ECOCLUB, Issue 91
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ECOCLUB: Is Ecotourism certification a useful and feasible exercise?
David Sollitt: Yes. For all the growth that ecotourism has enjoyed, it is still a young industry, encompassing both experiential
and operational guidelines to legitimately deliver what we call Ecotourism. In a world where few people have the time and
resources to fully research their travel choices, certification programs that are verifiable and measurable provide a very real
service to both the traveller and the Ecotourism operators that indeed operate sustainably and responsibly.
ECOCLUB: Should Ecotourists care about human rights at a destination, or about not upsetting the local status-quo,
leaving only footprints?
David Sollitt: Ecotourism reminds us that we share this planet with a variety of peoples, communities as well as other life forms.
People, especially Ecotourists, should care about human rights everywhere.
ECOCLUB: Some argue that most tourists who opt for an eco-holiday do not really feel accountable to the poor, the
disenfranchised, or to the environment, during their 'hard-earned' holidays. They mainly choose an eco holiday by accident, on
the grounds of price & novelty. Do you agree?
David Sollitt: I don’t think people choose an eco-holiday by accident. I think people plan their vacations based on a desired set
of experiences. Most of those who wish to experience nature, wildlife and wild places want to know that their experiences aren’t
contributing to the destruction or degradation of those places and are ideally helping to preserve them.
I also believe that to be fully enriching, travel to faraway places encompasses interaction with the cultures and peoples that help
define those places. To the extent that those cultures and peoples are poor or disenfranchised, it will have an impact on the
experience of that place.
That said, I think many discover that true ecotourism practice can dramatically enhance that experience, but that discovery
comes largely through the experience itself. Prior to going to TIES, I worked at Papoose Creek Lodge, an ecolodge in Cameron,
MT. Many guests came to the lodge knowing we called it an ecolodge, but not truly knowing what that meant. In the course of
their stay, they learned and experienced the things that the Lodge does to protect wildlife, the magnificent Madison Valley and
the greater Yellowstone ecosystem and they told us repeatedly that knowledge dramatically enhanced their stay and made it a
truly special experience. In the same way, knowing that your travel choice helps the people and the communities that made your
vacation a unique and rewarding experience can only be an enhancement. Whether that results in a sense of accountability is
hard to say, but Ecotourism has a unique capacity to transform guests into evangelists for the places they visit and the
communities they interact with and we need to do a better job creating the vehicles to help them along the way.
ECOCLUB: Should Ecotourism become more mainstream, or should the mainstream become more Ecotourist? Or neither
perhaps?
David Sollitt: If becoming more “mainstream” means that Ecotourism practice would retreat from the principles of
sustainability, preservation and the principles that we in the community hold dear, absolutely not. If it means that the marketing
of true Ecotourism practice convinces a broader range of tourists that the experience of true Ecotourism is a richly rewarding
experience, then absolutely.
The mainstream is becoming more Ecotourist. We are holding our North American Ecotourism Conference in Madison,
Wisconsin in September. That State became the first in the US to promote, on a state-wide basis, the adoption of sustainable
practices across their entire tourism industry. That can only be a good thing. We all have to be concerned with the state of our
planet, so sustainable practices in all industries will have to play a role. Those in the Ecotourism community can be proud of the
influence they have had in encouraging the mainstream tourism industry to adopt sound, sustainable practices.
ECOCLUB: Does carbon-offsetting by tourists have an effective role to play in combating climate-change, or is it mostly a
gimmick by unregulated & unaccountable offsetting businesses?
David Sollitt: To solve the climate change problem, we will all have to change the way we think, work and act. Carbon
offsetting does a lot of positive things. It raises consciousness that individual choices matter. It provides a funding for a lot of
very valuable sustainable energy development programs. It can provide an economic engine for reforestation and, eventually,
preservation of old growth forests. The impact is relatively small presently, but that’s because the number of people
participating is relatively small. But it’s growing dramatically and it’s drawing increasingly larger participants.
Remember recycling 30 years ago? Remember when that was the province of a small “fringe?” Today, it touches everyone.
Reducing our carbon footprint will eventually touch everyone.
