ECOCLUB, Issue 93
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successfully. Today's best practice models also represent major tourism destinations and global tourism companies that
are helping to protect cultural and natural heritage and support the well being of local peoples." So, are global tourism
giants really doing enough? Some believe that they only offer a pittance as a share of profits to social & environmental
projects and that the rest is motivated by CSR considerations for their annual reports. Is there a real cause for
celebration?
Costas Christ: Fifteen years ago, people said that ecotourism would never work because the companies would never really
offer more than lip service to the principles of protecting nature and sustaining the well being of local people. They were right in
the sense that some companies did nothing more than a pittance, as you say, to the real principles of ecotourism. But many more
companies went much further and the result today is that ecotourism is no longer an experiment. It is a reality with successful
ecotourism companies operating across the world and making a positive difference in the lives of local people and protecting
nature.
Around the year 2000, seeing considerable success with ecotourism, I became worried that most of that success was confined to
what I would call "mom and pop" small businesses. I began to think that we might look back 20 years from now at the legacy of
ecotourism and see that we were just able to change 5 percent or less of the global tourism industry - not enough to make
tourism a real opportunity for safeguarding cultural and natural heritage around the planet and addressing poverty alleviation. So
I shifted tactics and began to focus my attention on the mainstream tourism industry, embracing sustainable tourism which
basically takes the principles first associated with ecotourism and applies them to urban hotels as well as large tourism resorts,
airlines, cruise ships, etc. In other words, bringing the principles of environmentally-friendly operations, giving back to support
cultural heritage preservation and contributing to nature protection right into the heart of the entire global tourism industry. It is
a huge challenge but I am convinced that the issue before us is not "does sustainable tourism work" but rather just how far can
we take sustainable tourism to transform global tourism into a catalyst for helping to protect our planet, address climate change
and make peoples lives better. We are off to an encouraging start as more, larger companies adopt these practices. In many
respects, given the staggering growth rate of the travel and tourism industry, nothing less than the future of our planet is at stake.
There is so much to gain if we get it right with sustainable tourism and so much to lose if we do not.
ECOCLUB.com: And talking about Awards, from your experience, how satisfied are you about the relevance of
Awards for encouraging real change in Tourism? Who is entitled to vote in these Awards - and what about conflict of
interests? (panel member one year, award winner the other).
Costas Christ: I think that well conceived sustainable tourism award programs with a transparent methodology and real teeth in
verification of winners claims, are very important for recognizing the best practices that are out there as models for others to see
and learn from as well as for giving credit to the companies that have worked hard to make sustainable tourism a reality.
In the case of WTTC's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, of which I have been the Chairman of Judges for the last 3 years, it has
been extremely important for these Awards to set the standard for the industry recognition of best practices. We have over a
dozen international judges from all over the world representing different areas of expertise - government, private sector, non-
profit, academic, etc - along with other experts who make on site inspection visits of all Award finalists to make sure that what
they are saying they are doing in sustainable practices is really being done on the ground. I know of no other global tourism
award program that does on site inspection visits and evaluation reports in addition to collecting voluntary information
presented by the companies in their Award applications. So it is a very rigorous process and methodology in selecting finalists
and winners. While we do invite some former winners to become judges (given their demonstrated expertise in sustainable
practices) we have never had nor would we permit someone to serve as a judge one year and then apply for the Award the next
as you mentioned. Each year we continue to look for ways that we can improve the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards and in the
process, the award winners and finalists serve as models showing that sustainable tourism "can be done". This is a particularly
important message for the big companies out there and they are starting to listen more as evidenced by this year's winners.
ECOCLUB.com: Do you feel that Tourism progresses rapidly enough, in terms of working conditions and
environmental impact? (If not, what in your view needs to be done to speed up social & environmental progress in
Tourism?)
Costas Christ: I wish it was proceeding more rapidly in terms of better working conditions and environmental impacts but we
cannot give up in our efforts to make that happen. Since so much of tourism depends on the integrity of cultural and natural
heritage attractions in destinations around the world along with an excellent tourism product, ultimately sustainable tourism is as
much about good business planning as it is about altruism. We cannot and should not give up in our ongoing work with the
public and private sectors to make tourism the opportunity it can be for our planet and its peoples - particularly in developing
nations that may be rich in natural habitat and cultural diversity but poor in economic resources. We need to remain steadfast
and learn from our mistakes to help tourism reach its highest potential to make a better contribution to the world. This has been
my guiding philosophy for nearly 30 years now in trying to transform this industry in positive ways.
ECOCLUB.com: Both of your parents are from Greece, you grew up in the States while you have travelled and
worked all around the world. This self-globalisation is increasingly expected from world leaders, especially in the
Tourism sector. You have kept in touch with your roots, and groundroots through your work, however, from your
