Conclusion: Tourism and Development - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 463

production process and, as a result, tourism is not only influenced by the
industry but it is also a product of the needs, motivations, expectations and
consequent behaviour of tourists. Tourism is an ego-centric social activity
motivated by avoidance/escape and ego-enhancement/reward. Within sus-
tainable tourism, codes of appropriate behaviour and forms of tourism such
as ecotourism are often presented to illustrate the shift towards more respon-
sible tourism. However, one of the key assumptions is that tourists are res-
ponsive to the messages within sustainable tourism development and that
they will adapt their behaviour as consumers in order to optimise their con-
tribution of tourism to local development. This chapter argues that this is
not the case and that tourism is largely untouched by green consumerism.
The manner in which tourism is consumed contributes little to the develop-
ment process beyond financial considerations. All is not lost, however, as
once the nature of consumption is understood, then destinations can plan
and develop accordingly to optimise the benefits of the industry. The ques-
tion arises as to how destinations and the industry can better adapt to under-
stand the nature of tourism consumption for their benefit ? Do tourists pay
much attention to issues related to green consumerism or sustainable devel-
opment if it is going to require a major effort on their part ? Do forms of
tourism such as ecotourism represent more sustainable forms of tourism or
do they represent forms of ego-tourism ?
Chapter 13 explores the evolution of the concept of human rights as well
as some of the key debates, including that between universalists and relativ-
ists. The chapter then explores a range of human rights issues in tourism,
including the inhuman treatment of people, employment, displacement,
security checks, tourist safety while on holiday, multinational corporations
and business practices, impacts on the environment and slum tourism. The
increasing recognition of human rights is evident in development studies as
identified in Chapter 2 with the shift towards the human development para-
digm. Key questions include what actions can international organisations,
NGOs, governments and corporations take to ensure that human rights are
protected ? Travellers expect low-cost, high-value trips and that can come at
the cost of lower wages and poor working conditions for those employed in
the industry. Will tourists be willing to pay more for their holiday so that
those working in the industry will receive a fair wage ? How can human
rights be better connected to the strategies of pro-poor tourism and fair trade
in tourism ? How can host governments ensure human rights are protected
in the tourism destination ? How can human rights be advocated for in des-
tinations with historically poor human rights records ? What legislation is
needed in the tourist's home country to prosecute those tourists who go
abroad and violate human rights in terms of inhumane treatment of people
and break the law ? To what extent do travellers have to give up some of their
human rights (as they apply to privacy) so that the safety and security for all
those involved in tourism can be protected ?