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Tourism Concern today (25th November 2009) launches a new hard-hitting report, Putting Tourism to Rights, demanding action to end human rights violations in tourism – the world’s largest and rapidly growing services industry.

The report calls on the UK Government and tourism industry to take steps to ensure that the rights of local people in tourism destinations are protected in line with international law. It urges that human rights must be protected as a priority if tourism is to contribute meaningfully to eradicating poverty.

“While tourism has great potential to create wealth and improve the lives of local communities, our report shows that it is often developed at the expense of human rights. This is particularly true for people who are poor and easy to exploit, often driving them deeper into poverty”, says Tricia Barnett, Director of Tourism Concern.

Putting Tourism to Rights exposes the many human rights violations frequently perpetrated by the tourism sector, including:

• forced evictions from homes and lands to make way for tourism developments
• environmental damage and loss of access to natural resources, such as grazing land, coastal areas and fresh water
• exploitation of tribal peoples and their cultures as tourist attractions
• poor pay and working conditions for tourism industry employees

Tourism Concern is urging the UK Government to play a more active role both nationally and internationally to ensure that tourism is developed sustainably and does not impinge on human rights. The charity wants Government to take a more active part in relevant international forums and tighten regulation of British businesses operating overseas, whose activities may constitute human rights violations.

“Tourism consumes vast amounts of land, water and natural resources, and is a highly competitive industry. Powerful international operators jostle to out-grow and out-price each other, while cash-strapped governments in the developing world compete to attract their business by offering unspoilt landscapes, cheap labour and tax free investment”, says Barnett. “This places huge pressure on the maids, porters, cooks and drivers at the bottom of the tourism supply chain, as well as on people living in areas that have been earmarked for tourism development.”

Tourism Concern calls on the tourism industry to respect and protect human rights. The report highlights simple steps the industry can take to help maximise positive benefits to local communities, limit environmental damage and assure good working conditions for employees.

“The tourism industry is beginning to wake up to its social and environmental responsibilities, but there are still huge gaps between policy and practice. Positive measures taken by a tourism operator in one area cannot offset bad practice and human rights violations elsewhere,” states Barnett. “If tourism is to contribute to the fight against poverty, the tourism industry and the government must take steps to stamp out corporate abuse that undermines development”.

The report’s release marks the 61st anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 21 years of fighting exploitation in tourism by charity Tourism Concern.

ORDER YOUR COPY OF THE REPORT TODAY

Notes to editors:

1. Putting Tourism to Rights: A challenge to human rights abuses in the tourism industry highlights the human rights impacts of tourism through an examination of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and other major international rights conventions. This includes the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007); the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the UN Declaration on Social Progress and Development (1969).

2. The report contains recommendations to the UK Government, the UK tourism industry, international hotels, the UN World Tourism Organisation, and UK-based NGOs. For the full recommendations, please see page 46-47 of the report.

3. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, between 1950 and 2006 international tourism arrivals expanded at an annual rate of 6.5 percent, increasing from 25 million to 842 million travellers. This generated some US$680 billion in revenue in 2005, growing at a faster rate than the world economy and creating jobs for 9.2 percent of the global workforce. The Centre for Tourism and Cultural Exchange at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, state that tourism is the world’s largest services industry (2008).

4. Tourism Concern is an independent campaigning organisation fighting exploitation in tourism. Tourism Concern strives for ethical, fairly trade tourism through collaborative work with industry, governments, and development and human rights NGOs.

5. For media enquiries or to request a media copy of the report, contact Rachel Noble at Tourism Concern on +44 (0) 207 133 3800 / +44 (0)7885 707 848 or at rachel@tourismconcern.org.uk.

6. The report is available to buy via Tourism Concern’s online shop priced at £14.99 for non-members and £9.99 for members

Listen to Tourism Concern’s director, Tricia Barnett, and human rights lawyer and champion, Baroness Helena Kennedy, discuss the new report on Radio 4’s Excess Baggage (broadcase on Saturday 21st November) via the Radio 4 website.