Tourism is an important economic and leisure activity for many people worldwide, developing certain types of tourism, such as medical tourism or gastronomic tourism. The importance of tourism is encapsulated in responsible tourism. This piece will highlight the key elements of responsible tourism and why it is important for the industry.
What is responsible tourism?
Responsible tourism is about making better places to visit and live in, such as sustainable hotels, which aligns with the sustainable development goals made at the World Summit. Tourism operators and the government must cooperate to create such a thriving niche.
Even locals and tourists in a particular place must cooperate to create a harmonious co-existence for tourism to thrive.
Responsible tourism is also about using tourism to create environments for people to thrive. It is because tourism is an important tool that brings people together.
What are the key elements of responsible tourism?
To achieve responsible tourism, many moving parts must be incorporated. One of the key objectives is promoting local economic development. Tourism is an economic activity that favors the locals and is generated by visitors.
Creating an environment for tourism to thrive is a key element of responsible tourism.
Another key element is protecting the local community’s and the environment’s interests. Tourism stakeholders within a specific locality must practice responsible tourism by protecting the environment. Hotels and other operators must build environmentally friendly structures and protect the local’s interests by employing locals.
Stakeholders have to put these elements to ensure longevity and viability. The element of longevity benefits the socio-economic background of the people and its region for generations. It also creates a hub for tourists to keep visiting for many years.
Why is responsible tourism important?
More countries are turning to responsible tourism for economic growth. It is because travel is accessible to more people today, as we told in the article reasons why people travel. Parts of the world that were inaccessible are now accessible, and there are cheaper ways of traveling today.
Travel is an important method of connecting with different cultures. Learning from other people and creating a harmonious environment through responsible tourism helps people from different parts of the world to understand each other.
Locals are involved in decisions that could impact their lives. Responsible tourism has helped include them in the conversation and created spaces for them to be decision-makers within their communities.
Governments have become more conscious of the world’s needs. There are more forms of eco-friendly travel options that tourists use. Tourist destinations have also adopted these eco-friendly methods to attract visitors and promote responsible tourism.
Catalonia Hotels & Resorts
If you want to get to know hotels that are conscious and practice Catalonia Hotels & Resorts are a chain of hotels that have 75 establishments worldwide in more than 20 cities such as Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Porto, and a couple of them in the Caribbean.
Catalonia Hotels & Resorts offer value for money because of their excellent hospitality. The hotels in Madrid are an example, located within the city center. The hotels are located in buildings with historical culture, which is one way of practicing responsible tourism.
Its hotels in Madrid have been listed as heritage sites, and they include Catalonia Gran Via Madrid, Catalonia Las Cortes, and Catalonia Goya. Catalonia Hotels & Resorts have preserved all these historical sites, which is a true testament to how the hotels are willing to accommodate historical background in their chain of hotels.
Catalonia Hotels & Resorts have other hotels with the same message, such as Mexico or Santo Domingo and European cities like Berlin, Brussels or Amsterdam.
Also, this chain of hotels makes responsible tourism practices, and has a commitment to environment protection, which is part of its social responsibility.
This piece shows what it means to practice responsible tourism. We hope you know what responsible tourism implies when reading this piece and hopefully you can see how responsible tourism is applied by various hotels and destinations worldwide.