I’ve been a fan of responsible travel for more than 20 years. I consider it the only way to go, although in the early days, it wasn’t always a simple thing to make happen; the time and resources required to gain local-level access to a desired destination so that I could visit it responsibly just weren’t always readily available to me. These days, however, it’s really too easy. There’s no solid excuse for not ‘going local’.

Given this, I jumped at a chance to put some thougths to virtual paper for the now-defunct Lonely Planet Travel Blog hosted by Australia’s Yahoo!7 Travel.

The result – Loco for Local: Travel Like It Should Be – has already attracted some welcome and enthusiastic comments. I encourage you to add yours!

Here’s the first paragraph:

It’s a personal belief so powerful that I sometimes find it hard not to be preachy. Or to ignore others’ lidded gazes, warily gauging me like I’m a circus barker purveying foul-smelling hair tonic. I really must therefore ask: Can anyone explain why many travellers roll their eyes when asked about the value of local or community-based travel (CBT)?

Care to read more? You’ll find the rest reproduced here for posterity.

Tags: community-based tourism, Ethan Gelber, local travel, Lonely Planet, opinion, responsible tourism, responsible travel, responsible traveller

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 3:31 pm and is filed under opinion, responsible travel, responsible travel news.