An Alternative to Mass Tourism: The Adventure Opportunity the Wall Street Journal Didn’t Mention
May 18, 2009 | Filed Under Adventure Tourism and Social/Environmental Issues, Product Development
Headlines like this make me cringe: “To see some of the most spectacular spots on earth before the tourist buses arrive, visit the sites being considered for World Heritage designation.”
Why? Because it assumes that the only way to bring tourism to a region is to bring it with loads of buses and inconsiderate people who destroy the place.
In the Wall Street Journal’s May 15, 2009 Weekend Journal the cover story is by Stan Sesser, who highlights a number of sites around the world that may become World Heritage Sites in 2009. This designation can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how destinations manage their resources, and Sesser quotes an official at the World Heritage Organization who rightly observes that the program “has been turned into simply a branding scheme.”
Sadly, what often happens in destinations is that once they earn this designation, they become overwhelmed by visitors who stress a resource – be it natural or cultural – beyond its capacity.
In the adventure tourism industry, we find ourselves more frequently drawn into these debates as we support developing countries and emerging destinations in creating products to attract adventure travelers, who, in demanding more than the thrills of extreme sports, are causing destinations to take another look at how they might better develop cultural and nature resources.
Xola and its partners at the Adventure Travel Trade Association have been working in many places recently where making the World Heritage Site list would be a dream come true. To name just a few, Majuli island in the NE Indian state of Assam (read the 2008 Feature Adventure Destination report here), Old Town Dali in Yunnan China, the crumbling and overgrown temples of Beng Melea in Cambodia, and the ancient Roman city of Jerash in Jordan. Below Beng Melea (in 2007) and Jerash (2009).
In each of these places, different as they are, we face the same challenges. How can the adventure industry support destinations in realizing the benefits of tourism without crushing the resource in the process? Is it even possible to craft and maintain sound management policies that will keep these places “producing” for local communities and national governments into the future?
We think it is possible. We believe adventure tourism offers a compelling alternative to mass tourism, albeit one that hasn’t yet made it into articles like Mr. Sasser’s. The adventure tourism industry is actively promoting the 10 Principles of Adventure Tourism Competitiveness, which offer one perspective on how we might apply the philosophy and principles of sustainable development in the adventure tourism industry. A program of managed tourism - with a focus on the authentic, and a structure for driving benefits to local people beyond what they might earn selling trinkets – is at the root of the 10 Principles. The Adventure Travel Trade Association and The George Washington University have joined together with Xola to develop and promote this system in destinations when it comes time to develop products for discerning adventure travelers. As a set of principles they can be used an applied by anyone working in this field. Learn more about the program on the Adventure Tourism Development Index website.
In closing, we should not settle for “see it now before it’s ruined” kind of thinking. It is possible to bring the benefits of tourism to undiscovered places without destroying them in the process, we simply need the will to make it happen. All of us –government managers, consultants, travelers, and the media, have a role to play in shaping this future. Every time we talk about the failures of mass tourism, we owe it to ourselves to also talk about the possibilities of different models of development, such as adventure travel.
— Christina Heyniger
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