by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:41 PM ET, Tue August 21, 2018
Tourism-reliant Caribbean destinations are increasingly threatened by vexing questions ranging from how to protect fragile natural environments from surging visitor growth to how best to effectively source local produce to managing land- and water-based waste treatment.
Now a U.K.-based firm is offering a "sustainability quiz" designed to help tourism stakeholders address such man-made hazards.
Via Paradise (Almost) Lost, an online tool launched in July by the Travel Foundation, a nonprofit organization, participants embark on a virtual journey to a "tropical island" where they're challenged to save "paradise" by correctly responding to sustainability questions ranging from how to protect ancient structures from growing visitor arrivals to how to address a lack of accessible local produce.
The online test also offers an educational tool for travel agents, as it explains tourism supply chains, hotel and guest management strategies and other travel industry practices. The quiz provides common-sense explanations travel agents can use to address travel sustainability questions from their clients, from why a certain hotel may not have access to locally sourced produce to the conditions travelers agree to as part of an online booking.
Meanwhile, for tourism stakeholders, the system offers a "virtual" checklist of issues from managing resort operations in environmentally sensitive areas to working closely with tourism-reliant communities. The Travel Foundation program is a precursor to comprehensive sustainability programs the nonprofit group offers.
"Promoting knowledge and understanding of sustainable tourism is vital for our mission," said Julie Middleton, the Travel Foundation's head of sustainable practice. "Paradise (Almost) Lost is fun, free and for everyone in travel - agents, operators, hotels, [and] governments - because we all have a role to ensure tourism is more sustainable.
"It is a 20-minute introduction to issues facing destinations and how the industry can come together to resolve them," she said. "We'd like all businesses to use it as part of their commitment to staff learning and sustainability."
Caribbean Tourism Organization-member governments, ministries and tourism authorities can also freely access the group's detailed sustainability training course, Middleton added.
The Travel Foundation has previously implemented programs to address sustainability issues in Caribbean destinations. For example, using sustainability risk-profiling research to consult with Saint Lucia-based resorts, the firm identified and helped established sustainability best practices across the island. Adopted initiatives include a program through which resort food waste is provided to local farmers to feed pigs.
The Travel Foundation also maintains a dedicated project team in Jamaica, where it is working with small businesses and community groups to ensure the products and services they offer meet the needs of international tourists.
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