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Sunday 24 September 2017

Perspectives

World Tourism Day 2017 in perspective : Being a Responsible Traveller

World Tourism Day 2017 - the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development - #TravelEnjoyRespect

As every year, the UN World Tourism Organization is celebrating the World Tourism Day on 27th September 2017. This year, it focuses on sustainable tourism which can contribute to development. Here's why we have taken the pledge to be a responsible traveller, and here's how you can take this pledge too, and help spread the message of this cause and support the campaign.


Taleb Rifai, the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) clearly summarises the campaign as, “Whenever you travel, wherever you travel, remember to: respect nature, respect culture, and respect your host. You can be the change you want to see in the world. You can be an ambassador for a better future. Travel, Enjoy and Respect.” [1] In short, as the official site and the official campaign hashtag go, #TravelEnjoyRespect.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is asking travellers to commit to being more responsible and pledging to “Travel Enjoy Respect”, in the framework of the International Year on Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, and on the occasion of World Tourism Day 2017, on September 27 [2]. This campaign is aimed at raising awareness of the value and contribution that sustainable tourism can make towards development. The “Travel Enjoy Respect” campaign wants to engage tourists in making the tourism sector a catalyst for positive change.[3]

We put up some tips last year on How to avoid littering and be a responsible traveller, to create an awareness among our readers to avoid littering wherever they travel. We believe that the places we've been to in our travels, for example: mountains, beaches and forests, should remain as beautiful and pristine to others who visit it after us. In case of heritage sites, one has to understand their historical and cultural significance, and respect that the monument has stood for centuries, and it must be well preserved for centuries to come. So, in our travel stories, we try to give some history and significance of the heritage sites we visit. Our travel stories, insights and tips based on our own travels and travel experiences, aren't related to the World Tourism Day celebrations, but are supposed to help inspire and make travelling better to our readers. We have always respected nature, culture, and our hosts during our travels. It is delightful to know that by being responsible travellers, we're helping the cause of Sustainable Tourism for Development, and hence we've taken the pledge to Travel Enjoy Respect.

The Travel, Enjoy, Respect campaign's official Tips for a Responsible Traveller Manual nicely covers the aspects of how to be a responsible traveller. It is developed by the World Committee on Tourism Ethics, based on the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism manual. They present simple practical steps to make travels as rewarding and gratifying as possible for us, for the people we meet, and for the places we visit. In a simple way, this manual effectively tells us how to honour our hosts and our common heritage, protect our planet, support the local economy, be an informed traveller, and be a respectful traveller. This manual is short, and to the point, and you only need to spend a few minutes reading it. So, have a look at it, try to become a more responsible traveller, spread the message wherever you go, and help for the cause of sustainable tourism for development.

We have always tried to be responsible travellers, and we always strive to provide our honest travel reviews and insights of places we visit, and promote our positive travel experiences through our travel stories on this travel blog. We have now pledged to be more responsible travellers wherever we go, and we urge you to do the same. Join the movement, let's Travel, Enjoy, Respect!


The pledge

The pledge campaign is now completed. This campaign ended on September 27, 2017 at 12PM

The manual, and useful links

Below are links to the official manuals of tips and official websites.

References:
[1] UNWTO Launches ‘Travel.Enjoy.Respect’ Campaign - World Tourism Organization UNWTO
[2] Pledge to #TravelEnjoyRespect by The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), on Thunderclap
[3] Launching of UNWTO ‘TRAVEL.ENJOY.RESPECT’ Campaign - International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development - Official website

Campaign banners are from the toolkit material which can be found on the official sites Travel.Enjoy.Respect. or Travel.Enjoy.Respect. - International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

Please Note : "trayaan.com" is not a partner of UNWTO (UN World Travel Organisation), and is not officially associated with that organisation. On this blog post and elsewhere on our website, our use of the banners/pictures related to the World Tourism Day campaign called Travel Enjoy Respect does not imply that the UNWTO endorses trayaan.com. Through this blog post (and the Travel Enjoy Respect campaign banners elsewhere on this website), as travellers and travel bloggers, we are taking the pledge to be a more responsible traveller during our travels, and we are helping to create awareness and spread the message to our readers through our travel blog and social media handles.

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