Ethical Travel

BBC Learning 1 EnglishWeekenderEthical TravelYvonne: This weekend, thousands and thousands of peoplewill travel to countriesacross the world. And in Britain alone, about 60million people take a holiday abroad each year! But forgetthe tourists and the people in the travel business for nowbecause they’re happy. There are other people we need tothink about…Trisha Barnett, Head of Tourism ConcernWe’re not making the connections between their poverty andour luxury 3.
　　I’m Yvonne Archer 4 and you’re listening to Weekender withbbclearningenglish.com.
　　Most of us have probably heard of ‘package’ and ‘allinclusive’ holidays but when I asked around Bush House,not many of us had heard of ‘ethical 2 travel’. Of courseby now, we all know that long plane journeys cause seriousdamage to our environment but with ‘ethical travel’,there are other things to think about as well. Here’sanother clue…Trisha Barnett, Head of Tourism ConcernSomebody once told me how when a hotel was built in thearea that he lived in in the Pacific, it was as if aspaceship had arrived.
　　Yvonne:  Trisha Barnett, head of Tourism Concern who’ve published “The Ethical Travel Guide”. There,Trisha was talking about the effect that tourists can haveon the people who live in the countries they visit. Inthat case, the new hotel was like a spaceship – somethingvery alien had landed in the Pacific.
　　As Trisha explains further, try to work out who wasn’t‘consulted’ and what she means by that…Trisha Barnett, Head of Tourism ConcernLocal people are really never consulted about what’s goingon around them and that happens equally here, you know, inBritain. You don’t have to be abroad. But generally, we’
　　re travelling further and further a field and the placesthat we tend to go to have very poor infrastructures 5 forlocal people.
　　Yvonne: The local people - the community living in the areawhere the hotel was built, wasn’t ‘consulted’ before thework began. No-one met with them to get their opinionson how the hotel would affect them - and the communitycertainly wasn’t asked for any advice. We also heard howthe local people usually have very poor ’infrastructures’
　　, for example, little access to transport, electricity andeven running water.
　　‘Ethical travel’ encourages tourists to be more aware ofwhat’s happening in the countries they plan to visit.
　　Hopefully, that will lead to ‘sustainable tourism’… we’
　　ll be able to visit those countries in the future withoutcausing problems.
　　The governments of many developing countries encouragetourism as a valuable form of income – an important way tomake money. But as Trisha explains, the money is oftenused to pay off the countries’ debts and increase tourismrather than help local people like farmers.
　　Trisha Barnett, Head of Tourism ConcernThe governments, encouraged by The World Bank and the IMFto pay back their debt, bring tourists in as much as theypossibly can and feed all their money into the tourisminfrastructure rather than say agriculture.
　　Yvonne: Did you know that in 24 hours, the average touristuses the same amount of water that a local person might usein 100 days? Shocking 6, isn’t it? But according toTrisha, knowing what’s going on could lead to touristshelping to solve problems rather than adding to them. Forexample, do we know why the woman she mentions is carryinga metal bucket - a ‘pail 7’ – that’s full of water on herhead? And why isn’t she walking on a proper road?
　　Trisha Barnett, Head of Tourism ConcernYou’re really not aware that when you use your shower andyou plunge 8 into the pool that that water might have been atthe cost of local people and they don’t have running waterat all. And in fact, it’s quite picturesque 9 to see a womanwalking down a dusty road with a pail on her head full ofwater. We’re not making the connections between theirpoverty and our luxury and the luxury and thatinfrastructure is at their cost.
　　Yvonne: Is there anything that tourists could do to help inyour own country? Do you think that ‘tips’ - givingextra money to low-paid workers - keeps their wages low?
　　Would gifts of clothes, toiletries, pencils and paper forthem and their children be a good idea? And if touristsvisited areas away from their hotels, would that providelocal people with work as guides and encourage governmentsto provide better roads and transport?
　　‘Ethical Travel’ gives us lots to think and talk about.
　　Why not visit us at bbclearningenglish.com to pick up someof the language you’ll find useful to do just that?