Our views
Our stance on responsible tourism issues
Read our opinions on various responsible tourism topics below, and click on the links for more in-depth articles on each issue.
Wildlife
Captive animals
Captive orcas
Flying, carbon offsets & air passenger duty
Overtourism
Politics & boycotts
Local people & porters
Orphanages
Read more about the issues, and our orphanage campaign, here.
Volunteering abroad
Read more about how to ensure your volunteering vacation is beneficial to both you and the destinations you are visiting in our guide to volunteering abroad, and learn about the issues specific to volunteer teaching placements here.
Day visits to schools
We would expect that visits of this nature should not occur more frequently than once a month, especially for smaller schools with fewer separate classes. Where schools are larger with more classes, we would expect them to be visited on rotation to avoid repeat visits to any one class more than the minimum of once a month.
Tourists must be accompanied at all times by a teacher or representative of the school and we would expect any gifts to be approved by the school and tour company prior to arrival.
All inclusive vacations
Marketing "Paradise"
Sustainable Tourism Accreditation schemes
Cruise ships
There are many aspects of tourism which are an ethical grey area - with the need to balance the needs of local communities, create sustainable livelihoods, protect fragile habitats and conserve wildlife all competing. However, when it comes to giant cruise ships, things are certainly less nuanced: almost every impact they have is unequivocally bad. Raw sewage can be dumped at sea (cruise ships can produce up to 79,000 litres per day - this is no small issue); workers' rights are not protected, leading to horrendously long hours and pitiful pay; and the cruises often bring little financial benefit to the destinations where they dock. Instead, thousands of tourists spill into historic towns all at once - flooding them for a few hours, creating noise, crowds and chaos, spending virtually nothing - before returning to the ship. More recently, it has been discovered that the air on deck can be as filthy - if not more - as in some of the most polluted city centers, causing respiratory problems. Read more about our views on cruise ships and how we propose reforming the industry to be less damaging to people and environments.
Other
- Golfing vacations
- Skiing
- Snowmobiles
- Terminology – eco, green, ethical?
- See our travel guides for more comprehensive information about responsible tourism in each destination
![People should help poor families and communities](/imagesclient/quote-campaign-vulnerable-children.png)
![Tiger](/imagesclient/campaigns-ourViews-tiger.jpg)
![The time has come to end whales in captivity](/imagesclient/quote-campaign-end-whales-captivity.png)
![Plane](/imagesclient/campaigns-ourViews-plane.jpg)
![When you do fly, make it count](/imagesclient/quote-campaign-co2.png)