We are committed to developing, operating, and marketing tourism in a sustainable manner; that is, all forms of tourism which make a positive contribution to the natural and cultural environment, which generate benefits for the host communities, and which do not put at risk the future livelihood of local people.
Article 1.3 of the Statement of Commitment, Tour Operators’ Initiative
Being an ‘eco-friendly’ tour operator or travel agent brings many benefits such as reduced costs, wildlife conservation, cultural understanding, and more ecotourists. Here are some guidelines to consider for a ‘green’ travel agency or tour operator.
Economic policy
How much of your profit is returned to the local community and wildlife projects?
Choose a project that interests your company, such as rhino conservation or village water supplies, and set yourself a goal, create the timeline with your staff and then inform your clients of your goal.
How do you support local camps and villagers that provide the traveler with local gifts?
Do you give your clients tips on what to purchase? Do you purchase local gifts to give to your clients? Do the lodges and camps you use have a local handicraft shop?
Environmental policy
How do you offer local environmental insights for your travelers?
Do you give your clients the Kenya Wildlife Service Park Regulations, a great guide to the ‘dos and don’ts’ of wildlife watching?
How do you reduce environmental impact with your tours?
How do you ensure that your drivers don’t drive off the road in national parks? Explain to your clients the potential damage of off-road driving and ask them to help protect the parks by not asking the driver to do so.
Are your staff trained to be co-friendly?
Do you have an eco-policy briefing for new staff? If not, ask one of your staff to mentor new staff on your company’s eco-policies.
How involved are you in regional initiatives to conserve the environment?
Start looking for partners that will help you, help themselves, and protect the wilderness areas at the same time!
Social responsibility
What pre-departure cultural information do you provide the traveler?
Create pre-departure information that provides helpful hints on how to visit local cultures. Give background information on cultural ‘dos and don’ts’ for each area your client is visiting.
How do you introduce the local culture to your travelers?
Do you work with the camps and lodges to create cultural talks and tours? Do you allow the clients to spend time with the local tribes while traveling?
How many of your company’s staff are local citizens?
Working with local citizens gives you the local information that you and your clients need.
Ecotourism as a part of sustainable tourism
Tourism is like a fire: you can use it to cook your soup, but it can also burn down your house.
Asian proverb
There are no strict definitions of green tourism, sustainable tourism, and ecotourism, which is a problem, as organizations, companies, and individuals tend to use the same terms to mean different things, but the WTO sees the concept of sustainable tourism as something that covers all forms of tourism, including mass tourism. In addition, sustainable tourism can be developed in natural areas and urban areas. Ecotourism is concerned with natural areas, with a focus on ecology, as the name suggests. It’s a kind of sustainable tourism that focuses on ecology.
Sustainable means that the activity can go on for a long period of time. Sustainability means carrying capacity. It’s about tourism carrying as the maximum number of people that can visit a tourist destination at the same time, without damaging the physical, economic, sociocultural environment, and without producing an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitor satisfaction.
There are three major areas of tourism impact – environmental, sociocultural, and economic. And in each sphere sustainable tourism has a mechanism for calculating the carrying capacity of a destination. Sustainable tourism works in all sectors and at all levels. Large companies, small and medium enterprises, host communities, and of course, the individual tourist.
Sustainable tourism
Growing concern over the negative impacts of tourism during the 1990s led eventually to the concept of sustainable tourism or sustainable tourism development. Such development should:
- use environmental resources in a way that maintains their essential ecological processes and helps to conserve a region’s natural heritage and biodiversity;
- respects the sociocultural authenticity of host communities and conserve their built and living cultural heritage;
- contribute to intercultural understanding and tolerance;
- ensure viable, long-term economic activities which will, in turn, provide economic benefits to everybody, especially to local people;
- create stable employment and generate income-earning opportunities and social services for the host communities.
From this, we can see that sustainable tourism development is not just a response to the negative environmental impacts of tourism, but to sociocultural and economic impacts, too.
Sustainable tourism is not the same as ecotourism or green tourism. Ecotourism aims to provide tourists with the chance to understand a natural or cultural environment without permanently altering it. Green tourism is essentially the same in its aims as ecotourism, but the term green is used to create a contrast with white tourism (skiing and winter sports) or blue tourism (sea, sand, and sun). Sustainable tourism is far more wide-reaching concept than either green tourism or ecotourism, and is one that seeks sustainability in all aspects of tourism, from the management of city centre hotels or the recycling of aircraft cabin waste from tourist destinations in the Antarctic.
A wide range of national and international, private and public sector bodies such as the World Tourism Organization (WTO) or the World Travel and Trade Council (WTTC) have issued guidelines as to what constitutes sustainable tourism. Thus, it is felt to be possible for providers of mass tourism such as tour operators to be eco-friendly. A key concept in determining sustainability is carrying capacity. This term refers to the maximum number of visitors a tourist destination or attraction can support without any lasting negative effects on the host community.
THE FRONT DESK
Hotel employment falls into two broad categories: front of the house and back of the house. Jobs in the front of the house include management, the various jobs at the front desk, accounting, sales and promotion, baggage handling, car attendants, and special services. Jobs in the back of the house include food and beverage preparation and service, housekeeping, laundry and valet service, engineering, and maintenance.
The front desk is the counter where the guests register, pick up their keys and mail, request information, deposit their valuables, and pay their bills. It is also called the reception area.
The front desk is located in the lobby of the hotel. The lobby is the public entrance area that gives access to the guest rooms, restaurants, bars, shops, and other facilities in the hotel. For the convenience of guests, the front desk is almost always located near the hotel’s main entrance.
The front desk jobs include receptionists, concierges, bellmen, porters, doormen and other employees. Many hotels have one or more assistant managers at the front desk. Their jobs may include greeting important guests, sorting out problems with reservations, or handling routine complaints.
The primary job of front-desk personnel is to take care of the check-in and check-out procedures and to provide helpful information to the guests in order that their stay in the hotel may be comfortable and convenient.
In the eyes of most customers, the front-desk employees are the representatives of the hotel. Their ability to work smoothly is an important factor in the success of the hotel.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE SERVICE
Food and beverage service is a major factor in hotel operation. Every modern hotel offers some form of food and beverage service.
The food and beverage manager is a key member of the management staff. He has the overall responsibility for planning the food and drink operation and purchasing the hundreds of items that are necessary for the restaurants and bars. Because food can spoil quickly, ordering supplies is a daily routine. The food and beverage manager’s staff nay also include a store-keeper, who stores and issues food, beverages, and restaurant and kitchen supplies.
The kitchen itself is a separate kingdom within the hotel. The head cook, who is almost always called by the French word chef, is the boss of this area. The chef is responsible for planning the menus, and for supervising the work of the other chefs and cooks.
Under the chefs are the cooks who actually cook the food and then place it on the plate for the waiters to pick up.
Under the cooks’ supervision are the kitchen helpers who peel potatoes, cut up vegetables, and bring food from the storeroom to the kitchen. The kitchen staff also
Includes dishwashers.
In the restaurant, as well as in the kitchen, there are also different kinds of jobs. The person who seats the guests is called a captain or maître d’hôtel, or a hostess, if a woman. The waiters and waitresses take orders and serve the meals. Most restaurants also employ busboys, who pour water, clear and set tables and so on.
In an elaborate restaurant, there is often an employee called the wine steward, or sommelier, who takes orders for wine and sometimes for other alcoholic drinks. Finally, there are cashiers who receive payment or signed bills from the guests.
In addition to a restaurant, most hotels also have a bar or cocktail lounge where drinks are served. Bartenders work behind the bar which is a long counter. They mix drinks and serve them to the customers at the bar. Additional waiters or waitresses are needed to serve customers who are seated at the tables. The bar or cocktail lounge may also offer food service, although it is usually simpler than the food served in the hotel dining room. Fast food, such as sandwiches or hamburgers is customary.
