Aloha ‘Lohas’: Revolutionizing the Way We Travel
Good feeling CREDIT: nattu (Flickr)
It’s official: the economic crisis is over. Well, for the travel industry, anyway. 2010 saw a strong recovery after a turbulent year brought on by skyrocketing oil prices and a tendency towards traveler thriftiness. But the industry that had fallen 4.2% in worldwide flights and 5.7% in overall spending, according to ITB Berlin, the world’s largest travel trade show, is back – and the experts are predicting growth. The World Travel and Tourism Council calculates that over the next decade, global travel will increase by an average of 4% per year. What’s the engine driving this growth? Responsible tourism and the people who demand it. As such, web sites and social networking groups are popping up around the Internet.
Web sites like es.responsiblehotels.travel are leading the charge. They are a part of this growing trend, which emphasizes giving back to the host culture as much as you get out of it. That means travel that is built around the idea of local. Locally grown food, fair trade with local artisans and a commitment to social or environmental projects. It means a focus on renewable energy sources. It means careful monitoring to reduce our carbon footprint as we move toward sustainable tourism. And it is expected to become an industry mega-trend.
Travel Weekly forecasted that by 2012 responsible tourism would account for up to 25% of the world’s travel market, bringing the total value of the sector to a hefty $473 billion a year. That’s a lot people looking for eco-friendly, culture-conscious vacations.
This comes in response to decades of travel that was anything but responsible. In Spain, where colorful fishing villages dotted the coasts until the rise of tourism in the 1960s brought flashing neon-attractions and towering hotels that obliterated the views and along with them an entire way of life, the call for responsible tourism is being heard loud and clear.
Grupo El Fuerte, the pioneering environmentalist-hoteliers that built the first “ecological” hotel in Spain, the Hotel Fuerte Conil on the coast of Cádiz in South Western Andalucía, has set its sights on making responsible travel as easy and accessible as possible. Their web site www.responsiblehotels.travel includes a series of easy-to-use checks which rate hotels based on everything from energy efficiency to authenticity with subcategories for the use of biodiesel or biomass, traditional decorations and the use of fair trade and organic items among others.
Responsiblehotels.travel offers everything from boutique apartments and luxury hotels to bed and breakfasts and budget inns, proving that the movement towards sustainability isn’t just for hippies anymore. Meet the ‘Lohas.’ ITB Berlin, bills them as “well-off, well-educated, health conscious and socially and environmentally aware.” Think of them as yuppies that lead “Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability.” They even have their own journal and web site: www.lohas.com.
Lohas are, according to Katja Neller, Senior Consultant for the German research company, Schober Group, “the new premium target group in tourism.” She continues, “they think global, are very mobile and open-minded. They are looking for a type of tourism that is ecologically sustainable and meets their standards of ethics and social justice.”
And they account for anywhere between 5% and 30% of the adult population of Western countries and are responsible for a growing market which was, as of 2008, valued at around $209 billion.
It’s no wonder, then, that giants of industry are getting in on the action. In September of this year, 14 of Spain’s biggest tourism-related businesses signed the UN World Tourism Organization’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism at the first International Congress on Ethics and Tourism in Madrid. By doing so, they committed themselves to “a set of principles that maximizes the socio-economic benefits of the sector, while minimizing negative impacts.” (Source: UNWTO, 2011). With the consistent growth of the ‘Lohas’ influence, they, and the people at responsible hotels.travel, are on track to do just that.
Laura can be reached at laura.eliza.mitchell(at)gmail.com
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Dear Laura,
Very interesting article. Hopefully, more business will soon understand as we have done at Responsible Hotels that sustainability is a strong market trend we can’t afford to do without in the long run.
Couldn’t agree more, Carlos! “Sustainable” does seem to be the new catch phrase these days, and it’s encouraging to see that the market really is driving more growth in that area. If people demand it, businesses will build it! Thanks for being at the forefront of this trend.