Supporting tourism's climate action in Spanish, with Turismo Declara
Today marks the launch of Turismo Declara; a Tourism Declares website and community for Spanish speakers.
Here, Holly Tuppen catches up with two of its four founders, Ángela Rodríguez, Editor of Travindy based in Spain, and Marco Lucero, co-founder of Cuidadores de Destinos based in Chile, to find out more about the project. The two other organisations involved are Komù Travel and Travolution.
Tell us a little bit about your motivation to establish Turismo Declara.
ANGELA: I’ve always wanted to help spread the word about Tourism Declares and create a Spanish version but needed a good team. Marco’s enthusiasm helped to get things moving. Our main aim is to inspire the sector to be more collaborative. We also want to get more younger people involved because they are the agents of change for the future.
Ángela Rodríguez, co-founder of Turismo Declara.
Often sustainability and climate discussions can seem dominated by old men in suits. That needs to change. We want to be part of a new conversation about climate change that focuses on actions and collaboration – not just talk.
MARCO: In March 2020, I set up Cuidadores de Destinos (Destinations Stewards) to build on the post-pandemic opportunity to incentivise and promote a shift in destination management. Since then, we’ve worked with destinations and organisations in Chile and Latin America to develop webinars and campaigns about putting the needs of residents and nature first.
Tourism Declares fits perfectly with our vision. Indigenous communities have been yelling about the horrific consequences of a climate emergency for years, largely ignored. Translating Tourism Declares means we can include the Latin American voice, especially those communities that live with climate change and have a different perspective and philosophy that we can learn from.
Why must Tourism Declares reach a more diverse range of communities?
MARCO: Tourism can be very polarising. For quite a long time, the industry has been in denial about the impact it has. Problems like overtourism have been increasing, and local people have been left out of destination and tourism planning. Indigenous communities, in particular, have experienced generations and generations of exploitation, and so they feel hopeless. Many people think of tourism as another destructive force.
Tourism Declares is an inspiration because it proves that collaborative action is being taken. It’s important for people on the ground to see that organisations worldwide are working together to overcome the problems of climate change. We also need to learn from these communities. In Latin America, indigenous communities are protesting the whole time, but our mainstream media is tired of their complaints. This is a platform where we can listen and communicate needs and solutions from the frontline.
ANGELA: According to WTTC, 80% of the tourism sector comprises of small or medium-sized enterprises, and most of them don’t know how to build climate resilience into their everyday actions. Tourism Declares can help to guide them through action plans and unite companies, big and small. If we don’t reduce our emissions, the result will be catastrophic, and to do that we need to get everyone on board.
Marco, what in particular can Latin America offer the Tourism Declares movement?
MARCO: We have some of the world’s most progressive nature-based tourism organisations, most outspoken indigenous communities, and we have some brilliant examples of responsible destinations management (take Costa Rica, for example). We need to share these examples with the world.
Here in Latin America, we also have the concept of Buen Vivir, ‘the good life’, a philosophy that tells us that we need less to be happy and we need to focus on our relationship with nature and between humans. It’s a powerful message that often gets commodified or misunderstood. I hope that by listening to those that live by it to understand the concept better the whole tourism industry can learn from it.
Marco Lucero, co-founder of Turismo Declara.
What would you like Turismo Declara to be?
ANGELA: We want to have the same impact Tourism Declares has had but in the Spanish speaking world. We’d like to see more climate conversations, and, most importantly, action. We’ve been talking about climate change since the 1980s but there’s been little tangible impact. We’ll only start to see action if we share best practice and examples. We’re very excited about growing the community.
MARCO: I’d also like to provide a platform for the voices that need to be heard, and for difficult conversations to unfold. The discourse at the moment lacks depth. For example, why are we not talking about degrowth? Why do we fear this? We cannot have growth as an indicator of success anymore.
Why is this still important in light of Covid-19?
ANGELA: In 2020, worldwide economies shut down, and there were predictions that emissions shrunk by 7%. This is how much we need to shrink carbon every year if we want to meet the 1.5ºC limit. And yet this had catastrophic consequences. So, we need to get smarter and work together to bring about change without compromising the economy and millions of livelihoods. COVID-19 has been an awakening for tourism to be more sustainable, resilient and regenerative. It’s time to put the climate emergency at the forefront of our thinking.
MARCO: We also mustn’t forget that these pandemics will only increase if we keep destroying nature and forgetting our relationship with biodiversity. We need to be prepared, and we need to work better with nature.
Why is it important to translate platforms like Tourism Declares?
ANGELA: Even though most people that work in tourism can speak English, if we want to mainstream climate change action, we need to have this content in different languages. We don’t want the content to stick with directors and heads of companies. It needs to flow to everyone that works in or does something that relates to tourism. The information needs to be available to all.
MARCO: At the moment, there’s a lack of information flow both ways — from the Western world to indigenous communities and back again. Latin America needs the tools and science from the English-speaking world as much as the English-speaking world needs the knowledge and wisdom from our indigenous communities. Language mustn’t be the barrier to view our destinations and industry as a connected ecological and social system.
What are you most looking forward to people sharing on Turismo Declara?
MARCO: We are an online organisation at the moment, so have been scrutinising how our online behaviour has an impact on carbon emissions. We’ve learnt that there are many blueprints for the European countries, but very little information if you are based in Chile. Hopefully, this platform will change that and create better carbon measurement tools designed for Latin America or specific destinations. We will be reaching out to universities and academics to help with this.
ANGELA: People in Spain often say they don’t measure because they don’t know how so hopefully, we can change that. Everyone needs to share and think outside of the box to get the right solutions to measure and reduce. This platform will facilitate that.
We’re very much a collective project and invite people to declare or to get in touch to find out how they can help build the platform. Please join our journey.
To find out more or get involved, please visit turismodeclara.com.
Students get access to a range of online modules which they complete alongside the rest of their travel group prior to departure. Two focus on the climate crisis.