Presentation at the Faversham Society om using tourism to make better places to live in

1. Using Tourism to
Make Better Places to Live In
Harold Goodwin
Emeritus Professor, MMU, Institute of Place Management
Director Responsible Tourism Partnership

2. Sustainable Development:
a long history?
• 1972 World Commission on Environment & Development
• 1980 World Conservation Strategy
• 1987 Brundtland Report & Our Common Future
• 1992 Rio Environment & Development –
UN Commission on Sustainable Development
• 2000 Millennium Development Goals
• 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development
• 2012 Rio+20
• Sustainable Development Goals
Very little to show for it………

3. UN IY of Sustainable Tourism for
Development
1. Make optimal use of
environmental
resources
2. Respect the socio-
cultural authenticity of
host communities
3. Provide socio-
economic benefits to
all stakeholders
• Continuous process
requires
• Informed participation
of all stakeholders &
• strong political
leadership
• High level of tourist
satisfaction
2004 Technical Definition

5. Why Responsibility?
• to respond, to act,
• responsibility implies and requires action.
• critical to creating change is acknowledging
and owning up to problems, and taking
responsibility for making changes.
• Responsibility is free – you can take as much
of it as you can handle
Child protection
Orphanages
Animal Welfare

6. What is Responsible Tourism?
• Identifying issues which matter and address
them through tourism
• a triple bottom line approach to Tourism
Management
• a way of travelling – it offers a better
experience
• a movement
• diverse: particular to cultures, places and
organisations
• characterised by transparency
• requires the acceptance of responsibility and
the willingness to take action

7. Responsible Travel takes a variety of forms, it is
characterised by travel and tourism which
1. minimises negative environmental, social and
cultural impacts;
2. generates greater economic benefits for local
people and enhances the wellbeing of host
communities, by improving working conditions
and access to the industry;
3. involves local people in decisions that affect their
lives and life chances.
Cape Town Declaration 2002

8. 4. makes positive contributions to the conservation of
natural and cultural heritage and to the maintenance
of the world’s diversity;
5. provides more enjoyable experiences for tourists
through more meaningful connections with local
people, and a greater understanding of local cultural
and environmental issues;
6. provides access for physically challenged and socially
disadvantaged people; and
7. is culturally sensitive and engenders respect between
tourists and hosts.

10. Retirement?
Education Awards
WTM London
WTM Africa
India
Ireland
London
Cape Town
Dubai
Sao Paulo
RTD 1 2002
RTD 13 2017
2018 Plymouth
2004-2016

11. Tourism: an opportunity?
• Tourists can bring additional spending power to a
community – jobs and economic development.
• Tourism can provide resources for environmental
conservation
• Tourism can provide social benefits keeping young
people in rural communities and valuing cultural
heritage
• But the value has to be captured and the impacts
have to be controlled – tourism has to be
managed.

12. Sir Colin Marshall
British Airways 1994
Tourism and the travel industry “is essentially
the renting out for short-term lets, of other
people’s environments, whether that is a
coastline, a city, a mountain range or a
rainforest. These ‘products’ must be kept
fresh and unsullied not just for the next day,
but for every tomorrow”

13. Successful tourist destinations
• offer the visitor something
unique
• they create a sense of place, an
identity which is different from
their competitors….
• no two communities are ever
exactly the same…
Who to attract/invite?

14. Experiential Tourism
• The experience
economy
• Seeking memorable
experiences
• Driving increased
tourism
• Viral marketing
• Engagement in culture,
community and the
environment
• Shared product of host
and guest
• Quality, depth,
create memories
You can taste the difference?

16. The fig leaf falls off
The fig leaf of sustainability
Bumping up against the limits
to growth
Social & economic conflict

18. The main attraction is the public realm.
The public realm is for free – but it
needs to be cleaned & maintained

19. The tragedy of the commons
• Public realm goods are
– Non-rival (light & view)
– Non excludable
But nowhere has infinite
capacity?
Tourist behaviours affect
capacity.
• “Therein is the tragedy.
Each man is locked into a
system that compels him
to increase his herd
without limit - in a world
that is limited. Ruin is the
destination toward which
all men rush, each
pursuing his own best
interest in a society that
believes in the freedom of
the commons.”
• Hardin 1968

21. Overtourism the antithesis of
Responsible Tourism
Responsible Tourism
• Making better places to live
in and better places to visit
• In that order
• Running up against the
limits to growth
Overtourism
• Overtourism describes
destinations where hosts or
guests, locals or visitors, feel
that there are too many
visitors and that the quality
of life in the area or the
quality of the experience
has deteriorated
unacceptably.

22. The realisation of benefits depends on
• the creation of employment at all skill levels and
where there is existing capacity –
wage/progression/additional income
• the additional facilities, restaurants, festivals,
markets, attractions and retail …. ;
• the extent of linkages to existing local economy -
maximise linkages and minimise leakages
• It is not just about the money: sense of pride
generated by “being known”
• the extent of local/non-local ownership of tourist
enterprises – small scale and low risk.

23. The moments and times we treasure?
• Temporary resident
• The back streets
• That conversation or
encounter with the
‘other’
• Hosts & Guestsd

24. Tourism is not a natural phenomenon
• Tourism is what we –
the producers and the
consumers – make it
• It is a social construct
• We can make it better
• Access = Egress
• The metrics matter
– International arrivals
– Length of stay
– Spend and retained yield
– Key question is does a
destination use tourism
or is it used by it?

25. Language
Tourism
– Tourist must stay at least 24
hours
– Accommodation is at the core
of it
• Business
• Leisure
• Sport
• Festival
• MICE
Visitor Economy
Visiting Friends & Relatives
Commuters
Hinterland – market town
Day trippers - railway junction
at the end of the M2
Adjacent towns
Birders
Specialist shopping

26. Where do we fit?
Competitors or markets?
• Ashford
• Canterbury
• Ramsgate
• Rochester
• Margate
• Lenham
• Broadstairs
• Sandwich
• Deal
• Dover
• Tenterden
• Sittingbourne
• Sheppey
• Ludlow
What is our identity?
• Visit Kent
• Market Town & Port of Kings
• Our market is people who live
in our hinterland - repeats
• & domestic and international
visitors to Kent.

27. Who does Faversham belong to?
• Tourism and non-tourism
businesses
• Diverse Residents
• Where do you take visitors?
• Existence value
• Incomers
• Second home owners
• Faversham Society
• Market Traders
• Attractions
• Restaurants, cafes pubs
• Accommodation
• Retail
• Boat owners
• Visit Kent
• And many more …

29. harold@haroldgoodwin.info 29
www.wtmresponsibletourism.com/
www.wtmlondon.com/en/events/
http://haroldgoodwin.info/links/

30. Members’ and councillors’ meeting on
the Management of Freight in Kent.
Introduction to the issues by Chris Wright
Fleur Hall, 7pm. 24th October 2017
What do you think?
What are the solutions?