MSNBC launched a weekend afternoon
talk show called "The Ethical Edge" earlier this year. I happened
to be one of about four viewers who stumbled across the program at,
I must confess, a most propitious time.
There sat a string
of talking heads trying to put their arms around the notion of just
what it takes to be an "ethical traveler."
The first important
note came when one of the professors pointed out that Advertising
Age had determined that the Las Vegas "What happens here, stays
here" ads are a "cultural phenomenon."
I suppose we can
all agree on that. Fifty years from now, when our culture looks
back on when the train started leaving the track, the notion that
we can cheat, lie and gamble with impunity as long as we stay
within the territorial boundaries of America's fastest-growing city
will be of some sociological value.
Peter Greenberg was
there, and he was unusually candid without the confines of the vast
audience of the "Today" show. Greenberg pointed out that many of us
have a "demented sense of entitlement" and that "Americans are the
most geographically ignorant people on earth."
Actually, there is
a tribe on Papua New Guinea that knows less about world geography
then the average American, so Greenberg's statement was not
literally true. But I do agree with his point.
The panel tried to
summarize what makes an American an "ethical traveler."
They began by
pointing out that it might be nice if we knew just a few words in
the local language. It made me wonder if anyone is packaging basic
language kits for American travelers and distributing them through
travel agents.
How hard, for
example, would it be for some basic language instruction to
accompany confirmations from tour operators in overseas
destinations?
It was also pointed
out that the truly ethical traveler knows how to bargain "fairly."
This, I suppose, means that when someone asks for 100 galuptas for
a handmade T-shirt, it is not appropriate to respond back by
offering 10 galuptas. That makes sense.
"Come back with at
least 50%" one panelist advised.
That's fair,
particularly if you are trying to negotiate an overseas purchase of
a BMW 7 Series at the Munich factory.
Perhaps the most
intriguing comment came from Jennifer Hunter of the Chicago
Sun-Times. She pointed out that a recent survey found that the
major complaint that Americans have about international travel is
"rudeness."
An amazing 65% of
respondents identified this as the major impediment to traveling
abroad.
So let's just
forget about traveling to Thailand, New Zealand or the final
outposts of the British Empire. Let's just wait until they are up
to speed on manners so our collective and quite delicate
sensibilities will not be offended.
Americans are not
screaming for "ethical tourism" options. But that may be more about
semantics than anything else. We are starting to hear the term
"responsible tourism," and we certainly have a sense of what that
means. Leaving the environment in better shape than we found it,
ending tourist-related pollution and supporting locally owned
services and locally made products are all worthy goals.
We may have a
demented sense of entitlement. But perhaps our children won't as
environmental reality and its relationship to mass tourism becomes
ever clearer.
Contributing
editor Richard Turen owns Churchill and Turen, a vacation-planning
firm, and has been named to Conde Nast's list of the World's Top
Travel Specialists since the list began.