Gníomhaíocht Turasóireachta Inbhuanaithe
Sustainable Activity Tourism
Comhdháil Turasóireachta Siúil Walking Tourism Conference
Dun Garbháin, Port Láirge: : Dungarvan, Waterford28 Samhain 2013: : 28 November 2013
Dr Einir YoungPrifysgol Bangor
Ollscoil Bangor University
I can’t teach anybody anything, only to make them think
Socrates, 470-399 BC
Sustainable Development a key priority in Bangor University’s strategic plan:
Positioning ourselves as a global University, with a reputation for sustainability
Bringing sustainability to life...
• Rydym yn ceisio cefnogi mentrau Cymreig gyda thwf a datblygiad cynnyrch, prosesau a gwasanaethau cynaliadwy.
• We seek to support Welsh enterprises with the growth and development of sustainable products, processes and services.
Cydymffurfio: : Compliance
Ymgorffori datblygu cynaliadwy ymarferolEmbedding practical sustainable development
Environmental Management
Equality & Diversity
Welsh Language and Culture
Competitiveness + Profitability
Rheoli Amgylcheddol
Cydraddoldeb ac Amrywiaeth
Yr Iaith a Diwylliant Cymraeg
Cystadleurwydd + Proffidioldeb
Mewnol ac allanol: : Internal and external
It is not a YAWN
It’s got TEETH
It’s what students and employers wantIt’s what really successful businesses wantIt’s what the more discerning visitors want
Purpose of this event:
• .................to look at ways of stimulating growth in business within the walking/activity segment of the visitor market..
But what sort of growth?• High volume, low value? • Low volume, high value?
What is the desired outcome and for whom?
• Politicians • Policy makers • Local people – indigenous and incomers • Businesses directly and indirectly involved with tourism •‘Visitors’ – Home grown, diaspora Irish, European, USA, rest of the world
What is tourism?
"an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies and on their international relations.(the Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 1980)
NB – no mention in this declaration on any impact on the environment
What is tourism?
Tourism = travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes.
Tourists = "people travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes“ (The World Tourism Organization )
What is a tourist?
Somebody who has somewhere else he/she calls home
Consider: Do people really like tourists – or would they prefer to generate income some other way?
Tourism in Wales
• 2012- 9.6 million overnight trips to Wales by GB residents spending £1,588 million.
• 62% of GB visitors to Wales came for a holiday, 25% to visit friends or relatives and 13% on business.
• North Wales attracted the largest share of overnight GB tourists on a holiday.
• The majority of overnight business trips occurred in South East Wales.
• The Great Britain Day Visits survey indicated that expenditure by day trippers in Wales amounted to over £2.9 billion in 2011.
International Tourism in Wales
• 2011: 879,000 international visitors came to Wales, spending £328 million
• The four top countries = Republic of Ireland, France, Germany and USA.
• 42% of International visitors were on a holiday trip, 36% were visiting friends or relatives and 16% were on business during 2011.
• In total there were some 10.6 million overnight visitors to Wales spending nearly £ 2.1 billion during 2011.
The top line results
• Total annual tourism demand of around £4.2.billion,
• Gross Value Added (GVA) by Tourism of £1.8 billion.
• This equates to 4.3% of total direct GVA for the Welsh economy.
Wales is a place to ‘holiday abroad at home’
• Natural Environment• Heritage and Culture• Activities and Adventure• Events and Festivals• Distinctive Destination?
• What is sustainability?• Sustainable/responsible tourism• Killing the goose that lays the golden egg• Doing things differently
How to ‘grow’ sustainably?
The challenge
The challengeThere is no Planet B!
Shocking fact
www.walesfootprint.org/
+ + = ?Resources required
if everyone consumed as much
as the average Welsh person
Shocking fact
+ + = ?
+ + = ?
In 2010 Ireland had world’s 10th largest ecological footprint
Resources required if everyone consumed as much resources as the average Irish person
Yng Nghymru….In Wales….
Dyletswydd cyfansoddiadol yng Nghymru i hybu bywyd ‘un blaned’Constitutional duty in Wales to promote ‘one planet’ living
in Wales….
But what does it all really mean?
What does ‘sustainable’ look like?
Well known, accepted definition
Bruntland:• "..development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” 1987
Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development
www.worldinbalance.net/agreements/1987-brundtland.php
A recent definition by Jonathon Porritt
Sustainability = the ability to last into the distant future
Sustainable Development = the process of moving towards sustainability
What does ‘sustainable ’ look like?
IF we were ‘sustainable’ every person in the world would be able to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without making a mess of the only planet we have, for future generations.
What does ‘sustainable’ look like?
Or even“what does sustainable tourism
look like?”
www.responsibletourismpartnership.org/
Ideally we need to strike a balance between concerns for ‘People’, ‘planet’, & simply ‘making money’.
The BIG challenge is finding ways of dealing with conflicting priorities and competing demands at all levels – business, government, society.
What does ‘sustainable’ look like?
We have a LONG way to go – check out these ‘UNSUSTAINABLE’ things = things that really are NOT OK
wars
Water shortages, failed crops, starving people
Anti social behaviour
The “haves” and “have nots”
£££Credit crunch
The interconnectedness of all things
True sustainability requires investment in human and social capital not resource depletion.
Sustainability is the key driver for innovation…..
Harvard Business Review (2009)• “In the future, only companies that make sustainability a
goal will achieve competitive advantage. That means rethinking business models as well as products, technologies, and processes”.
www.hbr.org (Ram Nidumolu, C.K. Prahalad, M.R. Rangaswami)
• 75% of employees want their companies to balance commercial success with social responsibility strategies (LeapCR)
• Survey across 10 countries with largest GDP revealed that 93% of consumers say they would buy a product because of its association with a good cause
Sir Richard Branson: ‘Screw ‘Business as Usual’
We must learn that doing good is good for business” (19/11/11)
If businesses are purely about profit they will not be around for long
Generational shift blurring the distinction between ‘doing good’ and ‘doing business’
Time to update the definition?
Development that ensures realistic growth and consumption expectations in the current generation, while ensuring the capacity of future generations to thrive without conflict.
Jerome Baddley. October 2013 environmentalistonline.com
Fi/Me Home
your community
Waterford
IrelandEurope
THE WORLD
Come on – where’s the bit about tourism?
Is it really something to do with me?
Where do I start?!
Mise/Me Home
your community
Waterford
IrelandEurope
THE WORLD
Come on – where’s the bit about tourism?
Is it really something to do with me?
Where do I start?!
Conculsion:
• .................to look at ways of stimulating realistic growth expectations in business within the walking/activity segment of the visitor market ensuring the capacity of future generations of tourists and host communities to thrive without conflict.
GO RAIBH MAITH AGAT!
DIOLCH YN FAWR!
THANK YOU
The fundamental problem of ethics is not one of identifying what needs to be done but to convince
ourselves to do what we already know we ought to be doing….
Einir [email protected] +44 1248 383709www.wisenetwork.org
Sefydliad Cymreig ar gyfer Adnoddau NaturiolWelsh Institute for Natural Resources