World Tourism Day: Sustainable Energy

by Marcela Torres

Today marks the celebration of the 2012 World Tourism Day (WTD) under the theme “Tourism & Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development”, with the aim of highlighting tourism’s role in a brighter energy future; a future in which the world’s entire population has access to modern, efficient and affordable energy services.

Through this blog, we have highlighted several initiative or issues related to energy sustainability in tourism. One outstanding example is the construction of the first sustainable Visitor Center in a protected area in Chile, in the Soncor Sector (Chaxa Lagoon) of the Los Flamencos National Reserve in the Atacama Salt Flat. The project included the architectural design and construction of the Visitor Center, incorporating techniques such as reuse of grey water and electricity generation through solar panels and wind mills.

We have also analyzed the international trend of travelers preferring “green hotels”, highlighting the opening in Santiago of Chile’s first green hotel which, among other things, using solar panels to provide electricity for its rooms and promotes recycling among its staff and guests.

In terms of transportation, we have covered topics such as the use of biofuels by airlines, regarding the implications of increasing costs of fuel and energy in the future. We have also talked about green transfers, thanks to an article republished from The Travel World blog which describes the experience of Green Path Transfers as a global provider of eco-friendly airport and intercity transfers.

Finally, we’ve provided useful tips for tourists to reduce their carbon footprint while traveling, through measures such as saving unnecessary energy expenditure when they’re not at home, avoiding disposable batteries and choosing day flights which use less fuel and emit fewer amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

We celebrate this World Tourism Day inviting everyone to contribute to a greater sustainability in the industry!

International Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC) 2012

Celebration of Cultures Party, ESTC 2012

by Marcela Torres

Last week I had the opportunity of participating for the first time in the International Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference, held in Monterey, California and organized by the International Ecotourism Society (TIES).

It was a great honor for me to be able to deliver, precisely on the day of Chile’s Independence, a presentation on the experience of contributing to developing ecotourism at the Chaxa Lagoon, in Los Flamencos National Reserve in the Atacama Salt Flat. The project, which we developed for CONAF Antofagasta and the Lickan-Antay Indigenous Community of Toconao with the Torres Asociados Limitada consultancy firm, consisted of building the first sustainable Visitor Center in a protected area in Chile and implementing a set of bilingual materials to interpret the natural and cultural values of the area.

The interest of attendees in learning about this experience gave me great satisfaction because it was that project which made me realize that I wanted to dedicate my life to ecotourism and motivated me, first, to study a masters in the topic and, later on, to set up my own inbound responsible tourism company –Southern Cone Journeys- with my sister, Paula.

The International Ecotourism Society has been promoting ecotourism for over a decade and working to ensure that tourism activity generates benefits for both the host communities and the environment of the destinations where it operates. This version of the Conference was attended by representatives from such diverse countries as Argentina, Botswana, Canada, Ecuador, Guyana, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya and the United States, to name a few. All of us analyzed issues such as how to fund sustainability initiatives, development and empowerment of local communities, the role of ecotourism in promoting the conservation of endangered species and the unique opportunity of the travel industry to contribute to eradicate poverty.

During the meeting, the International Ecotourism Society also launched the guidelines to regulate “voluntourism” (volunteer tourism), which it developed together with the Planeterra Foundation. The document can be downloaded from the TIES website.

The Celebration of Cultures party, the closing event of the Conference, was the highlight since it allowed attendees to share with the rest some aspects of their culture, such as music and typical outfits, and it emphasized the importance and the great potential of tourism to unite people from so many different countries around a common goal: A better quality of life for all.