For policy makers, travel companies, grassroots activists and even the local communities, Responsible Tourism (RT) can sometimes seem too complex. Also, on-ground realities can confuse us. Is one method more responsible than another, which decision will help the local communities more, should the community’s interests be given priority over that of the traveller? These are very real questions every stakeholder in the tourism industry faces. We have created a concise set of 20 points that can act as a guide for all those involved in RT: 

1. Create better places for people to live in and better places to visit.

2. Respect the planet and its people. Generate greater awareness for both hosts and guests.

3. Make RT an interdependent project with regular tourism.

4. Communicate a clear RT mandate for hoteliers, travel operators, public and private minders, local communities, and travellers, especially domestic tourists, who account for a large chunk of the business.

5. Address the need for an RT-specific classification system.

6. Make community the centerpiece of all RT discussions.

7. Arrest outmigration, generate jobs and skills, invest in training and employing at least one member of each local family and create infrastructure, schools and opportunities for the community. But make sure that tourism is 
the additional, not the primary source of income, and that it takes into account local aspirations
as well.

8. Maximise tourism’s ability to employ a diverse workforce, including retirees and homemakers, and to generate ancillary business opportunities, such as food production, transport, and so on.

9. Facilitate better dialogue between the government, both central and state, and the service providers.

10. Invest in collective, symbiotic public-private action, such as linking subsidies with RT compliance, creating and managing infrastructure together, and maintaining the cultural and environmental sanctity of built heritage by law and practice.

11. Know that there’s a business case for RT across categories—from luxury to budget/backpacking industry and travellers, RT can bring tangible and intangible benefits for everyone.

12. Make heritage more
 accessible—do not keep it under lock and key. Improve infrastructure, like investing in better lighting, and avoid differential pricing.

13. Create better tools and vehicles for identifying and marketing RT businesses.

14. Create a network of passion-driven individuals and businesses that may/may not know about
 each other, and in turn, a wealth of RT-related knowledge.

15. Galvanise viable public and private interventions as a group.

16. Don’t treat RT like a product, treat 
it like an experience. Sell the RT
 story, much like cinema, by selling the dream, the big picture and not by dwelling on the details.

17. Link RT with benefits, not sacrifice, for both service providers and travellers.

18. Capitalise on the trend
 of authenticity or experience economy mapped by researchers at Harvard.

19. Let it be a positive message and approach of accountability plus initiative.

20. Understand and adapt international nuances of RT.

(Photo by Sayan Nath on Unsplash)

(A version of this article first appeared in the IRTA 2016 report)