Ethical Travel: Is it Possible in a World Beset by Climate Inequality?

June 16, 2022 CATALYST Team

The tourism industry supports many countries’ economies, but this financial gain can also have environmental consequences. Traveling ethically is possible but requires research and dedication on both sides to ensure the health of unique cultures and wildlife.

A single-use plastic water bottle found in the Gili Islands of Indonesia. Brian Yurasits. Unsplash (Public Domain).

2020 is on track to become the hottest year on record. With wildfires scorching the American West Coast and threats of drought plaguing India, it is clear that the effects of climate change can no longer be ignored. Subsequently, many are asking: can sustainability and tourism coexist?

In a 2017 study published by the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, researchers Xavier Font and Ann Hindley highlight the “travel entitlement that is enshrined” in Western culture. The study also found that people felt their “sustainable behavior at home” absolved them of their holiday emissions.

Between 2009 and 2018, the tourism industry’s carbon emissions jumped from 3.9 to 4.5 billion metric tons. Vulnerable destinations like Iceland and the Maldives are further strained by a constant influx of tourists and their expected needs. While minimizing environmental extraction would aid the planet’s livelihood, Font and Hindley’s study also suggests the importance of reexamining human motivations and behavior.

In “Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism,” Dennison Nash defines imperialism as an expansion of a society’s influence abroad whether through political or economic means. Tourism can ultimately be viewed as a modern form of imperialism meant to bring leisure to one population at the cost of another’s resources and people.

The outbreak of COVID-19 revealed how many countries are reliant on the tourism industry. In Mexico alone, tourism provides 11 million jobs to people directly and indirectly. Despite the ease at which COVID-19 can spread, many in Mexico are ready to return to work. As quoted in The Washington Post, Rodrigo Esponda, head of the Los Cabos Tourism Board, said, “It’s life or death for us … it’s tourism or nothing.”

Consequently, some are taking the pandemic lockdown as an opportunity to overcome these dependencies. Sociology professor Mimi Sheller at Drexel University released a 2020 study on the intersections of pandemic recovery, climate resilience and ethical tourism in the Caribbean. Instead of waiting for timeshare holders and cruise companies, Sheller writes on the necessity of returning to original practices that might make the Caribbean more resilient to climate disaster. Caribbean activists themselves are setting up vertical gardens, hydroponics systems and other sustainable methods to overcome “extractive and colonial legacies” that have prevented the islands from achieving true economic independence.

Countries like Bhutan set their own measures, thus returning some agency into their hands. The country exacts its own “tourist fee” which caps the number of tourists, consequently mitigating environmental and social disruption. On Sept. 9, Thailand took advantage of pandemic conditions to reevaluate its animal welfare policy, namely the treatment of its elephants and monkeys.

Ultimately, the path to sustainable tourism is possible and relies on the efforts of both host nations and guests alike. Before heading out, travelers can minimize their impacts by researching cultural norms beforehand, supporting family-owned hostels instead of corporate ones, refusing plastic and keeping consumption—from souvenirs to food—local.