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The Ethical Travel Guide, 2nd Edition

Now in its second edition, the Ethical Travel Guide is much more than an innovative and stimulating guide to some of the most unique and exciting holiday experiences around. The Guide is key tool in Tourism Concern’s fight to ensure that local people always benefit from tourism.

Thousands of grass roots, low impact, high sustainability initiatives all over the world struggle to tell tourists they exist. Very few of these inspirational initiatives have the resources or skills to market themselves in an industry dominated by multinational companies. Like its predecessor, the 2nd edition of the Ethical Travel Guide is a challenge to this dominance, seeking to redress the balance in order to make tourism more fair.

The Ethical Travel Guide is a chance for local communities in destination countries, who are often extremely poor, and dedicated local entrepreneurs to talk to their customers, to promote a more authentic and local experience which they are uniquely able to provide. And tourists all over the world are lapping it up. The first edition went to reprint within a month of publication and was translated into Dutch and Italian. The second edition promises to be just as popular.

The new Ethical Travel Guide lists over 400 places in more than 70 countries, many of which you won’t find in conventional guidebooks. Entries include places to stay, organisations, trips, tours and projects, from canoeing the backwaters of the Amazon to luxury breaks in the Indian Ocean. You can stay in very simple, local style accommodation or more sophisticated hotels with western plumbing. But they all have one thing in common. They all support the local economy, bringing much needed wealth to communities. It is a tribute to enterprising people all over the world and a fulfilment of Tourism Concern’s commitment to ensure that people in destinations benefit from tourism.

While this unique Guide provides holidaymakers with fantastic ideas for authentic and guilt free holidays, it also raises vital awareness of the negative impacts of tourism. A hard-hitting introduction by Polly Patullo, journalist and travel writer, highlights the key issues - such as displacement of local people, cultural erosion and environmental degradation. Meanwhile, Tourism Concern director, Tricia Barnett examines the thorny dilemmas of tourism, climate change and development.

Stories from the hosts....

Read how Ethical Travel Guide is bringing postive and life-changing benefits to communities all over the world:

The Maasai Community Development Organisation (MCDO), Kenya

Tourism in Ethiopia for Sustainable Future Alternatives (TESFA), Ethiopia

Bamboo Village, India

Make sure your holiday always benefits local people – buy your copy of the Ethical Travel Guide, 2nd edition, today!

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