An interview with Mark Watson, Chief Executive of Tourism Concern (TC)
Ecotourism gets over used and is often just “Greenwash”, says Mark Watson, Chief Executive of Tourism Concern
By Agha Iqrar Haroon
Mark has nearly 30 years’ experience campaigning for social justice, both in the UK and internationally and has travelled widely in Africa, Asia and South America. In 1986 he spent three months in Dhaka, Bangladesh studying the effects of poverty on social exclusion; then in 1991 he led a six month expedition to the Amazon to consider the social and environmental consequences of rainforest destruction. Before going to university to study environmental geography and international development he spent one year working voluntarily in the township of Alexandria in South Africa. In 2003 he climbed Kilimanjaro to raise money for HIV / AIDS projects in Africa and in May 2013 he climbed Mt Toubkal, North Africa’s highest peak to promote ethical and responsible tourism. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Chartered Manager with an MSc in sustainability and a first degree in geography and international development. Mark is a councillor in Croydon and the Shadow Spokesperson for Crime Reduction and Public Protection. Question: What is the staff strength of TC? Answer: We have three full time staff members based in London and volunteers in the UK and internationally. Q: How does TC gather financial resources to work? A: We are funded by individual supporters who are often keen travellers themselves and who want their holidays to be as good for the people we visit as they are for us. Thanks to our supporters we have. Q: Tell us about your on-going and recently completed campaigns? A: Out three most recent campaigns have been Ethical Trekking (porters rights), water equity in Tourism and the stop orphanage tourism campaign Q: What is vision of TC towards tourism? A: We believe that tourism can be a huge force for good, helping local communities by providing employment, improving living standards and helping to protect precious natural resources and habitats. Unfortunately, a lot of tourism does exactly the opposite. We are campaigning for better tourism – trips where people experience the real community and the community gets real benefits as a result. Better Holidays: • Bring long-term benefits to the local community • Don’t exploit local workers • Promotes sustainable growth • Are welcomed by the local community • Are more rewarding for the traveller 
We believe that knowing that local people are happy to have you stay is the key to a Better and more enjoyable holiday Set up in 1989, Tourism Concern is a unique independent charity that dedicates itself entirely to campaigning for ethical and fairly traded tourism. We believe that people would simply enjoy their holidays more if they knew no one had been displaced from their land to allow them to view wildlife, that local people weren’t suffering water shortages while they swam in their hotel pool or the money they spent benefited local people directly. Q: What is your opinion about Ecotourism? A: We are not keen on ecotourism as it gets over used and is often just ‘Greenwash’ – equally ecotourism may have little regard to local communities or be interested in decent jobs for local people. Q: Tell us about your most successful campaign? A: Our campaigns support communities and promote forms of tourism that bring real benefits to local people. 1. Porters, who carry extremely heavy loads up steep mountain paths for tourists on trekking holidays, frequently do so As a result of Tourism Concern’s ground-breaking campaign, Trekking Wrongs: Porters’ Rights, over half of UK trekking tour operators have adopted our code of conduct for improved working conditions for mountain porters. 2. In the Andaman islands semi-nude Jarawa women are being forced to dance for tourists in exchange for food by the police, who instead of protecting them, encouraged behavior after being bribed by the tour operators. Our Indigenous Peoples’ Code of Conduct for tour operates will provide guidance on the right of indigenous people to decide whether to engage in tourism activities. 3. Slum Tourism is a controversial phenomenon of organised excursions to informal settlements, or “slums” in places such as India, the Favelas in Rio or Townships in South Africa. We are raising public awareness and using our expertise and position to influence tour operators and tourists to undertake these tours ethically and in a way that benefits the local communities. 4. Orphanage Tourism – Tourism and volunteering in orphanages is fuelling the demand for “orphans”, and so driving the unnecessary separation of children from their families. In the past decade the number of orphan children has declined worldwide however the number of orphanages in many developing countries has risen in response to the demand from tourists and volunteers. Orphanages have become a tourist attraction and a ‘bucket list’ volunteering opportunity. Whilst we appreciate that many well-meaning volunteers may wish to volunteer at an orphanage our view is that looking after vulnerable children should be undertaken by local, full-time, professional staff and not by short-term volunteers, no matter how skilled or qualified. Q: What is the criterion of hiring staff for TC? A: We have an open and fair recruitment process so employees are chosen through an application / interview process that matches skills to the person specification. Q: Share with us your philosophy and targets? A: We are campaigning for Better Tourism by ensuring improved working conditions for tourism workers. We lobbied UK tour operators to be more socially responsible. We developed guidelines for best practice, which have been adopted by the industry and governments. We also successfully given a voice to communities threatened by tourism overdevelopment.
