Travel less often for longer

STRANGE, but true: a travel organization that is calling on travellers to fly less often. And yet long-distance travel specialist Better Places Travel is doing just that. “Flying is bad for the environment,” acknowledges founder Saskia Griep. “That’s why it’s better to travel less often to faraway destinations.” When people do travel, Better Places Travel advises travellers to leave as much positive impact as possible during their trip. The travel organization provides helpful tips for this and has even designed several trips with maximum positive impact.

With much of the media focusing on the negative consequences of flying, it’s easy to forget that travel also has many positive effects. Sakia Griep: “While we won’t stop flying, we can make sure to become more aware about the way we fly, reduce our negative impact as much as possible, and ensure that everyone involved profits from travel.” That’s why Better Places Travel is introducing positive impact trips. “We want to create travel itineraries that contribute positively to local communities and the natural environment, and at the same time offer the best travel experience for the traveller. By working together with local initiatives like Resirest, Backstreet Academy and I Like Local we are able to increase our impact much more quickly and efficiently.”

The impact trips (www.betterplacestravel.com/positive-impact-travel) created by Better Places Travel are all at least three weeks long and provide many opportunities for contact with locals during the trip. After all, the best memories are often made by meeting and interacting with the local people. Think about using local drivers and guides, choosing special excursions and staying in homestays or small-scale sustainable accommodations. You will not only see the highlights of a country, but also visit the more off-the-beaten-track places.

Better Places Travel shares some of their tips for making travel a positive experience:

· Travel less often, less far and for longer periods at a time.
· Fly directly to the destination (no layover) with a modern airplane to reduce  

  your CO2 emissions up to 50%.
· Interact often with the locals by, for example, taking a cooking course or 

  sleeping in a homestay.
· Stay in small-scale family hotels that operate sustainably.
· Travel by train or bus instead of taking a domestic flight.
· Take a refillable water bottle and/or filter with you to prevent plastic waste.
· Go on animal-friendly excursions and visit national parks.
· Buy sustainable souvenirs and eat vegetarian food.
· Travel in low season and visit the off-the-beaten path destinations.



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Extreme tourism a threat to Machu Picchu?

WITH over 1.3 Million visitors per year, #MachuPicchu is under tremendous environmental pressure. UNESCO had listed Machu Picchu among sites at risk due to extreme tourism along with another 54 sites around the world but after extensive structure work to better protect the Machu Picchu Sanctuary, UNESCO removed Machu Picchu from the endangered heritage list.

To protect the sanctuary, some of the upcoming changes include time limits at specific points, morning and afternoon shifts and certified guides requirement to enter the site. The restructuring looks to restore and integrate long-overlooked Inca trail, terraces and ceremonial ruins.

A new bridge joining the town of Machu Picchu and Machu Picchu Archaeological Park opened December 29th, 2016 for tourist visiting the ruins. The new structured will be named the Ruinas Bridge and expands over 150 feet above the Rio Alcamayo.

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Flight Centre UK joins sustainability programme

FLIGHT CENTRE UK has joined the Travelife Sustainability System, an internationally-recognized certification programme run by the Association of British Travel Agents to promote sustainability in the tourism industry.

Travelife allows hotels and accommodation providers to audit their sustainability practices based on a bronze, silver, and gold rating of achievement. Now a Travelife member, Flight Centre will aim to identify hotel and suppliers who are interested in joining the programme to become future partners.

Chris Galanty, managing director at Flight Centre UK and South Africa commented: ‘We are committed to not only giving our customers great experiences when booking with us but also to ensuring that the products we sell are in line with our fair trade and environmental policies.

‘Flight Centre is dedicated to improving social, economic, and environmental impacts, so Travelife is a great step for us and we are thrilled to be a part of it. We are committed to helping our customers easily select hotels which are working to protect their local community and environment. We also aim to reinforce our status as a reliable, respected travel retailer and safeguard the quality of services provided.’

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Britain’s post-Bexit holiday boom

BUSINESS confidence among accommodation providers is at a record high for the summer holidays in a VisitEngland survey. The findings also show that out of 500 accommodation providers, more than half are expecting an increase in visitors following the EU referendum outcome with a particular boost expected for the domestic market.

English businesses are anticipating a strong summer holiday period with 65% of accommodation providers feeling ‘very confident about the summer holidays and 47% reporting forward bookings as ‘very good’ – both record highs for the survey.

Some 40% of accommodation providers and attractions reported increased visitor numbers in the year to date, with a further 30% maintaining performance.

Tourism minister Tracey Crouch said: ‘The number of people enjoying holidays in England is at a record high. With our world-leading museums and galleries, beautiful countryside and stunning coastline, it should come as no surprise that more people are planning staycations this summer. Tourism contributes an estimated £60 billion to our economy every year, so a strong summer season is not only great news for the sector but the whole country.’

VisitEngland Director Patricia Yates commented: ‘It’s a great summer to holiday in England and a fantastic opportunity for the tourism industry to showcase the range of quality tourism products on offer across the country and demonstrate just why our regions should top people’s list as must-go destinations.

Ms Yates said that with the weakened pound, a holiday at home also gave people the reassurance and certainty of budgeting for a domestic trip.

It has been a record-breaking first four months of the year for domestic holiday trips in England. From January to April, Brits took 11 million holiday trips, 8% more compared to the same period last year, and spent £2.8 billon, 22% up on last year.

These figures come on the back of a strong 2015 with domestic holiday trips and spending both up 7% on the previous year to 43.7 million holiday trips and £10.7 billion respectively.

Also in 2015, domestic seaside holiday trips were up 7%, city holidays up 6% and countryside holidays up 12%.

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Should we stay … or should we go?

Go Holiday editor David Kernek looks at the case for the UK staying in the EU, and finds it … underwhelming

WITH a Keep Britain in the European Union coalition that includes the President of the United States, the leading bigshots in the 28 member states of the EU, almost all of Britain’s mainstream political parties (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, and Scottish and Welsh nationalists), a couple of ex-heads of MI5 and MI6, a former boss of Marks & Spencer, major players in the travel and tourism industries and not forgetting former prime minister Gordon Brown and Sir Richard Branson – no scrub that, let’s forget them – should those of us who had been intending to vote for a UK exit from the EU conclude that we are insane, exceedingly dense, or just in need of a cup of tea and a few hours of rest in a dark room, after which we’d realize that all of these eminent people really do know best?

There isn’t time or space enough here to highlight all of the deceptions, exaggerations, and absurd assumptions – and all of the examples of confused thinking – that characterize the Remain discourse, but I’ll have a go.

Never mind that the UK’s prime minister in his negotiation with the EU asked for a few slices of bread and came back with a handful of crumbs, or that in no meaningful sense do the new membership terms he finds acceptable leave us with a ‘reformed’ union.

No matter that British politicians have since 1973 deceived voters – and perhaps themselves – about the fundamental purpose of the Brussels project, which was and remains the creation of a continental superstate, the downsides of which have been inflicted so far chiefly on Greece (where the results of general elections now count for nothing), Italy (where an unelected cabinet was installed to head off a euro debt crisis), Spain, and Portugal.

Let’s not look at the way in which defence and security issues have been hauled in, as if the EU plays any useful part in the military and intelligence alliances that protect these islands … as if the open borders in the useless Schengen Zone have prevented terrorist murders in the capitals of Western Europe … as if a third continent-wide war might or could or possibly be the consequence of leaving what we were told was simply a free trade block, albeit one in which the laws of nation states are secondary to legislation approved by the EU’s Commission and so-called parliament – that’s the parliament that sits at enormous financial cost in both Brussels and Strasbourg. There are, believe it or not, defence experts in both the US and Britain who say a UK exit would have no adverse impact on the Anglo-American alliance.

Don’t give a second thought to the fact that many of the great and the good who are warning of the direst consequences of a British exit were the same great and the good who led the cheerleading for a UK entry into the financial and political swamp that is EU’s single currency zone … or that many of them have in one way or another had – or still have – a first class seat on the Brussels gravy train. When a university or research outfit sings the praises of the EU, ask how much folding money it gets from Brussels, and how much of it came in the first place from UK taxpayers.

Never mind that for every so-called expert who warns of chaos and failure for a Britain outside the EU, I could call in aid an economist, investment specialist, or defence expert to put the counter argument. Here are FIVE of them:

‘1.History amply demonstrates to us that when you impose artificial borders and artificial unity on a group of human beings, it tends to blow up nastily, and usually in your face.’ That was John Stepek, Editor, MoneyWeek

2.‘Contrary to the claims of many authors and commentators, it is probable that the impacts of Brexit on trade would be relatively small. Moreover, it is certainly possible that leaving the European Union would leave the external sector better off in the long run, if Britain could use its new found freedom to negotiate its own trading arrangements to good effect. It is plausible that Brexit could have a modest negative impact on growth and job creation. However it is slightly more plausible that the net impact would be modestly positive. There are potential net benefits in the areas of a more tailored immigration policy, the freedom to make trade deals, moderately lower levels of regulation, and savings to the public purse.’ That was Capital Economics.

3.‘The truth about Brexit from a national security perspective is that the cost to Britain would be low. Brexit would bring two potentially important security gains: the ability to dump the European Convention on Human Rights — remember the difficulty of extraditing the extremist Abu Hamza of the Finsbury Park Mosque – and, more importantly, greater control over immigration from the European Union. Britain is Europe’s leader in intelligence and security matters and gives much more than it gets in return. It is difficult to imagine any of the other EU members ending the relationships they already enjoy with the UK. Richard Dearlove, chief of MI6, 1999 -2004.

4.‘I don't mean to be arguing against the European Union, but with regards to these kinds of questions, the union is not a natural contributor to the national security of each of the entity states. In some ways it gets in the way of the state's providing security for its own citizens.’ General Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA.

5. ‘I am not saying for one moment that Britain couldn’t survive outside the European Union. Of course we could. We are a great country. The fifth largest economy in the world. The fastest growing economy in the G7 last year. The biggest destination for Foreign Direct Investment in the EU. Our capital city a global icon. The world, literally, speaks our language. No one doubts that Britain is a proud, successful thriving country. A nation that has turned round its fortunes though its own efforts. A far cry from the ‘sick man of Europe’ at the time we entered the European Economic Community four decades ago. Whether we could be successful outside the European Union is not the question.’ That, in November 2015, was none other Prime Minister David Cameron, attempting to argue not that Britain would be unsuccessful outside the EU but that it would be even more successful if it stayed in. He declined to offer a guess as to how much more successful – the Treasury has since cobbled up a calculation of how much worse off the average household would be in 2030 outside the Brussels Empire – and has since moved on to prophesying WW3. In doing so, he doesn’t seem to have noticed that the political, economic, and social fissures created by the drive to a United States of Europe has nourished the growth in France, Germany, Austria, Greece and elsewhere of parties at the very unpleasant end of the Right-wing spectrum. He’s now saying the economic consequences would be ‘terrible’; what does he know now that he didn’t in November last year?

Travel, tourism, and holiday companies, and their lobbying organizations, have been vocal in their opposition to the restoration of the UK as an independent, self-governing state. Richard Branson, the Association of British Travel Agents, easyJet, Ryanair have joined in the scaremongering, warning of the end of cheap travel and holidays, visa barriers, and a risk to jobs in the tourism industry. There has been talk of this island being isolated, cut off, and of ‘economic suicide’.

Some people of nervous disposition have been frightened by this tosh. Interviewed on BBC Radio 4 recently, an undergraduate with a nervous disposition said she wouldn’t be able to have inter-rail holidays in Europe. How on earth did she get into a university? My first trip to France was in the late 1960s which, history graduates might know, was when Britain was not a member of the then European Economic Community. I bought my ferry ticket, showed my passport … and I was in. Cheap package holidays in the Spanish Costas began some years before Britain made the mistake of joining the EEC. Visas weren’t needed then: why would they be required if the British vote for independence?

Are the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the rest likely to put up British Tourists Not Welcome signs? I suspect that’s as improbable as a German chancellor wanting to start a tariff war that would make it much more difficult for the Bayerische Motoren Werke Company to sell its excellent cars in Britain. Now, all that really would be economic suicide. What’s the German – or French – for cutting off your nose to spite your face?

There’s no doubting the economic importance of in-bound tourism to all of the four nations of the UK. The UK tourism industry – accounting for 9.6% of total employment – keeps more than three million in work. What can be doubted are the assertions that a Britain outside the EU would have an adverse on the industry; that, simply, fewer people would want to visit, that airlines would take the country off their destination lists.

There’s no reason to believe that the current passport arrangements with our neighbours in Western Europe would change. The island’s tourism assets – history, heritage, landscapes, Shakespeare, Stonehenge and the rest – would continue to be a major draw, along with, for many, our funny habit of driving on the wrong side of the road and the country’s reluctance to ditch a currency, the roots of which can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon England. The pound sterling is the world's oldest currency still in use. The importance of tourism from EU states can also be exaggerated. VisitBritain reports that the top three markets which have recently shown the highest absolute growth in value (on average during the last five years) are all long haul to the UK: the US, China, and Australia. On what basis can it be feared that a Britain outside the European Union would be of diminishing interest to people in these markets? There isn’t one.

Many of the so-called arguments in favour of Britain’s participation in the dystopian Brussels project are not greatly unlike those heard more than half a century ago, when the original six-nation European Economic Community was created and when in the 1960s, one of the most useful contributions was made by General Charles de Gaulle who as France’s president twice vetoed UK applications to join.

‘Compared with the motives that led the Six to organize their unit,’ he explained, ‘we understand why Britain – who is not continental, who remains, because of the Commonwealth and because she is an island, committed far beyond the seas, who is tied to the United States by all kinds of special agreements – did not merge into a Community with set dimensions and strict rules. In short, the nature, the structure, the very situation that are England’s differ profoundly from those of the continentals.

‘England is maritime, she is linked through her exchanges, her markets, her supply lines to the most diverse and often the most distant countries; she pursues essentially industrial and commercial activities, and only slight agricultural ones. She has in all her doings very marked and very original habits and traditions. The question is whether Great Britain can now place herself like the Continent and with it inside a tariff which is genuinely common, to renounce all Commonwealth preferences, to cease any pretence that her agriculture be privileged, and, more than that, to treat her engagements with other countries of the free trade area as null and void — that question is the whole question.’

The general – whatever else he got wrong – knew it would never work. This referendum – something reckoned unthinkable for Britain’s political class a decade ago – is proof that he was right.
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Awards for responsible tourism

TOURISM BUSINESSES and organizations are being invited to submit an entry for the World Responsible Tourism Awards 2016. 

The global search for the world’s most inspirational examples of responsible tourism in action kicks off with entries being accepted into five categories spanning issues across the tourism industry.

The announcement of the 2016 winners, at World Travel Market (WTM) London, will this year be part of the celebrations marking 10 years of World #ResponsibleTourism Day.

New categories for 2016 include the ‘Best responsible tourism campaign’ which aims to celebrate the most successful marketing or advocacy campaigns in encouraging and promoting a more responsible style of travel.

The importance of the awards in assessing how far responsible tourism has developed, and how much it been achieved in the last decade is not lost on the chairman of the judging panel, Professor Harold Goodwin of the Responsible Tourism Partnership and the International Centre for Responsible Tourism. ‘Through the awards winners every year, we see the standard of what is being achieved by people taking responsibility for tourism getting higher and higher. And every year we see more and more countries represented in our entries.

‘Tourism, if sold, enjoyed, and organized responsibly is of global importance, and our winners this year will set the standard to which all tourism businesses should aspire.’

Awards judge Simon Press, senior exhibition director for World Travel Market London, adds: ‘The World Responsible Tourism Awards at WTM London are a central pillar of the success of World Responsible Tourism Day. The winners and shortlisted companies act as a benchmark and inspiration for what the global travel and tourism industry can achieve in responsible tourism practice.’

The 2016 categories:

• Best accommodation for responsible employment 
• Best contribution to wildlife conservation 
• Best innovation by a tour operator 
• Best for poverty reduction and inclusion 
• Best responsible tourism campaign

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Explore axes elephant rides from adventure itineraries

ADVENTURE travel company Explore has removed elephant riding from all of its itineraries. The decision was made after discussions with experts including the Born Free Foundation and the Mahouts* Elephant Foundation. 

Elephants are not domesticated and in captivity they have been 'broken' or trained to behave in a certain way. Elephant rides cause damage and deformities to their spines and the activity encourages illegal elephant poaching of young elephants being taken from their mothers. Poor treatment of elephants is often due to a lack of knowledge and education in the communities that own the animals.

John Telfer, product director at Explore says: ‘We have spent time deliberating the matter and given a lot of thought to the consequences for the local communities and people who make their living by offering elephant rides. For this reason we shall work with Mahouts Elephant Foundation in 2016 to support their work in educating local people on how to offer alternative experiences to travellers, such as elephant walking safaris in the wild. We will also continue to look at ways in which we can safely take our customers to see these creatures in their natural environment.”

Sarah Blaine from Mahouts Elephant Foundation commented: ‘We're delighted to be working with Explore to help them move forward with how their guests inter-act with elephants. Our philosophy of working collaboratively with mahouts and their communities to ensure all parties' benefit is unique. We have a clear understanding and appreciation that the elephant's welfare is dependent on their mahouts and their living conditions. This approach ensures that livelihoods are protected.’

*An elephant rider, trainer, or keeper

www.explore.co.uk

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SeaWorld California to phase out killer whale displays

#SEAWORLD #CALIFORNIA is to phase out controversial public displays by killer whales. Chief executive, Joel Manby, announced that 2017 will be the last year of the show in San Diego. 

He said that the move was part of a strategy that seeks to reverse falling visitor numbers at the company's 11 parks across the US. The company has faced intense criticism by animal rights activists who say keeping the whales in captivity is cruel and unnecessary.

The company’s shares have halved in value since the release of a critical documentary film, Blackfish, two years ago.

Displays by killer whales are the centrepiece at three parks operated by SeaWorld, in California, Florida, and Texas.

A SeaWorld spokesman told the BBC that the changes reflect ‘input received’ in San Diego. ‘It does not affect our other parks,’ he added.

The company yesterday announced ‘a new approach’ to in-park activities with a focus on veterinary care and animal rescue operations.

Mr Manby added: ‘We hope that experiencing animals in our parks moves our guests to a deeper understanding of the plight of all animals – and an increasingly threatened natural environment – and inspires those guests to help conserve the world we share.’

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Self-catering sector worth £1.9 billion to Spain’s economy

A STUDY of the vacation rentals industry in Spain by the ESADE Business School in Barcelona found that in 2014, more than 27 million tourists visited Madrid, the coastal areas of Majorca and Calpe, San Sebastian, Granada, and Barcelona – the areas that account for almost half of tourism in Spain. Of the 27 million, 3.7 million stayed in holiday rentals.

Gerard Costa, professor of Marketing Management at ESADE says: ‘We were able to verify for the first time in Spain that holiday rentals have been the vanguard of a form of tourism that is becoming a great global trend: foreign families seeking a convenient and comfortable house, consuming local commerce, valuing the deal with the owner as well as the fact that the money goes to an individual rather than a corporate chain, and recommending the experience.’

The study’s main findings:

•  Approximately 79% of the 3.7 million people who visited the key tourism areas and stayed in self-catering accommodation were foreign.

• The average number of nights they spent in rented accommodation was 7.4

• This type of tourism contributed almost €2.7 billion (£1.9 billion) to the Spanish economy in 2014

•   The average expenditure was €726 (£510) per tourist, of which €249 (£175) was spent on accommodation and €477 (£335) on activities, transport, and meals

•  Despite the growth of this holiday option in Spain, 73% of accommodation owners believed that current national and regional laws and regulations did not make renting out property to tourists an easy option.

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Responsible holidays to Spain on the increase, as Canaries warn against ‘Magaluf Effect’

AS the new president of the Canaries warns of the dangers of mass tourism for the islands, holiday enquiries by Responsible Travel customers show that interest in the responsible side of #Spain is growing.

It was reported in June that Magaluf’s plans to introduce new laws and fines to control anti-social tourist behaviour had failed to make an impact in ‘cleaning up’ the resort’s image. And the new president of the #CanaryIslands, Fernando Clavijo, has suggested recently that tourist numbers should be capped and that the rising number of cheap, all-inclusive packages should be controlled in order to prevent what he calls the ‘Magaluf Effect’.

Justin Francis, managing director of Responsible Travel comments: ‘There is clearly an increasing interest among travellers to escape the mass tourism of Spain’s more notorious holiday resorts and discover something more authentic, more responsible … in essence, something more Spanish.

‘And with places such as Magaluf trying, and so far failing to crack down on the irresponsible behaviour of the tourists they attract, we are thrilled to see that alternative holiday experiences in Spain, which place real value on local culture and identity and which share the benefits of tourism with local people, are gaining in popularity.’

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Aruba in line for international award

#ARUBA is in line for another prestigious international award, recognizing its world-leading achievements in #sustainabletourism. The #Caribbean island is a finalist for the 2015 World Responsible Tourism Awards to be announced in London in November. This follows Aruba's success earlier this year when it took the winner's spot in the Destination Leadership category of the first National Geographic World Legacy Awards. This recognised its drive to be the world's first country to be free of fossil fuel.

Commenting on this year's entries, managing director of Responsible Tourism and founder of the awards, Justin Francis, said: 'In our entries this year, we've seen organizations clearly influenced by the work of our previous winners, for example, city tours run by homeless guides. It is our responsibility to find those inspirational people again.

'Looking at our hugely diverse list of finalists this year, I think we have found those people. The organizations in the list prove that responsible tourism is viable and can be successful in all types of tourism, from niche to mainstream. These organizations are the shining stars of responsible tourism.'

www.aruba.com

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Caribbean tourism trade concerned over stinking seaweed

THE #Caribbean #tourism trade is concerned that an increase in foul-smelling seaweed washing up on beaches could impact visitor numbers to the area in the long term.

Authorities across the region are providing emergency funding to clean up huge piles of the decaying seaweed, which authorities on Tobago are describing as a “natural disaster”, the Guardian has reported.

Sagassum seaweed – which attracts biting sand fleas and smells like rotten eggs – is reportedly covering larger and larger areas, from Mexico’s Caribbean resorts in the west to Barbados in the east and the #DominicanRepublic in the north.

With the region’s peak tourism period due to begin in a few months, some officials are calling for an emergency meeting of the Caribbean Community, concerned the occurrence could become a serious issue for tourism.

Christopher James, chairman of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association, said: ‘This has been the worst year we’ve seen. We need to have a regional effort because this unsightly seaweed could end up affecting the image of the Caribbean.’

Guest houses along Tobago's east and west coasts have reportedly been receiving cancellations as a result of the seaweed.

Theories about what is causing the seaweed include rising ocean temperatures and changes in the currents due to climate change. Some researchers believe it is due to pollutants washing into the water.

Mexican authorities will spend £5.1 million and hire 4,600 workers to clean up seaweed mounds, with part of the money used to determine whether the sargassum can be collected before it reaches the shore.

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Malta tops for tourism investment, but …

THE Maltese government does the most to invest in and promote travel and tourism, according to a World Economic Forum report.

Its 2015 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report benchmarked 141 economies across 90 indicators to find out which countries are making the best use of their travel and tourism industries to maximize economic development and competitiveness.

#Malta is closely followed by Mauritius, Cyprus, and Singapore in prioritizing travel and tourism, with Iceland, Spain, the Dominican Republic, the Seychelles, Estonia, and Barbados completing the top 10.

But Malta ranks at 106th in price competitiveness. It also ranks poorly with regards its natural resources (115th , its cultural resources and business travel (90th), and its environmental sustainability (64th).

It ranked 40th in providing the best business environment, 25th in safety and security, 17th in health and hygiene, 60th in human resources and the labour market, 40th in international openness, 37th in air transport infrastructure, 22nd in ground and port infrastructure, and 24th in tourist service infrastructure.

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Tour de France boosts Yorkshire tourism

FIGURES from VisitBritain have revealed that Yorkshire saw significant benefits from hosting the Tour de France last year.

Some 2.5 million people turned out to watch the Grand Départ of the world’s biggest bike race in July last year. 

VisitEngland reports that tourists had spent £380 million in Yorkshire in the 12 months to June, up by 45 percent on the previous year. 

The number of visitor nights spent in Yorkshire during the 12 months also increased by 18 percent to 5.3 million.

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Tourism study finds positive effect on destinations

TOURISM’S impact on destinations far outweighs its negative effects, a Travel Foundation study has found.

The findings are a first for the industry that until now has seen travel and tourism measured chiefly in arrivals and their estimated impact on value – or otherwise – to the economy.

The Travel Foundation study – conducted with Tui Group and business services and consultancy firm PwC in Cyprus –used a method known as TIMM (Total Impact Measurement and Management) for quantifying impacts not only on the economy and taxation but also on the environment and destination communities.

The study took in eight mainstream hotels catering to 60,000 visitors, or 2.5% of the annual total to #Cyprus. The purpose was to assess the full impact of tourism and to enable comparisons between impacts in different areas, so that decision-makers could compare ‘alternative strategies’.

It calculated the total economic impact of visitors to the hotels at an average €59 (£42) per customer per night. The tax impact was an additional €25 (£18) per night – about one-third of this in direct taxation.

By contrast, the environmental cost was €4 (£2.86) per customer per night, with greenhouse gas emissions accounting for €2.50 (£1.80), despite flights being excluded from the study.

Waste was the second-biggest environmental cost, with hotels producing 1.8kg (3.96lbs) of waste per customer a night, compared with 1.4kg (3lbs) for the average Cyprus resident – despite the hotels recycling more than domestic residents.

However, the suppliers to hotels and businesses serving tourists outside the hotels were found to generate 14 times as much waste – an average of 25kg (55lbs) per customer every day.

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Picture Credit: Escape Beach North Cyprus by greenacre8 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenacre8/2817396047/. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons