Past Campaigns

Read an overview of our past campaigns here, and check out the links on the right for more in-depth information.

Sri Lanka: Post-tsunami displacement

Under our Tsunami and Displacement Project, Tourism Concern campaigned for the land and livelihood rights of tsunami-affected coastal communities in Sri Lanka.

Save Bimini

We opposed the plans for the development of the Bimini Bay Resort and Marina in the North Bimini Island, which was threatening precious natural habitats, and the livelihoods of local residents.

The Maldives

The Maldives are seen as an idyllic luxury holiday retreat, with tourism the biggest contributor to the country’s economy. However, employees in the Maldivian tourism industry had few rights and typically endured appalling working conditions.

Supporting Sustainable Tourism in Mexico

In 2008, Tourism Concern worked with local communities in Chiapas to train them in understanding and monitoring the impacts of tourism on their culture and livelihoods.

Sun Sand Sea & Sweatshops

While we relax in the sunshine around the world, life is far from paradise for the waiters, cleaners, cooks, porters, drivers, receptionists and other staff working to make our holidays happy and carefree.

Trekking Wrongs: Porters' Rights

Frostbite, altitude sickness and even death can be the cost for the porters carrying trekkers' equipment in the Himalayas, on the Inca Trail in Peru and at Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Tourism Concern's campaign helped to put a stop to the abuse of porters' human rights.

Foreign Office Advice

Foreign Office Travel Advice is believed to be a fair representation of information on these countries. However, our campaign – Foreign Office Travel Advice: Safe and Sound? – highlighted many major inconsistencies.

Zanzibar: the right to natural resources

Plans for a massive tourism development in the Nungwi peninsula, Zanzibar, which threatened to displace 20,000 people, were scrapped as a result of our campaigning efforts.

Gambia and the right to a livelihood

All-inclusive hotels were banned by the Gambian government after Tourism Concern joined forces with local partners to highlight the negative economic repercussions such developments have on local communities.

Displacement: East Africa

One of the most severe effects of tourism development is the forced eviction of people from their homes.  Tourism Concern started campaigning on displaced people - people who have lost their homes and livelihoods through tourism in 1996. We focused particularly on the Maasai and other tribal people of East Africa.

Golf

The 1980s economic boom saw a proliferation of golf courses world-wide and a massive surge in golf tourism, particularly in tropical south east Asia. By the 1990s, 350 new golf courses were being built world-wide each year. Maintaining golf courses in prime condition requires massive inputs of fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and water.

Goa

Goa was one of the first destinations where Tourism Concern forged a working relationship with local campaigning groups challenging mass tourism. The issues facing local people because of tourism include water, unregulated development, land grabs, and cultural offence caused by inappropriate tourist behaviour, such as nude and topless sunbathing.