, opened and supported by the CoopCafe`Chiapas, an organization grouping 36 association of campesinos who work in the production of organic and fair trade coffee. The consume of fair trade products has been increasing rapidly in the past few years (especially for products like tea, coffee and chocolate), and most people now know about associations like the CoopCafe`. 

What I was really pleased to hear in the museum (and to see in the Cafes around town) is that the Chiapanecos are becoming regular consumers themselves. Three years ago when asking for a coffee in town I knew that in 90% of the cases I would be served a cup of Nescafe`, which really irritated me. Now I get decent stuff 70% of the times and I can find fair trade or organic coffee in at least 30% of the cafes. Good to see that ethics are winning even in countries where paying more for quality and long term benefits for the economy is not as affordable as in Europe, or in the US!!

I recently decided it was time for another trip to Mexico; so here I am on a London - Mexico City flight, very excited by the idea of going back to places I fell in love with in the past years, and of visiting places I have not been yet… (How come every time I look at Mexico’s map this country looks bigger to me?)

Well, we are not there yet, so let’s try to relax and ‘enjoy the flight’, as the airline recommends…

I have never been overly interested in reading in-flight magazines; they are typically full of advertising, especially by resort developers threatening to build up luxury beach condos on every centimetre of coast left on this planet. This one I have found on my seat is no exception, featuring an article called Catch the Wave, specifically addressed to “American baby boomers: a generally adventurous group with significant amount of disposable income”.

The article is an invitation to consider alternative countries when looking for investments with regards to holiday homes; why buy a small condo for 1 million in Florida when you can have a luxury beach-front property for 250k in Nicaragua, Panama or Honduras? These countries - the article goes on – have miles of pristine beaches, lakes and rainforests. Of course the final bait is a list of recent visitors which include several movie stars. Now that we are convinced by the prospect, let’s retire there and have afternoon teas with Michael Douglas!

Most of the development projects sound quite scary, like the one on a small island in Honduras including the construction of 2 golf courses, polo courts, a 900 room hotel, plus the extension of the current pier for Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruises. To my surprise, the article also mentions a small estate company set up by an ex marine biologist in a little beach town in Panama. He offers moderately priced beach-front homes, and with part of the company’s income he funded some local projects, like a school for indigenous people, an experimental farm, and a number of environmental conservation activities.

Well done Mr. ‘Alternative Developer’!! Are you the only wealthy angel in those paradise islands?

I wonder if there are any strategies, policies or legislation in these developing countries that help to reduce the negative impacts from new developments… certainly governments should support those entrepreneurs who are trying to give something back to the local communities.

I have been mesmerized by this video of Hans Rosling speaking at TED 2007 posted on Steve Bridger’s blog showing how captivating some stats can become with proper design and animation. I have never had an analytical mind set, but this is indeed like storytelling!!

It would be really interesting have similar stats on the development of ecotourism and its impact on the world economy. The rapid economic growth of Mauritius shown in the video is quite impressive… Enjoy it!!

People who work in the tourism industry and most of the travellers who are used to surf the Internet for booking their holidays are now aware of specialty travel operators promoting sustainable, low impact, responsible, eco-tourism… but what do all these terms mean exactly? What is the difference between one and another?

Sometimes when I say I run an eco-travel agency, I get some puzzled looks, and I am asked what I mean exactly. I am not at all surprised about these reactions, as I imagine that people who book their holidays at their local high street travel agency have never heard about ecotourism at all.

I would say the above listed types of tourism have all in common the opposition to the mass tourism, and a revaluation of the authenticity of the travel experience, considered as a discovery of a new natural and cultural environment.
I will now try to write down some definitions; comments and objections are very welcome.

• Sustainable tourism

An uncontrolled growth of the tourist industry (especially in the developing countries) can lead to wild construction plans, abuse of the natural resources and pollution, and eventually to the destruction of that pristine natural and cultural environment tourists were attracted to in the first place. Governments need to set up some strict regulations to the tourist development, involving carefully planned projects focused on the preservation of the environment. This way the local economic system – frail and precarious in poor countries - will be able to sustain the development of tourism and enjoy the benefits without being overwhelmed by it.
I would say the use of the term sustainable is mainly related to the authorities’, entrepreneurs’, and operators’ behaviours, which should make sure the tourist development has a low impact on the natural environment and on the social system.

• Responsible tourism

Every time I find the term ‘responsible’ in articles about tourism I notice this is mainly related to the travellers’ behaviour: a responsible traveller is the one who shows respect and consideration for the nature, the people, and the culture of the country he is visiting. Hence the many ‘responsible traveller codes’ published all over the Internet, which include rules about keeping the environment clean, saving water, buying local products… and so on. These dos and don’ts lists are useful, but it is most important that travellers show a responsible travel attitude also while planning their holiday, operating an accurate selection of the destinations, tour providers and places to stay.

• Ecotourism

If we consider that most of the responsible travel operators have a ‘section’ on their websites and catalogues dedicated to ecotourism (mainly listing tour and activities in close contact with nature), we should say ecotourism is just a ‘branch’ of the responsible (or sustainable) travel. But if we surf the Internet we can notice that the term ecotourism is often used to refer to sustainable, responsible, even cultural tourism. (See the Wikipedia definition)

Following the International Ecotourism Year in 2002, the term has become very popular and has been used and abused, so that if we search the various terms on Google we will find the following results:

“sustainable travel” 504,000 results
“sustainable tourism” 1,200,000
“responsible tourism” 553,000
“responsible travel” 901,000
“ecotourism” 4,600,000 (plus its spelling variation “eco-tourism” 1,310,000)

With ecotourism we now mean a type of tourism focused on the discovery and preservation of the environment as a whole, including nature, society, culture, folklore, and the term is referred to both operators and travellers.

One of my favourite definitions of ecotourism is in an article of Allan R. Rhodes Espinoza, who offers this simple explanation: eco comes from the Greek word oikos, which means home. People/travellers should consider the whole world as their home, and behave accordingly.

An article about ecotourism published on a hotel booking website’s newsletter made me think again about the dilemma shared by eco and responsible travel operators: when will our efforts be rewarded with a decent share of the huge travel industry’s profits?

The author says we are all interested in green issues, but when it comes to taking action in the preservation of the environment we all think we should be granted an exemption. He detected an increase in bookings for luxury resorts with little or no interest from his customers for ‘green travel’ options coming from an eco-friendly website he partnered with.

There is no doubt that peoples’ statements are often inconsistent with their behaviour and that eco-travel is still considered a niche market, however, ecotourism has been consistently growing between 20% and 34% a year from its beginnings in the 90s, and the 2004 figures showed a growth which was 3 times faster than the tourism industry as a whole.

The eco-friendly website Mr. Gezik mentions in his article is gloCaltravel. I approached him a few years ago as I was looking for a technology provider and he decided to cooperate with us. He shared our hopes of a concrete business opportunity following the increase of the eco-travel demand. We had the same business background (I had worked as a manager for an online travel agency) and thought that successful business models could be easily applied to different market segments.

As it turned out, we were totally wrong, and I had to learn at my expense that the ecotourism industry has its own rules, characteristics and rhythms.
I understood I had to change my approach to the operations management, revaluating the personal relationships with our clients who wanted to be told the stories behind the product, and to hear how their holiday would make a difference.

I decided to bin models involving instant reservations and credit card bookings (which was very hard for me, considering I live in symbiosis with my laptop and love to sort out my information, shopping and entertainment with a couple of clicks). I chose to forget about easy and immediate profits, instead investing in longer term projects, taking small steps and never losing sight of the company’s mission and philosophy. Eco-travelers can be very inquisitive and demanding, and considering the many operators who jump on the eco band wagon for mere marketing purposes, they have the right to be suspicious.

I believe this is the right way to get interest, then positive feedback, then trust from your visitors, who eventually become regular clients and effective advertisers through word of mouth marketing.
But slow progress is not often appreciated and it takes a lot of patience and passion to keep going. Many travel operators do not have time to email clients back and forth providing personalized information or to double check the eco-policies of every single supplier. And how about being ready to offer assistance to accommodation/tour providers located in developing countries, who often are not used to email reservations, extranets, online payments, or any other e-commerce tools?

Promoting hotels run by staff who are familiar with online availability and instant reservations is definitely less time consuming, and more profitable.

I am still far from seeing rapid economic returns… a few years ago in Mexico City I met Verena Gerber, director of Ecoparaiso Xixim, an eco-lodge you will be able to find easily all over the Internet. She told me I had chosen a very bad industry if I was interested in making money. I said profits were not at the base of my motivation, but I firmly believed the eco-travel community would continue growing. Today there are many successful companies amongst those who managed to stick to their eco-policies and Verena has done a fantastic job herself in promoting what is now one of the best known eco-resorts in Mexico.

Even though I understand Mr. Gezik’s disappointment; with a healthy dose of optimism and the knowledge there are others out there who are not in this game just to make quick money, I can not share his views with regards the lack of potential for ecotourism.

There will always be people looking for boasts of luxury and artificial paradises, which will always be easy to sell (see the rapid growth of Dubai), but many customers will be willing to listen to alternative proposals, and I think operators should try a bit harder to diversify their offers.

And then who said that ecotourism must be synonymous with a lack of comfort and facilities and can not include some responsible and sustainable luxury? But this is another issue which deserves a separate discussion…