Zanzibar Action Plan
and Fes Declaration for Responsible Travel Pave the Way
for Continued Action and Awareness
A key person on this important
project is Dave Gibson, Co-Chair,
ATA Responsible
Travel Committee. Along with
his company, Chemonics International, Mr.
Gibson has supported natural resources and tourism
management programming in
40 countries across all regions during the past 25 years.
See
Gibson profile
Since
the pioneering initiatives of the Casablanca Eco-Tourism
Manifesto of 1990 and the Responsible Traveller
Guidelines (Nairobi, 1995), the African Travel
Association has demonstrated a commitment to the global
awareness of specific Cultural Heritage and Eco-tourism
needs. This declaration guarantees the continuity of that
commitment, as a result of the significant discussions
conducted during the Sixth Cultural Heritage and
Eco-Tourism conference of the African Travel Association,
hosted in Fes, Morocco, December 8-13, 2002, the
following statements were agreed to by the delegates as
recomendations for serious action trajectories to be
taken by the broader tourism industry in regard to
Cultural Heritage and Eco-tourism
directions.
It was agreed
that:
1. There should be concerted
efforts to stimulate, educate, and involve, through
direct partnership, local communities in Eco-tourism
products which will affect their lives. That this
involvement of the local communities must include
consistent ethical practices which will provide full
respect of their unique cultural, religious, linguistic
and personal integrity.
2. That all ground operators; tour
operators, travel agents and group organizers are
encouraged to include community-based tourism projects in
their proposed programs.
3. All tourism institutions
participating in the Cultural Heritage and Eco-tourism
sector should compile and make public some form of a
stated Environmental Policy for their organisation, with
specific conditions for its implementation and
updating.
4. All tourism institutions
participating within the areas of Cultural Heritage and
Eco-tourism should strive to achieve, in the immediate
future, products of an equivalent quality to recognized
and certified international standards, and that those
standards are regularly controlled for the maintenance of
the unique products and services demanded by Eco-tourism
clients.
5. All tourism institutions
participating in the Cultural Heritage and Eco-tourism
sector, should take intentional and substantial steps
toward the quality training of all staff and personnel
for the specific needs of Cultural Heritage and
Eco-tourism clients, and that there should be a clearly
defined relationship of the tourism industry with youth
employment and educational awareness programs; with an
emphasis on cultural and environmental issues.
6. All tourism institutions
participating in the Cultural Heritage and Eco-tourism
sector should implement specific educational programs on
the diversity and quality of ecologically-oriented
products for field guides and management personnel
regarding products acquisition and ongoing management
policy.
7. All tourism institutions
participating in the Cultural Heritage and Eco-Tourism
sector, should take significant efforts to stimulate a
public awareness for, and take direct actions to
implement, sustainable conservation programs for water
and other natural resouces, including the protection of
flora and fauna in the environment of their tourism
product.
8. The tourism industry must
recognize the significant inter-relational role of
Cultural Heritage and Eco-tourism within the broader
aspects of a host nation's full social, political and
economic systems.
9. That there must be both a
consistency of purpose and of commitment for strategic
linkage among the World Tourism Organization, the nations
of Africa and the international travel industry to
achieve the goals outlined in this document, and dealing
with the delicate balance between commercialisation and
conservation of Africa's heritage and
environment.
10. That the ATA should reactivate
their Environment Committee, and further deputize this
group to identify, propose and implement reasonable
measures to move ATA into the Responsible Travel
mainstream in a leadership capacity, including concrete
actions such as screening of conference venues, to insure
that host facilities comply with Cultural Heritage and
Eco-tourism standards.
These committed recommendations, to
be called The Fes Declaration for Responsible Travel
Action, after extensive discussions have been agreed to
by the delegates of the Sixth Cultural Heritage and
Eco-Tourism Conference, Fes, Morocco, on March 30,
2003.
