Pursuing a collective effort
THE world is coming to the realisation that we need to change the impact we have on our planet. As individuals we can make a huge difference. As an industry we can make an even bigger difference, using our collective resources to influence key stakeholders, travellers and policy-makers.
Now is the time to make travel matter and educate on the importance of a more sustainable future for our people, planet and wildlife. And it starts with us, we all have a role to play as individuals and as leaders. What can we do? We can collectively make a conscious effort to eliminate single-use plastics in offices, on cruise ships and on guided holidays. We can choose to minimise the use of paper and plant trees to contribute to reforestation around the world. As a sector, we can come together behind a guiding principle to encourage sustainable tourism development through conservation, leadership and support for communities.
If you need some facts and figures to convince you how important this is, it’s estimated that an additional eight million tonnes of plastic pour into our oceans every year, this in addition to the more than five trillion pieces of plastic estimated to be littering the oceans at this
moment. The larger pieces of plastic injure, impair and kill wildlife, while the disintegration of plastic debris and the manufacturing of microbeads are wholly poisoning marine ecosystems. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, if nothing is done to push back against the deluge of plastics overwhelming our oceans, there could be more plastic in the oceans than fish by 2050.
It’s frightening to think how damaging something as simple as a plastic bag or straw can be to our future and our planet.
We need to recognise the importance of continually pushing the agenda forward, in the interest of a positive transformation in the tourism industry. Because ‘tourism’ shouldn’t come with a negative connotation. Over-tourism needs to become a thing of the past as we move forward with positive change, a key action for all is to spread travellers’ visits over 12 months and to reduce the concentration of visits over the summer months. We must work together with locals to embrace the community and the local environment to ensure our travellers tread right.
Ultimately, it’s our responsibility to stand together to ensure the environment and communities we visit remain vibrant for generations to come.
Treadright.org.
“We need to recognise the importance of continually pushing the agenda forward… ”