Responsible Travel

Tourism is one of the most important and largest industries on the planet. It employs more people worldwide than any other, with millions of families relying on tourism for their daily needs. Of course there are negatives attached.

The last few decades have been dotted with disaster stories where tourism has resulted in over-development, destruction of environments and in cultural misunderstandings and mistrust. It has also recently been embroiled in the debate about global warming and carbon emissions caused by flying. At Exodus we believe that our type of small group, positive impact tourism can bring benefits to many communities, help preserve the environments we travel to see, and provide real and positive social exchanges.

Benefits can be obvious in parts of the developing world where the income we provide can mean the difference between economic survival and poverty. However, even in Europe, tourism can help stabilise rural communities by providing much needed employment and give powerful economic reasons to preserve shrinking natural environments.

There's a school of thought that suggests we should be taking fewer flights, travelling less and spending our holidays at home. Its proponents say that travel for its own sake is both selfish and self-destructive, but there's a counter-argument. Responsible tourism is an overwhelming force for good for the planet, and I've seen the effects, first hand.

On an Exodus trip to India dedicated conservationist Raj Sharma told me that without the tourists, the value of the tiger would be merely the sum of its parts - coat, teeth and whiskers, worth a couple of grand to a Moghiya poacher. Then he took me down the road to the village school - where a cricket team comprised of smiling 14 year olds annually humiliates an Exodus eleven - and said 'this too would disappear.'

On another trip, this time to Kenya, a Masai teacher showed me the school, the stand pipe, the books and uniforms funded by donations from Exodus clients, and in Peru a porter said that regular work on the trekking trails meant he could pay for his wife's medical treatment and send his daughters to school, giving them the opportunity to break the bonds of poverty.

I've heard similar tales from Ovahimba in Namibia, Bedouin in Jordan and Sherpas in Nepal, but it's not just the locals who benefit. I've watched Englishmen weep when confronted by the overpowering beauty of an Antarctic iceberg and others fall into an awestruck silence before Svalbard's shrinking glaciers. All came home as ambassadors for these vulnerable wildernesses.

I could have used this foreword to enthuse over Exodus' itineraries, to describe the passion of its guides or even to go into detail over some of its more interesting hotel choices, but I think there's a more important message.

It's this: don't stop flying. Don't stop visiting the far-flung and exotic. Don't stop taking your hard-earned to people whose lives and futures depend upon it and don't stop getting out there and bearing witness to the changes our planet is going through. Just make sure the tour operator you're travelling with cares as much about the world as you do. I can vouch for this one, because it does.

Chris Haslam,
Best-Selling Author and Award-Winning Travel Writer
September 2009

For several years now we have identified specific projects where, as a worldwide tour operator, we are in an ideal position to actively help some of the less fortunate communities that we visit, whilst also encouraging them to protect the very environments and wildlife that we so enjoy seeing. To enable us to fund these projects efficiently, Exodus has entered into a partnership with the registered charity Friends of Conservation.

Established in 1982, Friends of Conservation (FOC) works in all parts of the world to support effective community-based conservation projects. In the struggle to save endangered species and habitats, FOC is committed to work with local people and partners to find sustainable ways of living in harmony with wildlife, ecosystems and the environment. You can find details of some of our Responsible Tourism Projects on individual Project pages using the Our Projects link in the Menu on the left.

To make a donation please visit the Friends of Conservation website.