We aim to improve the sustainability of all types of tourism, including mass tourism, which is often thought to be a bad form of tourism. It's only bad when it's unsustainable. The majority of tourists like mass destinations, and that has to be respected. The important thing is that even mass tourism has to be made sustainable.
In your opinion, how is the travel industry responding to the potential of sustainable tourism?
Not as well as it should. In the last ten years, many universities and research centers have produced a well of knowledge on how to make the tourism industry more sustainable.
There are many environmental management schemes for increasing the social sustainability of tourism. Yet the level of utilization of these technologies and techniques is very limited. Most of the time, it's only awareness, and not implementation.
There is a lot to be done, not so much in terms of generating knowledge but in finding ways to encourage the tourism industry to apply these tools.
Who do you think is doing a good job in terms of implementation?
G.A.P. Adventures, for instance, a company in Canada that has nothing to do with the clothing brand, is doing a very good job with destinations, particularly in Latin America. Namibia Community Based Tourism Association (NACOBTA), is a local grassroots initiative that's working in a very sustainable manner with several tour operators from Europe.
Probably the largest tour operator in the world, the German-based TUI, has a very interesting model for checking hotels and transport companies to make sure they have sustainable practices.
Another good example is a local government. Calvia, in the Balearic Islands of Spain, has gone so far as to demolish unsustainable hotels. WTO publishes a compilation of sustainable practices. But tourism companies around the world still need to make big changes.
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