KIM Sparrow works for Jenman African Safaris.
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Being part of an industry that focuses on what to pack for cross-continental journeys, we are now faced with the challenge of ‘unpacking’ the impact that travel has on the world as well as ourselves.
As travel agents, safari experts and connoisseurs of adventure, our place in the travel chain has been compromised and our clients reticent to book their next holiday.
In 2019, it was recorded that tourism accounted for 330 million jobs worldwide, equivalent to 10.3% of global employment.
The importance of this sector for job creation and local economic development, directly and indirectly, has been reflected in its disappearance due to COVID, with livelihoods falling beneath the poverty line as a result.
In terms of assistance, government help is often out of sight and how can we, as the ‘community of the world’, ensure that the less fortunate not become even more disadvantaged during such times.
It is our responsibility, as agents and partners which create revenue streams for tourism operations, communities and conservation initiatives, to forge a way forward.
Educate, engage, enrich. The world has been forced to pause and as a result, adapt and redefine our values.
In the echoes of our minds we hear the impalpable call for meaningful experiences, to move with awareness and purpose.
This is the undeniable value of our knowledge as travel experts — an indisputable responsibility for us to impart information about sustainable travel choices for the community of the world.
Purposeful travel is a reciprocal exchange — clients absorbing experience, gaining understanding and gathering perspective while imparting the gift of opportunity.
This gift emerges in the form of education in rural schools, employment for local communities and funding for conservation projects.
This greater responsibility forces us to rethink not only how we travel, but how our journeys resonate on the ground.
Once our footprints have faded — what positive steps were taken to ensure change?
Providing customers with sustainable travel choices imposes an accountability for our actions towards our environment and taking ownership of these is in turn protecting our wild spaces.
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Source: traveldaily