Jay Walljasper is a writer for National Geographic Traveler’s “Destination Watch” column as well as editor of OnTheCommons.org, Senior Fellow at Project for Public Spaces, and editor-at-large of Ode magazine. He is author of The Great Neighborhood Book. For 15 years, he was the editor of Utne Reader magazine. Walljasper speaks and writes frequently about travel, cities, contemporary culture, and sustainable issues. Much of his work can be found at www.JayWalljasper.com.
Partying, tourism-as-usual-style, is lots of fun until you wind up in jail for throwing rum bottles from the balcony of your hotel. With sustainable tourism, you’re uncertain whether partying is in keeping with the noble intentions of the socially responsible tour, so you drink your rum discreetly from a juice container and take the bottles home in your luggage for recycling. With geotourism, you buy the rum at the corner store and sit and drink with the shop owner who tells you where to recycle the bottles and lots else about the place.
The philosophy behind tourism as usual is: Anything goes, you’re on vacation. The philosophy for sustainable tourism is taken from the medical profession: First, do no harm. The principle of geotourism is: First celebrate the place and, second, think of every dollar in your pocket as a vote. When you spend it, you’re voting for what you want to see more of in that place.
