Original subtitles

(water trickling, birds chirping)

(speaking Spanish)

(birds chirping)

(calm music)

(distant rhythmic music)

(excited screaming)

(woman): Tourism.

It's considered a wonderful break

from the real world.

♪ V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

♪ In the summertime

(reporter): Unmonitored tourism has apparently damaged

the nation's coastline.

(reporter 2): One last photo, one last chance

for hundreds of tourists to visit Maya Bay.

The beach is being put out of bounds

after years of unrestricted tourism.

♪ V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

♪ In the summertime

(reporter 3): Holidays become cheaper and more people

flood into tourism hot-spots.

(reporter 4): Over-tourism and environmental degradation.

(reporter 5): Twenty million visit each year.

Three quarters of them only stay for 24 hours.

(reporter 6): All these tourists end up drunk...

(overlapping reporting)

(reporter 7): ...there are just too many tourists.

(reporter 8): ...see the same sights,

their impact is devastating.

(man): Dude, holy shit.

(laughing)

(bell clanging)

(reporter 9): She and another tourist

are accused of spray-painting

graffiti on an ancient wall.

(Goodall): Tourism can kill a place.

A place that was so beautiful

can become overused, exploited and trashed.

Most tourism has led to destruction.

It led to the destruction

of the very things that they've come to see.

(reporter 10): Every year, thousands of Brits

visit Thailand and loads of them

can't wait to get a picture with the local tigers.

(reporter 11): A tourist has been caught on camera

carrying a dolphin on a beach.

- It's almost a disposable

engagement in economy.

(speaking foreign language)

- You live with a certain set of values at home.

Why would you suspend those values

when you decide to take a holiday?

(shouting)

(Rachel): It's a different set of behaviour principles.

We're hedonistic when we travel. We tend to have more showers.

We tend to be more wasteful, we tend to eat more.

(reporter 12): The tourist industry is a huge cash cow.

But locals don't see much of that revenue.

(reporter 13): The exploitation of the working class

by the hotel industry...

(reporter 14): We have people who say these volunteer trips

abroad are sometimes only about the photo-ops.

(camera clicking)

(Bruce): Travel is in a very unfortunate state,

at the moment. (elephant trumpeting)

As tourists, we're just such

unconscious consumers.

(elephant trumpeting)

(gentle music)

(Arnie): Like a lot of travellers,

I started out as a backpacker.

In Africa,

when I travelled to Asia,

late '70s, I was already starting to see

negative impacts of tourism.

So it set me off looking for the unspoiled.

The uncharted. And that eventually led me

to a place called Ko Pha Ngan in Thailand.

When I arrived in Ko Pha Ngan in 1979,

I was the first tourist to have arrived on that beach.

There was one Thai family, a fisherman, living there.

His name was Sonboom. And his wife Chom.

And I stayed with them for three months

and it was magical.

And I made a little map of that location.

And unfortunately, I shared that with one person,

who was my girlfriend at the time,

and that map found its way to others,

and soon, other tourists began arriving.

Now, I never went back, but in 1993,

I opened a New York Times magazine

and I was stunned.

I saw a photograph of the beach

with thousands and thousands of people

celebrating something called the Full Moon party.

It was out of control.

Masses of trash.

Out of control development.

It ripped... ripped me apart from inside.

To think that from the time I had arrived there in 1979,

within a period of ten years, this place was being

utterly and totally destroyed.

(indistinct chattering)

(party music playing)

We have got to get tourism right,

because if we don't,

we're going to see Ko Pha Ngan reproduced around the world.

(water trickling)

(birds chirping)

(indistinct chattering)

- One hour?

- Yeah.

(laughing)

- Wow.

(birds chirping)

(speaking Spanish)

(birds calling)

(birds chirping)

(gentle music)

(birds chirping, cawing)

(inspirational music)

(Bruce): We are born explorers.

We have a carnal desire

to want to travel.

You know, people dream about travel.

Our ancestors were all explorers.

People risked their lives to travel, originally.

(Goodall): Travel opens our eyes, and we learn

so much about the world

and about ourselves.

(man): Travel. It's a sense of our innate curiosity.

(gentle music)

We're driven by a desire

to experience and to learn.

(indistinct chattering)

(Bruce): We were born to explore.

We were born to want

to seek out new experiences.

Learn from other cultures.

And somewhere along the way,

you become a tourist.

You become someone who is disconnected

from the very place you're travelling to.

(advertiser): This is the way to travel.

Relax and enjoy yourself.

Yes, this is the way to travel.

- Back in the 1950s, when world tourism,

mass tourism was just beginning, the first jets

were crossing the Atlantic ocean,

there were 25 million international trips a year.

Last year, that number was 1.3 billion.

That's a multiplication of 52 times.

(energetic music)

(reporter): The jumbos are coming.

Heathrow airport took the arrival of the world's

first fully loaded jumbo-jet aircraft,

which will revolutionize the future of civil aviation.

Captain Jess Tranter and his crew

brought the first jumbo from the States

in just over six-and-a-half hours.

(Gary): With the advent of mass air travel in the 1960s,

747, when it was inaugurated,

was three times bigger than any public airplane before,

so we've gone through a journey

of global mass travel.

Today, with technology,

you can find ways to get to pretty much

any part of the world, now.

The world has become an oyster for the masses.

(engines roaring)

(Arnie): Over-tourism is

simply too many people

in the same place at the same time.

The increase in visitors to the point

where it is too much

for the landscape and the environment.

It's too much for the local residents.

So, you're seeing examples of it

in what are sometimes called "honeypot destinations."

They're places that people just really want to go.

(Rachel): Places that used to be protected

are becoming more accessible.

- Places that are really being loved to death.

We're having an infinitely growing number of tourists

going to finite places

that are exactly the same size they were back in 1950.

- It's this fascinating history, because it has

everything to do with what was a great success:

the end of the Cold War.

Literally half of the world had been cut off

from the other half during the Cold War.

One of the first things the end of the Cold War did

was open borders around the world,

and with those open borders, trade.

Around the globe, you saw the growth

of the middle-class.

All of this within literally about a decade.

This is astonishing.

(Rachel): We have emerging markets such as China and India

coming onto the scene, in terms of

the affordability of travel.

(Elizabeth): Simultaneously, we had a great

technological leap, the Internet.

Tourism is not an elite hobby anymore.

Tourism has become a global industry.

(Arnie): This industry is covering our entire planet.

Eighty percent of the world's countries

count tourism in their top five foreign exchange revenues.

One out of ten jobs in the planet

is connected to the travel and tourism industry.

- There's more travellers,

it's easier and cheaper to travel,

and the way we experience, and our expectations

for what we want when we travel

have changed.

(insects chirping)

(wind howling gently)

(birds chirping)

(indistinct chattering)

(gentle music)

(camera clicking)

(cameras clicking)

(Rachel): The advent of social media

has completely changed the way we travel.

We're going after a photograph

rather than actually truly having experience.

(Bruce): Holidays are a status symbol.

You work hard and you earn that vacation with your family

once a year.

It's status.

(gentle music)

- Twenty-nine percent of millennial travellers

said they wouldn't go to a destination

if they couldn't post about it on Instagram.

(indistinct chattering)

(cameras clicking)

(gentle music)

People see their friends

who have taken a picture of themselves

in a beautiful spot, and it spreads,

and it goes viral and then everybody

wants to go to that same beautiful spot.

- Social media's become the ultimate tasting menu.

(Arnie): Some of the most isolated

and fragile areas are now

getting inundated with people who just simply

really want to say,

"I was here."

(Rachel): Is that our tourism industry?

Are we just travelling for the iconic photo?

Or are we really trying to truly change

the way that we learn, and gain,

and benefit, and become enriched from travel?

(indistinct chattering)

(birds chirping)

(speaking foreign language)

(deep rumbling)

(cheering)

(rhythmic music)

(brakes squealing)

(gulls squawking)

(indistinct chattering)

(engine roaring)

(woman): Right now,

two cruise ships are there, and I can't believe

nothing is out here,

it's just as dry as you see it.

And it's not only today,

it's always, for a good while, now.

It's about five years now

we have no season, and the cruise ships

come in always, and nothing for the locals.

So I keep on wondering what is going on for us.

- Over two months I have not made a sale at my store.

My rent is just piling up

and I can't make no money.

- We are not benefiting from tourism.

Tourist, we don't get from the cruise ships,

they're coming to Montego Bay.

(jazz music)

(excited shouting, cheering)

(advertiser): Embrace the sun on the largest racetrack

at sea, zooming past Alaska's glaciers.

Or pristine Caribbean beaches.

- You know, when you find yourself,

on a go-kart track on a cruise ship

in the middle of an ocean and they've sold it to you,

at some point you got to think, "This is kinda weird."

(upbeat music)

- The cruise ship business model it to basically

keep the money, not surprisingly,

flowing back to the ship.

(dinging)

- There's seminars on how to go shopping.

To fulfil your diamond wardrobe.

(Bruce): Making sure you have a thread count

in your bed sheets, and you have amenities

in your bathroom, and you have five swimming pools

and six restaurants to choose from,

and you can be in the Caribbean,

make sure you still get Italian food.

Maybe we should just think of another word for it,

'cause it's not travel anymore,

'cause you're being transplanted from one Western environment

to another Western environment.

So let's just call it a transfer of environments.

(Martha): Most of the tours that they take onshore

are sold actually on the ship,

and the ship takes a hefty commission.

A tour costs 80 dollars,

40 dollars of that goes back to the ship as a commission.

In addition to that,

there are designated shops and restaurants

on shore that the cruise lines

have done arrangements with, so every time you shop

at one of those stores,

the cruise lines get a commission.

(Elizabeth): You arrive, you're given

a little map of where you're supposed to shop

and warned not to shop anywhere else,

because you can't trust the locals.

(pop music on speakers)

(indistinct chattering)

It's the exact opposite of a real experience.

- The reality is that there have been

surveys of visitors,

and when you look at, "How important is it

that a particular resort or tour operator

is keeping locals in mind?"

It's actually

ten percent that consider that.

(Bruce): Travel has taken a turn

and the destination is no longer relevant.

I was born in Trinidad,

I can speak firsthand,

there's a tension that's built between local people

and the tourist,

and that tension is being used

by the tour operators to build compound walls.

Pushing more and more people into isolation

because they're saying, "Don't leave these walls,

because the natives are restless."

Because they are restless, because they're not benefiting

from the fact that you're living in luxury,

consuming mass amounts of resources,

but outside of those walls there's not access

to medical care or clean drinking water.

Traditionally,

tourism has been a one-way conversation.

(gentle music)

(Elizabeth): The people who change your bed,

clean your room, wait on your table,

their wages are not very good at all.

So you have a very wealthy industry that...

...pays very low.

Fifty dollars a month for a waiter.

- On the one hand, travel has been

the source of money, and on the other one,

work has been the source of profit,

and that you just treat them like objects

being exploited.

(distant excited screaming)

- All-inclusive travel packages

deny host communities.

They don't just deny them revenue,

they deny them even the richness

of integration with travellers.

(gulls squawking)

(upbeat party music)

(woman singing in Spanish)

How will tourism

connect cultures when we have

all-inclusive packages that keep you

in your hotel in one place?

(indistinct chattering)

Indeed, tourism can be

a great distributor of wealth...

Only if we manage

the distribution of the revenue

that comes from tourism.

If we don't do that,

tourism will not contribute

to development in destinations.

(flamingos squawking)

(rhythmic music)

I'll use a typical

Kenyan example.

You're going to Maasai Mara in Kenya.

If my trip costs

5000 $, I book a whole package,

how much of that 5000 ends up

in Maasai Mara

where you lodge, it's located,

and where you will enjoy your safari?

(all singing)

- In a case like Kenya, only 14 percent

of every dollar that's spent in the country,

stays in the country.

The other 86 percent leaves the country

in terms of foreign ownership by hotels, or airlines,

or transportation, in terms of food

that needs to be brought in from somewhere else.

Anything that the country does not keep

in their local pocket is called leakage.

(rhythmic music)

(Elizabeth): What has been the case in Cambodia

and in other countries too is that a lot

of the foreign hotel chains will simply

build their hotels,

import the food,

import all kinds of things,

and take up that space so the locals aren't doing it.

So that you are changing

what that city or place is

by making it foreign and not local.

You're depriving the locals

of a lot of economic space

and cultural space.

Most of the money goes to international companies.

(elephant trumpeting)

(growling)

(chanting)

- Tourism has created consumption patterns...

...in the minds of the traveller

that need to be deconstructed a little bit.

We have to change our mindsets about travel.

- If you're going to Africa,

especially with the rise of luxury travel,

to go into a luxury lodge and have gourmet meals,

and sit in your air conditioning,

and then in your ride in from the airport,

you may have seen living conditions

which really can be quite devastating...

And this is absolutely

a bubble that you're in.

- The leakage is huge.

Tourism can perpetuate poverty

by not integrating communities, and you find,

unfortunately, for some destinations,

the most acclaimed tourism destinations

also have the highest levels of poverty.

But why does it happen? Because they were never

integrated into the tourism value chain.

(indistinct chattering)

(gentle music)

We talk about tourism creating jobs

in destinations.

But we never question what kind of jobs.

(indistinct chattering)

- One dollar for one.

(children's chatter overlapping)

- Please, one dollar.

- One dollar. Yeah, one dollar.

(gentle music)

- It's important to pay attention

to how tourism impacts the developing world

because of the vulnerability

of the populations that live

in tourism destinations.

This is unlike the west, right?

Where tourism still happens,

but their host communities are not

as vulnerable.

(gentle music)

These vulnerable populations

live on a day-to-day basis.

It's about survival every day.

And they can be exploited

by any economic activity,

because they desperately are in need

of transforming their lives.

Their ability to question

and to challenge capitalists

and government policy becomes very difficult.

(Arnie): Asia,

Africa, South America.

This is where this crossroads,

this critical crossroads of poverty,

indigenous culture and biodiversity

are all found in the same place,

and this is where tourism

is going into right now.

(Bruce): We're travelling to some of the most

in need countries in the world,

yet people are coming in and out of those countries

and not benefiting local communities.

(Rachel): We, as tourists, have kind of lost

the plot, I think.

We're at a tipping point.

We have a fundamental problem with tourism.

(gentle music)

(Johnathan): The biggest challenge facing

the tourism industry today

is the need for a paradigm shift.

A change in the way of thinking

of how we do travel.

(birds chirping)

(gentle music)

(indistinct chattering)

(Bruce): You know, Machu Picchu is a tourism hot-spot

where there's hundreds of thousands of people

going there every year.

Local communities migrate to where there's jobs

or opportunities.

The Andean communities that live in the rural areas,

the younger generation is moving

to the cities for work.

Working in retail stores and restaurants,

selling things on the street.

Opportunities for them to stay

within their communities becomes an issue.

(honking)

(indistinct chattering)

(speaking foreign language)

(lively music)

(excited shouting)

(popping)

(Bruce): In the area surrounding Machu Picchu,

there's very few jobs available.

So the travellers pay

thousands of dollars for their holidays,

but outside of those tourism hot-spots,

they just drive right through

and ignore all the other communities.

(speaking Spanish)

(chicken clucking)

(dog barking)

(dog barking in the distance)

(bleating)

(bleating)

(speaking Spanish)

(bleating)

(fire crackling)

(gentle music)

(♪)

(rhythmic music)

(dramatic music)

(indistinct chattering)

(elephant trumpeting)

(indistinct chattering)

(elephant groaning)

(laughing)

- For you, for you, for you!

(laughing)

(man): Do I take it?

(camera clicking)

(elephant groaning)

- Yeah!

(laughing)

- Ah!

(indistinct chattering)

(Melissa): Our research shows that the people who are

buying tickets to these wildlife attractions

are wildlife lovers.

And they have no idea that they're harming

the very animals they care about.

(laughing)

- Actually, I'm really not sure what's natural and what's not.

I have less knowledge,

and that makes it, for me, really hard

to have a great opinion

about all the centres here.

- Good afternoon!

(monkeys chattering)

- What happens after the show?

Actually, I think if

they just do the show,

and then they will go

to a nice cage with some forests,

and they will be treated well.

Then, I have less of a bad feeling.

(tense music)

(elephant groaning)

- If that's how they live, actually,

I feel bad, yes.

(Melissa): More than 500 000 animals are suffering

around the world for different types

of tourist attractions.

Just to entertain people.

(monkey chattering)

(hissing)

(presenter speaking indistinctly)

- Are you ready?

Okay!

(elephants trumpeting)

(monkey chattering)

(roaring)

(Goodall): It's completely shocking.

There's a lot of cruelty.

Tigers bred for tourism.

Exhibited sometimes in very small enclosures

or in cages.

(Melissa): Tigers are used for selfies.

That tiger was likely drugged.

And dolphin experiences are also very popular

in the Caribbean and Mexico.

Elephants are still being poached from the wild

for tourists to ride them or to force them

to perform silly tricks for people.

You're seeing a very sad,

distorted version of that animal.

(indistinct chattering)

(chittering)

- It's pretty grim.

And those are the kinds of things tourists

need to learn about.

(birds chirping)

(distant drumming, clapping)

(Judy): We have travellers who have knowledge

about the places they are visiting

because they have sat behind their computers,

they have clicked online travel agent,

and been giving a glossy picture

of what everything is.

But they are not aware of what is happening,

/about what they're dealing with when they come to destinations.

(honking, whistle blowing)

I think that tourism that doesn't have knowledge

about the people in destinations that we travel to...

...it is not travel.

It becomes more of a holiday

from the reality of places.

(cars honking)

(gentle music)

(Meenu): Poverty is one liability

of marginalized communities.

Gender inequality.

These problems have existed in the world

for ages and ages.

Tourism didn't cause this problem.

But every single person who decides

to become a tourist has to make a choice.

Whether I'm going to be part of the solution, or not.

(gentle music)

(birds chirping)

Tourism is a big industry,

I mean, it's a booming industry, and more and more people

are talking about responsible tourism,

sustainable tourism,

They're talking about how they can give back

to the communities, and how they can make

their experiences of travel more meaningful.

But there has to be an interaction,

there has to be sharing, there has to be knowledge.

(bells ringing)

(indistinct chattering)

It's when we travel to different places,

we learn about things.

There are other worlds possible.

There are other ways of being.

You know, build an understanding of the world

which is so much more diverse than where I live

and what I know about.

(soft music)

(speaking foreign language)

(honking)

(bells chiming)

(Meenu): One in three women globally

has faced violence in her lifetime.

In India, more than 90 % of the cases of violence

that happened against women are happening

in their families and communities.

The reality is that

the men's own homes and their own communities

are the most violent places if you look at the records

of crime against women across the world.

It's not just in India that we are fighting

against oppression.

Can tourism be a part of the solution?

(elephant groaning)

(cameras clicking)

(elephant trumpeting)

(applause)

(indistinct chattering)

(applause)

(bird cawing)

(speaking foreign language)

(elephant groaning)

(elephant trumpeting)

- For travellers,

when you visit a place,

you become part of that place from the moment you arrive,

by what you do, where you spend your money,

who you talk to, how you behave.

There's an interaction going on.

This wallet is a vote,

and every dollar or euro you spend

is sending a message, "I like this, do more of it."

- There are more than 3000 elephants suffering

in tourist attractions across Southeast Asia.

In Vietnam,

Cambodia, and Thailand is really the hot-spot for this.

What people don't realize is the harsh treatment

that the elephants have to endure

in order to accept a person on their back.

- It's horrific, really.

I hate to tell people about it, but I think people need to know

that any elephant that's forced to give tourists rides

or perform circus-like tricks for them

was beaten into submission.

(indistinct chattering)

(shouting)

(elephant groaning)

(somber music)

(elephant trumpeting)

(Melissa): Many elephants experience

post-traumatic stress disorder.

You can see them rocking back and forth, pacing.

These are called "stereotypical behaviours."

We've never seen them in the wild in elephants.

(elephant groaning)

(elephant trumpeting)

(Goodall): And it's the same with a chimpanzee, or a gorilla,

or orangutan, or monkey.

And lions and tigers.

They become psychotic.

They show very abnormal behaviour.

Pacing back and forth.

And in the end,

will become deeply depressed

and just withdraw into him or herself.

Like a person would.

You see the same with orphaned children

in some of these terrible orphanages.

(children chattering)

(insects chirping)

(child crying)

(speaking foreign language)

(indistinct chattering)

- Adjective...

Describes... Does that describe a noun?

What is a noun?

(chuckling, chattering)

I don't have any teaching qualification,

I've not done my teaching English

as a second language qualification.

It's not necessary, if you want to spend time

with the children, and enjoy spending time with children,

it's all you need.

And a basic understanding of English yourself.

It's super easy to volunteer. We emailed maybe...

three weeks before coming here at absolute most.

Ferio called us the night before to confirm times,

make sure everything was all okay and then, yeah.

We were here within...

twenty-four hours.

It was so simple.

It could not have been any easier.

- Volunteering is one of tourism industry's

fastest-growing trends,

and it's often unregulated.

(gentle music)

About two billion dollars a year are spent through voluntourism

by sending out ten million volunteers.

- I spent my entire childhood in institutional care.

The number of volunteers that came in through the doors...

You lose count.

There are so many.

(Clarissa): Imagine a bus load of tourists

coming into a school and disturbing a class...

- Guys, I found the kindergarten.

(Clarissa): ...to play with the kids,

to take selfies with them.

- She's gonna let me come see the babies.

- I don't think they've ever seen hair like mine before.

- We can't really talk to each other,

but honestly, they just want to touch you.

(children chattering excitedly)

- Sometimes, they give out candy and then

also expect the children to do a performance for them.

Would this happen in your own country?

Probably not. So, why do tourists think

it's okay to do it in developing countries?

See the saviour complex.

This idea that you can go abroad without skills,

without qualifications,

whether you know the local language,

have worked with the issue before.

It's rooted in this belief that you can actually

change societies and communities.

Let's be honest here. This is neocolonialism.

This is deeply rooted in prejudice.

(indistinct distant speaking)

- Beautiful.

- Anything else? White, beautiful?

(Judy): The visible impact of voluntourism

is what we see.

It's the pictures from those who went to the orphanage.

It's the report from the company.

It's the amount that was contributed,

but there are invisible, emotional impacts

that happen when we go to these places

and leave.

It's undocumented.

(birds chirping)

(man): Can you just tell me where we are, where we're going?

- Uh, we are at... (speaking foreign language)

...a Children's Home.

Here, I've been here since I was in grade four.

We were around 42 children.

I've been here for eight years.

And...

Here, there was...

This is where we used to play.

And here, mostly where the volunteers could come.

Here, we could just entertain them.

(rhythmic drumming)

(indistinct chattering)

(Michelle): In 2008, I boarded an airplane

from Toronto to Nairobi.

I remember meeting Teresia very well.

Teresia was one of the older girls at the orphanage.

She was friendly, she approached me.

She cuddled with me.

She wanted to talk to me, play with my hair,

braid my hair. And I'll be honest,

this just made me feel absolutely wonderful.

(bright piano music)

(children chattering)

- Since 2005, in Cambodia,

there's been a 75% increase in orphanages,

and this directly reflects the tourism industry.

So, what this 75% increase shows

is that orphanage tourism has become a lucrative business.

(Clarissa): The majority of the orphanages

follow a very similar pattern.

So, you usually see a lot of children

in very dire conditions.

The operators want to pull at the heartstrings

of these travellers and these volunteers

to get the donations from them at the end.

"Orphanage" has become a dirty word.

They've rebranded themselves as "child centres"

or "residential care institutions,"

so they can still attract volunteers,

attract travellers under the same game.

About 80% of children living in orphanages

have at least one living parent.

(soft music)

(speaking foreign language)

(Peter): Research has shown that poverty is a big factor.

Communities, they are quick to postulate into these places.

It's a quick fix and unfortunately,

that does not work in the childrens' interests.

So, what then, does that tell you?

Voluntourism fuels the demand

for children to be in these facilities.

It fuels the separation of children

from their families of origin.

(chickens clucking)

- I've been building a big zoo for them to stay.

For them to stay all together, I think, in the future.

For me, I feed them. I love them like my children.

Like, I take care of the children in here.

(Judy): It is very difficult

to separate voluntourism

from the kind of, often,

a zoo kind of tourism.

Where we go and we click, and we cuddle animals,

and we take nice pictures.

And we go to orphanage homes through volunteers

and do exactly the same thing.

It's a mirror of what we do with animals in the zoo.

To do this with little ones.

Children.

(babies crying)

With another human being.

(baby cries echoing)

- It's very painful memories.

And thinking how many years are wasted in depression.

(baby cries echoing)

We knew we had family members who loved us,

but you describe yourself as a total orphan,

and we had nobody to totally share with the truth.

(babies crying)

(gentle piano music)

(birds chirping)

- Someone came into my life today.

But then, tomorrow, they weren't there.

I felt worthless,

undeserving.

(children chattering)

- You can tell that all of the children here,

they want that relationship, that connection.

(child calling)

They just want to be with you,

they will write messages like, "We love you so much.

Thank you for helping our school,

thank you for bringing money."

(indistinct chattering)

(Michelle): A decade has passed, and I'm learning that

those hugs and affection,

they're a sign of an attachment disorder.

(camera clicking)

It means they will be unable to form healthy bonds

later in life.

I was just one of many volunteers

who came through a rotating door,

off a bus to hug them,

to play with them.

Causing them harm.

I had all the best of intentions,

but in hindsight,

I didn't do my homework, I didn't take the time

to really understand what communities needed,

what my impact would have been on those communities

or why those children were there.

And when I got there, I really learned

the horrible truth.

They were there because I wanted to be there,

not because they needed to be there.

And because of people like me,

they were separated from their families.

(gentle music)

(insects chirping)

(Peter): One in three ends up homeless.

One in seven gets involved in prostitution.

One in five has a criminal record.

And one in ten...

ends up committing suicide.

(gentle music)

These are experiences I have lived through.

I'm the last one in a family of six.

And we were six of us, taken to an orphanage.

We all left at different times.

But it was not long after that my brother committed suicide.

And so, for many children that are going through...

what I went through,

it's important that we think, really...

about what is right for them.

(children singing)

- Selfie, say, "Selfie!" Selfie!

(children continue singing)

- And how can they still get to be in family settings?

How can they get to experience the love and care of a family?

(children singing)

(gentle music)

♪ Rain, rain, go away ♪

♪ Rain, go away

♪ Come again another day

♪ Rain, rain, go away

♪ Rain, rain, go away ♪

(clapping)

(children chattering)

- There are different ways of doing voluntourism

and we can do voluntourism without being disruptive,

by still leaving a positive footprint.

And in situations where we can determine

that positive footprint in advance,

and we can be accountable for our actions,

I think it's the best way of volunteering.

- So, talk to us just a little bit about

the Stahili Foundation that you helped found

after making this.

- Well, a couple of years later, we came together

and realizing what was actually happening in the institution,

Stahili was born.

It wasn't initially born as an NGO, it started...

- The most important thing about being

a responsible traveller is to be an informed traveller.

- For me, the travels that I took

were really my education.

To lead us in the direction of ensuring

that this massive industry that we call travel and tourism

and all of its components

protects the very places we visit.

Ko Pha Ngan, it was a real, dramatic experience

that kind of made me begin to question

conservation from a different perspective.

And suddenly, tourism became a part of that.

- We should ask more questions

about the places that we want to visit.

And I'm not asking the traveller to be government,

I'm not asking them to be the inspector of tourism,

I'm just asking them to put value

in the places that they visit.

- What if we could harness tourism?

What if tourism was done differently?

What if tourism was based on supporting local people?

What if tourism actually invested and supported

the very places that people were travelling to see?

(gentle music)

(elephant bellowing)

(Melissa): There are many places that have rescued elephants

from these other tourist attractions.

These elephants can't be released into the wild,

but there is hope for the elephants

that are currently in captivity.

If we are to phase out elephant rides,

they still could have a life worth living

if they are provided proper a natural environment.

(gentle music)

(Melissa): You can, as a tourist,

feel good about supporting these venues

and seeing elephants in proper sanctuaries.

Those people are leading the way in helping us shift

this change in tourism demand.

(gentle music)

(laughing)

(Goodall): The important fact that unless we work

to improve the lives of local communities

around an area that we want to conserve,

if we don't do something to help the people,

we can't even try to conserve the animals.

- Responsible tourism is tourism that puts people first.

It must be inclusive of the people in destinations

that we travel to.

(Goodall): If communities are helped a little bit,

then they do better.

(gentle music)

(singing in foreign language)

(singing continues)

- Because, if tourists didn't go and pay money to see

these "entertainments,"

then the entertainments would change.

(Judy): But if we don't demand it,

they will keep selling us the same packages.

When we, as travellers, begin to demand this,

then the travel industry will give it to us.

(gentle music)

(cars honking)

(speaking foreign language)

- I think one of the most

important ways of making tourism more sustainable

is by engaging with organizations like Sakha,

where every time a tourist comes and uses a Sakha cab,

they are contributing to new pathways

for women's empowerment.

(Meenu): A majority of Sakha clients are foreign tourists.

Tourism has played a significant role

in helping women drivers, those who are in more vulnerable

positions get opportunities for a livelihood, for dignity.

Driving, it strikes at the heart of patriarchy

because patriarchy, one of the key things

it rests upon is restriction of mobility for women.

And it's linked to the whole issue of violence.

Normally, little girls grew up inside homes,

they're not even allowed to be on the roads and streets.

(speaking foreign language)

(teacher and students speaking foreign language)

(Meenu): Driving, it brings women out of their homes,

onto the roads, behind powerful cars.

I think anyone who has ever learned driving in their lives

will identify with that feeling,

because it does make you feel empowered.

Today, in Delhi, we have nearly 40 cars,

and we are able to give employment

to more than 100 women chauffeurs

through this initiative.

We believe that women need to get into the travel industry,

because there's a huge transformative impact

that this amount of money has.

Women are able to negotiate delayed marriages

or better marriages, or walk out of violent relationships.

(indistinct chattering)

(car honking)

Ultimately, if there are just more

number of women on the road,

their own homes will also become

safer for themselves.

(speaking foreign language)

(cars honking)

(gentle music)

(Judy): I think that as travellers,

we should seek more to connect with the reality of places.

We need a change of mindset, to become more aware travellers,

to become more conscious travellers.

We need the industry in itself to transform

and change completely.

(soft music)

(birds chirping)

(rhythmic music)

(speaking in Spanish)

- We were taking passengers through that area

on the way to Machu Picchu.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers going

right through The Sacred Valley, and you realize

that there's an area there that had

zero employment for women.

And really, it was just on the way to Machu Picchu.

We met Francesca and her community,

and we realized that they had an idea.

(speaking in Spanish)

- For us, it seemed like a natural extension on the way

to Machu Picchu, so it made sense for us

to have a dialogue with the community,

to think of how can we help,

and how can we bring passengers to you?

You know, what we have to do as tour operators

is listen and create a dialogue with local communities.

That's the basis of community tourism.

Actually listening to the storytelling locally,

of what local people want.

(Judy): Culture preserves itself.

Tourism can come in and strengthen it,

and showcase it to the world without trying to alter it.

That starts by asking the question,

"Is tourism the right tool for this area?

And if it is, in what form

will it benefit the host community?"

(Bruce): That's really the magical part of tourism

when you get it right,

when you create that dialogue

and you're meeting the needs for everyone,

and you're creating an amazing experience for travellers.

(gentle music)

(speaking Spanish)

(Bruce): There's the multigenerational

ripple effect impact, goes beyond creating jobs.

(Elizabeth): You give locals a voice, and you give

all the different stakeholders a voice.

And you develop it with the community in mind,

and with the natural assets in mind,

and you protect those two,

then you have a great experience, and you make money,

and everybody can win.

(speaking Spanish)

(Judy): These places that we visit,

that we call destinations, are actually people's homes.

We have come into people's homes.

(rain spattering)

(birds calling)

(soft music)

(Costas): A traditional homestay is about

staying with a family

in which they've set the conditions and the terms

to welcome you as part of their lives.

And you stay with them in their home.

You share their day-to-day life

and they open their world to you.

(gentle music)

They become the local guide.

They teach you about the local culture

and they also help us remember we are guests

in somebody else's home.

In somebody else's country.

In somebody else's community.

(rain spattering)

(birds chirping)

(speaking Spanish)

(singing in foreign language)

(tense music)

(Johnathan): The challenge of how to deal

with increasing numbers of tourists

is gonna be with us for the foreseeable future.

And part of it is simple arithmetic.

(man): We're gonna likely have close to 10 billion people

on planet Earth in the next 35 years.

(Rachel): If you add 160 million visitors to the current number

of 1.4 billion travellers that are travelling now,

every year, that's gonna increase,

and then you add it to the already

two to three percent, which is the global growth,

you have a phenomenal amount of people travelling.

- We're in an "all hands on deck" moment.

If, just like a light switch, right now,

I could just go "click."

And shut down the entire global aviation industry,

every plane flight in the world,

what does that look like?

(reporters speaking successively)

- Airplanes are supposed to fly in the sky,

but currently, there are more planes on the ground.

- The Coronavirus effect has been fast and devastating.

- There has been so many lives lost,

the numbers are impossible to grasp.

- COVID-19 has now spread to more than 140 countries,

a truly borderless disease.

- Most borders are lines on a map.

The virus is taking no account of those.

- Travel into the European Union is being severely restricted.

- Governments are sealing their borders.

- India is suspending tourist visas.

- ...expects a drop of...

- ...restrictions on foreigners coming into Kenya.

- Some airports have turned into ghost towns.

- Tourist hotspots are virtually empty.

- Many destinations are in lockdown.

- Travel was down 80%.

- Billions in one of the world's biggest industries

suffering a devastating blow to their livelihoods.

- Many countries in the developing world

being hit hard, when a high percentage of their GDP

was tourism-dependent.

- We think of the tourists,

who seem to have vanished into thin air.

- Wondering if their jobs

and their means to provide for their families

are going to be able to survive this.

- You've seen the disruptions in some of the most

sophisticated supply-chain countries in the world,

you can imagine if you have a problem there,

what you're gonna have in the most fragile environments

or economies.

(dramatic music)

(Bruce): International travel today

is one of the strongest catalysts for conservation

and poverty alleviation that we have.

(Meenu): Tourism has an opportunity to change now.

We have to learn how to make this interaction

and sharing more responsible.

(Bruce): The idea we've had of a tourist has to end.

We need a new tourist, a new traveller.

(Arnie): The key issue isn't,

"Do we stop travel?"

It's, "How do we get travel right?"

(Judy): We travellers are a very powerful lot.

So, when travellers say things like,

"I can only do that,

because that is what is available."

What did you ask for?

What do you, yourself, want as a traveller?

How much do you want a different form of travel?

How much do you want

to reduce leakages in destinations?

How much do you want to be accountable

for your actions during the travel?

How much do you want to leave positive footprints

out of your travel?

(children chattering)

(Gary): At heart, an ethical traveller isn't selfish.

They don't just see travel as being about them,

it's not just their trip,

the trip is shared

not only with other travellers,

but with residents, and with the environment.

(Goodall): Responsible tourism can be really beneficial

to the animals, to the environment,

to the local people, to the government,

and to the tourist.

(Bruce): For sustainability to be achieved,

it's about educating the tourist.

The tourist has to understand the power they have.

If people just took the time to do a bit of research

on where their money's going, you have this ability

to suddenly make your holiday a transformative experience

for so many people that would be impacted

by your decision to just go on holiday.

- Making sure that travel companies

are being held accountable.

"This is what you say, and this is what you're selling.

So, now, I'm going to take the tour

and I want to make sure that this is actually

what you deliver, not only to me

as a traveller, but to the workers, too."

(Rachel): We have a responsibility to ask

the hotel what they're doing for the local community,

or if the hotel or cruise ships have an environmental policy.

(Elizabeth): As a traveller, tip generously.

That's the best person-to-person thing you can do.

(Clarissa): When abroad, and considering interacting

with activities such as visiting a school

or an orphanage, it's always good to step back

and ask yourself, "Would this be okay in my country?"

And if it's not,

there's a good chance you shouldn't be doing it.

(Melissa): Do your research, make informed decisions,

understand what happens behind the scenes.

Simple rule of thumb: if you can ride it,

hug it or take a selfie with a wild animal,

chances are it's cruel, so don't do it.

- We need to be responsible about where we're purchasing

our products and make sure that we buy

ethically sourced and locally sourced.

We need to bring our own water bottle

and our own coffee cup, it's just unexcusable, now.

We need to stop using single-use plastics.

- I think one of the most important ways

of making tourism more sustainable

is by ensuring that we work

with communities' own initiatives.

Tourism can encourage a redistribution of wealth.

(Bruce): Travel can be the greatest form

of wealth distribution that the world has ever seen.

And suddenly, your holiday can be transformed

into your form of giving back.

Imagine a world where that happens.

(man): I think that travellers are like pollinators.

Wherever they go, they get pollinated by ideas.

Experiences, places, situations, people.

And they're transporting them to other places.

But they also contribute,

because they have the privilege of travelling

to many other places.

(bells ringing)

So, if they hear the right message,

the right ideas, the right questions,

that will create a very good synergy.

(gentle music)

(Meenu): By travelling, by meeting new people,

by learning new things,

you become part of, in India, we say...

(speaks in Hindi)

World is a family.

(inspiring music)

(cheering)

(speaking Spanish)

(mysterious music)

(birds chirping)

(soft guitar music)

(speaking Spanish)

(deep breath echoing)

(rhythmic drumming)

(speaking foreign language)

(speaking Spanish)

(whistling)

(singing in foreign language)

(continues singing)

(rhythmic fanning)

(gentle music)

(birds chirping)

- Alright.

I'm committed to travelling responsibly.

- I commit to making travel decisions that align

with my personal values.

- I think it's fantastic for travellers

to always have a mindset of, "How can I support the locals?"

- Small changes can go a long way.

- I commit to never using plastic bags, utensils,

coffee cups and shampoo and conditioner bottles...

- Because we are the ones that are visiting,

it is very important to be mindful

toward the local communities.

- Refuse housekeeping. It's such a simple thing to do,

but you only really need your bed sheets washed

every few days, same with your towels.

And it saves a lot of water.

- Choosing hotels and accommodations

that have sustainable practices.

- And also committing to only using

reef-friendly sunscreen to ensure that chemicals

aren't leaching into our oceans.

- Never participating in cruel animal tourist attractions.

- I commit to supporting women-led businesses,

organizations, and shopping fair trade

whenever I possibly can.

- Trying to encourage people to travel solo

or in small groups.

If you are gonna choose a group tour,

then choose one that supports and works with locals.

- I commit to always doing my research before I sign up

to volunteer with any organization,

and I commit to making sure my impact is sustainable

over the long term.

- Go to a local fresh market,

go to a local farmer's market

and buy the things from the locals,

where the money goes right back into their economy.

- Deciding where we put our money,

to what businesses do we support?

- And continually thinking about how my travel choices

can have an impact, both positively and negatively.

- And I so, I think it's up to us as travellers,

you and me. We have a responsibility to search out

opportunities that will benefit communities,

because we have so much information at our fingertips.

- Sustainable, responsible, ethical travel.

All of these practices, everyone needs to be aware of it

and needs to think about it when they're exploring

this great world that we live in.

- Because I want to keep exploring this big,

beautiful planet of ours.

(Bruce): I think what the world needs now

is for people to travel.

(soft music)

Subtitling: difuze