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 Younge.m.young@bangor.ac.uk +44 1248 383709www.wisenetwork.org

Sefydliad Cymreig ar gyfer Adnoddau NaturiolWelsh Institute for Natural Resources