alleppey animals cruise ships ethical travel human rights ... · were able to draft best practice...

Annual Report and Accounts 2015/16

Human Rights

Animals

Alleppey

Volunteering

Cruise Ships

Ethical Travel

Contents

Section 1: Introduction

Section 2: Annual report 2015/16

Section 3: Campaigns 2016/17

Section 4: Digital Engagement

Section 5: Finance Report

Section 6: Accounts 2015/16

Contents

Chair : James Blair

Vice Chair : Gail Ward

Treasurer : Sam Longair

Directors : Mr Roger Goode, Kiran Gupta, Dr Albert Kimbu, Ann Noon, Felipe Zalamea

Chief Executive : Mark Watson

Bankers : The Co-operative Bank Plc, National Westminster Bank Plc

Independent Examiner : Anthony Epton, Goldwins, Chartered Accountants

International tourist arrivals grew by 4.4% in 2015 to reach atotal of 1,184 million in 2015, according to the latest UNWTOWorld Tourism Barometer. Some 50 million more tourists(overnight visitors) travelled to international destinations aroundthe world last year as compared to 2014.

Tourism is now a key development driver in the global Southand main foreign exchange earner for 65 (out of 69) developingcountries. Tourism can be a huge force for good, helping localcommunities by providing employment, improving livingstandards and acting to protect natural resources and habitats.Unfortunately a lot of tourism does exactly the opposite.

Set up in 1989 Tourism Concern is a unique independent charitythat campaigns for ethical and fairly traded tourism;development and human rights - as well providing educationalresources and advice.

We campaign for Better Tourism – trips where peopleexperience the real community and the community gets realbenefits as a result. Holidays that bring long term benefits to thelocal community, create decent jobs for local people, promotesustainable growth and are welcomed by the local people. Ourcampaigns support communities in challenging harmfulpractices and promote forms of tourism that bring real benefitsto local people.

Our VisionTourism which is ethical, fair and a positive experience for bothtravellers and the people and places they visit

Our MissionTo ensure tourism always benefits local people by challengingbad practice and promoting better tourism

Our PrinciplesIndependence - Tourism Concern is a non-industry basedorganisation and believes that its independence is vital to itsrole.

Listening - We ensure that we listen to the opinions andperspectives of our partners in destination communities.

Shared values and vision - We believe in working withorganisations that share our values and vision.

Inclusivity - We believe that all people have the right toparticipate in all decision-making that affects them bothinternally and in the work we do.

Ethical practices - We strive to operate in an ethical,sustainable and inclusive manner at all times.

Tourism which is ethical, fair and apositive experience for both travellersand the people and places they visit

www.tourismconcern.org.uk

Over the year we continued to work on a range of educationaland awareness raising activities, developing our strategies andaims through rigorous research and consultation. We producedtwo Briefings, one on our campaign to protect the backwatersof Alleppey and the other on Cruise Ship Tourism.

It is clear that Tourism Concern is needed now more than ever.The negative impacts of tourism remain largely unchecked andare increasing. As one of the largest industries in the world,tourism’s influence is staggering. However, like manyinternational and globalised industries, tourism can underminehuman rights and sadly it is often only possible to see thedamage done when communities, livelihoods and environmentshave already been irreparably damaged. Tourism Concernprovides a voice for local people in destination countries, whorarely have the opportunity to tell their story. We consistentlychallenge the tourism industry, tourists and the UK governmentto become aware of their impacts and to ensure that tourismalways benefits local communities.

Over the last year we have focused on making tourism better,recognising that tourism can be a force for good and as a toolfor international development.

We have worked with industry to improve their operations andfound ways to influence their supply chains to create long termdividends to local communities as well as ensuring that theirrelations with their suppliers and clients are beneficial,sustainable and equal.

We have also provided advice and information to tourists, inorder that they can make better and more informed decisionsabout their holidays - ensuring that holidays bring real benefitsto destination communities. Our focus is on practical solutions,such as the code of conduct for houseboat owners in Keralaand providing advice and support to tourists in order that theycan have better and more informed choices about their holidays.We have also produced a briefing on cruise ships and willlaunch a petition against Flags of Convenience.

Equally we have undertaken education and outreach byproviding lectures to universities around the UK - from Plymouthto York - reaching hundreds of students. We have alsoorganised film nights and discussion evenings, conferences andsocial events. We also now have four active professionalmembership groups, the Ethical Tour Operators Group, EthicalVolunteering Organisations, Ethical Travel Partners and ourAcademic Network.

Campaigns included: Alleppey, CruiseShips & Volunteering

Section 2: Annual Report

Section 2: Annual Report

www.tourismconcern.org.uk

Cruising is a growing trend and although brings some benefit todestinations, the reality in most cases is that the cruise shipsconvey large numbers of low value passengers, who havelimited time for meaningful cultural exchange and leave behindlarge amounts of rubbish and pollution. The large cruise shipshave an enormous ecological impact and notoriously poorworking conditions. Additionally many destinations havebecome highly dependent on this form of tourism which caninhibit the development of other, more sustainable forms oftourism.

We therefore produced and launched our timely new briefing,Cruise Tourism – what’s below the surface? at a special eventin March 2016. The launch event, which was free for Members,was a chance to explore the issues around Cruise Tourism fromdifferent perspectives.The evening began with an introductionto the briefing, which looks at the social and economic benefitsto destinations, the environmental impact of cruise ships andthe human/worker rights of employees. We then presented ashort film produced by student Nicola Hill, a Tourism Concernmember, which highlighted some of the issues with cruise shiptourism. This was followed by the showing of the DispatchesChannel 4 documentary Cruises Undercover: The Truth belowdecks

Guest speaker Paul Myles, the Dispatches undercover reporter,then shared his personal experiences and insights, making theissues raised in our briefing really come alive. Finally, Dr XavierFont, a leading academic on Cruise Tourism, presented hisresearch on how cruise ship companies present their CSR(Corporate & Social Responsibility) data. It was clear from thepresentation that many companies make it difficult orimpossible to understand their impacts from the informationthey provide.

"Cruise ships – a floating microcosm ofour global economic hierarchy"

Pollution analysts claim a large cruise ship will burnat least 150 tonnes of fuel a day, and emit moresulphur than several million cars, more NO2 gasthan all the traffic passing through a medium-sizedtown and more particulate emissions thanthousands of London buses.

Houseboat tourism is a wonderful way to experience the beautyand tranquility of the backwaters. It could and should be amodel of ethical tourism, and a valuable and sustainable sourceof local employment and income. Unfortunately though, it isexpanding in an unregulated and unsustainable way.

Project planning began in 2012 when a survey of 1000 familiesliving on the backwaters revealed that they were being adverselyaffected by houseboat tourism – issues which also threatenedthe sustainability of the backwaters and of the industry itself.

We have been talking with as many stakeholders as possible inorder to understand the issues better and to investigate possiblepractical ways of addressing them. In April 2015 we organised ameeting, chaired by the Director of Tourism, of over 40representatives of these stakeholders. An outline of our keyfindings was presented and there was agreement on the needboth to seek a Code of Practice for houseboats and to establisha committee, with representatives of the key stakeholders, tooversee the development, adoption and monitoring of theCode.

Through ongoing consultation over the following months wewere able to draft best practice guidelines which focus onrespect for the natural environment, respect for local people,respect for employees, and ensuring the well-being of guests.

The guidelines also include a commitment to continualimprovement. These were officially agreed with the KeralaDepartment of Tourism in October 2015. We also outlined aprocess for encouraging and monitoring compliance.

From early in 2016 we began conducting comprehensiveresearch, working in conjunction with the University of Kerala,to look at every part of the guidelines with houseboat ownersand staff in order to establish what the practical obstacles tocompliance are, and hence to identify where training, provisionof facilities, and/or enforcement of regulations might berequired. This work is continuing both in Alleppey and inKumarakom, on the eastern side of the lake.

In the UK we have established support for the initiative from UKtour operators who take guests to the backwaters, includingthrough AITO, ABTA and the Travel Foundation. We hope thatall prospective guests from the UK will seek boats who aresigned up to the best practice guidelines.

The lead up to Kerala State elections in May, including theappointment of a new Director of Tourism, enforced delays inour discussions with the government. However, we have nowconnected with the new regime, and they are enthusiastic tohelp with our work.

In the coming months we will continue the research with

Protecting the backwaters of Alleppey

Section 2: Key Achievements



Tourism Concern:

houseboat workers, and feed back the results to government. We intendto apply pressure to ensure that the long process of installing new shore-based waste facilities for boats, investigating routing alternatives toreduce congestion, training of boat workers, enforcement of safetyregulations, and so on, does not stall.

In the next period we will be working with about fifty boats to help themcomply with the guidelines, and establish and promote them as ‘model’boats. This will further help in identifying practical challenges that needto be addressed in order for boats to operate more sustainably, and willencourage other boats to seek promotion as sustainable operators.

We are extremely grateful to our partner organisation – theEnvironmental Collaborative – whose Director Sudha Soni has workedhard, including to establish trust in the process and in the ultimate goalsof the project.

Tourism Concern:

Section 3: Campaigns for 2016/17

Helping tourists make better and moreinformed choices about their holidays

Over the last couple of years we have been able to stabilise thecharity's finances by reducing our overhead costs, whilst remainingoperational and effective. This has enabled us to not only maintaincampaign spending at previous levels but also to make a smallsurplus in 2015/16 to bolster our reserves. We have grownmembership, reached more people, lectured to students andsuccessfully launched a code of conduct on Alleppey - protectinglocal people and the environment. We have a clearly defined workprogramme for 2016/17 and ambitious plans to promote ourresearch, engage tourists and support local communities.

Our campaigns have helped raise awareness of issues such as AllInclusives, Water Equity in Tourism, Voluntourism and OrphanageTourism; our online ethical travel guide enables travellers to makebetter and more informed holiday choices; we are educating a newgeneration of tourism professionals via our academic network andour latest campaign to save Alleppey, which was featured on theBBC Travel Show recently, has achieved considerable success on avery limited budget – so much so that two academics,independently of each other, have offered to help in writing up acase study of best practice, that is also replicable in other areas.

Although we are primarily concerned with human rights, we havealso raised awareness about animals in tourism including the ethical

treatment of working animals such as mules, encouraging touriststo avoid places such as Tiger Temple and encouraging touroperators to have an ethical policy around elephant trekking.

Additionally our website now has a greater focus on informationthat is useful for the traveller and provides easily accessible advice toconsumers on ethical travel. We now include country specificinformation via an interactive map and for each country we listsome background information, ethical travel issues, information onlocal etiquette and language. We also now incorporate a Map,which includes places listed in our Ethical Travel Guide.

Although our website offers a good deal of information, TourismConcern has a great deal of further information on ethical travelissues which is not easily accessible. So in 2016/17 we will producehigh quality, well-researched pdf briefings on a particular issue inethical tourism every other month. These will be written in housebut we may also use professional advice/collaborators wherepossible (eg development or human rights groups, etc). We will alsoengage with our professional members where possible (eg ETOG,academic network, trustees). In addition to engaging travellers withthe issues the briefings will also act as 'position statements' whichwill help clarify who we are and what we do (ie our unique role).

Orphanage TourismThe growing popularity of international volunteering has led to the trend of orphanagetourism, whereby people take time to volunteer at or visit an orphanage while visiting aforeign country. The literature on volunteer tourism is growing but mainly focuses onthe volunteer and to a lesser extent on the host communities, and the literature onorphanage tourism is limited. Furthermore, there is a great deal of anecdotal evidencefrom blogs, newspapers and documentaries about the positive and negative impacts onhost organisations. We will continue to lobby the industry and raise awareness of theseissues. We also plan to to pull together the academic literature, anecdotal evidence andvolunteers' experiences into a research report to be published early next year.

Poverty Tourism“Poverty tourism”, “poorism”, “slum tourism”, “favela tours”, “township tours” and“reality tours” are some of the terms used to name this controversial phenomenon oftourism, but they all describe the same practice: organised excursions to informalsettlements, or “slums”. Slum tours are sold as an alternative to traditional tourism anda more realistic form of experiencing a country – getting in touch with real people andthe local culture. It is estimated that 40,000 tourists visit favelas in Rio de Janeiro eachyear while around 300,000 visit the townships in Cape Town. Tours are also widespreadin India, Kenya, Mexico, and many other countries in the developing world. This is still arelatively new form of tourism and we will be producing a briefing and consideringdeveloping a code of conduct for tour operators in 2016/17.

Indigenous People and Tourism

Tourism Concern is currently researching a range of issues associated with indigenouspeoples and tourism. There has a been a rapid growth in tourism in this area.Campaigns Officer, Helen Jennings, has done extensive research on this topic acrossScandinavia, Canada and South America. Helen is currently writing a report onIndigenous Peoples and Tourism which will be launched in the coming months. She willbe working alongside ‘The Minority Rights Group’, as well as other stakeholders, tocreate and implement a ‘code of conduct’ for tour operators to use when working withIndigenous Peoples all across the world. Indigenous Tourism is at a very tentative stagein its development and it is important to outline best practice in this area.

Helping travellers make better decisionsabout where to go, who to go with,where to stay and what to do.

Ethical Travel GuideThe purpose of the Ethical Travel Guide is to help travellers inmaking better decisions about where to go, who to go with,where to stay and what to do in accordance with principles ofethical tourism. For each country we list ethical travelconsiderations, local projects to support, community voices onthe impacts of tourism, ethical places to stay and see, andethical tour operators and volunteering organisations - that canhelp make your stay better for local people and better for you.The initiative intertwines two essential strands of how TourismConcern works:

1) We seek to give a voice to communities where tourism takesplace, sharing their concerns and recommendations in orderto encourage more equitable and sustainable tourism.

2) We aim to help travellers to take responsibility for theirimpact by choosing ethical options for what to do and whereto stay, and being responsible, sensitive and well-informedwhilst travelling.

Assessment criteriaApplicants are asked to complete an online application anddemonstrate how they meet each of the three strands of

sustainability (social, economic and environmental). Onlyorganisations we are comfortable listing will be included – noone can pay to get listed.

1. Community Well-being2. Local Prosperity and Social Equity3. Environmental Protection4. Visitor Fulfilment

The aim of the guide is to put small scale tourism providers,which bring real benefits to the local community, in touch withtravellers who are looking to meet the real community. Many ofthe places listed will have limited or no resources for promotionso will be unable to afford any fee to be listed, however we doencourage those that can to join as Ethical Travel Partners,which helps cover the assessment costs from thoseorganisations that can afford to do so. However, all listedorganisations must comply with our criteria and cannot pay tobe listed.

We currently have over 400 places listed and aim to reach 1000by March 2017. Many of those listed will provide a discount orspecial benefit to Tourism Concern members whose support hasmade the guide possible.

Section 3: Ethical Travel Guide

Ethical Volunteering GroupOur Ethical Volunteering Group seeks to ensure that volunteering is a force for good bycollaborating with ethical and responsible international volunteering organisations whoare passionate about maximising the positive developmental outcomes of volunteering,whilst also working to minimise potential negative impacts. With volunteering overseason development projects rapidly growing in popularity and increasing numbers ofadventure tour operators offering ‘voluntourism’ packages, serious questions havearisen about how some such projects are managed and how the benefits are beingshared. It is also a challenge for prospective volunteers to identify organisations thatembrace best practice. We will organise a repeat of our very successful voluntourismconference in Oct 2015 to provide advice and information to potential volunteers.

Ethical Tour Operators Group

Tourism Concern's Ethical Tour Operators Group highlights how tourism can be a forcefor good; by collaborating with the socially responsible tour operators who arepassionate about minimising negative impacts within the industry. ETOG is formed by agroup of small to medium size tour operators that strive to improve their Ethical andResponsible Tourism practices. We facilitate an exchange of ideas and explore andpromote best practice amongst members - in a non-competitive atmosphere. We havecreated a package of activities designed to facilitate dialogue, provide essentialinformation and skills to support operators in the challenge of running a sociallyresponsible tourism business. For those who are not quite there yet but want to movetowards ethical and responsible tourism, ETOG offers an opportunity to learn from othermembers and improve their practice and ethos about tourism.

Ethical Travel Partners

Our Ethical Travel Partners Group includes some of the most committed organisationslisted in our Ethical Travel Guide. Members include community based tourism projects,local responsible tour operators, homestay’s etc. But they all have one thing in common.They all support the local economy, bringing much needed wealth to communities. It isa tribute to enterprising people all over the world and a fulfilment of Tourism Concern’scommitment to ensure that people in destinations benefit from tourism. All Membershave completed an online application and demonstrated how they met our criteria.Equally they been have assessed on each of the three strands of sustainability (social,economic and environmental).

New website includes interactive map,social media and ability for members toconnect easily with each other

30,000 people visit our website every month, mostly lookingfor advice and information on how to travel ethically. Ourwebsite now includes country specific information via aninteractive map, which combines our campaigns, research,library resources, Ethical Travel Guide, Ethical Tour OperatorsGroup and Ethical Volunteering Group into one easilyaccessible resource. For each country we list somebackground information, ethical travel issues, information onlocal etiquette and language. We also incorporate a Map,which includes places listed in our Ethical Travel Guide.

The new website also allows us to manage Membership better– Members can now manage their membership, uploadphotos and connect easily with other Members who live nearthem via our website. The My Account tab allows Members toview and edit their profile online and we now have a range ofGroups for Members with specific interests.

We moved to a new email list provider in 2014; to ensure ourdata was best practice compliant we asked supporters toresubscribe, which resulted in an initial drop in subscribers.However we have made good progress at increasingengagement on social media and via the regular monthlynewsletter, which now has an open rate of 28.2% and a clickrate of 3.8% (Industry average is 20% and 2.2%).

Section 4: Digital Engagement

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Ethical Travel Dilemmas - tourist engagement

Is it OK to ride an elephant? Go on a cruise or haggle for goods? Most people don’t setout to cause harm, but can unwittingly do so. Our aim is to change consumer behaviourin order that people make better and more informed choices about their holidays. Ourseries includes everything from elephant trekking, haggling for goods, whether it isethical to fly, should tourist buy souvenir, should tourists go on a cruise or visit spiritualsites. Further work on the issues around the sharing economy, especially sites such asAirBnb are having on local communities and hotels etc.

Academic Network - Student EngagementOur Academic Network is for institutions who share the same values as us. It is criticallyimportant that tourism teaching considers the potential of tourism to be a driver for thepositive social change that we believe is necessary, rather than just a means toemployment in the tourism industry. Our Academic Members not only support the workof Tourism Concern but, more importantly, have the opportunity to collaborate onrelevant and practical research that can bring real benefits to local people.

Our resources section includes details of our reports and publications. The section isbeing developed and will eventually provide a detailed online library of resources forstudents, academics and interested travellers. Members can access all of our reports andbriefings for free in the Members Area.

Voices in Ethical TourismWe have recently launched our Voices in Ethical Tourism travel blog. This includes awide selection of contributors who bring a different perspective to some of the issueswe campaign on. The blog includes academics, bloggers, members, other NGOs,community organistions and local experts.

Section 5: Finance Report

We have reduced the amount spent onadmin and maintained campaignspending

Finance updateRaising funds for Tourism Concern has always been a challenge,grant funding has been difficult to secure as our work doesn'tfit the neat categories many funders want and donations tocharities have fallen across the sector, and fewer people nowpay for charitable membership. Despite this we have alwaysbeen clear that the long term stability of the charity depends onregular, reliable income and that membership has to be a keycomponent of that. The aim has therefore been to cover ourcore running costs by membership / partner income. The graphopposite includes membership income (including from ourEthical Tour Operators Group) over the last ten years. The newwebsite has increased income from both ETOG and individualmembers significantly, and we believe will continue to do so,especially now that we have a Campaigns Officer whose roleincludes promoting the site further. In recent months we havefound that new members are just as likely to be from overseas,as they are from the UK, this is largely down to there being veryfew organistions like Tourism Concern.

In 2015/16 we generated £86K in income (up from £77K inprevious year) and spent £78K (£71K) resulting in a smallsurplus of £8K (£6K). We increased income from Members,although there was a drop in donations.

Membership / Fundraising

3% Governance

1% General and

Admin 16%

Campaigns (general)

25%

Voluntourism 3%

All Inclusives 13%

Ethical Travel Guide 17%

Alleppey 7%

Education and Outreach

15%

Expenditure 2015/16

Membership 37%

Sponsored events 5%

Donations / Appeals 3%

Events 0%

Ethical Tour Operators Group 12%

Ethical Travel Guide 1%

Ethical Volunteering

Group 4%

Academic Network 5%

Grant Income (Core) 30%

Restricted Income 3% Sales

0%

Income 2015/16

Expenses

Despite our efforts core income has remained static so we havehad to reduce expenditure in order to generate a small surplusthis year, which will go into reserves. Although we have spent lesson fundraising the majority of the savings have been found byreducing our running costs. Moving to a virtual office, managingmembership online and reducing overheads has allowed us toincrease our campaign funding and reduce our general and admincosts further. Our overheads are covered by grants for corefunding which means every penny donated and everyMembership subscription is spent on campaigns.

ETOG, GIVs, Academic Network

Our Ethical Tour Operators Group remained steady in 2015/16and we now have 20 members. The group is an important part ofour operation and allows us to plan campaigns more effectivelyand work with some dedicated and inspirational people who trulycare about the people and places they visit. The group has beenproactive in our campaign to protect the backwaters of Alleppey.

Our Academic Network of universities and educationalestablishments is also growing and we now give lectures acrossthe UK.

We also now have an active Ethical Volunteering Group.

Income

Unrestricted grant income increased this year owing to grant fromthe Joffe Foundation, for which we we are extremely grateful.Equally we are supported by the Margaret Hayman Trust MorelTrust and CAFOD, all long term supporters. Overall our coreincome has remained relatively constant at around £80,000 a yearand consists of Membership, donations, income from partnersand core grant funding. Donations include both restricteddonations (given and spent on a specific appeal) and generaldonations and income from sponsored events.

£0

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Income from Members

Academic

Ethical Travel Guide

Ethical Volunteering

Ethical Tour Operators

Indivudual

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Expenditure

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60,000.00

80,000.00

100,000.00

YE2014 YE2015 YE2016

UnrestrictedIncome

Membership Dona?ons Partners GrantIncome(Core)

£10,000

£8,000

£6,000

£4,000

£2,000

£0

£2,000

£4,000

£6,000

£8,000

£10,000

YE2014 YE2015 YE2016

Surplus/Deficit

Section 6: Accounts: 2015/16Statement of Financial Activities - year ending 31st March 2016

Balance Sheet

A full set of accounts are available on both the Tourism Concern and the charity Commission website

[email protected]

www.ethical.travelwww.ethicaltravelguide.orgThe Lansdowne Building,

2 Lansdowne Road, Croydon, CR9 2ER0208 263 6007

Tourism Concern

We are a Membership based independent organisationthat campaigns for better tourism.

We are registered as a charity in England and Walesand incorporated as a company limited by guarantee.We are governed by our memorandum and articles ofassociation.

The management of the company is the responsibilityof the trustees who are elected and co-opted underthe terms of the Articles. The trustees, known asCouncil Members are elected at the Annual GeneralMeeting (AGM); or may be co-opted during the yearand elected at the subsequent AGM. The minimumnumber of trustees allowed is three, the maximum isnine. Tourism Concern’s Council is its governing bodyand it meets approximately four times per year.

We would like to thank all the staff, volunteers,members and supporters who have helped us maketourism better in 2015/16

Registered Charity No. 1064020.Co. Ltd. by Guarantee (England) 3260052

alleppey animals cruise ships ethical travel human rights ... · were able to draft best practice...

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