Face masks at Singapore's Changi airport

I arrived into Singapore a week or so ago en route to a whl.travel regional conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Accompanying the immigration card on arrival was a health check card asking whether I was experiencing any symptoms of the H1N1 Flu virus.  Many of the Asian population at Changi airport were wearing face masks which left me feeling somewhat exposed, to what exactly I’m not quite sure.  Arrival into Malaysia was a similar experience and they even had heat sensitive cameras focused on arrivals to pick out any abnormally high temperatures.  Vietnam issued a health check card on arrival.  Air Asia staff have been wearing face masks as they move around the airports.  It really seems like there is something terrible out there.

Did I have Swine flu?

After a week in Vietnam I noticed that I had a sore throat, then my nose started to run, then I started to have a bit of a headache and felt low on energy.  It seems far too coincidental that this was anything other than the much publicised H1N1 (Swine) Flu, but may have been just be a heavy cold.  I felt as though I was starting to recover after about 4 days but still had a bit of congestion a week later.  My approach was to rest, drink huge amounts of water, eat lots of Pho - the famous Vietnamese noodle soup - and a few fresh coconuts.  I was stuck in my room for much of my final days in Vietnam, fortunately there was WiFi.  In terms of feeling ill i’ve felt far worse before,  so if this was indeed the H1N1 Flu I’m beginning to wonder what all the fuss is about.  Sicknesses are always being passed around and in many cases it’s better just to catch it and get it out the way, so why the big scare around this Flu?  I understand that if you’re old or very young you could do without catching it but as someone who might have had it (or might not) I think it’s a lot of fuss about nothing.  H1N1 Flu certainly isn’t the only thing out there and we don’t usually wear face masks or stop travelling for fear of catching something.

Have you had the dreaded Flu?

Hotel Masshad, Tabriz / Photo by Tom Allen

Having access to her very personal perspective on current events and the historical context that created them, as well as my own first-hand experience of the views and lifestyles of a wide section of Iranian society – from the rural poor to the urban intelligensia to the ethnic minorities – I have witnessed, germinating in front of my very eyes, the very epitomy of the Western propaganda machine itself.

New media response gives western governments exactly what they want

It is a testament to the terrible power of the media that, without ever publishing an openly fallacious statement or doctored image, the coverage of Iran’s elections has motivated millions of outsiders, who until a fortnight ago were entirely disinterested in the complexities of Iranian internal affairs, to lend their support to a single facet of a fractured society – the facet which, in present times, offers the most in terms of opportunity for Western governments to get what they’ve long desired from Iran. How?

By focusing entirely on those reformists who are sufficiently motivated to take to the streets against the election results, the digital town-criers to whom we hasten for news on the big, bad world out there have painted Iran as “a nation in chaos”. In this one-dimensional behemoth characterized by corruption and violence, the Iranian people are battling bravely against a power-hungry religious dictatorship that pulls the strings of peasants and presidents alike.

Iran is more than just Tehran

What none of the reports mention is that a win for conservative Ahmadinejad was actually quite likely. Of course, it wouldn’t look that way if you asked passers-by in Tehran. The capital is the natural home of the educated, middle-class liberal. But Iran is more than just Tehran. The conservative population – those who elected Ahmadinejad in the first place and who could quite realistically have voted him in for a second term – is enormous. But these people are also the ones without access to mobile phones, internet connections and of course, Twitter. Does this mean their opinions are worthless?

Metro Station in Tehran / Photo by Tom Allen

It is outstandingly obvious from a brief glance at the #IranElection Twitter channel that practically all of the information coming out of this online shouting match is from pro-reformist users. Those unaware of the true nature of Iranian society could be easily forgiven for being overwhelmed and thinking they were listening to a country entirely at odds with its rulers.

The fundamental flaw of new media

The last ten days have highlighted the fundamental flaw of the system – not just Twitter but new media in general: Rather than facilitating the free distribution of objective information, it has facilitated the free distribution of the views and experiences of a minority demographic who have access to it. If you’re reading this, you’re probably part of that demographic yourself.

Why do news editors and faraway observers alike assume that Twitter represents the voice of Iran? Are we psychologically equipped to deal with globally-sized paradigms? Has the light-speed progress of the Information Age left good old evolution trailing in its wake?

The frightening power and influence of the media

Commentators such as the BBC have wasted no time in embroidering the canvas that they’ve been helping to build over the last few decades. An Australian girl who I met here in Dubai was surprised to hear my stories from the country. She’s always assumed it was just “some twisted place that was making nuclear weapons”. This was someone who’d never needed or wanted to take any particular interest in Iran, but had grown up around the ‘background noise’ that we’re all exposed to every time we absent-mindedly put on the six-o’clock news or glance at a headline as we walk past the newsagent. It wasn’t an unusual comment to hear. Is that ‘background noise’ accidental, or the result of years of nurturing?

The BBC clearly has an agenda. Its articles are carefully seeded – count how many times we are reminded that the Assembly Of Experts can “in theory remove [the Supreme Leader] if he is deemed incapable of fulfilling his duties” – a minor theoretical postulation which, repeated often enough, is designed to lead us to believe that there is a real chance that the current regime is about to topple.

Cafe in Tehran / Photo by Tom Allen

And notice that Ahmadinejad himself is credited with being “a founding member of the student union that took over the US embassy in Tehran in 1979″ – a statement carefully designed to vaguely link the man with a famous hostage-taking incident, despite the fact that a critical reading of the sentence would reach no such conclusion. This, in the BBC’s opinion, is important enough to form the thrust of the first of four short paragraphs describing Ahmadinejad’s role in Iranian politics in their ‘who’s who‘ primer on the BBC News website.

Why is it in the BBC’s interest to espouse the ’selective truth’ like this – an act which is, in my opinion, just as subvertive as outright lying? It would be naive to forget that intelligence agencies and media have long been in each others’ pockets. The BBC itself broadcast the ‘go’ signal for Operation Ajax, in which the MI6 and CIA orchestrated the overthrow of Iran’s newly-elected prime minister in 1953.

Highly convincing yet highly biased reporting

Those with such an agenda must be cackling in glee at the Twitter frenzy – it’s doing their job for them, and it’s doing it incredibly well. One of my favourite travel blogs – from Canada – has seen fit to publish two articles in recent days urging its readers to support the activists. The premises are based solely on limited secondary sources. Neither author has ever visited Iran. How legitimate can such opinions possibly be, when they are based on highly convincing yet highly biased reporting?

What explains the absence of self-criticism of the achievements of propaganda in today’s media, and the perverse way in which media channels report on stories concerning themselves in the third person and without comment, as if doing so is somehow an intrinsic act of redemption? “A spokesman said foreign media were ‘mouthpieces’ of enemy governments seeking Iran’s disintegration,” I read on the BBC website this morning. Come on. This is old news.

Important not to confuse the complaints of the few with the wishes of the many

How many people are there with a vague, disinterested misconception of the “twisted place” called Iran – one for which they aren’t at all to blame? If there’s one thing I learnt in two years of travel, it was that everything I’d heard about other countries was wrong. It’s certainly not just Iran that’s suffered this blackened image, either. That’s what I mean by the terrible power of the media. And it’s against this backdrop that the current events have been played out.

Bike Shop in Tabriz / Photo by Tom Allen

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not taking a stand against the protests, or against the principle of a fair and just election. But it’s important not to confuse the complaints of the few with the wishes of the many. There may well have been hundreds of thousands of people on the streets in Tehran a week ago, and there may well have been discrepancies in the ballot – it wouldn’t be the first time or the first country in which it’s happened.

But this is a country of nearly 80 million people. The protests of a few thousand of them are being used, for whatever reason, to represent all of them. And, if we’re true believers in democracy, they all have an equal right to choose their leader – whether or not their circumstances have afforded them a digital voice. In the absence of proof of election-rigging and in the complete dearth of objective reporting, the best we all can do is keep our mouths shut and withhold judgement until the evidence is in.

When does foreign support become foreign meddling? How much of our opinions is truly our own? Can we trust the media to portray global events objectively? Can we ever truly understand the intricacies of any of the world’s problems just by reading about them?

Can we admit that sometimes we just don’t know?

Sally Broom moderating a Webinar from Croatia / Photo by Stephen Chapman

Questions from listeners during our first Webinar had been in short supply but this time I could hardly keep up, it was brilliant!  Tom Hall from Lonely Planet, Adrian Phillips from Bradt Guides and Toby Sawday from Sawday’s Publishing were all online to discuss how responsibility fits into their operations.  Alan Murphy from Footprint Travel Guides and Dan Linstead from Wanderlust Magazine were also present but unfortunately had sound problems and were unable to talk.  We hope to have them back soon.

More about this Webinar

• Tom Hall talks about Lonely Planet
• Adrian Phillips talks about Bradt guides
• Next Webinar hands the mic to travel publishers

Recycled/FSC paper for guidebooks

To what extent is recycled paper being used for travel guides?

• We use FSC paper on all of our books wherever possible - I am not an expert on this but I have been told it is better for environment than using recycled.  It is usually possible but stock sourcing options means that occasionally we can’t get the right grade for colour sections. We still use managed sources in these instances but not FSC. Tom Hall (LP)
• That has been the worst problem with trying to go green on paper… same in Nepal…we just cannot get the grades required, so we restrict it to just visiting cards and small posters. Raj Gyawali (Social Treks)
• Thomas Cook also introducing FSC across guidebook series. Kelly Pipes (Sandwagon)
• There’s still a staggering lack of recognition of the FSC label, and it’s largely understood that it makes little difference to buying decisions. Toby Sawday (Sawday Publishing)
• I think the issue of the price of books is something that needs addressing - ethically sourced paper etc. is more expensive. Will readers stomach a price rise to accommodate those sorts of steps? Adrian Phillips (Bradt Guides)
• So, those of us who do it, do so because it’s just the right thing to do. Toby Sawday (Sawday Publishing)
• This is one key thing that needs to be better debated - if there’s little evidence that people make buying decisions based on this kind of thing alone. So you do it because it’s the right thing, yes. Tom Hall (LP)
• There are also questions about the FSC label. Ron Mader (Planeta)
• Completely agree Ron .pdf and online versions are an effective, timely and green way to distribute guides or destination books.  We at green visions are considering publishing our own online responsible guidebooks. we believe the traveler will eventually want to hear from local organizations what responsible travel in the country or destination really means or entails. Thierry Joubert (Green Visions)
• I think that’s a great, and timely, angle Thierry. Noah Wheelock (travelbugger)
• Thierry… great point… Raj Gyawali (Social Treks)
• Agree Thierry, being responsible in one place varies from another. Claire Prest (Grass Routes Journeys)
• Do small local companies like ourselves have a chance? Thierry Joubert (Green Visions)
• Thierry, forming relationships with the established publishers may help. Kelly Pipes (Sandwagon)
• Well, building relationships is the answer, but the entry into that important step is very complicated.  The first point of entry is informing Travel writers, but I find that they are mostly busy just updating what they already have! again to the budget constraints maybe affecting this. Raj Gyawali (Social Treks)
• Perhaps someone can offer a digital platform for distribution of responsible local guides e.g. whl.travel, intrepid etc.? Thierry Joubert (Green Visions)
• Great question! Amber Klatt
• Sorry, maybe it has been asked already, but what is FSC? Candice Motran (Oxford Uni)
• FSC is the Forest Stewardship Council. Len Cordiner (whl.travel)
• Thierry, I assume you work with Tim Clancy, author of our Bosnia guide. That’s a very good example of an author who’s utterly devoted to responsible travel - at times even at the risk of running against some pretty powerful forces. Adrian Phillips (Bradt Guides)
• Agree. I’ve worked with Tim. Very inspiring. Kelly Pipes (Sandwagon)
• Yes Adrian, Tim and I are one of the founders of Green Visions. Thierry Joubert (Green Visions)

Toby Sawday shared a link to the Green Publishers Network that he is involved in.

Guidebooks can increase tourism

Is it possible that Lonely Planet exposure will increase traffic to certain destinations, which could potentially therefore increase negative impacts?

• While possible I’d say it is only a contributing factor - cheap air fares, perception of safety and facilities are bigger concerns. In a way I wish books did have that power as there are places that could do with more or less visitors going equipped with the right info! Tom Hall (LP)
• Vanessa, is it possible to identify these un-exposed / potential destinations using a Geographic info systems, then it becomes the prerogative of researchers and tourism authorities to get community participation at the earliest possible time… chk a book: Community destination management in developing countries (Walter Jamieson - 2006). Kshetra Govindasamy (GeoDust)
• thx Kshetra. I still wonder if guide books do have a sometimes unexpected impact in terms of “discovering” a small area of a destination, sometimes before it has been identified as having tourism potential, and without any community participation in decisions has occurred. Vanessa Weigall (Travelcorp)

Local operators using travel forums

Tom, it is interesting to see the success of Thorn Tree forums… however, my experience is that destination based local information seems to be seen as unethical marketing… I have been bumped out of the forum, for just providing information, not marketing myself… local information could be key to RT isn’t it?  When a traveller in the UK for example recommends a guide or a travel service, it seems fine there, but not when the same is done by a destination based expert… then it sounds like marketing… how can we balance this?

• Raj - I think that local expertise and contacts is invaluable. I can’t see any inconsistency. However, forums can be very sensitive to what may be seen as spam. Tom Hall (LP)
• Tom, i agree about that.. I just felt that the sensitiveness level might be lowered to make sure that locals get an opportunity to bring in their expertise, and are encouraged to do so… especially on important opinion forums like thorn Tree. Raj Gyawali (Social Treks)
• Raj, happy to pass on contacts for our community manager if helpful. Tom Hall (LP)

What about Slow Travel?

Go slow… slow travel…. is this something that can transcend the common ‘terminologies’, and something that can be relevant to the everyday, mainstream traveller?

• Absolutely. ‘Slow’ travel is an infinitely more appealing, accessible concept than ‘green’, ‘eco’, ‘ethical’ etc. It has a less worth connotation, and its connection with food provides a bridge to people who wouldn’t otherwise consider green issues. Toby Sawday (Sawday Publishing)
• I cannot emphasise enough the importance of encouraging ’slow travel’. Arlyn Santos

Acknowledging irresponsible tourism

Adrian (Bradt Guides), Tom (Lonely Planet), maybe an irresponsible travel section, using travellers to bring it out, might be an idea?

• Raj, I can confidently state that you won’t find an irresponsible travel section in our guides for the forseeable future. Tom Hall (LP)
• I think that the idea of highlighting irresponsible travel is great — the problem is, as a publisher, avoiding anything libellous. Adrian Phillips (Bradt Guides)
• Tom, i was thinking more on the online guides, instead of print ones. Raj Gyawali (Social Treks)
• I agree with Raj, some way in which travellers could give feedback on irresposable tourism that’s happenign on destinations. Santiago
• If you label irresponsible operators it may discourage people doing anything at all to improve their service towars being more responsible. We should be encouraging operators rather then perhaps putting them down for trying.  Luke Ford (whl.travel)
• Luke I agree totally… thats is a solid point. Raj Gyawali (Social Treks)
• I agree encouraging the good stories should be the overwhelming focus, but without labelling we can also learn what not to do. Shaun Gilchrist (whl.travel)
• I agree with luke. be positive and focus on what we want more of. Thierry Joubert (Green Visions)
• Who should name and shame irresponsible operators? Ron Mader (Planeta)
• Online traveler feedback can take care of irresponsible activities and operators. Thierry Joubert (Green Visions)
• hmm tripadvisor for tour operators. Luke Ford (whl.travel)
• Agreed… but Guidebooks are usually recommending a whole lot of not so “responsible” operations, and the small small ones who might be making their impacts do not get the nescessary exposure.  Somehow, we need to circumvent travel writers for the publishers and get “seen”.  Which becomes problematic when it comes to competing with LP, Bradt, Footprint etc. Raj Gyawali (Social Treks)

(See also ‘Tom Hall talks about Lonely Planet‘)

Guidebook economics

How much do budgets and price issues affect Publishers decisions on taking the publication more green!?

• Price is inevitably an issue - some of our guides are on short runs, and are very expensive to produce as a consequence. However, if we were to stick to a particular margin, we just wouldn’t be able to do books to Rwanda, Sierra Leone et al. Adrian Phillips (Bradt Guides)

Writing for guidebooks

I always wanted to know, how does one write something that will interest the guidebooks in one’s own writing? Because when I travel & write, I wouldn’t write about a dozen different hotels, like a guidebook would. So how does one make their writing actually pertinent?

• Noah, do you mean how do you write for travel guides, or how do you sell a feature, or something else? Tom Hall (LP)
• Tom, more specifically writing for travel guides, though all advice/answers are appreciated! Noah Wheelock (travelbugger)
• Noah, the writing of a guidebook has to be the purpose of the travel - it’s not something you can hash together on the back of a general travel trip. Adrian Phillips (Bradt Guides)
• Noah, start here: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/jobs/work-at-lonely-planet-authors. Tom Hall (LP)
• Adrian, so in applying to a guidebook to write, I probably wouldn’t have ever written that why (why would I inspect a dozen different hotels in the same town, for example). So I would write anecdotaly, which isn’t the way guidebooks work, of course. Noah Wheelock (travelbugger)
• Yes, Noah - the listings sections of guidebooks are unlikely to be things you’ll have written before (beyond panel text at the end of newspaper/magazine articles). Having said that, there’s a lot of full-body text too and so there’s room to indulge your own voice.  Adrian Phillips (Bradt Guides)
• Adrian, very cool. Just always curious how to apply and make it stand out for a guidebook when I would have only had reason to write in my own voice up to this point. But I agree, the best guidebooks are a great mix of information & voice. Noah Wheelock (travelbugger)
• Noah, always feel free to pitch to us if you’re interested in writing guidebooks. We do take on a healthy number of first timers - we often find they have the passion that more seasoned hacks can lose. Adrian Phillips (Bradt Guides)

The effect of the online world on print publishers

How affected is the Publishing world by the hundreds of online local information websites that have come nowadays, and who probably provide more relevant information than a print that was done several years ago?

• Precisely. And it’s a usable, accessible source - as Toby is saying. Amber Klatt
• I think less affected than you’d think, Raj. People value a consistent point of focus when assessing whether they’d like one thing or another. You can’t get that readily from online forums. It’s all about consistency and trustworthiness of voice. Adrian Phillips (Bradt Guides)
• I think that the great advantage of online guides is the capacity to update quite fast and if we could have the travellers involved in a way of updating and expanding the content of these.  Santiago

Small operators and guidebooks

How can “small” operators and operations get into the guidebooks … I know at least from the example in Nepal… that this is tough… Getting in contact with authors, convincing them about your operation is tough… Mostly the authors come in at a particular point and are more and more involved in just making sure that the information is not outdated! I bet that takes a lot of time too.

• Raj, I’d suggest contacting the publisher concerned and arrange for the relevant info to be sent to the author. We always pass such info on - ultimately, however, it’s then up to the individual author to assess whether or not the organisation merits inclusion. Adrian Phillips (Bradt Guides)

Unanswered questions in the chat box (some are addressed in the recording)

1. Don’t we need to move beyond the ‘box sections’ and sustainability lists to tell travellers what they get out of Responsible Tourism in accommodation/trip choices? (See ‘Tom Hall talks about Lonely Planet‘)
2. Adrian (Bradt Guides) how much do you talk to accommodation providers/dmos in places like Sierra Leone about Responsible Tourism given they’re at early stage development?
3. Tom, did you mention that the Lonely Planet online will expand, as the print expands its Responsible Tourism section?
4. Are you seeing a tend to more coverage of slow food / slow travel ideas? (see ‘Adrian Phillips talks about Bradt guides‘)
5. Do you see opportunities in the online space which haven’t been available in the printed space?
   Are writers encouraged to promote sustainable tour operators?
6. Why does Lonely Planet pass on the ‘green index’ when it comes to cities?
7. What about a general Responsible Tourism checklist to help travellers make a decision? Lonely Planet and other publishers can play a big role. (See ‘Tom Hall talks about Lonely Planet‘)
8. How well does Lonely Planet pay its writers? (See ‘Tom Hall talks about Lonely Planet‘)
9. How much research /measurement are publishers doing on traveller needs and wants in this area?
10. How well does Bradt work with online forums, twitter, blogs? Do you have a conversation with locals on the ground?
11. How up to date are the online guides with Bradt… the movement of going green is so fast and the change from green to non-green to green washing is also quite fast

What the online, digital world has meant to travel publishers

When we think about the opportunities presented by the web, by mobiles, by social media what were talking about is a greater degree of intimacy a greater degree of one-to-one contact and a greater degree of speed in terms of information coming to the fore. So at the moment if a really fantastic tour started up in Jordan for example, it would have to wait two to three years to be brought to people’s attention if it was just ‘when’s the next edition of the book coming out?’.  However if we are able to harness the web to pass these things on there are ways that you can bring them to people’s attention much quicker.  At the moment we haven’t cracked this in terms of making individual points of interest available on the website when they’re not available in the book, it’s just not the way that things are working at the moment, we’d obviously like that to happen at some point.  I think the main thing is to get it to people quicker and to possibly be promoting more than you would be promoting along regular lines.  A guidebook is only so thick, website listings that have been verified by authors could be far more detailed.

The chances of publishers creating a green index or Responsible Tourism checklist

I think everything has to be a balance and there’re two things:  Firstly when an author is spending time in a particular location it has to be remembered that they are not necessarily somebody who is equipped with the skills to say that a place is being run along ethical and sustainable lines.  It may be the case in a few years time that all travel writers will be, but at the moment that isn’t the case.  So there are issues around that kind of assessment process.

It may be that one way forward is to be working with organisations who are very well equipped.  I would say that’s probably going to happen on a destination by destination basis and at the moment it’s not something that we have worked through.  I’d be interested to hear if other publishers have.

Featuring Irresponsible Tourism

I have to say I don’t view this as the role of a guidebook.  A guidebook would not feature a bad hotel, it would feature a good hotel and  I think that is very much the method.  The incentive for individual tour operators to get their acts together on this kind of thing, is to be offering the most attractive possible product, and should they do this then they are included and marketed effectively by the guidebooks of various publishers.  I think if you do the opposite then you discourage people from doing anything else.

Lonely Planet writers

Obviously I can’t go into too much detail about how we pay our authors but a lot of work has been going in to ensuring authors are paid fairly for the work that they do. You obviously have to balance a number of things - what people are paid throughout the industry, making sure people are getting a living wage for doing it, but also making sure that you’re paying enough to attract the right kind of people.  Obviously experts, expertise and experience does not come particularly cheap.  That said, do lots of people want to be travel writers? yes absolutely they do, but that doesn’t mean that you get people in and you pay them a pittance to do it.

Choosing an ethical publisher

How do readers choose a publisher based across the standards of behaviour that they have in their business, their relationships with their suppliers? It’s an interesting challenge and I think that more can be done to be transparent in business practices.  We’re having a conversation in the chat room here about procurement of paper and whether you could use recycled paper.  I only found out through talking to the chap that sources ours that if you are using paper that’s from managed sources it’s actually better for the environment than using recycled paper because of the chemicals that are used in the recycling process.  Now there are an enormous amount of nuances in this topic and I’m not enough of an expert on it, we are not the only publisher that’s made an effort to demonstrate that our paper comes from managed stocks.

All of our paper in the vast majority of cases is approved by the FSC.  I think publishers, not just guidebook publishers need to do that and tell people about it, and if that is an important thing, personally I believe that it is, then people should be able to find out about it.  I think you have to question the eventual value for being too open about things, how interested are people where our warehouses are and what the relationships we have with our suppliers is?  Now I know that we’ve put a huge amount of effort into these relationships, ensuring that they do meet labour requirements and that kind of thing.  I imagine the people in this room are very interested in this, the person picking up a copy of our guide to Syria and heading off to the Middle East is probably a bit ‘ho-hum’ about this kind of thing.  I think you need to work out what information you’re providing is of value and what is not.

Training writers in Responsible Travel

Every author is given a detailed brief of things to look for in their individual destinations.  This comes back to what I see as being one of the fundamental questions here which is responsible tourism issues need to be woven into the fabric of these guides rather than being something that is plonked across the entire range.  I would say that the briefing process for an individual book is the right time to bring in these kind of issues.  There is a huge difference in something people might look for if they are travelling to the South of Spain than if they are travelling to the south of Laos.  It’s up to the editors and the authors to build up the requisite knowledge base.  You might do it by having editors and authors who are destination experts, you might do it by taking it on a book by book basis.

In regard to formal training do we sit people down with a blackboard and say here are a few of the things you need to know about? Are they given a manual to responsible tourism? No they are not, but I think that in a lot of cases people are already very informed about these issues.  Certainly if you are a travel writer and you want to work for a publisher like Bradt, or Lonely Planet, or Wanderlust or Footprint, then you need to be across these issues, and people are often very well informed.  If you’re not then what the hell have you been doing for the last five years trying to be a travel writer without being informed about these issues?

Moving Responsible Travel information out of the boxed text

Do we need to move beyond lists and indexes? Yes absolutely, and I think that brings in the theme that I was talking about before which was that this is something that needs to be woven into the fabric of guides.  However, boxed texts are an extremely effective way of highlighting issues, particular themes, niche subjects, and I think that they are one of the things that really make guidebooks worth the money because it’s when authors get to move beyond the template that they are given, write a little freely, talk about issues that are important to them and that they believe are important to people who are reading the book.  So yes we do want to move beyond that but we don’t want to abandon it either.

About Bradt travel guides

Bradt was founded on the idea of responsible travel. Hilary Bradt set up the company about 35 years ago as a direct response to being asked by someone (a traveller publisher at the time) whether she could write a guide book without even visiting the destination.  She was so enraged by this that she decided to set up her own company.

Our niche has traditionally been in offering guidebooks to destinations that other publishers aren’t covering.  We’ve got guides to Sierra Leone, Iraq, Rwanda, Kosovo, those sorts of destinations.  The books often cover areas that have been recently devastated by war or famine, and where tourist revenue is vital to their recovery.  We like to think that by just being out there the guides are promoting a responsible attitude, in that the destinations are benefiting in ways that perhaps they otherwise wouldn’t if the information wasn’t provided.

A wider view of responsible tourism

The other thing I think we do is take a more adult approach to travel.  In my view there’s a fairly narrow view of what it is to travel responsibly.  So much of the debate at the moment defines travel as a guilty pleasure.  Flying is seen as the big bad thing, the carbon footprint is the be all and end all.  We’ve always viewed travel as a powerful force for good.  It just so happens that some of the poorest nations of the world are a long way from us.   If we restrict ourselves to places accessible by train or bike we’re really just using our money in the first world.

Tourism is the overwhelming impulse behind conservation projects, people need to make a living from their local environment.  Tourism offers them the motivation to preserve that piece of rainforest rather than cutting it down and turning it into furniture.  We changed our tag line from ‘giving something back’ to ‘travelling positively’ because we kind of felt it suggested people should feel guilty, as though they need to give something back, when in actually fact if they travel more positively in the first place they’re already giving.

Encouraging positive travel

I suppose our main contribution to positive travel is encouraging that mindset in everyone who is  travelling.  It might be deciding to go to an emerging destination as I mentioned before, rather than your typical holiday hot-spot.  It might just mean getting off the beaten track to villages or areas that most other people aren’t going to in a more mainstream destination, and so what our books try to do is provide the information that allows visitors to do that.

We work with a charity called stuff your rucksack which was setup by Kate Humble and that provides information on things required by local schools, or by orphanages.  It says specifically what they need at that moment, travellers can then log-on to the website, find out where they’re visiting and perhaps take marker pens or whatever in spare space they have in their luggage.  Delivering them personally to the schools at the other end gets you much closer engagement with the culture.  I think over all we just need to encourage this positive mindset towards travel and that in itself will bring the rewards.

Every destination has different requirements

Travelling responsibly can mean very different things for different destinations.  There are different kinds of publications - there will be a more narrow scope for covering responsible travel in Berlin than there might be for travelling in Rwanda, but there will always be local charities that will benefit from support through guidebooks from publicity, there will always be conservation projects whether that’s architectural, wildlife or whatever.  I would have thought that the general attitude toward travelling responsibly could be promoted whatever the destination, but certainly it’s going to be more readily propagated for certain places, and is more desperately required in some more than others.

What’s required in areas is sufficient visitor numbers to ensure that the local environment is protected, that the wildlife is protected, but not too many visitors so that in their very number they’re actually damaging the environment.  I think it all feeds back into working with local organisations on the ground.  Again this is very much part of what we would try to promote as part of positive travel, and obviously it’s great to work with international charities in many ways but it’s the local ones I think where travellers can actually make a very real and visible difference during a visit.   Certainly Bradt authors themselves can play a part in monitoring that, and certainly our authors will say if they believe that an area is getting over visited.  There’s no perfect world here, and certainly the responsibility lies very much with the authors as they take the lead with this responsible travel.

Ranking accommodation on eco-friendliness

We’ve come up against this problem or suggestion before that we should some how rank accommodation by their eco-friendliness.  The reality is that it’s actually something that’s very difficult to do.  There are different levels of eco-friendliness from destination to destination.  What you’re probably find is that areas in the first world are far more ecologically friendly than some of the poorer areas of the world, so I think it’s quite difficult to get a benchmark for how you go about assessing these things.

In a practical sense it’s also extremely difficult, an author’s already having to be a jack of all trades to write about the country’s economy, markets, wildlife etc. There’s a limited amount of money to spare to pay authors and they have to make the most use of their time.  To try and assess accurately the level to which a hotel is meeting certain criteria is quite difficult.  Having said that, our individual authors are very conservation minded and will only promote places which they think are taking steps in that sort of direction or meet those sort of aspirations.  To come up with a fixed template by which to judge these places is very difficult I think.

The Go Slow movement

Author’s fall almost naturally into the Go Slow movement really.  It’s very much about travelling with low impact whilst on the ground, and certainly buying local crafts, eating local food, engaging with local businesses.  We’re actually bringing out some books that are UK based next year called Go Slow guides, targeting the Go Slow movement more specifically.

Further information:

• Interview: Hilary Bradt MBE, Creator Of Bradt Travel Guides

Photo by foéÖþoooey

This is a linguistic trace of the central role played by bread in the Italian culinary tradition, especially when ‘companatico’ was scarce and more expensive than most people could afford. Bread is so important in our dietary tradition that we have national laws explicitly meant to define the different types and the products which can go in its preparation.

Italians apparently eat 66kg of bread per person every year. My grandparents ate bread with anything: pasta, vegetables and even fruit. I remember being served bread and figs and bread and wine with sugar during festive family meals. And every time I go to my parents’ place in the countryside, I cannot but remember my grandfather sitting on a half-broken wooden bench, slicing a stale loaf of bread with his pocket knife and eating it with ripe grapes or peaches.

Continue reading this article @ At Home in Tuscany

Some Balinese practice their Hindu faith / Photo by Stephen Chapman

Trust is always an issue when abroad

Everyone who travels abroad to a new place, particularly a new culture sacrifices the ability to confidently trust people they meet, atleast for a short while.  Many of us will have experienced this with the endlessly evolving plethora of intricately composed scams that target tourists the world over.  I’ve suffered the hard sell of gems in Bangkok; the ‘friendly’ money changer in Havana, Cuba; the sob stories of art gallery owners in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to name a few, and they are tough experiences that I don’t think you ever really get used to, or anymore adept at spotting.  Nobody likes to be made a fool of.

Who do we and who should we trust at home?

These issues of trust are equally present when we’re at home, only we’re often running too much on auto-pilot to acknowledge the automated process of acceptance.  Anything the media tells us, anything the government tells us, anything an NGO or charity tells us we tend to listen to and value for no other reason than the fact that we trust the source.  This inherent trust can be a dangerous thing, but it also necessary.  We cannot possibly question everything we are told and research the facts ourselves.  In the same way we all choose to have faith in different religions so too we all choose to trust different sources of information, and we can’t expect these to be correct 100% of the time.

Responsible tourism companies question facts of Survival International campaign

‘Celebrity resort threatens isolated tribe‘ was the story run by UK based charity Survival International, referring to a new project being setup on the Andaman Islands by India based company, Barefoot.  This company is featured on the India based responsible tourism site Travel to Care, and as such there have been questions raised (by Travel to Care) as to whether the claims made by Survival International are simply sensationalist, out of touch and attention seeking.  Barefoot’s response to Survival International’s press release tends to suggest that they may well be in this case.  The letter sent to Barefoot by Survival International can also be read online. Neither side is without an agenda.

Survival International stand by their claims

Following the initial publication of this article Survival International have issued a response and stand by their claims.  The location of the reserve perimeter to which they refer, and hence proximity of the resort to the Jarawa people is contested by both parties.  If Barefoot can prove that it is indeed 3.2kms away and not the 500m claimed by Survival International then there will no doubt be a mutual acceptance of these facts.  It is important to note that Survival International have visited the site and spoken with reliable sources themselves.

Great discussion taking place on the Irresponsible Tourism Forum.

Where do you place your trust?

Photo by Vicky Baker

Ok, I’m exaggerating slightly (but not much).

The reason for this apparent obsession is my job of putting together a 400-page guidebook to Argentina and Uruguay. It’s going to be a good ‘un, believe me, but more on that another time. In the meantime, I’ve been having a general think about the hard time we give guidebooks. Myself included.

Not that long ago I was close flinging a guidebook out of a window in disgust. Why?

Continue reading this article @ Going Local Travel

Rafting on the Neretva river / Photo by Thierry Joubert

The Legend of Konjic

This is the legend of Konjic and how it came to be the major settlement of northern Herzegovina. It’s a charming story and one of my favourite Bosnian tales.

A homeless nomad roamed through the village near Boracko Lake, Bosnia & Herzegovina. He asked the villagers for warm food and a place to stay. They not only shooed him off but grunted offenses at him. He continued on, seemingly unscathed by their remarks. He came to a widows home. Her husband had died several years earlier and left her with three children. The wanderer asked the widow the same question he had the other villagers. She warmly greeted him and invited him into her home for a meal.

Whilst they were eating he issued her a warning. “Thank you ma’am for your kind hospitality. I have an important message for you if you are willing to listen. The ground here will soon begin to shake immensely. The entire village will be destroyed as well as everyone in it. You must take your children on horseback through the canyon and over the mountain to safety. You will know you are safe when your horse stops and digs his hoof into the ground three times. This place will be your new home.”

The woman was startled. Confused. She didn’t know what to think. She said nothing as the man finished his meal and dozed off to sleep. When the woman woke the next morning the man was gone. There was worry in her heart. She thought of her children. Her village. She went and told her neighbours what the nomad had said. They all laughed it off as ridiculous and accused him of trying to scare off the village so he could loot the place.

The woman still struggled with the warning. She contemplated leaving but balked. At that moment her little daughter came running around the corner. An overwhelming sense of love came to the woman and in the same instant so did clarity of vision. She packed the children up on her horses and they left that evening towards the canyon. They traveled all night. By morning they reached the open valley of the Neretva River. As they slowly strutted through the alpine meadow the lead horse suddenly stopped. He became agitated. Bucked a bit. And then dug his hoof into the ground and scraped it three times.

As the horse stood up a tremendous roar came through the canyon valley. The tremor lasted several moments. The earth shook. The horses spun in fear. The woman was beyond herself. She dismounted in the lush fields her horse had led her to – this was to be her new home.

Re-opening of an ancient Ottoman stone bridge

An ottoman bridge / Photo by moslihh

The majestical place of Konjic is having a ceremony to re-open one of these ancient Ottoman bridges similar to those in Mostar, Visegrad and Trebinje that were bombed into oblivion by German forces during WWII. They are indeed a marvel of creation. News crews will be out on mass as well as the entire town to see it returned to its old glory. What troubles me though is that the value we place on a stone bridge is so overwhelmingly higher than the value we place on the irreplaceable miracles of Mother Nature in and around Konjic.

Failure to learn the value of a natural resource

Photo by Thierry Joubert

As an environmentalist and eco-tourism expert, I believe that Konjic and Foca are the most dynamic and beautiful municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is unbelievable potential here to develop eco-tourism and organic agriculture as a means of sustainable living for every citizen of Konjic.  The mountaintops of southern Bjelasnica, Visocica, Prenj, Bitovnja, and Crvanj bless the skyline. The Neretva and Rakitnica Canyons, carved out over millions of years by the patient flow of rivers, create an eco-system that is unmatched in southeast Europe.  Unfortunately the once thick forests responsible for the exceptional air quality, and home to some of the richest bio-diversity in Europe have all but disappeared due to rampant logging.

What has happened over the past decade is no less horrendous than the rape and pillage of the brutal war we lived through.  The most protected tree in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the endemic Munika, has been hacked off the mountain face of Prenj.  A senseless road has decimated the once primeval beauty of the strictly protected Rakitnca Canyon. Mini-dams which destroy vital riverside bio-diversity are being constructed in every corner of Konjic’s territory. All of this in the name of progress and development. I prefer to call it immoral monopolies.  I ask the citizens of Konjic, ‘what benefits are you gaining from the silent destruction of your beloved land?’

Pre-war plans damaged the Neretva river

Fish in the Neretva River / Photo by Thierry Joubert

I challenge anyone to find a river like the Neretva, or Una for that matter in continental Europe. The simple fact is that there are no more major potable waterways left. The Neretva is clean from its source to Dzajici near Konjic. Over 100 kilometres of gorgeous, crystal clear, drinking water.

Public opinion against pre-war plans to dam the Neretva river is over 70%, but that does not phase the local authorities nor the energy mongers in Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Vienna or Blagaj.  The question of the Neretva has been a political one for quite some time. The river is God’s blessing to us. It is neither a question of economics nor politics. It gives us life. Fresh air. It feeds our eco-system which gives us the best meat, fruit, vegetable and dairy products in the region. It gives us beauty. And who does not want to come and see beauty?

The damming of the Neretva is purely a moral issue, and morality is one thing that is greatly lacking in our difficult time of transition. We celebrate this opening of the Ottoman bridge with wide eyes and warmed hearts. I share that sentiment too, but how on earth can we not see the value of millions of years of Mother Nature’s work.  A creation that cannot be rebuilt. Cannot be replaced. When its gone. It’s gone forever. What legend’s will they speak of when we are no longer? Will we leave a legacy to be proud of, or one that our grandchildren will curse us for?

Further information:

• Bosnian version of this article
• Green Visions: Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Follow @greenvisions on Twitter

outside looking in? or inside looking out? / Photo by Stephen Chapman

I woke up this morning to find that I’m an “interesting expat”. Which was nice.

At least so says Matador Network in a piece on “20 interesting expats on Twitter“. It’s not the list, but a list, they point out.  But let’s not worry about that.  Today I’m officially interesting and I am going to bask in the moment. Tomorrow I may not be.

Anyway, all this got me thinking about expats in general. How long does it take you to be deemed an “insider” in a place? Being a foreigner, can you ever be truly “inside” a country’s psyche?  Or will you always been on periphery of sorts? Maybe that periphery is a good place to be. Especially when it comes to offering travel advice.

Continue reading this article @ Going Local Travel