{"id":21600,"date":"2017-11-09T12:07:24","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T11:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=21600"},"modified":"2017-11-09T12:07:24","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T11:07:24","slug":"responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21601\" src=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/WTM2017-_SJH5879_2c404.jpg\" alt=\"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions\" width=\"571\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/WTM2017-_SJH5879_2c404.jpg 571w, https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/WTM2017-_SJH5879_2c404-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 571px) 100vw, 571px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span class=\"wpsdc-drop-cap\">W<\/span>TM Executive Director Simon Press opened wednesday\u2019s World Responsible Tourism Day by reminding the audience that the focus this year has been on two key topics &#8211; overtourism and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. \u201cResponsible tourism should be the backbone of this industry,\u201d says Simon Press. \u201cHowever overtourism is destroying the very environment and failing to give back\u201d, adding that the winners of the WTm responsible tourism awards epitomise what is possible when responsible tourism is made central to company\u2019s ethos. The day\u2019s sessions began with with a panel session looking at What contribution does tourism really make to sustainable development?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While acknowledging that there were several individual examples of excellent businesses and organisations in the world, and more than ever before, Harold Goodwin, WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor, was not optimistic overall. \u201cAs a whole the industry is still doing very little, many are in denial,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cDestinations have an overtourism problem but they just want more growth.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His criticism was reinforced by Adama Bah from ICRT West Africa. \u201cGovernments still count in terms of numbers and not in terms of benefit for communities,\u201d he said. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They only think in terms of volume, how many tourists are they bringing in?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bah also said that the idea of development as some form of charity had to stop. \u201cThe Santa Claus mentality must stop,\u201d said Adama Bah. \u201cPeople must stop coming to developing countries looking to see how they can help. Rather destinations must be able to take control of their own future.\u201d He said he wanted the UNWTO to work with more than just governments, and to work with private sector and communities, ensuring market access for local communities is key.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Destinations have an overtourism problem but they just want more growth&#8221; Harold Goodwin<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This session was followed by the World Responsible Tourism Awards, this year organised for the first time by WTM after 11 years being developed by responsibletravel.com. There were six winners across the following categories: Grootbos won Best for Accommodation; Chobe Game Lodge won Best for Carbon Reduction; Ljubljana won Best for Communication, Sapa O\u2019Chau won Best Community Initiative, Village Ways won Best for Poverty Reduction and Transfrontier Parks Destinations won Best Tour Operator.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other finalists were also recognised, with the session\u2019s host Tanya Beckett stating Chair of the Judges Harold Goodwin had insisted it was important to emphasise that the margin between those who were the final winners, and the other finalists was only small. The remaining finalists were Crystal Creek Meadows, Green Tourism Business Scheme, Kumarakom, Ol Pejeta, Marine Dynamics and TUI Cruises.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The afternoon saw a session looking at the significance of the launch earlier in 2017 of the Berlin Declaration on Transforming Tourism, which argues that it is not possible to transform our world without transforming tourism. \u201cWe need unambiguous structural change\u201d, said Andy Rutherford, Director, Fresh Eyes \u2013 People to People Travel, explaining that the transforming tourism agenda puts citizens at heart of a participatory democratic process defined by local level consultation, and where tourism has a role to play, but not where it dominates.\u201d He added that full transparency was needed so that guests and anyone else can see exactly where the money goes. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAccessible tourism is a necessity, a human right, and also an opportunity,\u201d said Carlos Vogeler, UNWTO Executive Director for Member Relations, during a session asking Can tourism be made accessible for all? \u00a0\u201cDestinations should see this as a huge chance to connect to many more guests,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His words were supported by Ade Adepitan MBE, a Paralympian and TV presenter, who said: \u201cMost of us will have some sort of special need at some point in our lives. Yet there are still places where I am seen as inconvenience.\u201d \u00a0Adepitan said that while it is acknowledged that everyone has a right to travel, it often seems to him that people with disabilities are further penalised for having a disability. \u201cIf you aren\u2019t rich it can be almost impossible to travel,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy should we we have to pay extra to be able to access?\u201d He concluded that people need to realise it is possible for anywhere to do it, citing the example of the 2,000 year old Colosseum in Rome has even installed a lift to make it possible for people in wheelchairs to experience it. Magnus Berland, the Accessibility Director, Scandic Hotels, said the industry needs to move to a Design for All mindset, where all the rooms in the hotel were accessible to all people, rather than just a small number of rooms depending upon what regulations require.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transforming Tourism, Accessibility, and the annual World Responsible Tourism Awards &#8211; all on the programme on the final day of WTM London for 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,675,17,534],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Transforming Tourism, Accessibility, and the annual World Responsible Tourism Awards - all on the programme on the final day of WTM London for 2017\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Transforming Tourism, Accessibility, and the annual World Responsible Tourism Awards - all on the programme on the final day of WTM London for 2017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Travindy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/WTM2017-_SJH5879_2c404.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"571\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Travindy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@travindy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Travindy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Travindy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/79576b26c03e84ac969c6cf7ad8118bb\"},\"headline\":\"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/\"},\"wordCount\":781,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Accessibility\",\"Corporate Responsibility\",\"Events\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/\",\"name\":\"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"Transforming Tourism, Accessibility, and the annual World Responsible Tourism Awards - all on the programme on the final day of WTM London for 2017\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"description\":\"sustainable tourism consulting, news and resources\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Travindy\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Travindy\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/79576b26c03e84ac969c6cf7ad8118bb\",\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e8e24b511c9178e320b9eb2226dadb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e8e24b511c9178e320b9eb2226dadb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Travindy\"},\"description\":\"Travindy is an independent website featuring news and opinion on all issues to do with tourism and sustainability. Written primarily for an industry audience, our aim is to support the transformation of the sector into one that is regenerative, restorative and fully inclusive.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/travindy\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/author\/travindy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions","description":"Transforming Tourism, Accessibility, and the annual World Responsible Tourism Awards - all on the programme on the final day of WTM London for 2017","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions","og_description":"Transforming Tourism, Accessibility, and the annual World Responsible Tourism Awards - all on the programme on the final day of WTM London for 2017","og_url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/","og_site_name":"Travindy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","article_published_time":"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":571,"height":380,"url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/WTM2017-_SJH5879_2c404.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Travindy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@travindy","twitter_site":"@Travindy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Travindy","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/"},"author":{"name":"Travindy","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/79576b26c03e84ac969c6cf7ad8118bb"},"headline":"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions","datePublished":"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/"},"wordCount":781,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Accessibility","Corporate Responsibility","Events","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/","name":"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-09T11:07:24+00:00","description":"Transforming Tourism, Accessibility, and the annual World Responsible Tourism Awards - all on the programme on the final day of WTM London for 2017","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2017\/11\/responsible-tourism-wtm-2017-highlights-wednesdays-sessions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Responsible Tourism at WTM 2017 \u2013 highlights from Wednesday\u2019s sessions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/","name":"Travindy","description":"sustainable tourism consulting, news and resources","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Travindy","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Travindy"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Travindy"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/79576b26c03e84ac969c6cf7ad8118bb","name":"Travindy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e8e24b511c9178e320b9eb2226dadb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e8e24b511c9178e320b9eb2226dadb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Travindy"},"description":"Travindy is an independent website featuring news and opinion on all issues to do with tourism and sustainability. Written primarily for an industry audience, our aim is to support the transformation of the sector into one that is regenerative, restorative and fully inclusive.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","https:\/\/twitter.com\/travindy"],"url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/author\/travindy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}